Sacramento County
Biographies
GEORGE DEMING HUDNUTT
GEORGE DEMING HUDNUTT.--Prominent among
the most experienced, progressive and successful builders in Sacramento County
is George Deming Hudnutt, of Sacramento, who resides at 2031 T Street, and
maintains his offices and business headquarters at 211 California Fruit
Building. He was born at Big Rapids, Mecosta County, Mich., on July 17, 1879,
the son of Calvin G. and Lois Ann (Deming) Hudnutt, both of whom are now
deceased, estimable people of colonial and pre-revolutionary stock of the old
school who believed in so living that the world would be the better for their
having been in it. They favored education, and so George Hudnutt was encouraged
to finish the grammar school work and after that to go through the high school.
This taste of intellectual activity and growth led him next to go to the
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, from which he was duly graduated with the
class of ´01, when he received the B. S. degree for proficiency in mechanical
engineering; and after that he was one of the valued men, with a thorough
technical knowledge, in the employ of the Studebakers at South Bend, Ind., and
the equally celebrated Otis Elevator Company, at Yonkers-on-the-Hudson, Chicago
and New York City; builders, it will be recalled, of the inclining elevators
running on the groove of the Eiffel Tower, at the Paris Exposition, when other
noted elevator-makers throughout the world had declared that it could not be
done. After that, Mr. Hudnutt engaged in building with
the Ransome-Smith Company of New York, and for the first time, in 1907, came out
to California.
Mr. Hudnutt established himself in San Francisco and Oakland with the Ransome Concrete
Company, and in 1911 moved inland to Sacramento, to enter the service of
the same company. In December, 1914, he decided to set up in business for
himself, and with the Ransome Concrete Company, he built the California Fruit
Building and other structures, which include the following: the Physicians
Buildings at Tenth and K Streets; the Capital Van and Storage warehouse at
Twenty-First and R Streets; the W. I. Elliott Company building at Sixteenth and
J Streets; the Greenwald building on Eighth Street between I and J Streets; the
Remick-Haley building on the corner of Twelfth and K Streets; and the Isadore
F. Morris building on K Street between Ninth and Tenth Streets. He also built
the “Fresno Bee” building at Fresno, Cal. Mr. Hudnutt
specializes in the construction of commercial buildings.
Upon the
request of the board of education of the city of Sacramento, an architectural and
engineering commission was duly incorporated for the purpose of building the
necessary buildings for the elementary schools for the city of Sacramento. In consequence of this
incorporation, the following members were selected to act in the commission: E.
C. Hemmings and J. C. Peterson as architects, and
George D. Hudnutt as engineer. Twelve buildings were constructed, as follows:
the Elmhurst, El Dorado, Fremont, Newton Booth, Donner,
Jefferson, David Lubin, Sierra, Bret Harte, McKinley, Marshall, and Leland Stanford school
buildings. The said twelve school buildings were all built under the $2,300,000
bond issue of 1918.
At Roanoke. Va., on June 28, 1905, Mr.
Hudnutt was married to Miss Madge L. Duerson, a native of Virginia, and the daughter of Dr. H.
O. and Adelaide (Coleman) Duerson; and their fortunate union has
been blessed with a daughter, Marcia, and a son, George, Jr. When in college
Mr. Hudnutt joined the Sigma Chi; and on coming to Sacramento, he became a member of the
Sutter and the Country Clubs, as he is fond of golf. He joined the Chamber of
Commerce and came to serve as one of its directors; and while demonstrating his
public spirit in many ways, he took an active part in all of the war drives. He
believes in the platforms of the Republican party.
Transcribed by Vicky Walker,
6/28/07.
Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With Biographical Sketches,
Pages 906-907.
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.
© 2007 Vicky Walker.