Clark County WA Archives Biographies.....Dickson, Melvin W. 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com September 20, 2009, 5:36 pm

Source: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     MELVIN W. DICKSON.  The Dickson Company, at Brush Prairie, Clark county, 
Washington, is one of the old and prosperous mercantile concerns of that 
section of the state and, under the able management of Melvin W. Dickson, is 
enjoying a steady and substantial growth. Mr. Dickson was born in the Egypt 
district of southern Illinois and is a son of W. A. and Rhoda J. (Meneese) 
Dickson, the former of whom was born in Tennessee of old highland Scotch 
stock, while the latter was of English descent. Both parents are deceased. Mr. 
Dickson secured his educational training mostly in the public schools of 
Indiana and was graduated from the State Normal School at Danville, Indiana. 
He then spent seven years in the south, where he taught school to some extent 
but was engaged in electrical work during the greater part of the time. He 
became a director and acting superintendent of the street railway in 
Montgomery, Alabama, but resigned that position and returned to Illinois, 
where he remained two years.

     In 1910 Mr. Dickson came to the Pacific coast, locating at Canby, Oregon, 
where he taught school, and later taught in the public schools of Portland for 
three and a half years. From there he removed to Manor, Washington, where he 
was engaged in a mercantile business for a short time. Going from there to 
Vancouver, he became a member of the Frank Whalen Company, engaged in the 
wholesale fruit and produce business. During the World war this company 
handled a vast amount of stuff for the government, supplying the fort with 
fresh vegetables and fruit, and he remained in that business until 1920, when 
he came to Brush Prairie and bought the store with which he is now identified. 
There are two other partners in the firm of Dickson & Company, these being 
Harry A. Dickson, a son of the late E. H. Dickson, and Edson Daly. This is an 
old establishment and they do an extensive business in the buying and selling 
of eggs, hay and grain, and keep a splendid stock of groceries, shelf 
hardware, shoes, furnishings and paints. In 1927 they erected an up-to-date 
feed mill, in which they grind and mix their own dairy and poultry foods, 
which they sell under the "Silver Star" brand, their feeds being combined and 
mixed in accordance with the results of investigations at the state 
experimental station.

     In Montgomery, Alabama, Mr. Dickson was united in marriage to Miss Etta 
Schick, also a native of Illinois, and to them have been born two children: 
Irene, who was born in Montgomery, is a student in the State Normal School at 
Bellingham, Washington; and Melvin W., Jr., who was born in Portland, Oregon, 
is attending the public schools.

Additional Comments:
History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. II, 
Pages 534-535

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