Alameda County
Biographies
JOSEPH
S. BURPEE
JOSEPH S. BURPEE. One
of the best known and most successful business men of Alameda county is
Joseph S. Burpee, the leading contractor
and builder of Oakland. He is a man of unquestioned ability and integrity, who
has achieved deserved success by his thorough mastery of his calling, fidelity
to his trusts, and honest dealings with all persons with whom he is brought
into contact. He has been actively identified with the upbuilding of both San
Francisco and Oakland, in the past thirty years having erected many of the more
important buildings of these cities, and in addition has built for himself, and
sold, more than one hundred residences.
A native of Ohio, Mr. Burpee was born October 14, 1830, in the city of
Sandusky, where he was reared and educated. On reaching man’s estate, he
followed the tide of emigration westward to the extreme frontier, crossing the
plains to Oregon in 1851, and locating in Jackson county. Embarking in the
furniture business in Jacksonville, he manufactured and sold furniture, and
also did some work as a carpenter and builder in both Jacksonville, Ore., and
in Yreka, Siskiyou county, Cal. Returning east in 1857, Mr. Burpee
bought a portable engine, which he shipped by water to Oregon, an expensive
venture, the freight rate being five cents a pound. This engine, of
twenty-horse power, had a capacity of twenty thousand feet of lumber per day,
and was the first installed in Oregon. Lumber was in such demand, and sawyers
so scarce, that the engine paid for itself in a comparatively short time.
Disposing of his interests in Jackson county, Mr. Burpee
was engaged in the furniture business in Walla Walla,
Wash., for two years, and the next five years was employed in mining in Idaho.
On October 1, 1873,
Mr. Burpee located in Oakland, Cal., in which there
were then but very few modern-built houses, and immediately began taking
contracts to build either brick or frame houses and buildings, in both Oakland
and San Francisco. He purchased city lots, and when not employed on contract
work erected buildings to sell, among others being the Breighton
block, and the Briggs, Lewis and Ellis buildings. He erected many of the
prominent public buildings and churches, including the Fruitvale school
building; the Second Congregational and an Episcopal church building, in San
Francisco, and the buildings belonging to Cooper Medical Institute. He has
erected many of the finest residences in Oakland, notable among which are the Playter residence, corner of Fourteenth and Castro streets,
the residence of Mayor Olney, and the Sessions and Herrick residences.
Aside from his city property he owns a valuable fruit ranch in the Vaca valley, Solano county, which he devotes to the raising
of peaches, apricots and prunes.
Mr. Burpee has been very active in politics and an earnest
worker for good government, working at the primaries, but not a seeker after
office.
Mr. Burpee has been twice married, being first united in 1859
with Irene J. Spicer, a native of Ohio. They had three children, two
of whom are deceased. The surviving son is Lester G. Burpee, cashier of the First National Bank of Oakland.
August 14, 1879, he married Josephine Crane, a native of
Virginia, and of their union two children have been born: Walter J. of
Oakland; and Florence J. Fraternally Mr. Burpee
is a member of Oakland Lodge No. 188, F. & A. M. In
Oregon he was identified with both the chapter and council. He is also a member
of the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
07 May 2015.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Page 577. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Marie
Hassard.
BACK TO GOLDEN NUGGET LIBRARY'S ALAMEDA DATABASES