Wahkiakum County WA Archives Biographies.....Finke, B. P. 1892 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/wa/wafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com October 24, 2009, 4:02 pm Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages105-106 Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company B. P. FINKE is president and secretary of the Indian Motorcycle and Bicycle Company, of Portland, which is the leading concern in its line in this locality and, through his sound and progressive business policy, is well established. Mr. Finke was born in Portland in 1892 and is a son of J. E. and Christina O. (Rippen) Finke, who were natives of St. Louis, Missouri. The father who was a son of J. J. and Eliza (Miller) Finke, came from St. Louis to Portland in 1882, with his parents and their four other children, Hulda, Robert, Mrs. Mary Fitchner and Bernard, the last three of whom are deceased. They first lived at Front and Sherman streets, where the father established a cooperage shop. In 1889 J. E. Finke went to Brookfield, Washington, and took up a homestead, on which he established a cooperage shop, and also started a stave mill at Brookfield, under the firm name of the Finke Brothers Stave Factory, which he operated continuously from 1889 to 1926. The cooperage shop in Portland is still operated, occupying two floors, fifty by one hundred feet in dimensions. Mr. Finke served one term as county commissioner while living at Brookfield. For over forty years he has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is a veteran member of the Woodmen of the World. To him and his wife were born five children, namely: Walter, who is sales manager for Ballou & Wright; Julia, deceased; Christina, deceased; B. P.; and Julius, who lives in Portland. B. P. Finke received his early education in the district schools at Brookfield, later attending the Portland high school two years and taking a course in the Behnke-Walker Business College. He entered the employ of Ballou & Wright, with whom he remained for seven years, being first in the shipping room, from which he was promoted to the bookkeeper's desk and eventually he became cashier. He resigned his position in order to enlist for service in the World war, being assigned to the artillery branch of the Eighth Division. After eleven months' service he was honorably discharged, and in the spring of 1919 he became associated with his father, with whom he remained until December of that year, when he bought an interest in the Indian Motorcycle and Bicycle Company, of which he is president and secretary and B. W. Rice is vice president and treasurer. Both gentlemen are devoting their entire time and attention to the business, in which they are commanding a large measure of success. They handle Indian motorcycles and bicycles, tires, accessories and cycle clothing, and have built up an important business, their motorcycle sales running from one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and fifty a year, while they sell about one hundred bicycles a year. They carry a large stock and have a well arranged and attractive store, while their repair shop is well equipped with modern machinery and tools, so that they are able to render prompt and satisfactory service. In 1917, in Portland, Mr. Finke was united in marriage to Miss Cecile Murphy, who was born in Oklahoma. Mr. Finke is a member of the Masonic fraternity, the Loyal Order of Moose, the Woodmen of the World, and the Portland Motorcycle Dealers Association. He has a wide acquaintance throughout this section of the valley, has a well established reputation for square dealing, courtesy and accommodation and enjoys a measure of prosperity that he has well earned through his determined and persistent efforts along right lines. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/wa/wahkiakum/bios/finke114gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/wafiles/ File size: 4.2 Kb