Walter S. Johnson
Encyclopedia
Walter S. Johnson was a notable businessman and philanthropist
in San Francisco, California
. He was one of the founders of the
American Forest Products Corporation
, a Fortune 500
company in the
1950s and 1960s, and of Friden, Inc.
, the Friden Calculating Machine
Company, which developed and sold electro-mechanical numerators and office
equipment, predecessors of today's computerized counterparts. As a
philanthropist, Walter S. Johnson is most famous for his 1959 contribution
to the preservation of the Palace of Fine Arts
, an act that ensured the
endurance of the iconic San Francisco landmark.
in 1884. His father Alfred Johnson was a musician who wanted to move west and buy a farm. His mother Mary Augusta Calkins (sometimes spelled Caulkins), an educated daughter of a journalist, had no interest in a farming life. Despite her wishes, the family moved to California and eventually settled on a small farm in Tulare
.
Mary became deeply unhappy and moved to San Francisco to pursue a newspaper career, leaving Walter and his four siblings in the temporary care of their father. Mary was hired by The San Francisco Call newspaper and was a regular contributor, reviewing books and interviewing authors and celebrities (The Call later became The San Francisco Call-Bulletin and eventually The San Francisco Examiner
.) In the late 1890s, she had the good fortune to work with Fremont Older
, the charismatic editor of The Call Bulletin. Older was remarkably unbiased toward women in the newspaper field, believing "whoever could best do the story got the job". Mary not only interviewed such names as Jack London
, Gertrude Atherton
, and Sarah Bernhart, but also got the daring "scoop" on the subjects of renowned trials and events including murderers and pugilists.
Eventually, Mary and Alfred officially divorced. The three young daughters, Ruth, Cornelia and Harriet, went to live with their mother, who later remarried, while the boys, Walter and Alfred, Jr., stayed with their father. Greatly disheartened by his wife's departure and the divorce that followed, Alfred sold his farm, packed his two sons and all his belongings and headed out to sell musical instruments. The three intrepid travelers journeyed in a covered horse-drawn carriage through California to Oregon, back again and down to Arizona, where they eventually settled. In the crevice of time in the late 19th century before the total proliferation of the railways, roads and telegraph and before the population grew and native culture diminished, Walter was able to experience a final frontier. He and his father and brother fished, shot game, battled bears, braved rivers and weather, encountered Native Americans and collected a lifetime of memories.
Walter's formal education began in Safford, Arizona
at the Latter Day Saints Academy, a Mormon
school where he studied sales, bookkeeping and business law (one of only a few non-Mormons, Walter was given the good natured moniker "Gentile
" by his schoolmates). At the age of 17, Walter went to live with his mother and sisters in San Francisco. After working a number of odd jobs, Walter landed a job as a the circulation manager at The Bulletin newspaper.
, one grouping making the only ferry trip to Sausalito, another making the trip in a row boat.
Johnson and a friend, Tom Truxell, were able to salvage some of the family belongings and keep them from looters by burying valuables in the yard and taking a second load to the Presidio
. Once at the Presidio, both young men were immediately assigned jobs protecting and accounting food items warehoused at the site. These were to be distributed by the army to the refugees encamped in Golden Gate Park
and similar areas around the city. Johnson worked for a month aiding the relief effort. He drove out of the city to procure milk, drove wagons full of hospital mattresses and supplies from the Letterman General Hospital to the refugees, and, as every pedestrian in the city was required, helped clear streets.
Two of the best earthquake stories come from Walter Johnson's half brother, Henry Brooke:
An amusing ditty of the time surrounded the unscathed whiskey warehouse at the bottom of Folsom (Howard?):
Shortly after the earthquake, Walter Johnson gathered the newsboys he knew from his job at the Bulletin and started selling out-of-town newspapers and magazines. His first newsstand stood in the rubble of Fillmore Street. He was soon selling papers all across the city. This endeavor blossomed into a book and stationary store on Fillmore and then on Market Street. In 1911, Johnson and his brother Alfred opened a similar store in Modesto, where their father had relocated.
was assassinated in Serbia
, setting off World War I
.
Johnson joined the war effort when the US became involved in 1917. He closed his small law practice and spent three months in officer's training at the Presidio. As a First Lieutenant, Johnson was sent to Aberdeen, Washington
to subvert the efforts of an anti-government group, the Industrial Workers of the World
, or I.W.W., who were determined to slow lumber production. Agitators used sabotage, threats and violence causing disastrous slow-downs and shut-downs that were detrimental to the war effort. Johnson used his skills as a lawyer and business manager to convince workers to remain loyal to the U.S. resulting in the eventual ousting of the seditionists. His legal and business skills were again used as the war wound down and he was transferred to New York City to settle government contracts with war-materials factories that were closing down. Johnson had made Captain by the time he left the Army.
where he incorporated and looked after the legal matters of Tartar and Webster. The Stockton Box Company, under what became Tartar, Webster & Johnson, Inc., flourished. Johnson soon learned the ropes, selling large quantities of wooden crates to suppliers and directly to fruit growers and canneries.
Soon, Tartar, Webster & Johnson, Inc. enlarged its holdings by acquiring interests in several other box and lumber companies. Johnson foresaw the need to control the raw materials that were the heart of the box business. He was also convinced that lumber would be highly valued commodity as industry and population grew. San Francisco became the center of the lumber business and Johnson operated an office at 1 Montgomery Street, in the Crocker Bank Building. Unfortunately, his friends and partners in the box company were not eager to branch out. Tartar and Webster sold out to Johnson, keeping the Stockton Box Company under their own guidance. Several years later, the three reunited as Johnson's vision began to pay off. The reunited corporation became the American Forest Products Corporation
.
The year was 1927 and the new corporation soon encircled a wide range of forest products. Besides the box industry, there were timber holdings, saw mills, re-manufacturing plants and complete lumber sales and distribution divisions. With good management and strong business ethics, it weathered the depression and by the end of World War II, the corporation was a multi-million-dollar operation.
It was during the depression years that Johnson met Carl Friden
, a Swedish-born engineer who had perfected and patented a revolutionary rotorized calculator. Friden had been very successful with his designs, but had met ruin with the stock market crash of 1929. In 1933, after Friden had spent years trying to perfect his product and find backers, he met Charles Gruenhagen, Johnson's brother-in-law. Gruenhagen was intrigued by Friden's accomplishments and introduced him to Johnson and members of the AFPC board. Friden proposed selling half interest to Johnson for $25,000, the funds to get his company off the ground. Johnson split the obligation with his partners and the Friden company began production.
Johnson's investment paid off well. Friden's plant in San Leandro, California
grew to consist of 50000 square feet (4,645.2 m²) of facilities and employed over 500 people. During World War II, the plant was restricted to making only 25 calculators a day, while the skilled machinists and engineers were redirected to make complicated bomb fuses and tachometers. After the war, the plant continued to make delicate instruments and expanded its line of calculating products, catering to the needs of scientists, businesses and industry.
Carl M. Friden died in 1945, leaving the company in turmoil. His heirs and company trustees turned to Johnson for his vision and expertise. Johnson, a highly experienced executive, was named president of the Friden Company. As he had done with the American Forest Products Corporation, Johnson turned the reasonably profitable enterprise into a multi-million-dollar outfit. Aggressive sales and progressive research and development were the mottoes for the energized Friden Company.
Not content with simple success, Johnson was determined to expand the Friden Company worldwide. By the mid-1950s the organization had moved into complete office machine outfitting, producing adding machines, typesetting machines, weight scales and postage meters. Johnson had a fight on his hands trying to convince his complacent board members to move into the international market. Eventually, he won out and headed to Europe, opening offices in Holland and Belgium. European sales surged and offices sprung up in Italy, England and West Germany. Johnson found himself a world traveler as he made the rounds of the Friden family of companies. Friden grew and profited, becoming well known for its punch-tape typewriters, including the iconic Flexowriter.
Years later, in 1963, the company was sold to the Singer Company, which had become a billion-dollar world-wide conglomerate. Johnson and the Friden Board felt Singer had the experience and the capital to keep Friden expanding. Seven years later, the American Forest Products Corporation was sold to the Bendix Corporation
. Johnson had been the president of both Friden and AFPC for nearly 50 years.
As a young couple, Mabel and Walter Johnson had the good fortune to be living in San Francisco as the Panama-Pacific Exposition was being planned and built. The Expo was to be a grand celebration of the opening of the new Panama Canal
, but would also let the world know that San Francisco had risen like a phoenix from the ashes of the 1906 earthquake and fire. Strewn over what had been a marshy shore, some thirty palaces of science, art and culture, statehood, and industry sprung into existence only a few years after the first shovel was turned. Fountains, towers, gardens and esplanades were to greet guests from around the world. In February 1915, the fair opened to a crowd of 255,149 and welcomed such notables as Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson
, Thomas Edison
and Charlie Chaplin
not to mention the Philadelphia Liberty Bell
!
Considered by many the most romantic feature of the fair, the Palace of Fine Arts was the favorite spot of the newlyweds. Designed by Architect Bernard Maybeck
, the building was surrounded by a handsome lagoon and illuminated beautifully. Walter and Mabel Johnson were not the only admirers. The people of San Francisco were so enamored with the Palace that it was the only building to remain in place after the demolition of the Expo.
Unfortunately, the structure had not been constructed to last. For many years after the fair, the crumbling building continued to be a San Francisco point of interest and pride, drawing visitors from all over the world. But, by 1959, the fate of the beloved landmark was in jeopardy. California Representative Caspar Weinberger
sponsored a state Assembly Bill offering $2 million in restoration funds if the city of San Francisco would match it. The city faltered and Johnson stepped up to the plate, donating the needed $2 million to the project. The state funds kicked in and work on the Palace began. Johnson continued to contribute to the Palace for the rest of his life. In tribute, the city named the surrounding grounds the Walter S. Johnson Park.
The Palace was not the first historic building that interested Johnson. The Augustin Bernal Adobe house in Pleasanton, California
and the surrounding ranch land were purchased by Johnson in 1940. Many elements of the old adobe were carefully restored and Johnson enjoyed living on the ranch for many years.
Historical preservation was not Johnson's only passion. Throughout his life, he served on the boards of many charitable organizations and contributed wholeheartedly to numerous worthy causes. One such cause was a children's home established by his childhood friend, Ettie Lee. He was touched by the plight of disadvantaged youth and began a foundation to serve the needs of youth in Northern California. Today, the Walter S. Johnson Foundation continues his legacy, funding education, leadership and economic development programs for youth and families.
in San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
. He was one of the founders of the
American Forest Products Corporation
American Forest Products Corporation
American Forest Products Corporation was the name of a Fortune 500 company that began in the 1920s and endured under the same leadership until it was sold to the Bendix Corporation in 1963....
, a Fortune 500
Fortune 500
The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the top 500 U.S. closely held and public corporations as ranked by their gross revenue after adjustments made by Fortune to exclude the impact of excise taxes companies collect. The list includes publicly and...
company in the
1950s and 1960s, and of Friden, Inc.
Friden, Inc.
Friden Calculating Machine Company was an American manufacturer of typewriters and electronic calculators. It was founded by Carl Friden in San Leandro, California in 1934. Friden electromechanical calculators were robust and popular....
, the Friden Calculating Machine
Company, which developed and sold electro-mechanical numerators and office
equipment, predecessors of today's computerized counterparts. As a
philanthropist, Walter S. Johnson is most famous for his 1959 contribution
to the preservation of the Palace of Fine Arts
Palace of Fine Arts
The Palace of Fine Arts in the Marina District of San Francisco, California, is a monumental structure originally constructed for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in order to exhibit works of art presented there. One of only a few surviving structures from the Exposition, it is the only one still...
, an act that ensured the
endurance of the iconic San Francisco landmark.
Early life
Walter S. Johnson was born in East Saginaw, MichiganEast Saginaw, Michigan
East Saginaw is a defunct city in Saginaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan.East Saginaw was founded in 1850, and was incorporated as a village in 1855 and as a city in 1857...
in 1884. His father Alfred Johnson was a musician who wanted to move west and buy a farm. His mother Mary Augusta Calkins (sometimes spelled Caulkins), an educated daughter of a journalist, had no interest in a farming life. Despite her wishes, the family moved to California and eventually settled on a small farm in Tulare
Tulare, California
Tulare is a city in Tulare County, California, United States. The population was 59,278 at the 2010 census.Just eight miles south of Visalia, it is part of the Census Bureau's designation of the Visalia Metropolitan Area. The city is named for the currently dry Tulare Lake, once the largest...
.
Mary became deeply unhappy and moved to San Francisco to pursue a newspaper career, leaving Walter and his four siblings in the temporary care of their father. Mary was hired by The San Francisco Call newspaper and was a regular contributor, reviewing books and interviewing authors and celebrities (The Call later became The San Francisco Call-Bulletin and eventually The San Francisco Examiner
The San Francisco Examiner
The San Francisco Examiner is a U.S. daily newspaper. It has been published continuously in San Francisco, California, since the late 19th century.-19th century:...
.) In the late 1890s, she had the good fortune to work with Fremont Older
Fremont Older
Fremont Older was a newspaperman and editor in San Francisco, California for nearly fifty years. He is best known for his campaigns against civic corruption and efforts on behalf of Tom Mooney and Warren Billings, wrongly convicted of the Preparedness Day bombing of 1916.Born in a log cabin in...
, the charismatic editor of The Call Bulletin. Older was remarkably unbiased toward women in the newspaper field, believing "whoever could best do the story got the job". Mary not only interviewed such names as Jack London
Jack London
John Griffith "Jack" London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone...
, Gertrude Atherton
Gertrude Atherton
Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton was an American writer.-Early Childhood:Gertrude Franklin Horn was born on October 30, 1857 in San Francisco to Thomas Ludovich Horn and his wife, the former Gertrude Franklin...
, and Sarah Bernhart, but also got the daring "scoop" on the subjects of renowned trials and events including murderers and pugilists.
Eventually, Mary and Alfred officially divorced. The three young daughters, Ruth, Cornelia and Harriet, went to live with their mother, who later remarried, while the boys, Walter and Alfred, Jr., stayed with their father. Greatly disheartened by his wife's departure and the divorce that followed, Alfred sold his farm, packed his two sons and all his belongings and headed out to sell musical instruments. The three intrepid travelers journeyed in a covered horse-drawn carriage through California to Oregon, back again and down to Arizona, where they eventually settled. In the crevice of time in the late 19th century before the total proliferation of the railways, roads and telegraph and before the population grew and native culture diminished, Walter was able to experience a final frontier. He and his father and brother fished, shot game, battled bears, braved rivers and weather, encountered Native Americans and collected a lifetime of memories.
Walter's formal education began in Safford, Arizona
Safford, Arizona
- History :Safford was founded by Joshua Eaton Bailey, Hiram Kennedy and Edward Tuttle, who came from Gila Bend, in southwestern Arizona. They left Gila Bend in the winter of 1873-74; their work on canals and dams having been destroyed by high water the previous summer...
at the Latter Day Saints Academy, a Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
school where he studied sales, bookkeeping and business law (one of only a few non-Mormons, Walter was given the good natured moniker "Gentile
Gentile
The term Gentile refers to non-Israelite peoples or nations in English translations of the Bible....
" by his schoolmates). At the age of 17, Walter went to live with his mother and sisters in San Francisco. After working a number of odd jobs, Walter landed a job as a the circulation manager at The Bulletin newspaper.
