Los Angeles County
Biographies
WILLIAM A. SIMPSON
William A. Simpson, president of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce for 1933, is an architectural engineer with wide experience in the building of the Los Angeles that exists today. He was born in Denver, Colorado, March 29, 1887, his parents being William A. and Annie F. Simpson, natives of New Brunswick, Canada. The father removed to Denver; Colorado, in 1876 and there engaged in the construction business until 1912, when he came to San Diego, California, here continuing in the same line of activity until his death, which occurred in 1917.
William A. Simpson was educated in the elementary and high schools of Denver, Colorado, and in accordance with his father’s wishes pursued civil and architectural engineering courses at the Universities of Colorado and Illinois. On leaving college in 1910 he entered business in association with his father, under the name of the William Simpson Construction Company, and supervised army work in Boise, Idaho, and Cheyenne, Wyoming, and also work for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. Coming to San Diego with his father in 1912, he remained in the firm until 1915, which year witnessed his arrival in Los Angeles. He has been carrying on the construction business under the name of the William Simpson Construction Company, the work of which may be found in many substantial structures in both the states of California and Arizona, among them the following: Beverly-Wilshire apartment hotel in Beverly Hills; Pellissier building, Pantages theater building, Guaranty building, Pacific Mutual Building addition, Immanuel Presbyterian Church, Commercial Exchange building, First Methodist Episcopal Church, Medico-Dental building, Hollywood Chamber of Commerce building, Hollywood Storage building and the Architects’ building, all in Los Angeles; the Sana Fe station, San Diego Trust & Savings Bank building, El Cortez Hotel, Fox Theater, Montgomery-Ward store, Medico Dental building and the first six units of the Naval Base Hospital, all in San Diego; the Phoenix Title & Trust building and the Arizona-Biltmore Hotel and Dormitory in Arizona. During the World war, Mr. Simpson built portions of cantonments at Fort MacArthur, San Pedro, and he has also done work for the Santa Fe Railroad in Los Angeles and elsewhere, and for Arizona copper mining corporations.
Mr. Simpson joined the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce in 1917, and was elected to the board of directors in 1925. He has been active in representing his industry, and has served as chairman of the construction industries committee, as well as president and a director of the Los Angeles Chapter, Associated General Contractors of America.
In 1912, in Denver, Colorado, Mr. Simpson was united in marriage to Georgia A. Clapp and they are the parents of two sons, William A., Jr., and David W., who are sixteen and ten years of age, respectively. The family residence is in Beverly Hills.
Transcribed by Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: California
of the South Vol. II, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages
499-500, Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 Joyce Rugeroni.
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