San
Joaquin County
Biographies
HERMAN C. MEYER
A
history of an institution is but a biography of those who made it. Any story of the Stockton City Laundry is a
story of the enterprise and business sagacity of Herman C. Meyer, one of the city’s
leading men, and his associate, Mrs. Anna Sellman. Herman C. Meyer was born on his father’s
ranch seven miles east of Stockton October 20, 1863, the son of Henry and Anna
R. (Behrmann) Meyer.
His father, Henry Meyer, was one of California’s pioneers, coming west
in 1849. He engaged for awhile in mining
and then the family located on a farm in the fertile San Joaquin County where
seven sons and one daughter were born.
Young Herman attended the Delphi district school and at seventeen years
of age started out to earn his own living.
His first employment was in a San Francisco grocery store. After three years in the metropolis, he
returned to Stockton and entered the employ of Mr. Lafayette Sellman, who then
owned and managed the Stockton City Steam Laundry.
After Mr. Sellman’s
death Mr. Meyer was made manager. In
1903 the laundry was incorporated and he was elected vice-president and general
manager of the institution, a position he has ever since held. Always the aim and purpose of the management
of the Stockton City Laundry has been service.
Many years of conscientious thought and close study and the expenditure
of much money for the latest and most efficient machinery has developed the
institution to its present high rank among the laundries of the west.
Associated with Mr. Meyer in the
conduct of the business have always been Mrs. Anna Sellman and her daughter,
Grace Sellman Coates, who is secretary-treasurer of the company. In answer to the demands of inevitable
expansion, they have made extensive improvements. The entire plant is in three units, on lots
each 50 x 150 feet, and about sixty-five hands are regularly employed.
Machinery that performs marvelous
work has been installed and the big plant has won the admiration of men who
specialize in the laundry business.
Experts from many cities have informed Mr. Meyer that his establishment
represents the last word in laundry equipment.
One of the outstanding features of the laundry process is the equipment
for softening the water, thereby eliminating the use of caustic sodas,
etc. This is an invaluable protection to
all materials laundered. This softened
water combined with pure soap greatly prolongs the life of the fabric. A girls’ rest room is in the process of
installation, with lockers for each girl and hot and cold water, and an
attractive lunch room. Tea and coffee
will be served by the company. These
provisions are greatly appreciated by the employees who, it is needless to say,
are among the most expert to be found anywhere.
Through Mrs. Sellman’s humanitarianism each
employee is presented with a life insurance policy at the end of six months’
service.
While this busy institution has been
Mr. Meyer’s hobby and his life’s work, yet he has found time to engage in
extensive operations in other fields. He
is a director in the City Bank of Stockton, and also in the Home Builders’
Investment and Securities Company, and a member of the firm of Charles E. Pike,
furniture dealers.
Herman Meyer is a fraternal man, big
heartedly and brotherly. He holds active
membership in all Masonic bodies, including the Shrine and is an Odd Fellow of
high standing. He is a member of the
Stockton Parlor, N. S. G. W., of Stockton Lodge, No. 218, B. P. O. E.; he
belongs to the Stockton Golf and Country Club, the Yosemite Club, and the
Rotary Club. He was married in 1913 to
Jessie Ora Farmer Belding. They have two
children: Miss Benora
F. Belding, aged sixteen, and Miss Anna Cort Meyer, aged eight, in whose companionship he finds the
greatest delight.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1399. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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