San
Joaquin County
Biographies
JAMES A. ALLEN
For the past thirteen years James A.
Allen has been closely identified with the building interests of Stockton, and
is one of the progressive and enterprising men of that city. He was born near Springfield, Missouri, on
July 13, 1882. His father was a building
contractor and when James was fourteen years old he began to learn the
carpenter trade with his father and followed his trade in the east until 1905
when he came to California. His first
work was on the Spreckels Sugar Factory at Visalia; he next worked on a sawmill at Milwood Basin in the
mountains of Fresno County. In 1906 he
went to San Francisco shortly after the fire, where he worked for a contractor
and later ran a shop where he made office fixtures and helped materially in
rebuilding the stricken city. In 1909 he
came to Stockton and first worked for Chappell, the contractor, on the interior
finish of the Wonder Store, Denton’s residence and the new concrete building at
the State Farm; then he entered the employ of Chirhart
& Nystad, building contractors, and with them
worked on the new buildings for the Stockton high school. In 1912 he started in for himself as building
contractor, making a specialty of fine homes in which line he has built up a
fine reputation. He has erected
residences for Frank Murray, Frank Warner, Arthur Salz;
he has also done some fine work on interior finish and fronts of stores. He erected a $20,000 home for George Moore at
Lodi, a $9,000 home on the Theissen ranch near
Thornton and the Percy Hodgkin ranch home.
He recently designed and completed the Gall Block at the corner of Main
and Aurora streets at a cost of $45,000, one of Stockton’s new, modern
structures. He has also constructed and
sold eight houses.
Mrs. Allen’s maiden name was Miss
Mary Lipp, a native of Indiana, and she is the parent
of a daughter, by her former marriage, Lena Belle. Mr. Allen is a member of the Stockton
Builder’s Exchange and fraternally is a Knight of Pythias of uniform rank, the Pythian
Sisters and the Woodmen of the World.
Mr. Allen has recently sold his beautiful home in Tuxedo Park, and is
now planning a new residence.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
727. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County Biographies
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County Genealogy
Databases