Bio of SMITH, Fred G. (b.1868), Hennepin Co., MN
=========================================================================
USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information
on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities,
as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is
obtained from the contributor of the file.
These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or
presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to
use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written
consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter,
and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent.

If you have found this file through a source other than the MNArchives 
Table Of Contents you can find other Minnesota related Archives at:
http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm
Please note the county and type of file at the top of this page to find 
the submitter information or other files for this county.
FileFormat by Terri--MNArchives

Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by: Laura Pruden
Submitted: June 2003
=========================================================================
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
========================================================
submitted by Laura Pruden, email Raisndustbunys@aol.com
========================================================

EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical

Vol III, pg 620-621
FRED G. SMITH
Fred G. Smith, a native son of Minneapolis, has spent his life in this city and
has been closely and prominently identified with its development and advancement
along business lines, as well as in the field of music and art. He is a member
of the firm of Nickels & Smith, leading realtors of Minneapolis, and has gained
nation-wide prominence as a housing expert. He was born November 15, 1868, on
the present site of the Andrews Hotel, and was the first male child baptized in
St. Mark's Episcopal church. He was the eldest of the children born to George F.
and Annie M. (Connor) Smith, the former a well known business man of this city.
The maternal grandfather, Gilman Connor, was one of the pioneer settlers of
Minnesota, coming to St. Anthony with his wife and family of eight children in
1856 and making the journey by stage.
In 1886, when a young man of eighteen years, Fred G. Smith entered the employ of
H. E. Ladd, who joined Frank C. Nickels in the real estate business, and in 1900
he purchased Mr. Ladd's interest in the firm, which has since been known as
Nickels & Smith. They are now conducting one of the largest real estate and
rental agencies in Minneapolis and also deal in fire insurance and mortgage
loans, in addition to which they act as appraisers, executors and trustees. In
development projects they have looked beyond the exigencies of the moment to the
needs and possibilities of the future and their labors have contributed
materially to the upbuilding and improve­ment of the city, as well as to the
attainment of individual prosperity.
Mr. Smith has always directed his efforts along constructive lines and has
devoted much of his time to civic enterprises. He is a past vice president of
the National Association of Real Estate Boards and for years was a member of its
executive board, representing Minneapolis. During four administrations, from
1900 until 1922, he was also chairman of the housing committee of that body and
he was likewise chairman of the committee of twenty-five, which drafted the
Minneapolis Housing Code. He has made a close study of this subject, upon which
he is regarded as an authority, and his published pamphlets have received wide
circulation in this country, while they have also been translated into French
and have been widely read abroad.
Minneapolis is also indebted to Mr. Smith for its fine auditorium, for he
conceived the idea, formulated the plan and successfully negotiated with R. H.
Bechtel for the erection of the building, which has been a great asset to the
city. He is likewise a patron of the arts and is deeply interested in those
things which are of cultural value and which tend to uplift the individual, thus
bringing a higher moral standard to the community. He believes with Carlyle that
"Music is the speech of the angels," and was one of the organizers of the
Philharmonic Club, which for twenty years produced most of the standard choral
works in this city, principally under the leadership of Emil Oberhoffer,
director of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, which ranks with the best in
this country. Mr. Smith also aided in forming the Elks Glee Club, with which he
sang for a number of years, and was one of a committee of four which made'
possible the presentation of Willard Patton's oratorio, Isaiah, the product of a
local composer, which was effectively given at the Trans-Mississippi Exposition
in Omaha on Minnesota day, by a mixed chorus of three hundred and fifty voices.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Smith are amateurs in the arts and he has acquired a gallery
of representative American painters, to which he is constantly adding.
In May, 1895, Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Alma Josephine Westin,
who was also born in this city and is a gifted pianist. They have become the
parents of two sons: Westin E., who died when eighteen years of age; and Fred
G., Jr. Mr. Smith is a sagacious, farsighted business man, whose investments
have been placed to advantage, while he also has a keen sense of appreciation of
all that is most beautiful in the world of music and art, and his is, indeed, a
well rounded development. Life has been to him purposeful and resultant and his
work has been of far-reaching importance and beneficial in its results.