Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Stubbbs, Osmon B. 
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Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com August 25, 2010, 4:57 pm

Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 515 - 516
Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     OSMON B. STUBBS, president of the Stubbs Electric Company, Inc., of 
Portland, is one of the largest dealers in electrical and radio supplies in 
the northwest and is one of his city's leading business men. His advancement 
has been gained through tireless and determined effort, backed by right 
principles, and no concern in Portland stands higher than his in public 
confidence. Mr. Stubbs was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and was educated 
in the public schools of Concord, New Hampshire. On leaving Foster & Robertson 
in 1897, he engaged in the retail hardware business on his own account, and 
from this gradually worked into the electrical business, which finally grew to 
the extent that the hardware stock was eventually eliminated entirely. One day 
Mr. Stubbs received a call from the chief quartermaster of the army, who 
stated that a complete lighting and ventilating plant was needed to convert a 
tramp steamer into a horse transport for Manila. He had previously done 
business with the quartermaster, so he decided to get the plans and 
specifications, although entirely ignorant of naval equipment and 
construction. The job, which had to be completed in forty days, included 
conduit work, waterproof boxes and marine fitting. For this, many items had to 
be manufactured locally and patterns and castings had to be made. There being 
no regular conduit in Portland, he used second-hand pipe. Four huge Sturtevant 
exhaust fans and two general electric generators were required, and these were 
brought from the east by express. Speed was essential and the strangeness of 
the work caused Mr. Stubbs considerable worry, but the job was finished, the 
current turned on and the job accepted a few hours before the ship sailed. He 
was justifiably proud of this work, and through it he was given the contract 
for similarly fitting out another ship. From that time on for ten years Mr. 
Stubbs did considerable electric contract work, under the name of the Western 
Electrical Works, and in 1900 the business was moved to its present location 
at 75 Sixth street. In 1902 a retail store was opened and the business 
continued to grow, every year showing a substantial advance. In 1910 Mr. 
Stubbs bought out his partner and incorporated the Stubbs Electric Company, of 
which he has been president ever since. In those days, while he was doing 
contract work, the methods of installation were crude as compared with present-
day regulations — for instance, wooden cleats were used, the wires were run 
under the floors, and carbon lamps were uniformly used. At that time a large 
part of his work was installing electric doorbells and gas lighters. However, 
Mr. Stubbs kept pace with every advance in installation methods and was the 
first man in the northwest to put in conduit installation. His business has 
grown to an extent that he now occupies the entire building, three floors and 
basement, fifty by one hundred feet in size. He has not done any contracting 
for many years, his wholesale and retail business requiring all of his 
attention. He is the distributor for Oregon, Idaho and part of Washington for 
the Kolster radio and equipment, which is one of his largest lines, in 
addition to which he carries a complete line of all kinds of electric 
appliances and material, including refrigerators, washing machines, vacuum 
cleaners, stoves and other articles, and is the only Portland-established and 
owned electric jobbing house in the city. Before radio telephony came into 
practical use, he had carried wireless telegraph supplies and he is now 
reputed to be the largest wholesale radio distributor in the entire northwest. 
He keeps four traveling representatives on the road and forty people are 
employed in the house.

     Mr. Stubbs is the father of two sons: Robert W., who is president of the 
S. & S. Manufacturing Company, whose plant is in South Portland, is married 
and has two children, Jack and Dorothy; and John O. is connected with the Lee 
Higginson Company in Boston, Massachusetts. Mr. Stubbs has been a member of 
the Chamber of Commerce from the time of its organization and belongs to the 
Advertising Club, the Waverly Country Club, the Arlington Club, the Northwest 
Golf Association, and the Pacific Coast Division of the Electrical Supply 
Jobbers Association, of which he was chairman during 1925-6. A man of stanch 
qualities, unimpeachable integrity and straightforward manner, he has proven 
worthy of the unqualified confidence of his fellowmen and is greatly esteemed 
by all who know him.

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