Los
Angeles County
Biographies
JOHN JAMES BACKUS
John James Backus, the able
superintendent of building for the city of Los Angeles since 1905, has been a
resident of Los Angeles during the past forty-six years. He was born on Monmouthshire,
England, September 20, 1863, his parents being Jonathan James and Maria Jane
(Lewis) Backus, the latter a member of an old English family which conducted an
inn for many years. Jonathan J. Backus
was engaged in the contracting and building business in his native country and
was highly esteemed as an able and competent man. His son, John James Backus, in 1898, brought
his father and mother to Los Angeles, and here they spent the remainder of
their days, both being buried in Evergreen Cemetery.
John J. Backus attended the public
schools of England but continued his educational training after becoming a
resident of Los Angeles, where he attended night school and also applied
himself closely to home study. He was a
youth of nineteen years when in 1882 he crossed the Atlantic to the United States and located near
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, there engaging in the building and contracting
business for nearly five years. On the
expiration of that period, in 1887, he took up his permanent abode in Los
Angeles, California, when the population was about 50,000, and here continued
operations as a contractor and builder.
He gained recognition as one who thoroughly understood the building
business in all of its details and soon commanded a large and important
clientele. In 1902 he entered the real
estate business, which claimed his time and energies until January, 1905, when
he was appointed superintendent of building for the city of Los Angeles, a
position which he has filled in a capable and satisfactory manner throughout
the intervening period of twenty-eight years.
His office is Room 215, City Hall.
He has served under many mayors and has witnessed the city’s marvelous
growth and development. Early in his
official career, Mr. Backus made a close study of architecture and was admitted
to practice the profession by the California state board of architects in
1909. He has been secretary of the Art
Commission since 1921 and has membership in the Builders Exchange, in Southern
California Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, of which he is a
past president, the Joint Technical Society of Los Angeles and the California
Association of Architects.
Mr. Backus has been twice
married. In 1896 he wedded Miss Alice D.
Green, a native of Pennsylvania, who passed away in 1922. On the 16th of June, 1924, he
married Mrs. Verna Gene Haskell Hebert, member of an old and well known
California family.
Politically Mr. Backus is a
Republican. He holds a certificate from
the United States Government for active work during the World War in conserving
building materials. Fraternally he is
affiliated with the Masons, belonging to Highland Park Lodge, No. 382, F. &
A. M., while his religious faith is that of the Protestant Episcopal
Church. He is a life member of the
Breakfast Club of Los Angeles and likewise has membership in the San Gabriel
Country Club, the Los Angeles Athletic Club, Pacific Coast Club, Hollywood
Athletic Club, Santa Monica Athletic Club, Surf and Sand Club and the
California Yacht Club. His recreational
hobbies are billiards and golf. A
contemporary biographer wrote: “He has
shown himself well qualified in every respect for the position which he is so
ably filling and his record has earned for him the genuine respect of all who
know him.”
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. III, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 325-326, Clarke Publ.,
Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPIES