Kings County Biographies


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



FRANK SHARPLES
 
contractor and builder, Hanford, Tulare County, California, is a native of 
England, born near Liverpool, May 30, 1861.  His father, Peter Sharples, a 
carpenter by trade, conducted prominent building interests in the suburbs of 
Liverpool.  The family consisted of six sons, Frank being the third in order of 
birth, and all of them engaged in mechanical pursuits.
            At the age of sixteen years Mr. Sharples began the trade of 
brick-making and ornamental masonry at Liverpool, which he followed for five 
years and then visited the United States.  However, preferring the life of his 
own country, he soon returned to Liverpool, engaged in contract business and 
erected some of the prominent buildings in that city.  He was married, in 
Liverpool, in 1886, to Miss Marian Dicks, a native of Cheshire, and in September 
of the following year he again came to the United States, and went directly to 
California.  His first work in this State was on the Grand Opera House at 
Pasadena, where he completed the fancy masonry and brick work, and thus 
established his reputation here as a scientific workman.  He then entered into a 
partnership with Charles J. Lindgren, of Los Angeles, and the firm of Sharples & 
Lindgren erected many of the finest buildings in that beautiful city.  After the 
fire in Bakersfield, in 1889, they moved to that city and were prominent 
contractors in rebuilding the town.  They erected the Southern Hotel, the 
Masonic Temple, Post Office, and many other leading buildings of the place, 
their business there amounting to $150,000.
            In August, 1890, the firm dissolved and Mr. Sharples came to Hanford 
to construct the Artesia Hotel, also the buildings of Kutner, Goldstein & Co., 
Simon, Manasse & Co., and the buildings of Sarment  and Porter Mickle.  During 
the spring of 1891 he built for himself on Sixth street a two-story brick 
building, 50 x 100 feet, with iron and plate glass front.  He is also building a 
three-story residence northwest of town, at an expense of about $6,000.  It is 
finished with hard wood, has electric bells and is built on scientific 
principles of ventilation.  Mr. Sharples has come to Hanford to stay, and with 
his arrangements for lawns, family orchard and irrigation, his home will be 
attractive and complete.  He owns other town property unimproved and an 
eighty-acre ranch south of Armona, which he is setting to vines.  He is 
preparing to manufacture his own brick, and with his facilities for handling 
large contracts he ranks among the foremost builders in the Lucerne District.
            Mr. and Mrs. Sharples have two children:  Marian Kent and Frank 
Dicks.
 
Memorial and Biographical History of the counties of Fresno, Tulare and Kern, 
California
Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892  p. 718
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler