Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Bacon, Patrick April 7, 1871 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com January 25, 2007, 12:01 am Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company PATRICK BACON. Men of efficiency and high character are the type of workers always in demand in the business world, and in this classification belongs Patrick Bacon, Portland manager of the Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Company, a public utility with which he has been connected from the age of fifteen years, witnessing the various stages in the development of the business. He owes his advancement to concentrated effort, devotion to duty and the ability to meet and master situations. A native of Brooklyn, New York, he was born April 7, 1871, and his parents were Thomas John and Ellen (Carlon) Bacon. The mother passed away in 1874 and the father, who was captain of a steamer operating on the East river, is also deceased. In 1878, when a boy of seven, Patrick Bacon came to Portland, Oregon, and was reared in the home of his uncle, Lawrence Glennon, a well known contractor. Mr. Bacon attended St. Michael’s college and in 1886 entered the employ of the Portland Telephone, Telegraph & Electric Light Company, with which he has since remained. Each task assigned him was performed to the best of his ability and his conscientious application was rewarded by repeated promotions. As time passed he worked his way through the various departments and on May 15, 1926, was placed in charge of the Portland business, an office for which he possesses exceptional qualifications. When he started there were only four hundred subscribers in Portland and the Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Company now has more than ninety-three thousand in the city. In 1886 Meyer & Frank had but one telephone and at the present time this pioneer firm utilizes about eight-six trunk lines. When Mr. Bacon first became connected with the Portland Telephone, Telegraph & Electric Light Company the headquarters of the firm were at the intersection of Second and Ankeny streets and in 1914 the present offices were opened at the corner of Oak and Park streets. An addition was erected in 1926 and the building is now one hundred feet square and eleven stores in height. It is used exclusively by the company, which also has a plant at Park and Burnside streets, where the superintendent’s office is located. This is a two-story structure, eighty by one hundred feet in dimensions. In 1886 the longest telephone line in this locality was to the Jacobs woolen mills in Oregon City. When the steamers came in the telephone operators in the central office would notify the hotels and they would then send buses to the docks for the convenience of guests. In 1922 the company installed a dial service, which now handles about forty-two per cent of the local telephone business and is very popular with subscribers. The corporation has perfected a highly efficient organization and now handles over six hundred and twenty thousand calls per day. The firm carries on its payrolls the names of seventeen hundred and twenty-two persons, about nine hundred of whom are employed in the traffic department, one hundred and fifty in the commercial division, and the balance in the plant. The company has appointed welfare supervisors and every effort has been made to promote the health and well-being of those in its service. Comfortable rooms are provided for the use of the girls during rest periods and the cafeteria, which furnishes meals to the operators at cost, is rated among the best in the city. On the east side the company has eight offices and there are also three exchanges in the main building, each of which is provided with a cafeteria and other accommodations. Another feature of the welfare program is a sick benefit plan, by means of which employes are taken care of during illness. After five years of work each girl receives a button, and each man at the end of fifteen years, and a star is bestowed for each additional year. An honor badge is the reward of long service and old employes are pensioned. On the button worn by Mr. Bacon are six stars, denoting his forty years of faithful service to the company. In 1927 he had the privilege of listening to a telephone conversation between parties in London, England, and Portland, Oregon, made possible by land lines from Nova Scotia, Canada, to Vermont and radio service from there to England’s capital city. In 1897 Mr. Bacon married Miss Anna Dillon, of Portland, and they have a son, Stanley, who during the World war served in the United States Navy and is now connected with the firm of Redfield & Wood, investment bankers. He is married and has become the father of a son, Stanley Bacon, Jr. In politics Patrick Bacon maintains an independent attitude, placing the qualifications of a candidate before party affiliations, and his religious views are in harmony with the teachings of the Roman Catholic church. His fraternal connections are with the Knights of Columbus and the Woodmen of the World. He is also a member of the Portland Chamber of Commerce and the East Side Commercial Club. For a half century he has resided in the Rose city, witnessing notable changes as a pioneer conditions have been replaced by the improvements and advantages of modern times. In the work of progress Mr. Bacon has borne an important part and an exemplary life has won for him a high place in the esteem of his fellowmen Additional Comments: History of the Columbia River Valley from The Dalles to the Sea, Pages 192-193 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/bios/bacon295gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 6.0 Kb