Talk:Henry J. Kaiser
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This need something about Liberty Ships and Spruce Goose. Sorry but I need to sleep. Ericd 21:02, 3 Nov 2004 (UTC)
[edit] Kaiser Buggy Company
Just curious, but I have a a couple Kaiser buggies built in Kenton, Ohio. These are from the late 1800's, early 1900's and the owner was Henry Kaiser. After the buggy craze was over, the same place sold Kaiser-Frazer automobiles. (in Kenton) I'm just wondering if these people are related in any way?
[edit] No mention of A. B. Ordway...
A. B. Ordway to the Henry J. Kaiser...read below:
85 Years Ago: Henry Kaiser and A. B. Ordway Head Over Heels About California
by Tom Debley, KP's Director of Heritage Resources
You might say Henry J. Kaiser and right hand man, A. B. "Ord" Ordway, were head over heels about California when they arrived 85 years ago this month.
That's because they literally tumbled into the state as they jumped from a moving train. Mr. Kaiser, Ordway once recalled, "rolled over a couple of times and skidded on his hands and knees under a clump of trees."
Why this dramatic entrance? The then road builders-headquartered in Washington State as Kaiser Paving Company-wanted to bid on paving a 30-mile section of the now historic Highway 99 project between Red Bluff and Redding in the far north of California.
The pair would go on the make history together-revolutionizing highway construction, tackling the job of building the historic dams of the West during the Great Depression, transforming America ship assembly during World War II, reshaping American health care delivery with the founding of Kaiser Permanente, and building a global empire of engineering, cement, steel, and aluminum.
Ordway was the first employee Kaiser ever hired and served as his right hand man for 55 years, from 1912 until Kaiser died in 1967. Lesser known in history, Ordway was instrumental in the founding of Kaiser Permanente by Kaiser and Dr. Sidney R. Garfield as the man who introduced Dr. Garfield to Kaiser through Kaiser's son, Edgar. His name is memorialized with the Kaiser-built 28-story Ordway Building, the tallest skyscraper in the San Francisco Bay Area outside of downtown San Francisco and home to KP's Program Offices.
Ordway's version of the story of the arrival in California that February day in 1921 when they jumped from the Shasta Limited is recounted in The Kaiser Story, a book published in 1968 by Kaiser Industries:
"...One night in 1921, in a Redding, California, hotel, A. B. Ordway overheard a couple of competitors discussing a road-building job between Redding and Red Bluff that was up for bid. He wired Henry Kaiser, and the two met in Portland, Oregon, where they caught the southbound Shasta Limited.
"'After we boarded the train,' Ordway recalls, 'we discovered it didn't stop at Redding, but it did slow down at nearby Cottonwood, just long enough for the engineer to grab his orders off a pole on the move.
"'I made the mistake of telling Mr. Kaiser. He decided to grab his suitcase and jump. I'd jumped off moving trains, but never at the speed this one would be traveling. I'm sure Mr. Kaiser had never jumped before. But this didn't bother him.
"'We swung off right in front of the little station there. Henry rolled over a couple of times and skidded on his hands and knees under a clump of trees. I stumbled over my suitcase and came to a stop right in front of the station door. Our suits were torn and our hands and legs were skinned, but we'd made it.'
"They underbid the competition and, because of this $527,000 job, the largest the firm had landed, headquarters were moved to California."
The construction of this 30-mile stretch of old Highway 99 was an important milestone in establishing Henry Kaiser as an innovator. According to old Kaiser company records in Kaiser Permanente's Heritage Archive:
a.. The 30 miles of concrete highway was laid twice as fast as any section of highway in California up to that time; Kaiser's team laid two miles a week rather than one. b.. One reason for the speed was that here, for the first time, Kaiser used a Caterpillar tractor instead of horses to pull the scrapers to level the road bed, and gasoline driven "batch buggies" were used to haul the wet concrete rather than by hand or horses. c.. The project won a national award for the best concrete pour in a single day and the best continuous pour. d.. Until this project, at which there was no previous road, contractors had to provide detours at their own expense. Out of the experience on this project, the State of California adopted a policy of paying for detour work. The original State Route 99 in California was designated as U.S. Highway 99 in 1926 to become part of a one of the major early 20th Century highways stretching from the border with Mexico at Calexico to the Canadian border at Blaine, Washington. Kaiser and Ordway set up headquarters in Oakland with this job and remained there. Ordway played key roles in virtually every Kaiser enterprise.
Kaiser once said he was successful because he surrounded himself with people who were smarter than he was, acknowledging that everyone was smarter than he was in something and that he listened to them.
A. B. Ordway was the epitome of that employee, always willing to challenge "the boss." Said Kaiser on one occasion, "He never agrees with me on anything. He's invaluable."
The ultimate tribute to Ordway and to Kaiser employees came two years after Henry J. Kaiser's death when Kaiser's son, Edgar, dedicated a building to Ordway. Said a Kaiser Industries announcement on February 15, 1969: "[T]he new Ordway Building will stand as a monument to all employees-past, present and future."
[edit] Initial Biography Project review
I tagged this article for the Biography project with a priority of "high" based on the prominence of the subject during his lifetime, and the importance with which he figures in in other articles (his various companies, the places where they had facilities, and historical events).
It appears entirely unsourced, lacks an infobox or tables, internal and external links, but has a good deal of relevant information, and passes NPV muster. I have set the quality rating at "start" until some of these issues can be addressed. I'm placing a couple of relevant clean-up tags on the article. -- J-M Jgilhousen 22:53, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
