Los Angeles County
Biographies
FRANK R. STRONG
STRONG, FRANK R., Real Estate
Operator, Los Angeles, California, is a native of San Diego, where he was born
January 5, 1871, his parents being Dr. D. W. and
Mary A. Strong.
Like most of the notable men of the country, Mr. Strong’s
education was derived from the public schools and business colleges of his
native city.
After leaving school he entered business life at the age
of eighteen, as an employe of the famous firm of Easton,
Eldridge and Company, in San Diego. He remained with this firm until 1891, when
he found himself so well equipped in sagacity that he succeeded to the San
Diego business of the firm, and formed a partnership with M. D. Arms
under the name of Strong and Arms, meeting with such a degree of success as to
encourage him to seek a wider field. With that end in view he removed to Los
Angeles in 1895, and formed a partnership with Mr. F. B. Wilde,
a former member of the Easton and Eldridge concern, and began business under
the style of Wilde and Strong; excellent results attended the career of this
firm, which continued until 1900, when Mr. Wilde decided to retire from
business activity, and Mr. Strong formed a new partnership with
Mr. G. W. Dickinson, who as well had been a San Diegan, and
business was continued by the new concern of Strong and Dickinson.
The new firm at once engaged in subdividing large
properties and placing them on the market; they successfully handled in rapid
succession eighty such subdivisions.
Few real estate operators have had more to do with the
imperial development of Los Angeles and Southern California than had
Mr. Strong. He acquired large holdings himself, and thus has not only been
a dealer deriving profits from his transactions, but has become the owner of
farms and business properties which in themselves form handsome fortunes.
One of his business structures is on Fourth street, between Main and Los Angeles streets; another is on
Fifth street, between Broadway and Hill, and Mr. Strong is also the owner
of several most valuable pieces of property, notably the southwest corner of
Ninth and Spring streets, with Mr. Robert Marsh. This is a location which
by many it is believed will be the center of the business activity of the city
in the near future. He owns also the corner of Seventh street
and Central avenue, as well as the southwest corner of Ninth and Central
avenue, which is occupied by a two-story business building.
He has acquired extensive farming lands, which have
become his particular charge. He owns two large ranches near La Mirada, twenty
miles from Los Angeles; a very large ranch in the Coachella Valley, that is now
being planted in cotton, alfalfa and dates; these and a 2000-acre grain ranch
at San Jacinto smilingly evidence Mr. Strong’s capacity as a farmer.
Besides being senior member of the firm of Strong and
Dickinson, he is president of the Western Building and Investment Company,
president of the Pasadena Park Improvement Company, president of the Suburban
Improvement Company, president of the Cottage Terrace Tract, vice president of
the Rimpau Heights Company, Alamitos Bay Improvement
Company, Alamitos Development Company, Los Angeles Beach Company, Short Line
Beach Company; a director in the British-American Oil Company, the North Midway
Oil Company, the Gold Standard Investment Company, the Commercial National
Bank, the Figueroa Heights Company, the Howard Park Company, and the Crenshaw
Investment Company.
Mr. Strong is a member of Ramona Parlor Native Sons of
the Golden West and of the Union League Club, both of Los Angeles.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
10 May 2011.
Source: Press
Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 646,
International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston,
Atlanta. 1913.
© 2011 Marie Hassard.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPIES