Yolo
County
Biographies
HARVEY E BENDER
Harvey
E. Bender, an alert business man who is proprietor of the Woodland Steam
Laundry, was born in Longford, Clay County, Kansas, December 23, 1891, and was
a lad of nine years when his parents removed with their family to Oklahoma,
where he spent his time upon the home ranch to the age of sixteen. He then journeyed to the northwest, with the
Willamette Valley of Oregon as his destination, and settled near Salem. He attended the district school at Silverton
and afterward again went to Oklahoma, becoming a student in the high school at
Stillwater. For a time he worked as a
delivery boy and later turned his attention to the laundry business, which he
followed in Boise, Idaho, in Idaho Falls, Pocatello and other cities of that
state at different periods. He thus
gained an intimate and accurate working knowledge of the business in all of its
phases. In the fall of 1918 he went to
Pendleton, Oregon, where he conducted a laundry, and in 1923 he arrived in
Woodland, purchasing the Woodland Steam Laundry, then in a run-down
condition. He at once began the task of
building it up, installed new machinery throughout the plant, and today has one
of the best equipped and most modern laundries in the valley. The plant is supplied with all modern
appliances necessary for turning out excellent work, and something of the
increase in the business is indicated in the fact that when Mr. Bender took
charge there were only nine employees, while today there are forty-five, and he
utilizes six delivery trucks. His trade
extends throughout Yolo County and he also has many customers in Solano, Colusa
and Glenn counties.
Mr.
Bender was married to Miss Grace Waggoner, a native of Oklahoma, and they now
have two children, Stanley and Beverly Jean, both born in Woodland. Mr. Bender finds recreation in the game of golf
and he belongs to the Yolo Fliers Club, the Lions Club, the Knights of Pythias
and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.
He is a progressive citizen, supporting all movements that tend to
advance the welfare of community and commonwealth; while as a business man he
has ever been dependable and reliable, thus gaining the trust and confidence of
those with whom he has had dealings. He
belongs to the California State and National Laundrymen’s Associations and he
deserves much credit for what he has accomplished and for the success which he
has attained.
Transcribed by Gerald
Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 3, Pages 45-46. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Yolo County Biographies