USA > New York > Bronx County > The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume III > Part 6
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Mitchel Smokeroff
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right wing of William the Conqueror's Army when he invaded England in 1066.
Dr. Charles Harper Montgomery was born at St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, son of John and Cath- erine (Mackinnon) Montgomery. John Montgomery, one of the leading educationalists and industrialists in New Brunswick, held the office of Superintendent of Education in St. John; and was-associated with the early wooden shipbuilding, just previous to the building of the first steel ships, he was owner of two ships that made world-round trips in the mer- chant service; he was also a large landholder, having been the owner of a bleach green used in linen manufacture.
Dr. Montgomery attended the schools in New Brunswick and at Montreal; and matriculating at McGill and Dalhousie colleges, he was grad- uated in 1903, with his degree of Doctor of Medicine; he was always an honor man in class studies, winning several gold prizes, and he had been gold medallist in high school competitive ex- aminations. He was active, also, in football and other outdoor sports.
Establishing himself in general practice in New York in 1903, Dr. Montgomery was appointed vis- iting surgeon at Harlem Eye and Ear Hospital, and visiting physician at Bellevue Hospital; and he was chief of staff at the Metropolitan Hospital. Aside from his profession, Dr. Montgomery has extensive real estate holdings in the States of New York and Florida, and he is engaged in developing divisions and sub-divisions in Florida.
In his political views a Republican, Dr. Mont- gomery with his vote and influence supports the principles of that party. In his medical associations, he is a member of The Bronx County Medical Society, North Side Medical Society, American Medical Society, and an alumnus of the Metropolitan Hospital. Fra- ternally, he is affiliated with Guiding Star Lodge, No. 571, Free and Accepted Masons; Bronx Lodge, No. 871, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; and Bronx Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows. His religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church.
HARRY J. ARMSTRONG-Inseparably associ- ated with the marvelous growth and development of The Bronx, especially in that section known as the West Bronx, is the well-known firm of Armstrong Brothers, Inc., which carries on a very large business in real estate and insurance, the moving spirit of the concern being Harry J. Armstrong, its president. There are five brothers in the company, all of them enthusiastic over Bronx accomplishments and Bronx projects as well as Bronx prospects, not only in their own lines but also in the lines which make for the general success of the borough and county and contribute to its remarkable prosperity. The spirit of enterprise in the head and founder of this progressive aggregation of brothers permeates the entire establishment, and something of its quality and effectiveness may be gathered from the fact that last year alone the sales made by this firm in the West Bronx section totaled more than $10,000,000 in value. The Armstrong Brothers, Inc., has a firm
grasp upon the entire real estate situation in the "Fastest Growing Borough" of New York City, and there is next to nothing in all that section, so far as real estate is concerned, that the members of the company cannot be called uninformed upon; on the contrary, they are to be ranked as among the most expert of realtors in The Bronx, where the real estate business is so keenly conducted that the "survival of the fittest" is the order of the day. Incidentally, Mr. Armstrong and his brothers are rendering a constructive and lasting service to the enhancement of realty values and in, indirectly, bringing additional thousands yearly to The Bronx.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, November 6, 1891, Harry J. Armstrong is a son of Harry A. and Mary J. Armstrong; the former, died in 1911, was a pioneer real estate man in The Bronx, and his father, Patrick J. Armstrong, was the original ancestor of the family in America; he was a bootmaker, and made boots for the famous John Jacob Astor, founder of the house of that name in New York City. The son, Harry J., was a pupil in Public School No. 24 and studied at the College of the City of New York for three years. Having a gift for mathematics and an aptitude for statistics, he became an expert ac- countant, and after leaving college entered the service of the United States Government as a traveling accountant, and continued in that position for three years. He then participated in the formation of the real estate and insurance firm of Armstrong & Carpenter. Eventually, four brothers of Mr. Arm- strong were admitted into partnership, and the busi- ness was incorporated under the style of the Arm- strong Brothers, Inc., with Harry J. Armstrong, president; Frank J. Armstrong, secretary and treas- urer; Arthur J., Edward B. and Bud Armstrong, as salesmen; and to this formidable array of realty experts was added a considerable sales force, the whole constituting one of the largest and most aggres- sive real estate organizations in the borough. The firm of Armstrong Brothers Inc., went after big business and achieved it, as the borough and county records attest. They helped lead the way in opening up as yet undeveloped properties for sites for dwel- lings and business blocks. They thus blazed the trail, in cooperation with the great movement in the West Bronx, for the popularization of that section and the advance of commercial prosperity in the borough as a whole. In 1924 the West Bronx broke all records for activity and value in the real estate market. Especially was the great movement and de- velopment of properties noticeable in apartment house and business building operations on Fordham Road, Kingsbridge Road, Burnside Avenue and One Hun- dred and Seventieth Street. A review of the 1924 activities in The Bronx by Harry J. Armstrong, ap- pearing in the Metropolitan press, was particularly illuminating. Concerns, whose names are now house- hold words, quickly moved into the territory and added to their lengthening chains of stores, and banks established branches to accommodate and care for the increasing number of residents and business concerns' new banking business. Municipal better- ments went on apace and values of properties in- creased; there was a general all-'round appreciation of Bronx relations, real and personal and commercial.
