Foreman Perry Huddle

A LOOK BACK

When a disaster strikes, such as a flood, earthquake or broken oil

or water lines, the men of public works are called upon to repair --

no matter if it happened on a warm summer day or a cold rainy night.

This week, we are going way back to when this department of the

city was simply known as the Street Department. In this early time,

the foreman of this highly important job was Perry L. Huddle. We will

see how this man received this important position with our city.

There was an increase in the population of the small town of

Kalida, Ohio (population 300) in 1891 when Perry was born. His

father, O.P. Huddle, built houses there. Being a good carpenter, he

was always in demand, which helped feed his new family.

Young Perry attended grammar school in Kalida until he was 9 years

old. The family moved to the big city of Toledo, Ohio, where Perry

would graduate from high school.

While Perry was still in high school, one of his hobbies was

photography. He joined the Ohio Camera Club in 1913. This hobby Perry

would pursue throughout his life.

Once out of school, Perry went to work as a cost accountant for

the Willys-Overland Automobile factory in Toledo. About this time,

the nation was at war, and this factory was kept busy making

75-millimeter gun carriages and 13-inch projectiles. Perry was kept

very busy during this time.

After the war, was over Perry went to work as a lineman for the

Home Telephone Company of Toledo for a short time. He then went to

work as a bank teller at Toledo’s National Bank of Commerce, but

after a while he decided that being a bank teller was not for him.

One of his friends in Toledo was Dave Compton. By a lucky

coincidence, Compton’s father-in-law was David O. Stewart from -- you

guessed it -- Huntington Beach.

Perry, now 30 years old, decided to come to California, and he

headed straight for Huntington Beach in 1921, after hearing stories

from his friend Compton of how much money Compton’s father-in-law was

making in our oil fields.

This was the beginning of the oil boom in Huntington Beach, and

people were getting rich from our black gold. When Perry arrived, he

looked over the town and its people and he liked what he saw.

At first, he did odd jobs for people in town, but in a short while

he got a good full-time job with Roscoe McIntosh Electrical, 303 1/2

Main St. as an electrician. He worked for McIntosh for three years.

Perry went back to Toledo for a visit in the winter. Why anyone

would want to visit Ohio in the dead of winter is beyond me, but

while there, Perry courted Florence Lee. When he returned to

Huntington Beach, he brought Florence along. They were married here.

With a new wife, Perry needed a better job, so he went to work for

H.R. Smith, who ran a radio repair business at 106 Main St.

In 1928, Huntington Beach City Engineer Merwin Rosson hired Perry

as a city electrical maintenance man. Perry’s job was taking care of

the town’s street lights and other city electrical needs.

This wasn’t as hard as you might think, because at that time the

city was only 3.2 square miles, and some parts didn’t have any street

lights at all.

When Street Department Foreman Henry Wirth passed away in 1938,

the city picked the best man for the job, and Perry became foreman of

the maintenance department and the street department under City

Engineer Harry Overmyer.

He held this job for many years. When he wasn’t working, Perry

would relax with his camera, taking pictures. Some of these photos

were placed on exhibition in Santa Ana.

Perry now joined the Orange County Camera Club and our Huntington

Beach Camera Club. Some of Perry’s photographic works were exhibited

at the 1939 World’s Fair at San Francisco.

Perry was an active member in our Masonic Lodge No. 380 for years.

After he retired, Florence and he lived for many years in their home

at 911 Huntington St., a house that they had built for themselves.

Perry and Florence kept active, Perry with his photography and

Florence with her garden.

They would take trips, and while Perry photographed the scenery,

Florence would collect rocks to be polished in their garage and added

to the Huddle garden and living room. Not a bad life for a man from

Kalida, Ohio.

* JERRY PERSON is a local historian and longtime Huntington

Beach resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write him at

P.O. Box 7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.