California Biographies

Source: History of Fresno County, California, with biographical sketches of 
the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with 
its growth and development from the early days to the present (1919)

History By Paul E. Vandor 
Illustrated, Complete In Two Volumes 
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1919
 
Notes: Missing+page1185-1186

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

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


BEN HUNT. � A thoroughly enterprising American manufacturer of the 
type known as leaders of great industries, resident here since the middle 
eighties and honored by all who are familiar with his busy life and the scope 
of his activities, through which Fresno has profited so much as a growing 
manufacturing center, is Ben Hunt, who was born in Westfield, Ind., a 
suburb of Indianapolis, not far from the home of General Lew Wallace, the 
famous author of "Ben Hur," on May 29, 1852. His father was F. B. Hunt, 
a Quaker, who married Miss Elizabeth Moore, also of the Society of Friends, 
and for a while they resided near Indianapolis, then at Richmond, Ind., and 
later at Cincinnati. His father was an inventor who. having become very 
familiar with that line of work, was a clerk in the patent office until his death. 

Ben Hunt, having been educated at the public and high schools in Rich- 
mond, learned the machinist's trade in Richmond, helping to manufacture 
steam engines, and in 1883 he came to Spokane and the next year to San 
Francisco, following his trade in each place. 1890 he came to Fresno, and ten 
years later he started his present business. This establishment, now known 
as the Valley Foundry & Machine Works, was incorporated in 1902, and Mr. 
Hunt has been president ever since. It is located at the corner of H and 
Mono Streets; and although the building first occupied on I Street had a floor 
space of only 25x50 feet, the plant is now housed in a building 100x115 feet 
in size � all the result of the proprietor's strict attention to business, and his 
expert workmanship, which has brought patrons from all over the San Joa- 
quin Valley. With this investment of $100,000, Mr. Hunt manufactures gas 
engines and a patented, centrifugal pump, while he does a contracting ma- 
chine shop trade. Public-spirited and enterprising to a high degree. Mr. Hunt, 
as a self-made man supports every project that makes for the upbuilding 
of Fresno, while as a model employer of skilled labor, he enjoys the good 
will and loyalty of those in his employ. 

At Richmond. Ind., Mr. Hunt married Miss Grace Parry, a native of that 
city and also a member of an old Quaker family, by whom he has had four 
children. Walter is foreman in the machine shop of the Valley Foundry; 
Robert is foreman of the foundry department; Grace has become Mrs. Mau- 
rice Calderwood, secretary of the foundry; while Edward V. Hunt is in Porto 
Rico with a sugar company. 

Reflecting in many ways the Twentieth Century spirit of Fresno, Mr. 
Hunt is doubly interesting as having afforded, in his rapid evolution, an ex- 
ample of that marvelously swift development and growth peculiar to Fresno 
County, now one of the most progressive centers in the State. He is also 
interesting as an example of real value to American youth, alert to study and 
idolize the "man who does." Both the City and County of Fresno cannot 
have too many such men as Ben Hunt.