Sacramento County
Biographies
FRANK A. HOLDENER
FRANK
A. HOLDENER.--Among the men who for the past twelve years have utilized the
opportunities offered in Sacramento for business progress, and who have thereby
attained success, is Frank A. Holdener, the well-know contractor and builder,
whose offices are located at 2608 R Street, Sacramento. His activity in his chosen line of work has
contributed to general progress and improvement, as well as to his individual
prosperity. He is a native of Switzerland,
born at Ober-Yberg, January 12, 1886, in the same
country where General Sutter was born.
His parents were Joseph Frank and Mary Holdener, both natives of the
same country. The father is a shoe merchant;
the mother has passed away. The Holdener
family is traced back to the eleventh century in Switzerland, and are among the oldest and most prominent families in
that country. Mr. Holdener also traces
his ancestry back to Werner Staufacher, one of the
tree leaders in the struggle for the Independence of Switzerland.
Frank
A. Holdener acquired his education in the schools of his native country,
supplementing it with attendance at the colleges, where he majored in
architecture. He served the required
time in the Swiss army and received his honorable discharge, after which he was
free to go wherever or whenever he wished.
When twenty-one years old he came out to the land of the Stars and
Stripes, crossing the continent to the Pacific Coast
and coming directly to San Francisco,
where he arrived on February 1, 1907, and where he was employed at his trade
for a number of years. In 1910 he
removed to Sacramento, where he
engaged in the general contracting business, his especial line of work being
the contracting of concrete structures.
Among his notable work is the concrete bridge over Butte Slough, the
apartment building at the corner of Twenty-seventh and I streets in Sacramento,
the Nicolaus schools at Nicolaus, Del Monte Creamery in San Francisco, several
apartment houses in San Francisco, Yuba City High School, and the dams for the
Cosumnes irrigation project, as well as a number of fine residences in
Sacramento. All of his work is
first-class, and his dependability insures a rapidly increasing business. In his work of construction, he is aided by
having the most modern and up-to-date equipment, so that he can handle any
contract, from the smallest job to a million-dollar structure. He has now under construction a quarter of a
million dollars’ worth of work.
Sometimes his work necessitates his employing 150 men. Mr. Holdener has established his warehouses
and offices at 1608 R Street.
Mr.
Holdener’s marriage united him with Miss Caroline Gemsch, born in Switzerland,
and they have a son, Joseph A., and a daughter, Frances Elizabeth. Fraternally, Mr. Holdener is a member of the
Sacramento Lodge No. 6, B. P. O. Elks, and the Foresters of America. He is also a member of the Rotary Club and
the Bowling Club of Sacramento, and of the Builders’ Exchange, Master Builders’
Association, and Chamber of Commerce.
Transcribed by Barbara Gaffney.
Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With
Biographical Sketches, Page 552.
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles,
CA. 1923.
© 2007 Barbara Gaffney.