San
Joaquin County
Biographies
OWEN H. CHAIN
Foremost among the successful
building contractors of Stockton is O. H. Chain, who has done his full share in
the building up of the city, with its miles of well-kept streets lined with
attractive homes. Born on October 18,
1884 Mr. Chain was reared on the home farm near Huron, Atchison County, Kansas,
until he was eighteen years old, when he struck out for himself, going to the
mines at Silver City, Idaho, where he worked for a time, and then on to
Spokane, Washington, where he was employed in the Union Iron Works. After traveling through the Canadian
Northwest, seeing much new country and gaining much experience, he returned to
Spokane and then came on to Portland, Oregon, where he took up his present line
of work, starting as a carpenter’s helper.
In 1905 Mr. Chain located at San
Francisco, following the trade of carpenter there until 1909, helping to
rebuild the city after the Fire of 1906, and then spent a few months at
Goldfield, Nevada, and Prescott, Arizona, in the building business. Coming back to California in 1908, Mr. Chain
settled in Stockton in 1910, and having found an ideal home and business place,
he has remained here ever since. He was
first employed as foreman on county bridge construction work, and then was
associated with the planing mill of Totten & Brant in their stair-building work.
Starting in business for himself in
1911, Mr. Chain began building and selling residences, and his thorough
workmanship and dependable construction won him success from the start. He has erected over 100 homes in Stockton,
among them the E. Allen Test residence on North Hunter Street, and the home of
Mrs. Frank E. Murphy in Tuxedo Park, as well as many other fine residences in
various parts of the city. He has also
built the following: the Hobbs-Parsons
Produce House; warehouse for the Wagner Leather Company; a brick building for
the Union Planing Mill; three galvanized iron buildings for the Stockton Box
Company; a two-story brick garage building for Dr. J. V. Carviotto;
a two-story flat and laundry building on El Dorado Street; a four-flat building
for Mrs. Silva on San Joaquin near Vine Street; an addition to the Dameron Hospital; the Japanese school building on
Washington Street; building for the Geiger Iron Works; garage for John Yardley
on North San Joaquin Street; brick garage for Everybody’s Investment Company,
on Aurora Street; business block for five brick stores for C. A. Slack in
Tracy; factory for the Superior Manufacturing Company in Lodi; building for
Standard Oil Company at main plant, Stockton; garage for E. B. Stowe on East
Weber Avenue; apartments for Mrs. Amelia Anderson, East Main Street; four flats
for himself at 930 North Commerce Street; residence for Neil I. Ross in Yosemite
Terrace; Victory Grammar School; Parisian Cleaning and Dyeing Works.
In 1909 at San Francisco, Mr. Chain
was married to Miss Louise F. Petry of that city, and
they are the parents of a son, Hubert Victor.
Progressive and public-spirited, Mr. Chain can always be counted on to
contribute to every worthy undertaking for the city’s upbuilding. He is a member of the Merchants,
Manufacturers & Employers Association, the Chamber of Commerce, and a
director of the Builders Exchange.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1280. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County Biographies
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County Genealogy
Databases