Tulare County Biographies

BOLTON E. MINISTER

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

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

 
        Bolton E. Minister, proprietor of Minister's, Incorporated, in 
Porterville, one of the best outfitted and most popular dry goods and department 
stores in this section of California ; president of the Porterville Chamber of 
Commerce, and recognized as one of the most energetic and enterprising young 
business men hereabout ; an enthusiastic promoter of all movements having to do 
with the betterment of local conditions and a community "booster" every minute 
of the day, is a native of California and has been a resident of this state all 
his life. He was born in the city of Los Angeles, August 20, 1892, and attended 
the schools of that city and Santa Monica, going on through the high school.
        With native energy Bolton E. Minister started out at an unusually early 
age to "do for himself." He recalls that his first gainful labor was performed 
at the tender age of eight years, when he spent his school vacation period 
working on a ranch in Los Angeles county. When fifteen years of age he was put 
in charge of a considerable alfalfa development project in San Bernardino 
county. His was a busy boyhood, even as his maturer years have been filled with 
activity, and his friends vouch for the vim he has always injected into these 
activities, whether as a boy working on a ranch; as a promoter engaged in 
putting over extensive operations ; or as a merchant developing a going 
department store.
        Mr. Minister's first mercantile operations were carried on in the 
Coachella valley in Riverside county, where as a young man he started a general 
store in the village of Indio and not long afterward was made postmaster of that 
place. He also carried on, incidental to this enterprise, a livery stable, and 
between times figured out plans for the extension of the budding interests of 
Indio. Recognizing what seemed a more promising opportunity in the neighboring 
village of Coachella, down the line a few miles on the Southern Pacific, in the 
great valley between the San Bernardino and the San Jacinto mountains, he took a 
stock of store goods to the latter place and there established a business. While 
thus engaged in the mercantile business in Indio and Coachella, Mr. Minister 
inaugurated the movement which led to the construction of the great Coachella 
storm water ditch, a half million dollar drainage project which has since played 
a very important part in the development of that valley. He was one of the prime 
movers in this project and was elected president of the association that put it 
through.
        In the spring of 1922 Mr. Minister closed out his interests in Coachella 
and in May of that year became established in business in Porterville, head of 
the flourishing mercantile firm of Minister's, Incorporated, proprietors of a 
very well stocked department store at No. 519 North Main street, and one of the 
most energetic business men in that city. It was Mr. Minister who recognized the 
possibilities of cotton culture in this valley and it was through his 
encouragement and stimulation of the movement that the first cotton was planted 
in the Porterville and Terra Bella districts and the cotton gin set up in 
Porterville, thus creating a new industry here that promises to become a very 
profitable one. In 1924 Mr. Minister was elected president of the Porterville 
Chamber of Commerce and in 1925 was reelected to that position, a compliment 
which his friends appreciated very much, for it usually has been the custom in 
this chamber to pass the office of executive around. In this instance the 
members of this energetic commercial body evidently realized that they had found 
the right man for the place and were quite content to retain him. As a director 
of the locally popular and influential Lions Club, an organization based upon a 
desire for the promotion of better general civic conditions, Mr. Minister also 
has been able to help further certain important projects looking to the 
advancement of the common good hereabout.
        On April 25, 1917, Bolton E. Minister was united in marriage to Miss 
Georgia Walters of San Bernardino and to this union two children have been born, 
sons both: Bolton E., Jr., and Rob Roy. Mr. and Mrs. Minister are members of the 
Roman Catholic church and Mr. Minister is a member of Porterville Council No. 
2329, Knights of Columbus. He also is a member of Lodge No. 1342, Benevolent 
Protective Order of Elks.
 
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. 438