Edward S. Irvin, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of Edward S. Irvin
EDWARD S. IRVIN, secretary of the Los Angeles Can Company, has been a business man all his life, but started at the very bottom round of the latter, and his range of experience well qualifies him as one of the leaders in Los Angeles industry.
The Los Angeles Can Company was established in 1902 by F. F. Stetson and T. J. Spencer. It was first known as the Stetson-Spencer Can Company. In 1903 they incorporated as the Los Angeles Can Company, with F. F. Stetson, president; T. J. Spencer, vice president; E. S. Irvin, secretary, and D. K. Stetson, treasurer. In 1915 F. B. McCoskey succeeded D. K. Stetson as treasurer and he in turn in 1917 was succeeded by J. P. Williams.
The founders of this business recognized a tremendous opportunity in Southern California for an industry to manufacture fruit and vegetable cans convenient to the great sources of use. In 1903 the company occupied a low, one-story building 60x80 feet. Today the plant covers two and a half acres, the main factory being a two-story brick building, and the entire factory is equipped with an automatic sprinkler system for fire protection. The machinery is of the most approved type and whereas the first year's output was only three hundred thousand cans, the capacity today is a hundred million a year, and the prospects for increased growth seem practically unlimited. When the business was started in 1902 there was only one helper. Six months later they were employing a force of twenty-five, and today the number of employes is two hundred and fifty. The plant occupies a full city block between San Fernando Boulevard and North Avenue, Humboldt Street and the Santa Fe Railway.
Edward S. Irvin was born at Valparaiso, Indiana, January 19, 1860, son of Samuel and Catherine (Keller) Irvin. He attended public school at Hebron, Indiana, and at the age of eighteen taught in that vicinity for about a year. For two years he was employed as a drug clerk at Hebron and then worked in a dry goods store for another two years.
It was with this experience and training that he came West and located at Ontario, California. For one year he worked at different lines and then came to Los Angeles and for two years was clerk with H. C. Worland, druggist and postmaster at Boyle Heights. Mr. Irvin worked one year as chain man under Henry Dockweiler, the Los Angeles city engineer. For about a year he was a general workman in the shops of the Los Angeles Metal Works, and when that concern was absorbed by the American Can Company he remained in the cost department of that corporation until 1903. At that date the American Can Company discontinued its Los Angeles branch and Mr. Irvin went with the newly organized Los Angeles Can Company as vice president and secretary.
He is a charter member of Hollenbeck Lodge of Masons, is a member of the Los Angeles Credit Men's Association, is a democrat and belongs to the Christian church. At Hebron, Indiana, January 1, 1884, he married Miss Hattie Bryant. They have two children, Samuel B. and Ruth. Samuel was born in 1885, was educated in public schools, and did his first work with the Sunset Telephone Company and at present is cashier and timekeeper with the Los Angeles Can Company. The daughter, Ruth, is a graduate of the University of California, specializing in the study of languages, Spanish, Greek and Latin, and is also a talented young musician. She is a member of the Acholth Sorority and of the Eastern Star. Mr. Irvin and family reside in a beautiful home at 1722 North Van Ness Avenue in Hollywood.
Source: McGroarty, John Steven. 1921. Los Angeles from the Mountains to the Sea: With Selected Biography of Actors and Witnesses to the Period of Growth and Achievement. Volume II. Chicago, Illinois: American Historical Society. 438 p.
Page(s) in Source: 277-278
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook