USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume II > Part 63
USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume II > Part 63
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Mr. Cronk had a leading part in the organization of the local Clear- ing House, terminating after a year of work toward that end. The Clear- ing House has proved very successful and an important source of busi- ness prestige to San Bernardino. Mr. Cronk is manager of the Clearing House. He is a graduate of the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Institute of Banking, a purely educational organization for the officers and employes of banks, with national organization headquarters in New York. Mr. Cronk was instrumental in organizing the Orange Belt Chap- ter of that association and was elected its first president.
While at Long Beach he had charge of all the Liberty Loan drives under the title of assistant manager. During the Victory Loan drive in San Bernardino he was also assistant chairman, and had the satisfaction of seeing the local quota more than subscribed. He is serving his second term as vice president of the Chamber of Commerce, and is chairman of its promotion committee. During the one day membership drive for the Chamber in the 1920 campaign he was captain of the "Tigers," as opposed to the "Bears." The Tigers won by a close margin. Mr. Cronk again headed the "Tigers" in 1921, securing eighty-one new members personally, more than any one team of five men of either "Tigers" or "Bears," and again defeating the "Bears." Other interests of his busy career are represented in his life membership in Lodge No. 836, Benevo- lent and Protective Order Elks at San Bernardino, membership in the Rotary Club and as chairman of its Public Affairs Committee. He is a republican in politics. February 19, 1912, at Long Beach, Mr. Cronk married Miss Mary Sans Souci. She was born in Rhode Island. Mr. and Mrs. Cronk have one son, Frederick.
WILLIAM O. HARRIS. Reared and educated at San Bernardino, William O. Harris, in school and since has exercised the privilege conferred by his genial personality of achieving a solid connection of loyal friendships, and with his growing prestige as a banker he has become one of the men of power in the community.
Mr. Harris regards it as a high honor that he was one of the organ- izers and is cashier of the American National Bank of San Bernardino. This bank has made one of the most remarkable records of any institu- tion of the kind in the state. It was opened for business December 30, 1916. During the first day, between nine a. m. and ten p. m., eight hun- dred and thirteen new accounts were opened, at the rate of more than one every minute. It has a capital stock of a hundred thousand dollars, its resources exceed a million five hundred thousand dollars, and at the end of the first year the deposits were half a million. The first dividend was paid eighteen months after the opening, and dividends have been regular ever since. The personnel of the bank consists of R. D. McCook, presi- dent ; W. S. Shepardson, vice president ; William O. Harris, cashier ; O. R. Ervin, assistant cashier, while the directors are Joseph E. Rich, H. S.
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Wall, Nelson McCook, E. J. Gilbert, W. S. Shepardson, J. W. Catick, Philip M. Savage and R. D. McCook.
William O. Harris was born at Jamestown, North Dakota, January 6, 1892, son of Sewel A. and Anna ( Bennett) Harris. His mother, now deceased, was born in England. Sewel A. Harris, a native of New Hamp- shire, was a Dakota pioneer and is now an orchardist at Brewster, Wash- ington, in the midst of the belt where the most magnificent winter apples in the world are produced.
H. E. Harris, uncle of William O., came to San Bernardino in 1900, and is vice president of the San Bernardino National Bank, as told else- where in this publication. William O. Harris lived with his uncle, and thus acquired most of his early education in San Bernardino. He gradu- ated from high school in 1910, took his preparatory course in Pomona College and received his A. B. degree from Cornell University of New York in 1914. While in university he participated in athletics of all kinds and made the football and track teams. His interest in athletics has continued, and as far as is consistent with his business life he endeavors to keep in form.
The two years following his university career and before the opening of the American National Bank, Mr. Harris was in training for his finan- cial duties as bookkeeper for the San Bernardino National Bank. Many of his friends followed him to the new institution, and its patronage is in part a tribute to his personality as well as his banking ability. The American National is the only bank organized in San Bernardino since the Federal Reserve Act, which gives new national banks authority to carry their own savings accounts without the necessity of maintaining a separate institution. The bank now has a working force of fourteen em- ployes, including the cashier.
By way of a public record Mr. Harris has for the past three years been a member of the City Board of Water Commissioners. He is a democrat, is affiliated with San Bernardino Lodge of Elks, and is a mem- ber of the oldest college local fraternity of Cornell, the Skull, now the Phi Delta Sigma. He and his family are members of the First Congre- gational Church. September 11, 1917, at Slaterville Springs, New York, Mr. Harris married Miss Katharine Mary Slater. She was born in that state and is of English descent. Her father, A. J. Slater, is a great- grandson of the man for whom Slaterville Springs was named. Mr. and Mrs. Harris have two children, Katharine Sue, born in 1918, and William Oscar, Jr., born in 1920.
WILLIAM WINTON SAVAGE. As an eye, throat, nose and ear special- ist, Dr. William Winton Savage has, in a comparatively short period of time, achieved an enviable reputation for his skillful work in San Ber- nardino, and has built up a clientele by his success which is not only large and lucrative but is constantly on the increase. A specialist in any line has to "make good," for his success depends entirely on the outcome of the cases he handles, and the public expects one to justify himself as an expert in his profession. The regular medical practitioner, the "family doctor," is not held to such strict account, for he ministers to all the ills which afflict mankind, and of necessity he cannot do that and be in any line a specialist. But in this age of progress mankind is demanding more and more insistently that the medical fraternity specialize, as the world of trade and commerce is demanding of its exponents, and while the all around physician will always have his place, the specialist has "come into his own" if he proves worthy.
WaBurrows
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Dr. W. W. Savage was born in Tulare County, California. His father, Philip Savage, a native of Texas, came to California when a very young man and located in Yolo County. He was a farmer, raising grain principally. He died in Sanger, Fresno County, in 1913. The mother of Dr. Savage is Flora (Darby) Savage, a native daughter of California. Her people were pioneers, her father at one time owning the old Arrow- head Hotel. She is now living in Berkeley, California. Mr. and Mrs. Savage were the parents of twelve children, of whom the following are living : Genevieve, wife of George P. Manchester, of Berkeley, California ; Geraldine, wife of Charles Kavanaugh of Napa; Dr. Philip Monroe Sav- age, a prominent surgeon of San Bernardino, whose sketch is given else- where in this history ; Harold, an attorney in Fresno.
Dr. William Winton Savage was born in Tulare County, California, in September, 1884, and is a native son of California and a son of a native daughter of California, which, according to native sons and adopted sons of the Golden State, is a double distinction. Dr. Savage was educated in the grammar school in Tulare County, and when the family moved to Sanger, Fresno County, he attended the high school there and was gradu- ated in 1904. In 1905 he went to the Cooper Medical College in San Fran- cisco and graduated with the class of 1909. He then went into the Fresno County Hospital as interne for one year. He next located in Kingsbury, Fresno County, where he practiced for two years, and was the surgeon for the Hume-Bennett Lumber Company in the mountains for a year and a half. He then started practicing in Fresno, and remained there until he came to San Bernardino. After locating in San Bernardino he went to the clinic at Lane Hospital, San Francisco, and studied diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. Since then he has specialized exclusively in that line.
In 1908 he married Laurell Moody, a daughter of N. W. Moody, of Fresno County. They have three children : Mildred Allen ; William Win- ton, Jr .; and John Nathan. Dr. Savage is a member of the San Bernar- dino County Medical Association, of the California State Medical Asso- ciation and of the American Medical Association. He is a member of San Bernardino Lodge No. 836, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and of the Rotary Club. He is a democrat in political belief and is a member of the Christian Church.
In addition to his own practice Dr. Savage does special work as the attending specialist for the Arrowhead Hospital.
WILLIAM A. BURROWS-The late William A. Burrows was responsible for much of the earlier development of Riverside, for he always had a deep and abiding faith in its future and gave practical expression to it in his heavy investments in its property. He also became an orange grower, and figured prominently in the expansion of that industry. As a man he exemplified the highest type of honorable manhood and American citizenship, and in his passing Riverside lost one of its constructive factors.
William A. Burrows was born in New York State, April 18, 1855, and died at Riverside, California, in December, 1916. He was a son of Cyrus and Diana (Thresher) Burrows, both of whom were natives of New York State, and are now deceased. By trade Cyrus Burrows was a mason. He belonged to an old American family which was founded in this country prior to the American Revolution by ancestors from England. He was a direct descendent of Ethen Allen.
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Growing up in his native state, William A. Burrows attended its public schools, and after completing his studies engaged in farming. Later he went to Fairport, New York, where he embarked in a dairy business, and there carried it on for nineteen years. Seeking a milder climate, Mr. Burrows in 1890 came to California, and for several years was foreman for the Bixby-Howard Company of Los Angeles. He than bought a general merchandise store ten miles from Los Angeles, and conducted it for a time. During his early residence in that state he several times visited Riverside, and, as he afterward expressed it, thought that he had struck the "Garden of Eden." He invested in property at Riverside, purchasing part of the Jackson Block on Eighth Street and a business block on Main Street between Ninth and Tenth Streets. Later he bought the adjoining piece of property on Main Street, remodeled it, and it is now known as the Ray Block. Mr. Burrows subsequently sold the Jackson Block and bought the old Press Building on Eighth Street, put in a modern front and gener- ally remodeled it. This property is now owned by the Eighth Street Store. In time Mr. Burrows disposed of the properties he had made so valuable, and he later invested in some business property at Colton, still owned by his widow. He also built the brick block at Arlington known as the Burrows Block, and Mrs. Burrows still owns this prop- erty. For a time Mr. Burrows was engaged in a paint and oil busi- ness at Arlington, and later conducted a grocery business in that suburb.
In 1897 Mr. Burrows bought twelve acres of oranges and alfalfa at 507 Indiana Avenue, where the family have since resided. This is one of the oldest settled pieces of property at Riverside, the euca- lyptus trees, planted by the original owner, having attained immense proportions. Mr. Burrows was a member of the Arlington Fruit Exchange, disposing of his oranges through its medium, and from the time he came here until his death, was prominent in the business world, and held the full confidence of his fellow citizens. While he always voted the republican ticket, he was not active in politics.
On December 31, 1894, Mr. Burrows married Miss Cora B. Had- dock, a native of Minnesota, a daughter of James and Frances M. (Lucas) Haddock. James Haddock was one of the pioneers of Los Angeles, and embarked in the orange growing business in the south- ern part of that city. He was a popular man and took an active interest in all things political, but never sought public preferment. Born in Canada, he early came to the United States, and during the war between the two sections of the country served as a sergeant in the First Wisconsin Cavalry. Mrs. Burrows is a graduate of the Los Angeles State Normal School and taught four years in Los Angeles County. She is much interested in uplift work, and has devoted much time to the Women's Christian Temperance Union, and is president of the Arlington branch of that organization. Mr. and Mrs. Burrows became the parents of five children, namely: Ray, who died at the age of 12 years; Ruth, who is a graduate of the Riverside High School, Class of 1921, and now attending Junior College; Orlo J., who is in charge of the home ranch, which he and his mother are operating; Marjorie and William, both of whom are attending the Riverside public schools, the former a student of the High School.
GRACE CHANDLER STANLEY, as superintendent of San Bernardino County's schools, has been one of the many talented women who have demonstrated that a woman, properly equipped, is the ideal supervisor of
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all branches, relating to the education of children. She has a large terri- tory to supervise, but her handling of every matter pertaining to her office has shown that her ability and judgment leave nothing to be desired or improved upon, and her record speaks for her.
Mrs. Stanley was born in Smith Center, Kansas, the daughter of Robert A. and Eunice (Kelly) Chandler, her father a native of Iowa and her mother of Ohio. Mr. Chandler moved to Kansas from Iowa about 1876, and followed farming in that state at first but later was cashier of the Smith County National Bank at Smith Center. In 1900 he came to California and located at Santa Paula, and afterward moved to Long Beach, where he lived a retired life until his death on July 19, 1918. He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and was very active in the cause of prohibition. His wife died in Kansas in 1898. They were the parents of four children: John, now associated with the Standard Oil Company in Richmond, California ; Walter, deceased ; Nellie, wife E. E. Wright, of Los Angeles; and Grace Chandler Stanley.
Mrs. Stanley was educated in the public schools of Smith Center, Kansas, and at Washburn College in Topeka, Kansas. She came to Cali- fornia to attend Stanford University, where she completed the course in two and a half years and was graduated with the class of 1903, the pos- sessor of the degree of Bachelor of Science.
She came to southern California in 1903, and was principal of the Mission school near Redlands and succeeding that, taught in the grammar and high school in Long Beach for two years. In 1912 she started teach- ing in Redlands as a substitute and in January, 1913, took a position in the Mckinley School of Redlands and taught there two years.
In 1915 she was appointed county superintendent of schools and served until 1918, when she was elected for the four year term, a deserved en- dorsement of her work in the short term. At the close of 1921 there were seventy-four school districts in the county, and she has supervision over five hundred teachers. She supervises all districts in the county ex- cept the City of San Bernardino.
She was married on November 27, 1906, to Percy Dean Stanley, a native of Wisconsin, an orange grower near Redlands. He died October 10, 1911, leaving three children : Richard Lawrence, Chandler and Bran- don. Mrs. Stanley is a member of the Contemporary Club, and of the Congregational Church of Redlands. She is also a member of the Local, State and National Teachers' Associations, having acted as president of the California Teachers' Association, Southern Section, for the year 1917, and at present vice president of the same association and member of the State Federal Council. She has also acted on the Superintendents' Legislative Committee and as secretary of the Committee of Twenty-One for the Reorganization of the State School System.
JOHN H. CRESMER. The importance of any community is measured by the commercial rating and efficiency of its business men, and judged by this standard, Riverside is entitled to a foremost position among the flourishing cities of the southwest, for it possesses some of the most alert, aggressive, experienced and capable citizens of this part of the country, among whom none is more entitled to extended mention than John H. Cresmer, vice president of the Cresmer Manufacturing Company.
John H. Cresmer was born in Creswell, Maryland, November 15, 1860, a son of J. G. and R. Sophia (Hartling) Cresmer, both of whom are now deceased. J. G. Cresmer was born in Odenberg, Saxony, Ger- many, and his wife in Leipsic, Germany. They were farming people, who left their native land for the United States in 1838, and after their
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arrival in this country located in the neighborhood of Creswell, Mary- land, where they continued their agricultural operations until the demise of Mr. Cresmer. Later in life Mrs. Cresmer came to California, where she died. Herman Cresmer, a brother of John H. Cresmer, is a resident of Fresno, California. During the war between the states he served as a soldier in a Maryland regiment. Frank Cresmer, another brother, lives at Los Angeles, and a third brother, Edward Cresmer, is deceased.
Growing up in Harford County, Maryland, John H. Cresmer attended its public schools, and at the same time learned the business of canning fruits and vegetables. When he left school he and his mother decided to go into the canning business for themselves, this move being necessary, as in the meanwhile the father and husband had been taken from them by death. Embarking in this enterprise, they followed this line of en- deavor very successfully for six years, their pack being known as the "Forest" brand. They specialized on tomatoes, peaches and blackberries. At the termination of the six years the entire plant was destroyed by fire, resulting from spontaneous combustion. Their insurance did not cover their loss, and Mr. Cresmer was once more thrown on his own resources.
In 1882 he went to Weldon, DeWitt County, Illinois, and organized the Cresmer Brothers Canning Company, locating his plant in the midst of a very productive section of the country. He planned to can about 400 acres of sweet corn, and planted some acreage himself. Unfortu- nately for the success of his project this was an extremely wet season, the corn all turned yellow, so it was unfit for packing. In preparing for the business he had purchased the tin and manufactured 1,000,000 cans. Owing to the failure of the corn he bought pumpkins, apples and other produce to fill his cans, striving to retrieve his losses, but after two years of earnest effort he was obliged to abandon his project and began learn- ing the carpenter trade.
California was beginning to attract settlers as a desirable place of residence, and in 1886 Mr. Cresmer came west to San Jacinto, where he worked in a planing mill, thus learning the mechanism of the sash, door and window construction. During his last year at San Jacinto he was connected as a partner with John Shaver. His residence at San Jacinto covered fourteen years, and after the earthquake he practically rebuilt the town, having eighty men working under him.