Earthquake
"At 5:13 AM on April 18, 1906, I was awakened by a roaring noise. The house and earth shook, power poles and trees shuddered and waved in the air as if being blown by a strong wind... ." Johnson was 21 when the 1906 earthquake struck SF. The wood and brick house he lived in at 929 Jackson Street shook and trembled, later to burn to the ground. His quick-witted mother and brother-in-law directed the clan to the Ferry BuildingFerry Building
The San Francisco Ferry Building is a terminal for ferries that travel across the San Francisco Bay and a shopping center located on The Embarcadero in San Francisco, California. On top of the building is a large clock tower, which can be seen from Market Street, a main thoroughfare of the city...
, one grouping making the only ferry trip to Sausalito, another making the trip in a row boat.
Johnson and a friend, Tom Truxell, were able to salvage some of the family belongings and keep them from looters by burying valuables in the yard and taking a second load to the Presidio
Presidio of San Francisco
The Presidio of San Francisco is a park on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California, within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area...
. Once at the Presidio, both young men were immediately assigned jobs protecting and accounting food items warehoused at the site. These were to be distributed by the army to the refugees encamped in Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, is a large urban park consisting of of public grounds. Configured as a rectangle, it is similar in shape but 20% larger than Central Park in New York, to which it is often compared. It is over three miles long east to west, and about half a...
and similar areas around the city. Johnson worked for a month aiding the relief effort. He drove out of the city to procure milk, drove wagons full of hospital mattresses and supplies from the Letterman General Hospital to the refugees, and, as every pedestrian in the city was required, helped clear streets.
Two of the best earthquake stories come from Walter Johnson's half brother, Henry Brooke:
Walter, living half as a refugee and half a relief agent, had a bedroll that he rolled a few garments in and tucked away in the bushes until needed. Once, upon returning one night, he discovered a pair of pants were missing. In their place were two beautiful brass candlesticks and a note that read: "Very sorry, just had to have the pants!"
An amusing ditty of the time surrounded the unscathed whiskey warehouse at the bottom of Folsom (Howard?):
If, as they say, God spanked the city
because it got too frisky,
Why did he shake the churches down
and save Hotelings whiskey?
Shortly after the earthquake, Walter Johnson gathered the newsboys he knew from his job at the Bulletin and started selling out-of-town newspapers and magazines. His first newsstand stood in the rubble of Fillmore Street. He was soon selling papers all across the city. This endeavor blossomed into a book and stationary store on Fillmore and then on Market Street. In 1911, Johnson and his brother Alfred opened a similar store in Modesto, where their father had relocated.
World War I
Not satisfied with the life of a merchant, Johnson began to study for entrance into law school. He sold his share of the business to his brother and enrolled at Boalt Hall School of Law, later finishing at Hastings Law School in San Francisco. The very day Johnson became a member of the California bar, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of AustriaArchduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria
Franz Ferdinand was an Archduke of Austria-Este, Austro-Hungarian and Royal Prince of Hungary and of Bohemia, and from 1889 until his death, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. His assassination in Sarajevo precipitated Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against Serbia...
was assassinated in Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, setting off World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
Johnson joined the war effort when the US became involved in 1917. He closed his small law practice and spent three months in officer's training at the Presidio. As a First Lieutenant, Johnson was sent to Aberdeen, Washington
Aberdeen, Washington
Aberdeen is a city in Grays Harbor County, Washington, United States, founded by Samuel Benn in 1884. Aberdeen was incorporated on May 12, 1890. The city is the economic center of Grays Harbor County, bordering the cities of Hoquiam and Cosmopolis...
to subvert the efforts of an anti-government group, the Industrial Workers of the World
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
, or I.W.W., who were determined to slow lumber production. Agitators used sabotage, threats and violence causing disastrous slow-downs and shut-downs that were detrimental to the war effort. Johnson used his skills as a lawyer and business manager to convince workers to remain loyal to the U.S. resulting in the eventual ousting of the seditionists. His legal and business skills were again used as the war wound down and he was transferred to New York City to settle government contracts with war-materials factories that were closing down. Johnson had made Captain by the time he left the Army.
Big business
After the war, Johnson returned to San Francisco and his law practice. On occasion, an old childhood friend by the name of Bert Webster would drop in. Webster was in the wood box business in Stockton with a fellow named Horace Tarter. The three became fast friends and Johnson was convinced to move his family to StocktonStockton, California
Stockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city...
where he incorporated and looked after the legal matters of Tartar and Webster. The Stockton Box Company, under what became Tartar, Webster & Johnson, Inc., flourished. Johnson soon learned the ropes, selling large quantities of wooden crates to suppliers and directly to fruit growers and canneries.
Soon, Tartar, Webster & Johnson, Inc. enlarged its holdings by acquiring interests in several other box and lumber companies. Johnson foresaw the need to control the raw materials that were the heart of the box business. He was also convinced that lumber would be highly valued commodity as industry and population grew. San Francisco became the center of the lumber business and Johnson operated an office at 1 Montgomery Street, in the Crocker Bank Building. Unfortunately, his friends and partners in the box company were not eager to branch out. Tartar and Webster sold out to Johnson, keeping the Stockton Box Company under their own guidance. Several years later, the three reunited as Johnson's vision began to pay off. The reunited corporation became the American Forest Products Corporation
American Forest Products Corporation
American Forest Products Corporation was the name of a Fortune 500 company that began in the 1920s and endured under the same leadership until it was sold to the Bendix Corporation in 1963....
.
The year was 1927 and the new corporation soon encircled a wide range of forest products. Besides the box industry, there were timber holdings, saw mills, re-manufacturing plants and complete lumber sales and distribution divisions. With good management and strong business ethics, it weathered the depression and by the end of World War II, the corporation was a multi-million-dollar operation.
It was during the depression years that Johnson met Carl Friden
Carl Friden
Carl Friden was the Swedish born American mechanical engineer and businessman who founded the Friden Calculating Machine Company .-Background:...
, a Swedish-born engineer who had perfected and patented a revolutionary rotorized calculator. Friden had been very successful with his designs, but had met ruin with the stock market crash of 1929. In 1933, after Friden had spent years trying to perfect his product and find backers, he met Charles Gruenhagen, Johnson's brother-in-law. Gruenhagen was intrigued by Friden's accomplishments and introduced him to Johnson and members of the AFPC board. Friden proposed selling half interest to Johnson for $25,000, the funds to get his company off the ground. Johnson split the obligation with his partners and the Friden company began production.
Johnson's investment paid off well. Friden's plant in San Leandro, California
San Leandro, California
San Leandro is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is considered a suburb of Oakland and San Francisco. The population was 84,950 as of 2010 census. The climate of the city is mild throughout the year.-Geography and water resources:...
grew to consist of 50000 square feet (4,645.2 m²) of facilities and employed over 500 people. During World War II, the plant was restricted to making only 25 calculators a day, while the skilled machinists and engineers were redirected to make complicated bomb fuses and tachometers. After the war, the plant continued to make delicate instruments and expanded its line of calculating products, catering to the needs of scientists, businesses and industry.
Carl M. Friden died in 1945, leaving the company in turmoil. His heirs and company trustees turned to Johnson for his vision and expertise. Johnson, a highly experienced executive, was named president of the Friden Company. As he had done with the American Forest Products Corporation, Johnson turned the reasonably profitable enterprise into a multi-million-dollar outfit. Aggressive sales and progressive research and development were the mottoes for the energized Friden Company.
Not content with simple success, Johnson was determined to expand the Friden Company worldwide. By the mid-1950s the organization had moved into complete office machine outfitting, producing adding machines, typesetting machines, weight scales and postage meters. Johnson had a fight on his hands trying to convince his complacent board members to move into the international market. Eventually, he won out and headed to Europe, opening offices in Holland and Belgium. European sales surged and offices sprung up in Italy, England and West Germany. Johnson found himself a world traveler as he made the rounds of the Friden family of companies. Friden grew and profited, becoming well known for its punch-tape typewriters, including the iconic Flexowriter.
