Biographies
GEORGE L. HERNDON
GEORGE L. HERNDON.--An enterprising, experienced
and thoroughly capable and dependable industrial leader is George L. Herndon,
of the well-known firm of Herndon & Finnigan,
general contractors, with offices and mill at 1814 Seventeenth Street. He was born in Sacramento County on May 1,
1865, the son of William L. and Sarah (Neil) Herndon, the former a pioneer of
the Argonaut days of '49, who crossed the great plains
with oxen and tried his luck at mining.
He returned to St. Louis in 1852; but the next year he made for the
Pacific Coast again, this time being accompanied by his young wife and
traveling by way of the Isthmus. Upon
arriving in San Francisco Mr. Herndon there followed his trade of building
contractor, which had been his business while he lived in St. Louis. In 1854 he came to Sacramento and was made
foreman on the original Capitol Building; after that he contracted extensively,
and many of the old-time buildings in the city are the result of his
handiwork. He erected the old
"Union" building and raised the street to the new grade level. His most notable job was the raising of the
St. George Hotel building to the new grade level. In the work of raising the building, he used
all the jack-screws there were in Sacramento; this was the largest undertaking
of its kind in the state at the time, and was accomplished without mishap. Mr. Herndon being an
experienced mover of buildings.
He was also the foreman on the construction of the present Capitol
Building. He died on March 27, 1883,
deeply mourned by a wide circle of admirers.
Mrs. Herndon passed away in 1905.
George L. Herndon attended the public
schools in Sacramento, and then went to work on a ranch, continuing until 1880,
when he learned the trade of the bricklayer.
This he followed in Sacramento, San Francisco, and other cities as a
journeyman until 1893; then he became a contractor on his own responsibility,
sometimes working with a partner but most of the time alone. Among the earlier buildings he erected in
Sacramento, we mention the Ruhstaller Brewery, the Hanrahan Building and the Pacific States Telephone and
Telegraph building. In 1911 he went on a
ranch he owned in Solano County, where he farmed until 1916; and he also owned
a fifty-acre almond orchard in the Arbuckle district, where he was among the
pioneer almond-growers. Both of these
properties he sold in 1915.
Leaving the ranch in 1916, Mr. Herndon
returned to Sacramento and formed a partnership with Henry Finnigan,
under the name of Herndon & Finnigan; and they
have erected many of the notable structures in this part of the state since
that time. Among the buildings they have
constructed or remodeled in Sacramento are the Mull Building, the Red Men’s
building and the Tong Sung Company’s building, and they also did work on the E.
B. Crocker Art Gallery and the Perfection Bakery. In Lincoln they built the Auditorium; at
Redding, the post-office, as well as a fine school building. They also built four school buildings at
Modesto, one at Davis, one at Arbuckle, and one at Clarksburg. They constructed a large hotel at Arbuckle, a
church and bank at Fairfield and Suisun, and the Sacramento Northern depot at
Marysville, besides many fine garages and homes. In 1920, Herndon & Finnigan
erected a planing-mill, where they do all that is
necessary for both their interior and exterior finishing. They own valuable property adjoining the Dreher Tract, on which they erected the A. Meister
Building, which they lease; and they contemplate constructing a large planing-mill with every modern appliance at the corner of
Seventeenth and North B. Streets in the fall of 1923.
In 1896, Mr. Herndon was married to Mrs.
Carrie P. (Kinsner) Black, who was born in New York
but has lived in Sacramento since her girlhood; and they have since maintained
a home noted for its California hospitality.
Mr. Herndon is a member of Sacramento Parlor No. 3, N. S. G. W., and he
also belongs to the Elks, the Red Men, the Builder’s
Exchange Club. Politically, he is a
Republican. Mr. Herndon is a pioneer in
the building business in Sacramento, and has won the esteem of a large circle
of friends, who are gratified with the success he has made on his own
responsibility. He had a hobby of liking
and owning good horses, and he is still fond of hunting and fishing and other
out-of-door sports.
Transcribed by Suzanne Wood.
Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With
Biographical Sketches, Page 371-372. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA.
1923.
© 2007 Suzanne Wood.