ALMON PORTER MAGINNIS

Los Angeles County

Biographies

ALMON PORTER MAGINNIS

MAGINNIS, ALMON PORTER, Tax Commissioner, Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, Los Angeles, California, is a native of Nelson, Ohio, where he was born January 1, 1848. His father was Franklin Maginnis and his mother Lucy Ann (Porter) Maginnis. On December 25, 1878, he married Alice J. Harpham at Hutchins, Texas, and as a result of this union there are three children, Frank A., Grace and Earl A. Maginnis.

Mr. Maginnis was educated in the public schools of Cleveland, Ohio, and graduated from the high school of that city. He also attended the Western Reserve College, Hudson, Ohio, graduating in 1866.

His first venture into the business world was in 1866, shortly after graduating from college. He took up civil engineering on the Kansas Pacific Railroad, being employed largely in Kansas and Colorado. He continued for four years.

In 1872 he went to Texas with the Texas and St. Louis Railroad. With this system he constructed bridges throughout the Lone Star State, a notable piece of work being the bridge of the T. & St. L. Ry., between Texarkana and Waco. At a later period he had timber contracts on the Texas Pacific Railroad, from Marshall westward. In 1882, having been in Texas for over ten years, he resigned to accept a position with the Santa Fe Railroad, shortly afterward working up the bond issue of the Chicago, Kansas and Western Railway. In 1885 he bought the right-of-way through Missouri and Iowa for the Chicago line of the Santa Fe. In December, 1887, he went to California to take charge of the land department of the Santa Fe system, known as the Pacific Land Improvement Co. This organization was in reality an expansion of the Santa Fe system and Mr. Maginnis was put in full charge. His success in handling this weighty proposition was so marked that he was shortly made claim agent for the road. Within a short time he was made land commissioner, and later tax commissioner, which important office he now holds. The territory covered under these positions extends from Albuquerque west.

With the rapid growth of Santa Fe interests the duties of Mr. Maginnis became double. As a result he dropped the claim department, as well as the land department, retaining the tax commissionership.

Mr. Maginnis has personal interests that are widely distributed. He is president of the Santa Fe Car Icing Co., president of the Winslow Electric Light & Power Co., and holds a similar position with the Navajo Ice & Cold Storage Co., and the Gate City Ice & Pre-Cooling Co. These interests alone demand a considerable amount of Mr. Maginnis’ time.

He is a director in the Mexican Petroleum Co., in which he was one of the original investors. Other corporations and organizations in which he is more or less interested are the Italy Mining Co., the Mason Smokeless Combustion Co., the Mechanical Appliance Co., and the Los Angeles Harbor Co.

The plant of the Santa Fe Car Icing Co., located at Argentine, Kansas, and that of the Navajo Ice & Cold Storage Co., situated at Winslow, Arizona, are corporations in which Mr. Maginnis owns controlling interests. He possesses similar interests in the Winslow Electric Light & Power Co. The Gate City Ice & Pre-Cooling Co., located at San Bernardino, Cal., between the hot Mojave Desert and Southern California, possesses a capacity of two hundred and twenty-five tons and has a contract with the Santa Fe system to ice all of the citrus fruit shipped over its lines. This in itself is a concern of great importance to the citrus fruit industry, yet it is but one of many important institutions under the personal direction of Mr. Maginnis.

He is a member, California Club.

Ed. Note: Mr. Maginnis died Dec. 28, 1911

Transcribed by Bill Simpkins.

Source: Press Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 836, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta. 1913.

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