Tulare County Biographies

ORLANDO HENRY HUBER

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 
        Orlando Henry Huber, head of the Mission Building Company of 
Porterville, former member of the city council, a former member of the 
California state legislature and for years recognized as a leader in the 
building trades hereabout, architect and builder of some of the most notable 
buildings erected in and about Porterville during the period of that city's 
"modern" development, is a native of the state of Illinois, but has been a 
resident of California since the days of his boyhood. He was born on a farm in 
the immediate vicinity of the old Mormon town of Nauvoo, on the Mississippi 
river, in Hancock county, Illinois, August 9, 1857, and is a son of Martin and 
Philippina (Ritter) Huber, members of pioneer families in that section of 
Illinois. Martin Huber died in 1868 and his widow survived him for many years, 
her last days being spent in California, where she died in 1899.
        Reared on the home farm in the neighborhood of Nauvoo, Orlando Henry 
Huber acquired his education in the schools of that town and on account of being 
bereft of his father when but eleven years of age early began to assume mature 
responsibilities. He was attracted to the carpenter trade and as a boy became 
pretty well skilled along that line. When he was sixteen years of age, in 1873, 
he came to California and in San Francisco found plenty of work at his trade, 
for the demand for carpenters and builders in the city about that time exceeded 
the visible supply for skilled workmen. Finding conditions here to his liking, 
Mr. Huber determined to make California his home. His mother was agreeable to 
this plan and a few months later joined him here and in this state spent the 
remainder of her life.
        For more than ten years Mr. Huber continued working as a carpenter in 
San Francisco and in the neighboring cities, and then, in 1887, established 
himself in business as a building contractor in Azusa, Los Angeles county, where 
he took part in the extensive building operations then being carried on at that 
place. Mr. Huber made his home in Azusa for more than fifteen years, or until 
1904, when he moved to Huntington Beach, in Orange county, and was there engaged 
in building operations, contractor of much of the notable work in the building 
line being done there during that period, until in 1907, when he established his 
home in Porterville, where he since has resided and where he is very pleasantly 
and very comfortably situated. For four years after his arrival in Porterville, 
Mr. Huber carried on his contracting business independently, and then, in 1911, 
organized the business as the Mission Building Company, of which he is the head, 
and has since been carrying on his operations under that firm style. It is 
perhaps not too much to say that Mr. Huber is recognized as the leading building 
contractor in and about Porterville. Among the numerous notable contracts he has 
carried out of recent years is that involved in the erection of the city library 
building; Loyd's funeral parlors, which are said to be the best designed of any 
similar establishment in California, and which have been copied by 
discriminating morticians in other cities of the state ; quite a number of the 
better class of the business buildings erected in recent years; and no end of 
the better residences which have gone up in and about Porterville during the 
period of his residence here.
        In July, 1885, Mr. Huber was married to May Griffith of Gold Hill, 
Oregon, who was one of the leading educators of the state, holding a life 
diploma. She passed away on April 1, 1910. In November, 1912, in Fresno, Mr. 
Huber was united in marriage to Miss Grace Zehrbaugh, who was born in Muncie, 
Indiana, and who has been a resident of California since 1910. Mr. and Mrs. 
Huber are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and are republicans, the 
former for years having been regarded as one of the leaders of that party in 
this section. He was a member of the common council of the city of Porterville 
during the period of this country's participation in the World war and in other 
ways has taken part in local civic activities. During the time of his residence 
in Azusa he took an active part in local politics and was elected to represent 
that district in the state legislature, in which body he served during two 
regular sessions and one extra session. Mr. Huber is a Knight Templar (York 
Rite) Mason and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine, and is also affiliated with the 
Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the Woodmen of the World.
 
Source:  History of Tulare County and Kings County, California � Kathleen 
Edwards Small & J. Larry Smith, Vol. II, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke Publishing 
Company, 1926., p. 331