Alameda County
Biographies
H. L. WOOD.
H. L. Wood is president of the East Bay Home Builders, Incorporated, and as such is contributing much to the substantial development and improvement of Oakland. He was born in Evansville, Indiana, January 25, 1877, and is a son of H. B. and C. M. Wood. In the acquirement of his education he passed through consecutive grades in the public schools until graduated from the high school of his native city with the class of 1896. He then went to Chicago, where he entered the wholesale dry-goods house of Carson, Pirie, Scott & Company, whom he represented as a salesman for three years. He then returned to Evansville, where he opened a retail grocery store, which he conducted until 1904. He then sold out and came to Oakland, where he purchased the business of the Sunset Cream & Butter Company in San Francisco. He remained there in active business until 1906, when he lost everything that he had in the fire.
Following that disaster Mr. Wood went to Vera Cruz, Mexico, where he purchased a ranch and thereon conducted a general merchandise store. At length oil was discovered upon his land and the sale thereof made him immensely wealthy, but when the revolution of 1910 broke out he had to leave that country. He was shot eight times while trying to get away from Mexico. Disposing of his oil interests to the Southern Pacific Railroad, he returned to Oakland, where he has since been engaged in the building business, and he has erected thirty homes which he has sold on the installment plan. On the 6th of December, 1913, he organized the East Bay Home Builders, Incorporated, of which company he is the president. One hundred business men of Oakland are interested in this company, which has been established upon a most substantial basis. Among them are some who represent every commodity in the building business, so that the company is in a position to build better homes for less money than any company or firm that ever entered the same line. Moreover, the men in control are thoroughly familiar with every phase of the business, and they have eliminated all promotion schemes or plans. The business has already been firmly established and is growing day by day. The officers of the company, which is capitalized for five hundred thousand dollars, are: H. L. Wood, president; A. G. Rhodes, first vice president; C. U. Henderson, second vice president; A. Alder, secretary; W. P. Stone, treasurer, and Benjamin R. Aiken, attorney. On the board of directors are: H. P. Briggs, Thomas J. Thompson, A. G. Rhodes, W. P. Stone, A. Alder, H. L. Wood and. C. U. Henderson.
In St. Louis, Missouri, Mr. Wood was married to Miss Bertha Bridgeman on the 9th of May, 1903, and they have gained many friends during the period of their residence here. Mr. Wood belongs to the Oakland Commercial Club, and he gives his political allegiance to the republican party. In his connection with the former he co-operates in all movements that tend to the upbuilding and substantial improvement of his city and manifests at all times a public-spirited devotion to the general good.
Past & Present of Alameda County, California – Vol II, S. J. Clarke Publ. Co., 1914
p. 206
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
OTTO BECHTLE.
Among the men who by reason of their personal integrity, ability and business enterprise have come to be regarded as representative citizens and leading business men of Alameda is numbered Otto Bechtle, who since 1906 has been engaged in the manufacture of gas and electric fixtures in the city. He is a native of Germany, born in Wurtemberg, October 3, 1872, a son of Max Bechtle, a machinist by trade, who followed his chosen occupation in the fatherland until 1907, when he retired from active life. His wife, who was in her maidenhood Miss Christiana Geisert, also survives.
In the public schools of his native country Otto Bechtle acquired his education, laying aside his books in 1886 in order to learn the silversmith's trade, at which he became very proficient, following it in Wurtemberg until 1892. In that year he crossed the Atlantic to America and after his arrival in this country pushed westward to California, settling in San Francisco in December. In that city he engaged in the chandelier manufacturing business as an employe in the San Francisco Novelty Works, a connection which he maintained for about one year, resigning his position in order to engage in the same line of work with the Thomas Day Company. He remained with that concern until 1906, when he came to Alameda, where he established himself in business as a manufacturer of gas and electric fixtures. Success has steadily attended his well directed labors since that time, and his business has expanded yearly, the entire credit for its rapid growth being directly due to Mr. Bechtle's enterprise, initiative and progressive spirit, guided and controlled by his excellent business ability. He has now a large and representative patronage, and this has been accorded to him in recognition of the fine quality of the goods which he manufactures and his straightforward and upright business methods.
Mr. Bechtle married Miss Elese Kurth, a daughter of John and Marianna Kurth, natives of Switzerland. Mr. and Mrs. Bechtle have four children: Freda, aged fourteen; Otto, eleven and a half; Bertha, nine, and Albert, three. Always interested in the growth and welfare of his home city and anxious to do his part in promoting its advancement, Mr. Bechtle has identified himself with the North Side Improvement Club of Alameda and the Chamber of Commerce. He is a member also of the Electric Association of Oakland and fraternally belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Red Men and the Loyal Order of Moose. He has made steady progress as the years have gone by and has achieved a measure of prosperity which is most creditable, as it has been gained by methods that have been ever honorable and upright, winning him the respect and goodwill of his associates and friends.
Past & Present of Alameda County, California – Vol II, S. J. Clarke Publ. Co., 1914
p. 207
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler