Alameda
County
Biographies
THEODORE
GIER
A man of strong personal force, of the stimulating
rather than the aggressive kind, Theodore Gier of Oakland has been a dominant
factor in the development and promotion of the grape and wine industries of
central California. Public-spirited,
keen-insighted, with the power to grasp and understand the salient points of a proposition,
he has been among the foremost in advancing the prosperity of city and
county. When the discussion of the Contra
Costa tunnel was in progress, the people of Contra Costa county
refused to pay any more toward the project than did the people of Alameda county,
although three-fifths of the tunnel line was in that county. Finding no satisfactory way out of the
difficulty, the two boards of supervisors of Contra Costa and Alameda counties,
who had met in Martinez to consider the matter, were about to abandon the
project and adjourn the meeting when Mr. Gier electrified the audience by
pledging, as president of the Oakland Merchants’ Exchange, and an active
business man of the city, to raise the necessary amount, $15,000, to pay the
remaining one-fifth of the proposed cost of the tunnel. Work was immediately commenced on the
structure, and on November 4, 1903, the tunnel, which inevitably must
revolutionize the industrial progress of both counties, was formally opened to
the public.
A native of Germany, Mr. Gier was born in
1860, in Peine, Hanover, where he was reared,
educated, and obtained considerable knowledge of the business of manufacturing
wine. Immigrating to the United States in
1881, he spent a year in the eastern cities and Chicago, and then came to
California. He first located in San
Francisco, and then spent a year in southern California. Settling in Oakland in 1883. Mr. Gier established himself in the grocery
business, with which he was identified seven years. In 1890 he engaged in the wine and liquor
business, remaining for five years, and in 1896 incorporated as the firm of the
Theo. Gier Company, and has since continued thus employed. In 1894, desiring to enlarge his operations,
he purchased a vineyard of three hundred and fifty-four acres in Livermore,
Alameda County, and met with such satisfactory results in the management that
four years later, in 1898, he bought a three hundred and fifty-six acre
vineyard in Napa county. In 1901 he
purchased another vineyard in Livermore, containing one hundred acres, and in
1903 became the owner of a second one in Napa county, containing two hundred
and sixty acres near St. Helena.
Mr. Gier has wine cellars in both Napa and
Alameda counties, and in the manufacture of wines has been very
successful. The Theo. Gier Company of
Oakland, which was formed for the purpose of handling and introducing the
products of Mr. Gier’s vineyards, is already widely known in this country and throughout
Europe, and at the Paris Exposition of 1900 took the highest prizes awarded California
wines. Among the different vineyards
owned by Mr. Gier, special mention should be made of his Giersberg
vineyard, near Livermore, in the canon of the Arroyo del Valle, which is well
stocked with grapes of the choicest varieties.
The wines which he manufactures are of fine flavor, being as nearly perfect
in all of their properties as the climate and soil of California will
produce. One of the most extensive
manufacturers of wine in California, Mr. Gier’s place of business is located at
No. 511-515 Fourteenth street, Oakland, with a branch office at No. 915 Washington
street and No. 116 Battery street, San Francisco.
In 1886 Mr. Gier married Ferdinanda
Hornung, who was born in Marysville, Yuba county, Cal., the daughter of Dr. G
Hornung, a California pioneer, who came to the coast in 1853. Mr. and Mrs. Gier are the parents of three
children, namely: Grace, Elsa and Amelie.
A stanch Republican in politics, Mr. Gier has always taken an
intelligent interest in public matters, but has never cared to hold official
positions. He served as vie-president of
the Oakland Exposition; for two years has been president of the Oakland Merchants’
Exchange; and is now president of the commissioners from Alameda county to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. He is also president of the Arion Singing Society of San Francisco. He belongs to twenty-one different fraternal
or beneficial organizations, and is very prominent in the Masonic and Odd
Fellows Orders, and is a charter member of the Elks. During the troubles in china in 1900, Mr.
Gier assisted his native country in many ways.
Notice of his eminent services was brought to the attention of Emperor
William, who as a token of his appreciation, conferred upon Mr. Gier the “Order
of the Crown.” This order has been given
to but a few other persons in the United states, among them the mayor New York and the mayor of
Chicago, both of whom received the order on the occasion of the visit of Prince
Henry to this country.
Transcribed by Louise E. Shoemaker
March 07, 2015.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages
409-410. The Chapman Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1904.
©
2015 Louise E.
Shoemaker.
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