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Into this program of advance entered the firm of Armstrong Brothers, Inc., with zeal and sustained effort.
Mr. Armstrong is an active member of the Demo- cratic party, and is identified with the North End Democratic Club. During the World War he con- tributed valued service to the government and suffered an irreparable loss in the death of his wife, caused by the terrific explosion of munitions of South Am- boy, New Jersey, where the husband was stationed as captain in the Ordnance Department in charge of the munitions depot. It was a harrowing ex- perience for Mr. Armstrong, who was thus bereaved at the very point where he was performing war duty as necessary for the success of the Allied arms as was that of the men at the front in the battle areas of France. Mr. Armstrong is a member of The Bronx Board of Trade and the Lions Club. He is a com- municant of the Roman Catholic church.
Harry J. Armstrong married, April 18, 1914, in The Bronx, Chaplain Duffy of the Sixty-ninth Regi- ment officiating, Theresa McDonald, daughter of Patrick McDonald. They were the parents of two sons : Harry J., Jr., born in January, 1915, and Howard B., born in June, 1916, both of whom are students at St. John's Military Academy.
FATHER WILLIAM J. DUANE-As president of Fordham University, Father William J. Duane holds a high place in the educational world, as well as in the counsels of the Roman Catholic church. Father Duane is a son of Michael and Ann Duane, the father, a business man, having died in 1884 in New York City, the mother in 1897.
William J. Duane was born in City Hall Place, New York City, March 6, 1868, and attended the local public school in City Hall Place, finishing there at the age of twelve. He then became a student at the College of St. Francis Xavier, graduating in 1887 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He entered the Society of Jesus in Frederick, Maryland, in October, 1887, and spent three years in Frederick; then went for three years to Woodstock College in Maryland, specializing in philosophy. In 1893 he became associated with Boston College as a member of the faculty and spent five years in that institution, after which he returned to Woodstock College. He finished a theological course there in 1902, having been ordained to the priesthood in 1901. The follow- ing year he taught philosophy in Loyola College, and then accepted a post at Woodstock College as professor of Dogmatic and Scholastic Theology, teaching there for the next twenty years, from 1903 to 1923. He left to become a member of the faculty of Fordham University, and after a year in this position, was made president of the University, August 31, 1924, and has since served in this post. As an educator Father Duane is well known for his sane, constructive policy, and in the two years that he has been president of Fordham, its affairs have prospered greatly, and a splendid spirit has been maintained. Father Duane is a member of the Lions Club and takes a keen interest in the affairs of the day, being also a member of The Bronx Board of Trade and the New York Botanical Garden Society.
ALBERT LINCOLN ADAMS-Among those who have been active in the development of The Bronx through the business of the architect and builder, and have now passed from the scene of their labors, leaving their work as a foundation upon which others are building, is the late Albert Lincoln Adams, who for many years was engaged in the architectural and building business. He received several prizes at the City College for the drawing and designing of dwelling houses, and was known as one of the experts in his field in The Bronx.