Years later, in 1963, the company was sold to the Singer Company, which had become a billion-dollar world-wide conglomerate. Johnson and the Friden Board felt Singer had the experience and the capital to keep Friden expanding. Seven years later, the American Forest Products Corporation was sold to the Bendix Corporation
Bendix Corporation
The Bendix Corporation was an American manufacturing and engineering company which during various times in its 60 year existence made brake systems, aeronautical hydraulics, avionics, aircraft and automobile fuel control systems, radios, televisions and computers, and which licensed its name for...
. Johnson had been the president of both Friden and AFPC for nearly 50 years.
Personal life and legacy
Walter Johnson met Mabel Brady at his stationary store in Modesto. They were married in 1914, shortly before Johnson's graduation from law school. They had three children together, Gloria, Jeneal and Walter, the latter being born in 1924.As a young couple, Mabel and Walter Johnson had the good fortune to be living in San Francisco as the Panama-Pacific Exposition was being planned and built. The Expo was to be a grand celebration of the opening of the new Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
, but would also let the world know that San Francisco had risen like a phoenix from the ashes of the 1906 earthquake and fire. Strewn over what had been a marshy shore, some thirty palaces of science, art and culture, statehood, and industry sprung into existence only a few years after the first shovel was turned. Fountains, towers, gardens and esplanades were to greet guests from around the world. In February 1915, the fair opened to a crowd of 255,149 and welcomed such notables as Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
, Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
and Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
not to mention the Philadelphia Liberty Bell
Liberty Bell
The Liberty Bell is an iconic symbol of American Independence, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Formerly placed in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House , the bell was commissioned from the London firm of Lester and Pack in 1752, and was cast with the lettering "Proclaim LIBERTY...
!
Considered by many the most romantic feature of the fair, the Palace of Fine Arts was the favorite spot of the newlyweds. Designed by Architect Bernard Maybeck
Bernard Maybeck
Bernard Ralph Maybeck was a architect in the Arts and Crafts Movement of the early 20th century. He was a professor at University of California, Berkeley...
, the building was surrounded by a handsome lagoon and illuminated beautifully. Walter and Mabel Johnson were not the only admirers. The people of San Francisco were so enamored with the Palace that it was the only building to remain in place after the demolition of the Expo.
Unfortunately, the structure had not been constructed to last. For many years after the fair, the crumbling building continued to be a San Francisco point of interest and pride, drawing visitors from all over the world. But, by 1959, the fate of the beloved landmark was in jeopardy. California Representative Caspar Weinberger
Caspar Weinberger
Caspar Willard "Cap" Weinberger , was an American politician, vice president and general counsel of Bechtel Corporation, and Secretary of Defense under President Ronald Reagan from January 21, 1981, until November 23, 1987, making him the third longest-serving defense secretary to date, after...
sponsored a state Assembly Bill offering $2 million in restoration funds if the city of San Francisco would match it. The city faltered and Johnson stepped up to the plate, donating the needed $2 million to the project. The state funds kicked in and work on the Palace began. Johnson continued to contribute to the Palace for the rest of his life. In tribute, the city named the surrounding grounds the Walter S. Johnson Park.
The Palace was not the first historic building that interested Johnson. The Augustin Bernal Adobe house in Pleasanton, California
Pleasanton, California
Pleasanton is a city in Alameda County, California, incorporated in 1894. It is a suburb in the San Francisco Bay Area located about east of Oakland, and west of Livermore. The population was 70,285 at the 2010 census. In 2005 and 2007, Pleasanton was ranked the wealthiest middle-sized city in...
and the surrounding ranch land were purchased by Johnson in 1940. Many elements of the old adobe were carefully restored and Johnson enjoyed living on the ranch for many years.
Historical preservation was not Johnson's only passion. Throughout his life, he served on the boards of many charitable organizations and contributed wholeheartedly to numerous worthy causes. One such cause was a children's home established by his childhood friend, Ettie Lee. He was touched by the plight of disadvantaged youth and began a foundation to serve the needs of youth in Northern California. Today, the Walter S. Johnson Foundation continues his legacy, funding education, leadership and economic development programs for youth and families.