San Francisco County
Biographies
JOHN B.
LEONARD
The boyhood ambition of John B. Leonard to be a good engineer has been generously realized. His career in engineering has been one of rapid progress, and he now occupies the responsible position of superintendent of the bureau of building inspection in San Francisco. He was born in Union City, Michigan, July 18, 1864, a son of the late Joseph C. and Martha H. (Haynes) Leonard.
John B. Leonard was educated in the public schools of the little southern Michigan town where he was born, in the Michigan State College, in Illinois University, and in the University of Michigan. He earned his way during the years he studied, for he had no material assistance given to him. He did many things, including school teaching. In 1888 he journeyed westward to Los Angeles, California, where he was first connected with the city engineering department. Then, in 1889, he came up the coast to San Francisco, and for fifteen years he was engaged as an engineer in construction work in this city. In 1903 he opened his own office as a structural engineer, and the builders of the city were quick to recognize his real ability. His patronage increased month by month, and soon he was numbered among the few with outstanding reputations. On May 18, 1928, he was signally honored by the city board in being appointed to the position of superintendent of the bureau of building inspection, a very important office in the city of San Francisco. Since assuming his present position, Mr. Leonard has been one of the prime factors in advocating a revision of the city building laws to meet present-day building conditions.
In 1904, in San Francisco, Mr. Leonard was united in marriage to Miss Sarah L. Lewis, a member of one of the city’s pioneer families. They have become the parents of two children, Nancy B. and Dorothy C., both of whom were born in Oakland. The family residence is situated at 1522 Lake street in San Francisco.
Mr. Leonard has been an independent republican in politics, and his fraternal membership is confined to Golden Gate Lodge, No. 30, of the Masons, which he joined in 1900. In engineering, he has found not only his life’s vocation, but his hobby and his diversion, and his pronounced success in the practice of the profession may be attributed to this enthusiasm which he has possessed since his boyhood days, when he first began to think of structural building.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Source: Byington, Lewis Francis, “History of
San Francisco 3 Vols”, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1931. Vol. 2 Pages 208-209.
© 2007 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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