Fred Lind Alles

Fred Lind Alles (August 2, 1851 – March 7, 1945) was a businessman and civic leader in Los Angeles, California, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, serving as secretary or other officer for various committees and for the National Irrigation Congress.

Professional life

Lind was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on August 2, 1851, and attended the public schools of Pitt Township between 1857 and 1861. He entered the printing business as a "kid press feeder" with the Pittsburgh Post at age about 13 in 1864, followed by stints at the Pittsburgh Dispatch and the Workingman's Advocate, also in Pittsburgh.

In 1889 he became temporary managing editor of the Riverside Press and Horticulturalist, but the next year he sold his Riverside County orange grove and moved back to Los Angeles, where he became secretary and general manager of the Los Angeles Printing Company between 1890 and 1902. and in 1901 he established his own printing business, which he maintained until 1905.

Alles was honored in January 1941 for his life's work when a portrait of him by artist Arthur Cahill was unveiled in Los Angeles's prestigious California Club.

Volunteer work

Lind volunteered as an officer or member of many nonprofit organizations. They included:

Illinois Press Association between 1877 and 1883, secretary Illinois Society of Los Angeles, secretary, 1886 Los Angeles Fair Committee, secretary, 1887 National Irrigation Congress, secretary, between 1893 and 1895 Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, director, 1897

In September 1889, Alles began circulating a petition to change the name of Fort Street in downtown Los Angeles to Broadway southward between First and Tenth Streets and to North Broadway northward of First Street, At first the petition "received but little encouragement," the Los Angeles Times reported, "as Fort Street is one of the oldest landmarks in Los Angeles, and the impression seemed to prevail that the name should not be blotted out," but eventually the argument that "Fort Street" sounded too much like "Fourth Street" prevailed, and the name changes were adopted.

Personal life

Lind was born August 2, 1851, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Henry Alles or Alois and Elizabeth Kaufman. In his later years, he recalled that he once sat on a streetcar seat next to former president Martin Van Buren, who died in 1862, when Alles was about seven. He was married to Mary Elizabeth Allen in Sparta, Illinois, on December 4, 1873, in a double wedding with Mary's sister, Avis. Lind and Mary Elizabeth had three children, Allen Alles, Clara Lavinia Greaves and Lind Chesley Alles. Mary Elizabeth died on July 23, 1923, at the age of 73.