San
Joaquin County
Biographies
ADOLPH JOHNSON
An active factor in the upbuilding
of the city of Stockton and its environs, particularly as a subdivision
specialist, and having an intimate knowledge of the real estate and investment fields
of central California, Adolph Johnson is well qualified to rank as a leader in
investment circles. His thorough
training in the dairy business has also made him an authority in this field,
especially in the selection of dairy herds, his reputation having been gained
through his practical experience.
Maintaining an office at 44 South San Joaquin Street, Mr. Johnson does a
general real estate, investment and insurance business, paying particular
attention to the subdivision of suburban home property.
A native of Iowa, Mr. Johnson was
born at Emmetsburg, Iowa, June 27, 1881 and was reared on the home farm there,
attending the country schools. Coming to
California in 1901, he located at Fresno, where he worked for Mr. Simon Easthouse, whom he had known in the East, and who had large
dairy and stock interests in Fresno County; for three years he remained here,
becoming familiar with all the details of the dairy business. Ambitious to progress in the world, however,
Mr. Johnson saved his money and in 1904 came to Stockton where he took a course
in the Stockton Business College. Later
he secured a teacher’s certificate and for eight years taught school in San
Joaquin County, and during this period spent in the rural districts he became
interested in farming and land buying.
In 1917 Mr. Johnson entered the real
estate business in Stockton and since that time he has met with unqualified
success, selling many attractive home sites, improved and unimproved
properties, and other fine holdings.
Among his profitable transactions have been a number of dairy farms
which he has built up and sold at splendid advances. One, a thirty-acre farm east of Stockton on
the Linden Road, he improved and sold for $13,000. On a tract of sixty-five acres of bare land
on the Calaveras River he planted twenty acres of alfalfa, installed a fine
pumping plant, built a $9,000 dairy barn, stocked it with forty-five Holstein
cows and sold it for $40,000 in April, 1920.
This is one of the best-equipped dairy farms in the county, and has
since been sold for $52,000. Mr. Johnson
is a member of the Milk Producers’ Association of Central California, and is
considered one of the best judges of dairy cows in this part of the state, and
his expert knowledge is eagerly sought by farmers who plan to establish
dairies; in fact, Mr. Johnson has bought a number of dairy herds for
prospective dairy farmers, who knew they could place full confidence in his
judgment.
Mr. Johnson has been very active in
the subdivision of city and suburban property as follows: In 1917 he put on the market City Park Terrace,
surrounding Victory Park Stockton. This
consisted of 100 acres, costing $75,000, which he divided into 600 lots, all of
the property being sold on easy terms and many homes have been erected there. Bungalow Park, a tract of twenty acres north
of the Grunsky School, is built up with 120 homes. Lakeside Terrace property also met with quick
response, sixty-eight lots being sold in less than sixty days. He has put the following suburban property on
the market: City Farms, on Cherokee
Lane, forty acres divided into quarter-acre lots and sold to working men; sixty
acres of the traction line on Cherokee Lane; a subdivision east of Stockton on
the Linden Road divided into five and ten-acre farms; Sunny Slope Farms, 100
acres on the traction line subdivided into small farms; twenty acres on the Linden
Road, called the Johnson Garden Farms.
Thus Mr. Johnson has been active in attracting to this section hundreds
of new settlers and adding to Stockton’s reputation as a city of homes. Recognized as one of Stockton’s most
progressive citizens, he was one of the committee that engineered the bond
issue for the building of the new city hall and municipal auditorium.
Mr. Johnson was united in marriage
at Stockton May 22, 1907 to Miss Cleva Bacon, a daughter
of Bedford Bacon, who for more than forty years has been a resident of San
Joaquin County. Two children have come
to bless their home: Robert Bacon and
Alice May. Mr. Johnson is a member of
the Masons and the Stockton Ad Club.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1299-1300. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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