Hugo Pinkney Frear

 

Mr. Hugo Pinkney Frear, after about thirty years of residence in various parts of California, finally decided, eleven years ago, to go to Burlingame, then a little village.  He was one of the first to build here; and so well pleased that he is still residing in this place.

 

Mr. Frear’s profession is that of Naval Architect at the Union Iron Works where he has been associated with Mr. Geo. Dickie in the building of some of the greatest battleships and cruisers of the American Navy.  He is a graduate of Oahu College, Honolulu and Worcester Polytechnic Institute at Worcester, Massachusetts.

 

Mr. Frear took an active part in the incorporation and the improvements of Burlingame; and it was through his efforts that this city received it public library site.  He served on the first board of trustees and was elected the first chairman of the town board.

 

Mr. Frear was married in 1891 in San Francisco.  He has a daughter Beatrice.  Mr. Frear’s father was the Rev. Walter Frear, D. D.

 

Mr. Frear is a member of the Institution of Naval Architects of London; Society of Naval Architects and Marin Engineers, N. Y.; Society of Naval Engineers, Washington, D. C.; National Geographical Society; American Association for the Advancement of Science; Smithsonian Institue, Washington, D. C.; and the Commonwealth Club, San Francisco.  Mr. Frear has served on the committee of the International Engineering Congress during the recent Exposition.

 

He has been naval architect for the Union Iron Works for the last thirty-two year, superintending the designing and construction of 141 vessels including battleships, armored cruisers, monitors, gunboats, torpedo-boat destroyers, torpedo boats, submarines, passenger steamers, freighters, tankers, ferryboats, brigs, tugs, yachts and other craft.  He designed the 23-knot cruiser Chitose for the Imperial Japanese navy in 1899, the fastest cruiser to date, built in America.  He designed and patented the ore-carrying fleet for the Bethlehem Steel Company and executed the plans for the great dome of the Lick Observatory at Mount Hamilton.