Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Kendall, George W. November 19, 1863 - ************************************************ 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 21, 2011, 12:44 am Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 725 - 726 Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company GEORGE W. KENDALL. The oldest and largest heating and plumbing plant in the northwest is that of the Kendall Heating Company, of Portland, of which George W. Kendall is the owner and president. Many of the most important buildings in this section of the country contain heating plants installed by this firm and the high quality of its work has been its best advertisement. Mr. Kendall was born in Winona, Minnesota, on the 19th of November, 1863, and is a son of George W. and Martha (DeGraff) Kendall, both of whom are deceased. His father was for many years a dealer in agricultural implements. Mr. Kendall received a public school education and then went to Omaha, Nebraska, where he worked for the plumbing and supply house of A. L. Strang, with whom he remained from 1879 to 1883. He also worked several years for Welshans & McEwen, at Omaha, quitting them in 1890, and on July 4th of that year arrived in Portland. He worked for the Clark Steam Heating Company, the western branch of the Haxton Steam Heating Company, of Illinois. The firm was located in Seattle, Washington, and Mr. Kendall handled its outside work throughout the northwest. In 1892 the company moved its plant to Portland and Mr. Kendall remained with it until the fall of 1893, during which time he successfully handled many of its largest jobs. He became a resident of Portland in 1892 and in the following year went with the H. B. Gregory Company, for which concern he put in the heating plant for the Portland city hall. Later he entered the employ of Cawston & Company, for whom he put in the first central heating plant at the Oregon Agricultural College at Corvallis. In 1898 Mr. Kendall engaged in business for himself, and in 1901 became a partner of Robert Gardner. They became successors to William Gardner, under the firm name of Gardner & Kendall, and remained in partnership until 1907, when Mr. Kendall bought his partner's interest and organized the Kendall Heating Company, which was incorporated in 1909, and of which he has since been president. During the subsequent years he has built up an extensive business in installing all kinds of steam and hot water heating plants, power plants and plumbing, having the contracts in his line in the following buildings: Benson hotel, Pittock block, Northwestern Bank building, Selling building, Reed College buildings, United States National Bank building and the Public Service building; the pumping equipment for the Portland Dry Dock, and the piping for the oil storage equipment at municipal dock No. 4. Mr. Kendall employs from twenty to sixty men and maintains a complete engineering service in connection with his work, so that he is enabled to render valuable assistance to his patrons along that line if required. In 1887 Mr. Kendall was united in marriage to Miss Frances Adeline Lewis, who was born in Iowa, and they are the parents of a daughter and son — Ethel Winifred, who is the wife of D. A. Dyer, of Portland, and George Orlo, who is associated with his father in business. He is married and has two children. Mr. Kendall is a Knight Templar Mason; a Noble of the Mystic Shrine; a life member of the Multnomah Athletic Club and the Portland Rowing Club; and belongs to the Rotary Club and the Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Kendall has always been athletic and in young manhood held the world's championship as a dumbbell lifter. His favorite form of recreation is rowing, in which he indulges five or six times a week and, though sixty-five years of age, is still an athlete. He gives his political support to the republican party and maintains an active interest in everything pertaining to the welfare and progress of his community. He is a man of marked business ability, has achieved a noteworthy success in his affairs and is accounted one of Portland's most substantial citizens. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/bios/kendall1379gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 4.6 Kb