San
Joaquin County
Biographies
LOUIE J. DELMEGE
A pioneer merchant who has had much
to do with the development of important commercial and realty interests in San Joaquin
County is Louie J. Delmege, of the Delmege Realty Company at Manteca. He was born in Denver, Colorado, on September
30, 1886, and grew up to enjoy a common school and business education acquired
while he lived in Colorado, Iowa and North Dakota, prior to coming to
California. He was assistant station
agent at Knox, North Dakota, and it was there that he saw some stray copies of
the Sunset Magazine and read of the superior attractions of the Golden
State. In 1905 he removed with his
family to the Coast, and immediately invested in a ranch two and one-half miles
east of Manteca, which he later developed into a fine vineyard. Forty dollars per acre was considered very
reasonable in those days for raw land, but today that type of farm tract cannot
be bought for less than $400 per acre, due for the most part to the productivity
resulting from irrigation. Mr. Delmege has never lost a whit of his enthusiastic devotion
to Manteca, which he characterizes as the one city in this valley which is
four-sided, that is, it is bounded on all sides by fertile lands and highly-productive
ranches.
One of the first important events in
the early history of Manteca was the establishing of “The Toggery,”
a first-class men’s furnishing store on Yosemite Avenue, stocked and opened by
Mr. Delmege, who had a partner, J. J. Rawleigh. They began
in 1909, and were active and successful together for nine years, or until 1918,
when Mr. Delmege disposed of his share of the
concern. The following year he
established the Delmege Realty Company, with an
office at the corner of Vine and Yosemite streets. There he conducts a real estate and insurance
business, operating strictly according to modern business methods. He has important interests in various real
estate and ranch holdings in or near Manteca; is a member of the State Realty
Board of California; and belongs to the Chamber of Commerce of Manteca, in
which he is also a live wire.
At Stockton in 1911, Mr. Delmege was married to Miss Jessie B. Ruby, the
accomplished daughter of Mrs. H. E. Ruby, who now resides at Manteca, at the
home of her daughter. Mr. Delmege is a Republican and a member of the Modern Woodmen
of America.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1583. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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