Alameda County Biographies

ALVA F. MAINE, M. D.

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

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


 
        Dr. Alva F. Maine, who has been successfully engaged in the practice of 
medicine in Oakland since 1908, is well known as a representative of that class 
of progressive professional men who utilize the most advanced methods of medical 
science, his broad reading and earnest study keeping him in touch with the 
advancement that is being continually made by the profession. Dr. Maine was born 
in Newark, New Jersey, November 2, 1877, and is a son of Dr. A. P. and M. M. 
(Sheffield) Maine. The father is still an active and successful representative 
of the medical fraternity in Webster, New York.
        Alva F. Maine attended the public and high schools, being graduated from 
the latter when nineteen years of age. He was afterward employed by his father 
until he reached the age of twenty-one years, when, wishing to prepare for the 
practice of medicine, he entered the University of Buffalo, at Buffalo, New 
York, spending three years in its medical department. While a student there he 
was editor of the Iris, the second annual classbook of that school, issued by 
the graduating class of 1900. On leaving Buffalo he entered the University of 
Louisville and after a year spent in the medical department was graduated. He 
then returned from Kentucky to New York and for a year was engaged in active 
practice at Webster with his father. Thinking, however, to try his fortune upon 
the Pacific coast, he made his way to Redwood City, California, where he engaged 
in active practice and for two years filled the position of health officer. In 
1904 and again in 1907 he went to New York city for post�graduate work in the 
Polyclinic. In the fall of 1908 he came to Oakland and has been practicing here 
continuously since. His ability is widely recognized and is attested in the 
liberal patronage now accorded him. Anything which tends to bring to man the key 
to the complex mystery which we call life is of interest to him, and his reading 
has been wide and varied, covering all the phases of advanced medical and 
surgical science. He belongs to the American Medical Association, the California 
State Medical Society, and the Alameda County Medical Society, and through 
attendance at the meetings of these organizations keeps in touch with the work 
of eminent members of the profession.
        In addition to his practice Dr. Maine has become financially interested 
in the Coin-Controlled Seat Company of San Francisco, of which he is the 
treasurer. This company is engaged in the manufacture and sale of seats which 
can be controlled and operated by means of a coin and is the only one of the 
kind upon the market. After a number of years of experimenting and the 
expenditure of thousands of dollars E. W. Allen of San Jose, California, has 
perfected, built and patented a coin-controlled seat or bench of simple design 
which will withstand the hard usage and exposure to which a seat of this kind is 
subjected. Such seats are intended for coast resorts, summer gardens, open-air 
theaters, ball parks and public parks, and the company also manufacture 
specially designed seats or opera chairs for inside use, with coin box adjusted 
to accommodate any size coin from a nickel to a dollar. Other seats are 
manufactured with a canopy or umbrella. It is believed that the installment of 
such seats in public places will net a very large income to the proprietors, and 
indications are that thousands of such seats will be in immediate use almost as 
soon as manufactured. Progressive and enterprising business methods have been 
adopted by the officers of this company, who are: Peter Bacigalupi, president; 
Edgar W. Allen, vice president; Walter A. Chowen, secretary; Dr. Alva F. Maine, 
treasurer, and Charles A. Beardsley, auditor.
        Dr. Maine was married, at Rochester, New York, to Miss Kathryne Smith on 
the 13th of September, 1902. He holds membership with the Knights of Columbus, 
and in politics he is independent, voting as his judgment dictates, without 
regard to party ties.
 
Past & Present of Alameda County, California � Vol II, S. J. Clarke Publ. Co., 
1914, p. 402