Santa Clara County
Biographies
HON. OLIVER
A. HALE
HON.
OLIVER A. HALE. The mercantile interests of San Jose are well represented in
the person of Hon. Oliver A. Hale, one of the city’s oldest
business men and one who in the past has proved himself a potent factor in the
upbuilding of important enterprises and the development of resources in the
Santa Clara valley. A man of indomitable will and energy, he combines with
these qualities an executive ability which has resulted in a most successful
management of his affairs, while an ever courteous manner and kindly
personality have won for him the friendship and esteem of those whom he has met
either in a business or social way. No man has given greater efforts or
accomplished greater results for the business prestige of San Jose.
Born
March 18, 1852, in Phoenix, Oswego county, N. Y.,
Mr. Hale was the son of Marshall and Clarissa S. (Paine) Hale. The
elder man was born in Jamaica, Vt., in 1809, and after attaining manhood he
removed to Phoenix, Oswego county, N. Y., where
he engaged in mercantile pursuits. Emigrating to the
middle west, he engaged in the same business in South Haven, Mich., and later
in Schoolcraft, in that state. In 1873 he came west to California, locating in
San Jose, where after three years he became associated with the firm of
O. A. Hale & Co., remaining connected with the same
until his retirement in 1890. The following year his death occurred. His wife
was born in South Granby, N. Y., a daughter of Seth Paine, a native
of Connecticut who served in the War of 1812. He was a farmer by occupation,
being located in New York state. Mrs. Hale died
in her native town in 1852, leaving one son, the subject of this sketch.
The
descendant of an educated and cultured family, it was but natural that
Oliver A. Hale should desire and seek a good education. Up to the age
of fourteen years he attended the district schools of New York state, when he entered his father’s store and received some
practical training along a commercial line. Two years later he entered Fulton
Seminary, which he attended for three years, then took a course in the
Kalamazoo (Mich.) Business College, which, in conjunction with his previous
training, was of incalculable benefit to him. Until 1872 he followed clerking
as a means of livelihood, and in that year went to Chicago, where he secured a
position as traveling salesman for a lumber company, continuing so employed for
a period of three years. In February, 1876, he followed his father to
California, and in March of that year they inaugurated the business which has
since grown to such mammoth proportions. The business was first established in
San Jose, in a small store 17 x 40 feet in dimensions, located where
the First street entrance admits one to the present store. In this little box
(as some of the old-timers call it) they began with a small stock of dry-goods,
the value of which did not exceed the amount now invested in show cases in the
First street part of their large store, which is by far the finest and largest
in the Santa Clara valley. From this small beginning the business built up and
they have added to their interests, until to-day it
compares very favorably with the finest mercantile establishments in the
metropolis. In 1895 they built the San Fernando street part of their store, and
the following year built the Second street side of the store,
the entire building measuring 275 feet from First to Second street, with a
depth of 257 feet to the San Fernando street entrance, the same
conveniently galleried, while a basement is under the greater part of the
building. On the second floor are three halls, known as Hale’s Hall, Marshall
Hall and Curtis Hall, in which some twenty-six different organizations meet.
This is a most modern and complete department store, and Hale’s “Good Goods”
are known all over the state of California. During all these years, regardless
of hard times, Mr. Hale has never failed to discount all bills. The five
brothers are all interested in this business, and have established stores in
the following cities: Salinas, established in 1877, under the firm name of
Hale & Co.; Petaluma, established in 1878, under the firm name of
Hale Bros. & Co.; Stockton, established in 1879, under the
firm name of Hale Bros.; Sacramento, established in 1880, under the firm
name of Hale Bros.; and in 1894 they built and established a department
store in San Francisco, known as the Hale Bros., Incorporated, one of the
largest department stores in the state, its dimensions being 100 x 165 feet
and occupying four stories. They have an office at No. 395 Broadway, New
York City, where they have six resident buyers.
Mr. Hale
is one of the directors and the largest stockholder in the Farmers’ Union,
while he acts as director in the First National Bank of San Jose; First
National Bank of Salinas; First National Bank of Monterey; Germania National
Bank of San Francisco; Petaluma National Bank; Commercial and Savings Bank of
San Jose; and director and vice-president of the Central Trust Company of San
Francisco. He is also president of the Interurban Railway. He was a director in
the original incorporation of the San Jose, Los Gatos & Saratoga Railway,
which was afterward reorganized and incorporated as the San Jose, Los Gatos
& Interurban Railway. When eastern capital became interested in the road
Mr. Hale was elected president of the company. He has been exceedingly
active in the promotion of this enterprise from the time he first became
identified with the movement. They now have lines to Los Gatos, Saratoga and
Congress Springs, and will soon have their loop to Los Gatos and return
completed, which will comprise twenty-seven miles of railway. They are now
planning and will build a line from Meridian to Palo Alto. Mr. Hale’s plan
now is to build about one hundred and fifty miles in the Santa Clara valley, an
enterprise which will do more to advance the interests of the people and
increase the value of property in this county than any other single movement.
Mr. Hale
has been a member of the board of trustees of the Agnew State Insane Asylum
since 1887, having served under all administrations; and from the construction
of the first building he has been chairman of the building committee. He is
greatly interested in the erection of the cottages, which will enable them to
put into execution a plan to classify the patients, and in every possible way
surround the unfortunate inmates with the most exceptional care and medical
aid.
In
his political convictions Mr. Hale is a very prominent and active
Republican, and is an ex-member of the state and executive committees. He was a
delegate to the National Republican Convention in Minneapolis in 1892, when he
was a member of the Committee on Credentials. He was also a delegate to the
National Republican Convention in St. Louis in 1896, when he served on the
Committee on Organization. Fraternally he is associated with the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks, and Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is a member
of the Union League Club of San Francisco, and the San Francisco Club.
Transcribed
by Marie Hassard 25 October 2015.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages
826-829. The Chapman Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Marie
Hassard.