Louis Adams, father of Mr. Adams, was a carpenter and builder, and for many years was associated with his son in the construction of first class buildings, the son giving special attention to the architectural side of the work and the father to the construction.
Albert Lincoln Adams, son of Louis Adams, was born in New York City, New York, October 21, 1875, and received his early education in the public schools of that city. When his course in the public schools, including high school, was finished he began the study of architectural drawing in Cooper Union, completing his course with graduation. He was associated with his father in the building business for some time and then took the Civil Service ex- aminations and was appointed special building inspec- tor in New York City, which position he efficiently filled for a period of three years. At the end of that time he returned to his father's business, giving more attention to the architectural side of the business than before, and that connection was maintained to the time of his death, which occurred February 25, 1923. He was known as a skillful architect and builder, and during the years of his active business life developed a large and important patronage. His thorough knowledge and his architectural skill and taste, as well as his sound business methods brought him the approval and the confidence of each new patron, and satisfied patrons always brought new business. At the City College he was recognized among his associates as a leader in his line.
Along with his many business responsibilities, Mr. Adams found time for social and recreational ac- tivities. He was captain of the Bicycle Squad of St. George's Episcopal Church of New York City, and was one of the most active in promoting and arranging for races and "cross country runs" also in keeping up the enthusiasm and interest and in bringing in new members of the club. He delighted in the healthful, out-of-door exercise himself, and was conscious of the fact that the athletic and recre- ational interest was a factor in the development of social relations and general interest in the church, and made the Bicycle Squad his special field of serv- ice. He was a man who attracted to himself many friends, and as the years passed the constancy and loyalty of his friendship was most highly prized by those who had known him longest.
Albert Lincoln Adams was married, October 12, 1898, to Elizabeth Cecelia Tunnard, daughter of Cap- tain G. M. Tunnard, of Jersey City Heights, New Jersey, and of Elizabeth (Bragan) Tunnard. Mrs. Adams received her early and preparatory education in the grammar and high schools of Jersey City, New Jersey, the place of her birth, and then continued study in the Teachers' Training School, from which
Forrest Hirleway
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THE BRONX AND ITS PEOPLE
she was graduated. She was engaged in teaching at the time of her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Adams became the parents of the following children: 1 Mary M., graduate of Horace Mann High School and of Columbia University. 2. Elizabeth, graduate of Horace Mann High School and of Columbia Uni- versity. 3. George Edward, graduate of Horace Mann High School and now attending Brown Univer- sity. 4. Claire Hellen, a graduate of The Collegiate School for Girls, now attending Skidmore School for Girls. 5. Louis, attended Horace Mann High School, now engaged in business. 6. Albert, Jr., attending Westminster School for Boys, located in Simsbury, Connecticut.
FORREST CLYDE HIRLEMAN-Among the well-known members of the legal profession who are engaged in general practice in The Bronx is Forrest Clyde Hirleman, of the firm of Hirleman and Vaughan, whose offices are located at No. 391 East One Hundred and Forty-ninth Street, The Bronx. Mr. Hirleman has been engaged in practice in The Bronx for the past twenty years, and previous to the opening of his office in The Bronx, was engaged as supervising inspector in the Tenement House Department of New York City.
Forrest Clyde Hirleman was born in Waverly, Iowa, May 2, 1877, the youngest of a family of eight children, of David G., a veteran of the Civil War, and of Maria (Wile) Hirleman. His father died when he was but three years of age, and it became necessary for his mother to do dressmaking in order to support her family, which then consisted of six children, two having died before the death of the father. It was also necessary that the children should do all that they could in the way of contributing to their own support as soon as possible, and young Forrest Clyde early learned the value of a dollar. He also early learned the value of time. As a small boy he earned as much as he could, doing odd jobs such as running errands, sawing wood, shoveling snow, taking cows to pasture at twenty-five cents a week, and making full use of his time before and after school and during vacation times. That he was able to aid in supporting himself is evidenced by the fact that he bought his first suit of store clothes with money which he had earned himself when he was in his ninth year. When he was thirteen years of age the death of the wife of his oldest brother brought a change in the family fortunes, at least so far as location was concerned, for the mother and the children went to Spencer, Iowa, to live with the bereaved brother.
