San
Joaquin County
Biographies
FAY REED ZINCK
Holding the record as one of
California’s youngest contractors, Fay Reed Zinck is also numbered among
Stockton’s most successful builders. A
native son, he was born at Oakdale, Stanislaus County, February 17, 1890, and
when a child accompanied his parents, Christian and Ora (Reed) Zinck to
northeastern Oregon, and later resided in Seattle. The father was a contractor and builder. He erected the Sperry flour mill at Stockton
and has followed the building business for many years. Returning to California in 1902, the family
settled at Stockton, and here Fay attended the El Dorado Street School until he
was fourteen, when he entered the employ of Robert Powell, the pioneer
contractor. In 1905 he went to San
Francisco, where he took up architectural drawing in the office of a prominent
architect, and later was with the well-known contracting firm of Brunton Bros. After
the great fire of 1906 he worked in San Francisco, helping rebuild the city
after the holocaust that swept over it.
In 1908 Mr. Zinck returned to
Stockton and for a time was associated again with Robert Powell and later with
Lewis & Barling.
In 1911, although but twenty-one, he started in the contracting business
for himself, but through his ability and the application he had given to his
work he was even then far better equipped than men many years his senior. Successful from the start, he has erected in
the neighborhood of 200 houses in Stockton, most of these being in the best
residence sections of the city, and has erected many office and business blocks
for the well-known real estate firm of Triolo & Calestini. He has
had the contract for a number of school buildings, which he has completed most
satisfactorily, among them the Lottie Grunsky School, the Jefferson Manual
Training School, remodeled the high school and the Lathrop School; and on
Washington Street he built a theater and garage.
With R. F. Shutes, Mr. Zinck formed
the firm of Shutes & Zinck in 1919, and they conduct a planing mill on
North Commerce Street, near Weber Avenue, having already built up a good
business. Mr. Shutes was formerly a
resident of Minnesota and has had a wide experience in the lumber business both
there and in California. They built the
South Sewage Disposal Plant for the City of Stockton, under the supervision of
Fred S. Tibbetts, engineer of San Francisco, a $108,000 contract. The partners have erected a two-story
reinforced concrete building for the First National Bank of Los Banos, and a
two-story brick building block and office building at the corner of California
and Market streets, Stockton, for which Mr. Zinck drew the plans, as he has
also done for many of the homes he has built.
They own their own concrete equipment which is considered the best in
the valley owned and operated by contractors.
The firm holds membership in the Progressive Business Club, and so
assist in all programs for the upbuilding of this favored section.
Mr. Zinck’s
marriage, which occurred at Stockton on May 4, 1912, united him with Miss
Nellie I. Twitchings, a native of England, who came
to California in 1898; and they have one son, Edgar Reed.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
967-968. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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