Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Biles, A. F. ************************************************ 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 Wakley iwakley@msn.com January 24, 2011, 3:05 pm Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 799 - 800 Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company A. F. BILES is president of one of the most important and successful enterprises in its line in the country the Central Door and Lumber Company, of Portland, which has, because of the high quality of its products, gained a world-wide reputation and stands in the front rank of the substantial industries of Portland. The Central Door and Lumber Company was established in 1906 and Mr. Biles has been at the head of the enterprise continuously since. The original products of the factory were wooden sash and doors and wall board, in addition to which the firm dealt in glass, paints and various building materials. The first plant was located at Thirteenth and Glisan streets, on the West side, where it occupied a building one hundred by one hundred feet. Substantial additions were made from time to time, but the steady growth of the business eventually demanded larger quarters and in 1917 the company acquired its present property at East Twenty-fourth and Holgate streets, where it has five acres of ground, on which it erected the present substantial mill buildings, comprising about three acres of floor space. The company is now engaged in the manufacture of doors, cut door stock and specialties, and has built up a large trade, a considerable part of which is export business, though its products are shipped to every section of the United States. The company sells through American exporting concerns and its doors and other products go to practically all of the British possessions, the larger part of its export business being with Great Britain, though it sells also to China, Asia, Africa and South America. The company has a sawmill at the Portland plant and also buys much of its material on the outside. It consumes annually about ten million feet of spruce and fir and some idea of the productive capacity of the mill may be gained from the statement that one week's output would take care of Oregon's requirements for a year. The company manufactures to order only and on specifications for most of the export business. The plant is in continuous operation and gives employment to from one hundred and sixty to one hundred and eighty persons. It is thoroughly modern in its equipment, employs highly skilled workmen and its large business has been built upon the basis of the superior quality of its products and its sound and progressive business policy. A. F. Biles was born in Brooklyn, New York, and is a son of Albert and Elizabeth Biles, the former having been for many years prominently and successfully engaged in the contracting business. In 1875 the family moved to Los Angeles, California, at which time that city had a population of about ten thousand, of whom two thousand five hundred were Americans, the remainder being largely Mexicans and Chinese. Both parents died in that city, the father at the age of eighty-four years and the mother when seventy-nine years old. Mr. Biles received his education in the public schools of Los Angeles, after which he became identified with the building material business in that city, and later at other points in California. In 1895 he came to Portland as northwestern manager for W. P. Fuller & Company, for whom he had previously sold doors and mill work in Los Angeles. In 1906 he established his present business, which was successful from the start, and to the management of which he has closely devoted his attention. In 1888, in Los Angeles, Mr. Biles was united in marriage to Miss Eleanor Parks and to them have been born three children. Clarice V. is the wife of Ralph J. Staehli, of Portland, and the mother of three children, Ralph J., Jr., Eleanor and George; A. F., Jr., who resides in Portland, is sales manager of the Central Door and Lumber Company, having immediate charge of the eastern business and spends much of his time in the east. Prior to the World war he was a lieutenant in the regular army, and during the war served as lieutenant and captain, while at the present time he holds a commission as major of infantry in the Officers Reserve Corps. He is married and has a daughter, Patricia. George, who lives in New Haven, Connecticut, and represents the company in that section of the country, was for several years a representative of the American Express Company, during which time he traveled much in Europe and speaks a number of foreign languages. Mr. Biles has traveled extensively through Oregon, being very familiar with the central portion of the state, over which he has gone on horseback, by buggy and stage, and then by automobile. He sees a wonderful future for that section of the country and is greatly interested in the development of irrigation. He is a member of the American Export Door Corporation, the Western Door Manufacturers Association and the Chamber of Commerce. Mrs. Biles takes a deep interest in local civic and benevolent affairs and is a member and director of several important organizations. Mr. Biles is a man of enterprising and progressive methods, sterling personal qualities and sound and reliable judgment, and his career has gained for him a well earned reputation as one of Portland's substantial citizens. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/bios/biles1428gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 5.9 Kb