Young Forrest Clyde attended the public schools of Spencer, continuing to earn as much as possible clerking and working on a farm, when not in school, but he saw to it that his studies were well attended to and in 1896, he graduated from Spencer High School. In the fall of that year he matriculated in Cornell College, at Mount Vernon, Iowa, and while a student there, managed to pay the greater part of his own expenses by working during the college term and during vacation periods. During his junior year in college he was compelled to leave during the spring term because of typhoid fever.
When he recovered he secured a position for the summer as clerk in a local grocery store, and the following fall instead of returning to Cornell, went to Madison, Wisconsin, and entered the Law School of the University of that State. After four weeks of study, however, his health failed and he was obliged to give up the course. Hc returned to Spencer, Iowa, where he was met by the president of the local Board of Education who offered hin a position as substitute teacher in the high school. He promptly accepted and after completing the fall term as teacher in the high school resumed his studies at Cornell College, from which he was gradu- ated with the class of 1900. During his senior year in college he was editor-in-chief of the "Cornellian," the college paper, and he worked on the Spencer "Re- porter" during the summer of 1899. That experience proved to be of value for when, after his graduation from college, he returned to Spencer, Iowa, he was employed as editor of the Spencer "Reporter" during the absence of the owner and editor on a western trip. In the spring of 1901, he went to Chicago with the intention of associating himself with one of the daily news sheets of that city, but later went to Buffalo and then to Pennsylvania, where on a visit with relatives he enjoyed his first real vacation. Being near New York City he decided to visit the metropolis, and arrived there in September, 1901, with all his worldly possessions in his pocket, a sum of money amounting to twenty-five dollars. By chance he met an acquaintance at the elevated station at One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street and Eighth Avenue. That friend invited him to share his room, and through this meeting he came in contact with a young man from Cedar Falls, Iowa, who after taking a summer course at Columbia University had secured a job as laborer on the subway then under construction. When the young man from Iowa left the city, Mr. Hirleman took over his job, which he held for about ten days, at the end of which time he secured a position as salesman in the silverware department of Theodore A. Cohen and Sons, who were then located on West Twenty-third Street. His salary was seven dollars a week, and he im- mediately began to study stenography in an evening school. In February, 1902, he began to prepare to pass the Civil Service examination for inspector in the Tenement House Department of New York City, which had recently been created. More than fifteen hundred persons took the examination, and Mr. Hirleman was sixty-first on the list of those who passed and the thirty-second inspector appointed. The office of the department was located at the corner of Irving Place and Nineteenth Street. He was detailed to some office work and later was placed in charge of the office work of a large staff of clerks, in addition to having charge of the inspec- tors when they reported for duty in the morning and prior to their going into the field. He was made deputy chief inspector by Commissioner Robert W. De Forest, and, having passed a promotion exami- nation, acquired the title of supervising inspector and an increase of salary to one thousand five hundred dollars. On December 31, 1903, he was presented with a gold watch and chain and diamond watch charm by the employees of the Old Building Bureau
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THE BRONX AND ITS PEOPLE
of the Tenement House Department. The follow- ing inscription was engraved upon the watch:
Presented to Forrest C. Hirleman Deputy Chief Inspector By the Employees of the Old Building Bureau Of the Tenement House Department City of New York, December 31, 1903.
He had just been detailed to the Brooklyn office of the Tenement House Department to inaugurate there the system of office routine already established in Manhattan, and he remained in Brooklyn until 1904, when he was detailed to The Bronx office of the department. He then removed his place of resi- dence to The Bronx, locating at No. 182 Alexander Avenue, and in The Bronx office of the department continued supervisory work until March, 1907, when he resigned. Meantime, he had completed one year of his law course at the New York Law School, and when he came to The Bronx he resumed his studies at that school completing his course in June, 1905, and taking his bar examination June 19, 1905. He was admitted to the bar in October of that year, but did not engage in practice until after his resigna- tion from the Tenement House Department in March, 1907, when he opened his office at No. 2804 Third Avenue, The Bronx, New York City. There he con- tinued until May, 1911, when he removed to his present location, at No. 391 East One Hundred and Forty-ninth Street. In April, 1914, he admitted to partnership, Edwin Vaughan, Jr., under the firm name of Hirleman and Vaughan, and that partnership has been continued to the present time, (1927).
Mr. Hirleman is engaged in general practice, and much of his work has been confined to Bronx County, where his office has always been located, but the interests of his clients have taken him to San Francisco, California; South Carolina, and West Virginia. He has handled a great deal of what is known as office work, including real estate law, organization of corporations, handling of estates, and general consultations, and has made for himself an assured place in his profession. He has served as secretary of The Bronx Bar Association for six years, 1917-1922, and at the present time is on a member of the Board of Directors of that associa- tion.
Mr. Hirleman has always been actively interested in local public affairs in The Bronx; is a member of The Bronx Board of Trade, a delegate of the Taxpayers' Alliance, and Counsel for The Bronx Taxpayers' Association. He has been nominee for the State Senate and Assembly and for the office of The Bronx Municipal Court Judge, and is secretary of the Park Republican Club. Fraternally, he is identified with Guiding Star Lodge, No. 565, Free and Accepted Masons, and he finds healthful out- of-door recreation and pleasant social intercourse through membership in the Gedney Farms Golf Club
His religious affiliation is with Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church.
Forrest Clyde Hirleman married, February 21, 1912, in New York City, Lavina Stout, daughter of Charles and Julia (Curran) Stout. Mrs. Hirle- man is a member of The Bronx Woman's Club, vice-president of the Ladies' Park Republican Club, and a member of the League of Women Voters.
FRANK D. MARCH-Of the present-day institu- tions for training boys and girls in commercial edu- cation, none has a higher rating in Greater New York than the Drake Business School. The first Drake School was founded nearly half a century ago in Newark, New Jersey. In 1907, a Drake School was opened in New York City, on the tenth floor of the Tribune Building, where it still continues, and has grown to be one of the largest business schools in the entire Metropolitan district. There are now twenty-three Drake Business Schools located in various cities of New York and New Jersey and four branches in Europe. All these schools are large and flourish- ing, ranking among the highest grade commercial schools in their respective cities. One of the strong links in this great chain of Drake Schools is the Bronx school, opened in 1922, in the splendid fireproof Keith Building on East Fordham Road, one of the best locations in Bronx Borough. This school, pre- sided over by Frank D. March, as principal-manager, at once became a magnet for students in The Bronx, under the powerful impulse of Drake management. Since it opened it has graduated over 1,800 students. The number of enrollments is increasing each year. The Bronx school now has approximately two hun- dred and fifty day and one hundred and fifty night students. The classrooms are large, light and airy, of ideal cheeriness and healthfulness, and the school is easy of access from every part of The Bronx as well as lower Westchester and Washing- ton Heights.
There is a superiority in Drake methods of educa- tion and Drake School policy toward its patrons. This superiority has produced the wonderful growth. Theory and practice are the Drake School ideas in business training. The first thought is to see that the student secures a broad training that is also practical. Modern office appliances and equipment are installed in every school. Individual instruction is an out- standing feature. The teaching staff has been selected for the actual, practical business experience of its members, and their ability to impart that information to others. The school is interested in the subsequent as well as the present success of its pupils. It gives vocational guidance. Not only that but it guarantees positions in the business world for its graduates, and its officers are in a position to carry out that guarantee. Drake students have won more than two hundred and fifty cups, prizes and medals, in amateur and professional typewriting contests, in penmanship, shorthand and stenography. In type- writing Drake students have won American, Canadian and International amateur and professional speed contests and accuracy records, and among 10,000 contestants representing two hundred schools a Drake boy was named American champion student pen- man-the unanimous choice of the judges.
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