In 1900 Mr. Cresmer came to Riverside, and here he found ideal con- ditions for the carrying out of a plan he had formulated. He bought his present site from the A. W. Miller Manufacturing Company, which was conducting a small planing mill, paying for it $1,000 in cash and the re- mainder in installments. Four years later he formed a partnership with George F. Ward, and during the following year incorporated the Cresmer & Ward Company. Two years later he bought out his partner, and changed the name to the present one of the Cresmer Manufacturing Com- pany. He sold additional stock and erected his present modern and com- modious quarters. In 1908 he added the contracting business to his other. Some idea of the importance of this company and the value of its opera- tions may be gleaned from the following extract quoted in part from an article which appeared in a contemporary newspaper during 1921.
"The Cresmer Manufacturing Company of Riverside had a birthday during the past week. It was twenty-one years old, having been in busi- ness in this community during that length of time. This company has done more than $500,000 worth of construction work during the past twelve months. It has had a payroll of more than $150,000, expended in Riverside. It operates throughout all of Southern California, and has the credit for some of the largest buildings in this district, including the Santa
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Fe Depot at San Bernardino, which cost $250,000. It built the First Con- gregational Church building of Riverside. It built the University of Cali- fornia Experiment Station buildings of this city, at a cost of $115,000. It erected the Southern Sierras Power Company building for $40,000, and recently the Sperry Flour Company building for $35,000. It did $80,000 worth of interior work for the Goodyear Rubber Company fac- tory at Los Angeles. It has built such outside buildings as the $100,000 music hall at Claremount, an $80,000 residence for Mrs. Fowler near Chino, $40,000 in buildings at the George Junior Republic, a $100,000 Fifth Street grammar school at San Pedro, and many other structures of importance.
"Riverside is to be congratulated upon having a plant such as that of the Cresmer Manufacturing Company. It is an asset to the community. Local people having mill work to do should realize that it is not necessary to go to Los Angeles to have it done, and that it can be done as well and as cheaply at the Cresmer plant. The fact that a large part of its work is in other communities, secured in competition with Los Angeles and other outside firms, shows what it is capable of doing."
In addition to constructing and building the company deals in general mill work, plate windows and ornamental glass, hard woods, office fix- tures and mission furniture. The officials are : J. H. Urquhart, president ; J. H. Cresmer, vice president and manager ; and J. W. Shrimp, secretary and treasurer.
Mr. Cresmer is an independent in politics, and while living at San Jacinto was a member of its City Council. He belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Woodmen of the World, American Yeomen, Chamber of Commerce and the Business Men's Association. All of his life he has been a member of the Christian Church, and has taken an active part in the work of this denomination in the several com- munities in which he has resided, and while at San Jacinto was secre- tary of the Board of Trustees, superintendent of the Sunday School, and chairman of the Church Board. For the past twenty years he has been an elder of the Riverside congregation.
On June 6, 1881, Mr. Cresmer married at Creswell, Maryland, Miss Lena E. Gerhardt, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, and a daughter of Theodore Gerhardt, a shoe manufacturer of Baltimore. Mr. and Mrs. Cresmer have eight living children, namely : Walter H., who is engaged with his father in the mill business; Anna E., and Eunice L., both of whom are at home; J. Roland, who is a brick layer of Riverside; Elsie R., who is the wife of A. M. Lyons, a plumber of Riverside; Blanche, who is a stenographer and typist in the county assessor's office ; Delta, who is a student in the Riverside High School, class of 1921 ; and Clarence E., who is a student in the Republic School, Riverside.
Mr. Cresmer is a man whose remarkable success may be attributed in large part to his persistence and determination to win out in spite of ob- stacles. Disaster has overcome him more than once, but he has not been discouraged, but gone right along working hard to gain a new hold upon fortune. Not many men could have risen above the discouragements of business disappointments as has he, and all the more credit is due him for what he has ultimately accomplished because of these early failures. He is a citizen of the highest standing, and a man whose advice and sup- port are sought by the leading and most responsible people of this and other sections, for his worth is fully appreciated.
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