San
Joaquin County
Biographies
JAMES EDWARD JOHNSTON
An enterprising general contractor
of wide-experience who has specialized on road construction and the building of
highways is James Edward Johnston, who was born at Tidaholm,
Sweden, on July 8, 1880, the son of a building contractor with whom he learned
the carpenter’s trade, becoming very proficient. He also learned bricklaying, plastering and
stonecutting. At the age of eighteen he
set up for himself in business, and constructed a number of buildings for the
Swedish government. On June 1, 1906, he
arrived in New York City, and pushed westward to Chicago, where he worked for
three months at bricklaying. Then he
went to San Francisco, where he worked at bricklaying for nine months,
returning to Chicago for half a year, and reached Turlock, California, in the
spring of 1907, where he started contracting in a small way. He erected the State Bank Building, and laid
sidewalks for the city of Turlock. He
next removed to Tracy and found so much to do there that he remained for twelve
years. He executed the brick work and
plastering in the Schmidt Block, built the Tracy grammar school, put up the
West Side Bank Building, the City Hall and other buildings and street work,
curbs and gutters for the city, built two schools in Fresno, did the concrete
work on the Patterson high school and also for the Los Banos grammar school and
the Gustine high school. He finished the
brick work on the Chowchilla School, and erected a number of small business
blocks in Stockton, and did the grading, excavation and concrete work on forty
miles of the West Side Irrigation District.
He moved 200,000 yards of dirt in the Tranquility District, and
installed the cement lining in ditches in the Nagley
Work district, eight miles of street work in the North Crest and the Fisher
additions, as well as the Sweitzer Addition, all in Stockton, and laid nine
miles of Mac Adam Road for the county.
He recently secured the contract for $80,000 worth of street work in
Sonora. He is a member of the General
Contractors’ Association of San Francisco, which confines its activities to the
problems of road construction.
At San Francisco Mr. Johnson was
married to Miss Mildred Hitchcock, a native of Nebraska; and their union has
been blessed with four children: Walter,
Florence, James and Frederick. Mr.
Johnston now makes his home in Stockton, and has offices in Stockton Savings
& Loan Bank Building. He belongs to
Mount Osso Lodge, No. 460, F. and A. M., at Tracy, and he has progressed
through all the branches, including Aahmes Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. of
Oakland, and belongs to the Sciots of Stockton.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1232. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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