Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Gill, William A. June 30, 1880 - ************************************************ 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 June 26, 2010, 3:33 pm Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 408 - 410 Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company WILLIAM A. GILL. Automobile owners in Portland and vicinity generally have come to the conclusion that in the Gill Automotive Service Company the community has an institution that comes as near rendering one hundred per cent service as is humanly possible. This company's steady and substantial growth during the past seven years is the legitimate result of the conscientious and intelligent efforts of William A. Gill to provide a service that can be absolutely depended upon at all times, and its reputation has extended far beyond local limitations. William A. Gill was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on the 30th of June, 1880, a son of Albert John and Edith Ann (King) Gill. His father was a machinist by trade and in 1890 brought his family to Portland. He went to work for the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company, a part of the Union Pacific Railway system, in the car shops in Albina, Oregon, as a machinist and there continued to work for several years. About 1895 he established a machine shop on Oak street, between First and Second streets, remained in that location for eight or nine years, and then moved to The Dalles, Oregon, where for a few years he devoted his attention to farming, after which he retired and established his permanent home in Portland, where his death occurred in 1918. His wife passed away in 1917. William A. Gill received a good public school education, after which he learned the machinist's trade. For nearly two years he was employed by the Pacific Coast Biscuit Company as engineer in their factory at Portland, and later went to work for Fairbanks Morse & Company at their Portland branch as erecting engineer, traveling over Washington, Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia, installing gasoline engines and other machinery. From 1901 to 1905 he was associated with his father in operating a machine shop, during the early part of which period most of their work was done on marine and stationary gas engines. Mr. Gill's introduction to the automobile repair business is well told by him in The Steering Wheel, an exceedingly interesting and informative publication issued by him monthly, and from which the following quotation is made: "I remember when E. Henry Wemme bought the first horseless carriage and brought it to Portland in 1900. It was a Locomobile steamer and when it arrived at Mr. Wemme's store, at Front and Burnside streets, several of his store employees uncrated it and put it together and then attempted to get up steam. Well, they filled 'er up with water and gasoline and tried to light the burner, when all of a sudden a fire started under the auto and everybody, myself included, started for the tall timber, and just about the time I went around the corner she went bang! and in a few minutes the fire was put out and the little auto was standing there on the sidewalk somewhat singed and with a bursted air tank, but otherwise still in the ring. Shortly after the fireworks just described I was called on by Mr. Wemme and asked to do some machine work for him on some parts of said auto, and that is how I first got started in the business of repairing automobiles. "Shortly before Mr. Wemme got his steamer, some man brought to Portland a three-wheeled De Dion French gasoline tricycle and it was my good fortune to be called on one day to go up into Slabtown, or what is now about Nineteenth and Pettygrove streets, on my bicycle, with my pockets full of tools, and coax that little French tricycle to move, so really this was my first experience with a rubber tired vehicle driven by gasoline. A little later Mr. Wemme brought the first gasoline automobile (a Haynes Apperson) to Portland, and after he had run it a few days it developed a knock in the motor that seemed to resist all efforts of various machinists to subdue, so Mr. Wemme sent to Fairbanks, Morse & Company for me to come up to Fred Merrill's bicycle store and take a look and listen for that knock, and after I had told him what to do to stop the knock he telegraphed to the factory to see if I was right and after being told by the factory to go ahead and do what I suggested the knock was cured, and from that time on Mr. Wemme was my good friend, as was the case up to the time of his death." In 1904 Mr. Gill took the agency for the Franklin car and from then on most of his time was devoted to the automobile business. In 1905 he designed and built the first gasoline stage bus that he had ever seen. It seated sixteen passengers and weighed six thousand eight hundred pounds, and was first operated between Shaniko and Bend, Oregon. The motor in this bus had four cylinders of six-inch bore and the brakes were operated by compressed air, very much like the brakes on a railroad locomotive. During the latter part of 1905 Mr. Gill became associated with the H. L. Keats Auto Company, which sold a number of different makes of cars, including the Oldsmobile, Pope Toledo, Pope Hartford, Pope Tribune, Buick, Packard, Chalmers Waverly Electric and Premier. Mr. Gill remained with Mr. Keats nearly five years and then took charge of Hess & O'Brien's auto repair shop on the corner of Union avenue and East Couch street. In the spring of 1910 he went to Honolulu and was with the Von Hamm-Young Company until July, 1912, when he returned to Portland and became interested in a new corporation, composed of C. J. and F. A. Cook and himself, under the name of the Cook & Gill Company. This concern was first located at Union avenue and East Glisan street, whence it was moved to 409 Davis street, and eventually to Eleventh and Burnside streets. This