Los Angeles County
Biographies
ARTHUR CLYDE THORPE
THORPE, DR. ARTHUR CLYDE, Los
Angeles, California, was born at Northfield, Minn., Dec. 19, 1866,
the son of George C. and Adelaide (Carpenter) Thorpe. He married
Miss Florence Chase at Lankershim, Cal.,
Nov. 30, 1910.
His father was a man of influence in his section of
Minnesota. He was a real estate operator on a considerable scale and a factor
in politics.
Dr. Thorpe attended the grammar schools, and graduated
from the high school of his native city.
Although a youth under twenty he
was given the office of Deputy County Treasurer of Stevens County, Minnesota.
He fulfilled the duties of the office with great credit to himself for a period
of a year and eight months, when his term expired.
His friends urged him to run for the office of County
Treasurer, and, although he thought his youth would be a handicap, he was
elected. He had, at the time of his election, just passed his majority. He had
the distinction of being the youngest County Treasurer in the United States,
the youngest man to occupy an elective office of such consequence in the
history of the country. Had he been any younger he would have been ineligible
not only to hold any elective office, but even to vote. At the expiration of
his first term he was a candidate again, and was again easily elected.
He wanted a profession, and decided on medicine. He
entered the University of Minnesota Medical
Department, and graduated in the spring of 1897.
While a student at the university he bought a drug store,
and this he operated while learning his profession. The laboratory of the drug
store gave him the opportunity for many independent chemical experiments.
After his graduation he entered a Minneapolis hospital to
gain practical experience. With six months’ hospital experience behind him he
moved to San Gabriel, Cal., and there began to practice.
In 1899, after two years at San Gabriel, he moved to Los
Angeles. His first office was at the corner of Seventh and Figueroa. He later
moved to the Byrne Building, and, in 1905, to the Grant Building, where he is
at the present time. He is specializing in nose and throat diseases, and in
surgery, but conducts a general practice. During the early part of his career
he studied tuberculosis, and he has the reputation among his medical associates
of being one of the best informed of physicians on the diseases of the lungs
and throat.
He has entered fully into the life of the city which he
has chosen for his home. He has been identified with many of the movements for
civic betterment. He has invested his capital in real estate in Los Angeles and
Southern California. He is a stockholder in several corporations and is in a number of business ventures.
Dr. Thorpe is an energetic, active worker in the various
medical societies of Southern California. He is also a member of all the
important local, State and national medical societies. Among them are included
the California State Medical Society, the American Medical Association, the Los
Angeles County Medical Association, the Hennepin County Medical Society of
Minnesota and the International Surgeons’ Club of Rochester, Minnesota.
Dr. Thorpe is an enthusiastic devotee of outdoor sports,
in the pursuit of which he spends a considerable part of his spare time.
He is a club man, and belongs to the Jonathan Club, the
Los Angeles Country Club, the University Club, the Pacific Gun Club, the Tuna
Fishing Club of Catalina Island, the Young Men’s
Christian Association. He is also a Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
12 October 2011.
Source: Press Reference
Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 699, International News Service,
New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta. 1913.
© 2011 Marie Hassard.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPIES