Lockley, Fred. "History of the Columbia River Valley, From The Dalles to the Sea." Vol. 3. S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1928. p. 809. EDWARD J. SWINDELLS Edward J. Swindells is associated with one of the largest store fixture enterprises of the entire country as general manager of the Portland plant of the Grand Rapids Store Equipment Corporation. He measures fully up to the requirements of his responsible position and is regarded as a valuable adjunct to business interests of the Rose city. Mr. Swindells is a native of Philadelphia and his people were connected with the distinguished Rittenhouse family, one of the best known in that eastern metropolis. His youth passed uneventfully and early in his business life he became connected with the firm of Frank Miles Day & Brother, prominent architects of his native city. Thus he was associated with the execution of various big building contracts through a period of eight years and spent a year and a half in building operations in Baltimore, Maryland, following the fire in that city. Mr. Swindells was married in Philadelphia to Miss Anna C. Baton, a native of that city and a descendant of John Emerich, who was one of the backers of John Jacob Astor in his early connection with the fur trade. That among her ancestors were those who fought for American independence is shown in the fact that she has membership with the Daughters of the American Revolution. Edward J. and Anna C. (Baton) Swindells have become parents of a son, William, who now represents the Grand Rapids Store Equipment Corporation in Phoenix and Los Angeles. Mr. Swindells retained his residence in the east until 1912, when he became identified with Portland commercial activity and occupies a prominent position in its business circles as manager for the Grand Rapids Store Equipment Corporation, which ranks today as an outstanding American factory, their Portland factory furnishing employment throughout the year to over three hundred people and utilizing nearly five million feet of Oregon cut timber annually. The plant of the company is a large three-story concrete building at East Twenty second and Bush streets, where high-grade store fixture products are manufactured, the output being sold throughout the Pacific coast district and ten western states, while extensive shipments are made to Hawaii, Alaska, the Philippine islands, Australia and the Orient. In 1881 the first store fixture manufactory in Portland was established by Dixon & Bernstein at Front and Washington streets and in 1893 Robert Lutke entered the same field, joining the original firm. Eventually he purchased the interests of the founders, carried on the business under his own name for a time and later incorporated the Lutke Manufacturing Company. In 1908 the Grand Rapids Showcase Company, then one of the extensive American manufacturers in this field, turned its attention to Portland as an excellent field, realizing the splendid opportunities here offered because of the inexhaustible supply of lumber. After carefully looking over the field the Grand Rapids Showcase Company bought out the Lutke Manufacturing Company but retained Mr. Lutke as manager until he retired from business in 1923 and was succeeded by Edward J. Swindells, who had been assistant manager from 1912. Following the acquirement of his education in the Philadelphia schools and his study of art in the Spring Garden Institute, Mr. Swindells had devoted eleven years to service in the field of architecture and had become manager of the Architectural Woodworking Company of Philadelphia, which sold out to the Grand Rapids Showcase Company in 1911. It was soon afterward that Mr. Swindells accepted the proffered position of assistant manager at the Portland plant and through the intervening years his labors have been an important contributing element to the growth of the business and the development of the plant to the largest of the kind west of the Mississippi river and one of the largest in the entire country. Since 1908, when the Grand Rapids Company took over the building, it has shown an increase of five hundred per cent and service branches are maintained in Portland, Seattle, Spokane, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Honolulu. Thirty salesmen care for the trade and the workmanship of the factory is shown in some of the finest business structures in the entire west and equals that produced in any store fixture establishment in the world. In 1927 the Welch-Wilmarth Corporation and the Grand Rapids Showcase Company merged under the name of the Grand Rapids Store Equipment Corporation, becoming the largest store fixture organization in the world, with six factories in Grand Rapids, Michigan, one in Long Island City, one in Baltimore and one in Portland the Portland plant being the largest of the national system outside of the Grand Rapids factories. Mr. Swindells has shown marked executive and organizing ability in developing the business since he assumed control and his labors have been highly resultant, each year chronicling an increase in the trade, while the highest standards of manufacture have always been maintained, That he is appreciative of the social amenities of life is shown in his connection with the Arlington Club, the Lake Oswego Country Club, the Waverly Country Club, the Multnomah Athletic Club, and other civic organizations. He is an interested and active member of the Portland Chamber of Commerce, being in full sympathy with its purposes for civic development, and is now serving on its industries committee. He is also identified with the East Side Commercial Club. He is a York Rite Mason, a Mystic Shriner and a Knight of the Round Table, and his wife is a member of the Waverly Country Club, the Young Women's Christian Association and also active In various other ladies' organizations. Transcriber's additional notes: Census Indexing (by Head of household) 1880 - SWINDELLS WILLIAM 37 M W ENGL PA PHILADELPHIA 28-WD PHILADELPHIA (Edward J, age 7) 1900 - SWRNDELLS EDWARD 28 M W PA PA MONTGOMERY ABINGTON TWP 1910 - SWINDELLS EDW J 37 M W PA PA PHILADELPHIA 22-WD PHILADELPHIA 1920 - SWINDELLS EDWARD J 47 M W PA OR MULTNOMAH PORTLAND; 88-PCT ******************* Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in November 2007 by Diana Smith. Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.