company for several years sold the Paige lines of automobiles. Mr. Gill remained with that business until the early part of 1921, when he sold his interest to Fred Cook and decided to take a rest. However, at about that time, largely by chance, he acquired the tools and machinery of a repair shop in Seattle, Washington, and sensing an opportunity, he brought the equipment to Portland and established a shop at 129 North Tenth street, at which time he incorporated the Gill Automotive Service Company and has since given his attention exclusively to automobile repairing. Here he has built up a large and prosperous trade, the secret of his success lying in his wide and accurate technical knowledge of his subject and in the following sentiment, also quoted from his publication: "My one greatest ambition is to have the largest possible number of auto owners to be able to say to their friends, 'Yes, I take my car to Bill Gill for repair service, because there I get satisfaction.'" A number of years ago Mr. Gill began the publication of a house organ, called The Steering Wheel, of from four to eight pages, the primary purpose of which was the exploitation of his business, but which regularly contains not only much valuable information for motorists, but also original editorials from Mr. Gill's pen which have attracted wide attention and have been reprinted in other publications all over the world. In evidence of the soundness of his philosophy and the constructive character of his ideals, are the following quotations from some of his editorials: "Think back about twenty years and you will remember when 'Business is Business' was the chief slogan of every business man, for business was then considered a cold blooded, hard headed proposition and might be summed up in these few words, 'Get the Money.' In those days you were more likely to hear 'The Public Be Damned' than 'The Customer is Always Right.' However, during the last ten or twelve years, I believe that the word 'Business' is gradually being superseded by the word 'Service,' for, after all, real business is nothing more than man's service to man. Since no one of us can know all things and make or do everything, it then becomes apparent that in order that we may secure the greatest pleasure and satisfaction out of life, we must depend on each other to serve us with the things that we want most, and we in turn must serve the other fellow with what he wants and we are able to supply. When a person or firm renders a real worthwhile service they are entitled to a profit over and above the cost of rendering such service. Either the taking of an undeserved or unearned profit, or the obtaining of service or goods without the payment of profit to those who serve us, is the condition that brings about war, lawsuits and almost every other unhappy condition. To prevent such conditions business is rapidly learning to inject into business 'higher ethical standards,' the adoption of codes of ethics and the universal recognition of some such slogan as 'He profits most who serves best.' When business men generally learn to 'Do it because it deserved to be done,' and to make 'Service as a motive,' their standard, also to exalt 'Service as the first object of every worthy enterprise,' then will business men find that not only is business the greatest game in the world, but that it is the easiest in which to win when carried on according to the standards and principles just outlined." "It is the exchange of your services for my services and my services for your services through the medium of money that enables us all to live in a civilized manner. If this were not so we each would have to produce our own food, make our own clothing, build our own house, etc. In order that we each may enjoy just the service we want from our fellowmen we must cooperate to the extent of making clear our idea of just what we want, and when we don't get just what we order, we must tell the seller where he has failed to deliver exactly what we want. I want my customers to know that they are entitled to the service they order and pay for and when they fail to get just that, then we earnestly desire that they cooperate with us by telling us where we have failed to please. To render service that is one hundred per cent satisfactory is a joy and an achievement that we are daily striving to attain. It is the one thing that justifies what we all term Business." On June 5, 1928, Mr. Gill moved his business into a splendid new concrete building, one hundred by one hundred feet, which was erected for him at Fifth and Davis streets, and in which he has installed modern equipment at a cost of twenty-five thousand dollars, and he is now better prepared than ever to carry out his ideas of real service. In August, 1905, Mr. Gill was united in marriage to Miss Lena Helen Ammer, of Portland. He is a member of Columbia Lodge, No. 114, A. F. & A. M.; Portland Consistory, A. A. S. R.; Al Kader Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S.; the Rotary Club, the Advertising Club, the Wana Lake Fishing Club, the Fairvale Community Club, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Portland Automotive Trade Association, of which he is a past director and past president. He is a director of Automotive News, an automobile trade publication, and of the Fairvale Land Company. He gives his political support to the republican party and has shown a commendable interest in everything pertaining to the welfare and progress of his home city. He owns a beautiful country home, called "Gillcrest," near Fairvale, in the beautiful Tualatin valley west of Portland, comprising twelve acres, the grounds of which are laid out and ornamented in an attractive way. A man of sterling character and consistent life, he has won and retains the uniform confidence and respect of all and is regarded as one of his city's representative business men. 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