James O. Stanford
Long Beach’s sidewalks contain impressed “signatures” of many construction companies and contractors who plied their trade in the city. If your ancestor owned or worked for one of those companies, our “Sidewalk Signatures” series will be of interest to you.
photo: QHGS
In 1914 James O. Stanford was living at 1146 Lime Avenue in Long Beach with his wife Bertha. The Long Beach City Directory of that year describes him as a cement contractor, and he is mentioned on page four of Good Roads A Weekly Journal of Road and Street Engineering and Contracting dated October 17, 1914, where one of his contracting jobs is described: “Bids Received and Contracts Awarded. El Monte, Cal.—J. O. Stanford of Long Beach, was the lowest bidder and was awarded the contract for improving about 22,000 lin. ft. for macadamising, 9 cts. per sq. ft. for cement sidewalk, and 29 cts. per lin. ft. for cement curb. The total cost of the work will be about $15,000.”
RESEARCH TIP: If you are looking for “sidewalk signatures” in your own residential area, don’t forget to look at the curbs.The photo above is not of a sidewalk. It is an impression on the side of a curb, and, as you can see from the excerpt above, John O. Stanford was paid 29 cents per linear foot for his cement curbing—a pretty good price for 1914.
RESEARCH TIP: If you are looking for “sidewalk signatures” in your own residential area, don’t forget to look at the curbs.The photo above is not of a sidewalk. It is an impression on the side of a curb, and, as you can see from the excerpt above, John O. Stanford was paid 29 cents per linear foot for his cement curbing—a pretty good price for 1914.
Where was this photo of James O. Stanfords Sidewalk Signature Taken? Is it still there?
ReplyDelete