Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Fithian, Orrin H. 1867 - 
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Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com November 7, 2009, 4:17 pm

Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 191-192
Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     ORRIN H. FITHIAN, president and manager of the Craddock-Terry Company, 
wholesale manufacturers of shoes, is one of the leading figures in commercial 
circles of Portland. He has devoted practically all of his active life to the 
shoe business and has met with well merited success, his company now being the 
third largest manufacturer of shoes in the world.

     Mr. Fithian was born in Pennsylvania in 1867 and is a son of D. P. and 
Mary (Graham) Fithian, both of whom are deceased. Orrin H. Fithian received 
his educational training in the public schools and in 1882, when fifteen years 
of age, entered the employ of G. M. Woodruff, retail dealers in general 
merchandise at Parsons, Kansas. In 1887 he started as a traveling salesman, 
covering Missouri and Kansas, and, in 1890, joined R. P. Smith & Sons Company 
of Chicago, which firm he represented on the Pacific coast for ten years. In 
1899 he became connected with the Smith-Wallace Shoe Company, with which 
concern he remained until 1905, when he embarked in business on his own 
account, establishing the Daugherty Fithian Shoe Company, wholesale dealers, 
in Portland. In 1910 Mr. Fithian sold his interest in that firm and organized 
the Fithian-Barker Shoe Company, which proved a successful concern, and he 
carried on the business until 1926, when it was taken over by the Craddock-
Terry Company of Oregon, of which he has since been president and manager. The 
Craddock-Terry Company is a nationally known concern, with headquarters in 
Lynchburg, Virginia, and operates fourteen factories, the principal ones of 
which are at Lynchburg, Virginia; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and St. Louis, 
Missouri. The company manufactures over forty-five thousand pairs of quality 
shoes daily, their products covering a complete line of men's, women's, 
misses' and children's shoes of all grades. The Portland branch is a 
distributing agency for the entire Pacific coast, Alaska and the Hawaiian 
islands, and has twelve to fourteen traveling salesmen in this territory. The 
warehouse and offices occupy a fine four-story and basement building, fifty by 
one hundred feet, and a large stock is always maintained here, so that the 
patrons of the company may receive prompt service. The Craddock-Terry shoes 
are widely known for their superior quality, and the company enjoys a large 
trade throughout the country. Under Mr. Fithian's management, the business is 
showing a steady and substantial growth and he is regarded as one of 
Portland's most progressive and capable business men.

     In 1889 Mr. Fithian was united in marriage to Miss Ruth Chapman, of 
Washington, Pennsylvania, and they are the parents of two children: Mrs. W. B. 
Watson, a resident of Harrogate, England; and Robert G., who is connected with 
his father's company in Portland, and who is a veteran of the World war, 
having enlisted in the aviation service, with which he was engaged in France 
for two years.

     Mr. Fithian is a member of Portland Lodge, A. F. & A. M.; Portland 
Consistory, A. A. S. S.; Al Kader Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S.; Charles City 
(Iowa) Lodge, No. 418 B. P. O. E.; the Progressive Business Men's Club, the 
Portland Golf Club and the Chamber of Commerce. In his political views he is a 
republican and has shown a practical interest in public affairs. Because of 
his business success and his executive ability, he commands the uniform 
confidence and respect of his fellowmen.

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