Dade County FlArchives Biographies.....CLARK, HENRY L. ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/fl/flfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Nancy Rayburn Naev@earthlink.net September 4, 2007, 1:33 am Author: The History of Florida: Past & Present, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1923, Vol. II pg.146 CLARK, HENRY L. has the distinction of being the largest road building contractor on the Florida Southeast Coast. He is a pioneer of this region, coming here several years before the East Coast Railroad was completed to Miami and extended his efforts along the line of practical agriculture until he started road building. Mr. CLARK, whose business headquarters are in Lemon City, was born at Clarksville, Tennessee, and was reared and educated in Montgomery County, of which the noted tobacco city of Clarksville is the county seat. It was in 1893 that he came to South Florida and located at what is now Lemon City, a few miles north of the then small Town of Miami in Dade County. His experience as a practical farmer in that district covers a considerable period of years, until his road building business encroached upon his time and enterprise as a tiller of the soil. He became a road contractor about the time the construction of modern good roads was getting started in Florida. Knowing local conditions thoroughly, a practical business man who finds the secret of his success in any undertaking to be personal application to his work, Mr. CLARK soon had an organization and obtained some of the largest contracts in South Florida. A complete outline of his efforts as a road builder would make a long story. Some of the outstanding larger contracts include the building of several sections of the famous Dixie Highway; nearly all the good roads in the vicinity of Rockmoor, Lemon City and Little River; the fine roads in Princess Park, Bryan Park, Shadowlawn and other prominent subdivisions. He also built the addition to the railroad shops at Buena Vista. Aside from actual road construction a large feature of his business is furnishing crushed rock for concrete used in building construction. His active associates in the business are his two sons, H. L. CLARK, Jr., who has charge of all the equipments, and R. B. CLARK, superintendent of construction. The business is incorporated with a capital stock of $100,000, under the name of H.L. Clark & Sons, Inc., with Mr. CLARK as president, H. L. CLARK, Jr., vice president, and J. A. REISINGER, a son-in-law of Mr. CLARK, secretary and treasurer and office manager. The plant of the company, including rock crusher, screens, etc., is located on a twenty-acre tract at Lemon City. Here are ample rock quarry resources to supply the immense quantities of crushed rock used and sold by the concern. The company operates a fleet of modern trucks with automatic dump, and has the best types of road making machinery, so that every road building contract can be handled efficiently and in a minimum amount of time. It is the largest road building organization in South Florida, and Mr. CLARK is credited with having built more good roads than any other individual in this section of the state. It is a permanent industry of which any one might be proud to be the creator. Mr. CLARK is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Lemon City Methodist Church. His home is in Rockmoor, on Biscayne Drive, at Fifty-Sixth Street. He has done much to build up and develop his home section, and Rockmoor and Lemon City have made great progress during the last few years. Mr. CLARK married Miss PAREPA RUDOLPH, of Fayetteville, Arkansas. Besides the two sons already mentioned, their daughter is FRANCES A., wife of JOHN A. REISINGER, the secretary and treasurer of the H. L. Clark & Sons, Incorporated. Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/fl/dade/photos/bios/clark52nbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/fl/dade/bios/clark52nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/flfiles/ File size: 4.2 Kb