fsstanley.html

Portland, Oregon - Its History and Builders, S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago-Portland, 1911
Pages 58-9

FREDERICK S. STANLEY

So rapidly is progress being conserved, so extensively are natural resources being utilized, that the growth and development of the northwest are matters of marvel. To plan, promote and project large business enterprises requires men with marked powers of organization and executive control. To this class belongs Frederick S. Stanley, whose position as president of the First National Bank of Hood River and as secretary-treasurer of the Stanley-Smith Lumber Company places him with the leading and prominent residents of the northwest.
His birth occurred at Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, February 6, 1864. His father, Lemuel C. Stanley, was a native of New York, who later became well known as a banker and capitalist of Chippewa Falls, where he died September 24, 1909, at the advanced age of eighty-two years. He was a pioneer of northern Wisconsin and one of the most prominent financiers of that part of the state. His wife, who in her maidenhood was Cornelia A. Porter, of Brooklyn, New York, died in 1906 at the age of sixty-five years. The Stanleys are of English lineage, the original American pregenitor coming to America with the early Pilgrims about 1650 and settling in New England, where his descendants are now numerous.
Frederick S. Stanley pursued his education in the public schools of his native state and at the age of twenty years began work in connection with the lumber trade, gaining therein the broad practical experience which enabled him to successfully conduct a similar enterprise following his removal to the northwest in 1888. Coming to Oregon, he organized the Grande Ronde Lumber Company at Perry and conducted business there until 1902, when he removed to Portland and organized the Stanley-Smith Lumber Company of Hood River, with headquarters in Portland. The company owns and operates a large milling and manufacturing plant at Flood River and is doing an extensive business, its growth being the result of carefully devised plans promptly executed. In 1904 Mr. Stanley organized the First National Bank of Hood River, of which he has been the president since 1905. The rapid development of the Hood River valley, where large business enterprises are springing up almost as if by magic, affords an ample field for the conduct of a large and successful banking business such as the First National Bank of Hood River is now doing. Mr. Stanley is also interested to some extent in irrigation projects and in the year 1910, in association with others, he erected the Railway Exchange building, a large modern office structure of six stories, on Stark street between Third and Fourth streets, which has just been opened for occupancy. His is the president of the Railway Exchange Building Company and his work in this connection has given to Portland one of its finest office buildings. His latest activity in business circles and undoubtedly one of the most important moves which he has made has been in the organization of the Central Oregon Irrigation Company with headquarters at Portland. This company has taken over all assets, consisting of contract notes and real estate, of the Deschutes Irrigation & Power Company and is capitalized for a million and a half dollars. The purpose of the company is to complete the irrigation of two hundred and sixteen thousand acres of semi-arid lands in Crook county, Oregon, upon which there has already been constructed over three hundred miles of canals. The prosecution of the work will require over four mil-lion dollars and the reclamation of these arid lands will enable many thousands of settlers to secure productive farms there. Mr. Stanley is the president and the moving spirit of this company and the work which he is doing in this connection will be of inestimable value to the section of the state in which he is operating.
Mr. Stanley was married at Glens Falls, New York, June 22, 1889, to Miss Ruth M. Parks, a daughter of S. A. Parks, a prominent paper manufacturer of northern New York. They have three children, George, Cornelia and Frederick, aged respectively nineteen, twelve and three years, who are with their parents at No. 771 Park avenue.
Mr. Stanley is prominent in the club and social life of the city, holding membership with the Commercial Club, the Arlington Club, the Waverly Golf Club, the Multnomah Club and the Meadow Lake Club. In Masonry he has attained the Knight Templar degree of the York Rite, has taken the Scottish Rite degrees and is a member of the Mystic Shrine. He also belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and attends the Episcopal church. A republican in politics, he has twice been elected to the state legislature, being chosen in 1892 and 1894 to represent Union county. In his legislative service as well as in business life his work has been of a constructive character. In his business affairs he has never sought success at the sacrifice of others' interests but in the use of legitimate opportunities has found the path to success and the extent of his operations has made him one of the prominent business men of Portland and this part of the state.