Gaston, Joseph.  "Portland, Oregon Its History and Builders."  Vol. 2. 
Chicago and Portland, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1911. p. 492.
 
 WILLIAM FINCH WOODWARD

     William Finch Woodward, at the head of one of the oldest drug
establishments of Portland, ranks with those men of initiative spirit,
enterprise and determination who have been able to cope with the changing
conditions resulting from the rapid growth and development of the northwest, and
to retain their leadership as controlling factors in the trade of Portland. The
business with which he is associated is now carried on in its retail department
under the name of Woodard, Clarke & Company and in its wholesale and
manufacturing department under the firm style of Clarke-Woodward Drug Company.
     Mr. Woodward was born on the 24th of August, 1863, a son of the Rev.
Charles and Charlotte Augusta Woodward. The father was of English birth and an
Episcopal clergyman, who became one of the pioneer missionaries of Minnesota.
The son pursued his early education in the schools of Nunda, New York, and after
the removal of the family to the western frontier for such that section of the
country was then designated continued his studies in the schools of Rochester,
Minnesota. Eight years of his boyhood were spent upon a Minnesota farm and at
the age of eighteen he left home for Portland, Oregon, where he entered the drug
store of Woodard, Clarke & Company, since which time be has remained
continuously with the firm, of which he is now secretary, treasurer and part
owner.  In 1865 the business had been established under the firm style of C. H.
Woodard & Company, this being the initial venture of Charles H. Woodard, a young
druggist, who had come to Portland from the middle west. Carefully conducting
his business and carrying a good stock, the store soon secured a liberal
patronage, remaining at its original location on Front and Alder streets until
the shifting of retail trade away from the river bank led to a removal to First
and Alder streets, where business was conducted for about a quarter of a
century. In 1878 Louis G. Clarke, a resident of Ohio, and a recent graduate of
the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, came to Portland and entered the employ of
C. H. Woodard & Company, being two years later admitted to a partnership under
the style of Woodard, Clarke & Company.
     It was four years afterward that W. F. Woodward arrived and secured a
situation in the store as messenger and chore boy. Gradually he worked his way
upward and twelve years later became a partner. In December, 1904, the business
was removed to its present location at Fourth and Washington streets, at which
time its founder, Charles H. Woodard, retired, disposing of his interests to Mr.
Clarke and Mr. Woodward, the present owners, who have since conducted the
business as a corporation but without change in personnel. The business had been
gradually extended in its scope to include a wholesale and manufacturing
department and these had grown to such proportions that in January, 1904, it was
deemed advisable to separate this feature of the business from the retail store
and a new corporation, the Clarke-Woodward Drug Company, was formed, having
exclusive charge of the wholesale and manufacturing interests. They erected a
six-story and basement brick building, covering a quarter of a block at the
corner of Ninth and Hoyt streets and theirs today is one of the largest jobbing
drug houses in the northwest, Mr. Clarke having the management of this
enterprise, while Mr. Woodward retains the direction of the retail store, the
trade of which has increased in volume until it exceeds that of any other in the
United States in the extent of its stock, in its business and in the number of
its employees. A spirit of progress has always been manifest in the management
and an advance step was taken when the establishment entered upon a plan of
closing its doors on Sunday, save from ten to two P. M., this being the first
drug store on the Pacific coast to follow such a course.
     There are twenty-five departments in the store, in which are carried every
line of goods that minister to human health or in any way correct physical
deformities or defects. Some years ago the firm established the first and only
plant in the northwest for the manufacture of silk elastic surgical hosiery,
which hitherto had been supplied only from eastern factories. In the
photographic section the firm maintains one of the largest finishing departments
in the northwest. Since 1882 Mr. Woodward has been a factor in the business and
as secretary and treasurer has instituted many of the plans for the development
of the trade and the management of the store, keeping it not only in line but
rather in the lead among progressive institutions of this character.
     On the 20th of February, 1900, Mr. Woodward was married to Miss Sue Kate
Stevens, a daughter of Cornelius Kortwright Stevens. They have four daughters,
Katharine, Mary, Elizabeth and Eleanor. In his political views Mr. Woodward is a
republican but not an aspirant for office. In the early years of his residence
here he served for three years in the Oregon State Militia. He belongs to the
Waverly Golf Club, is president and trustee of the Irvington Club and is a
Knight Templar and Scottish Rite Mason. He holds membership in the Unitarian
church and is moderator of its board of trustees, is a trustee of the Boys and
Girls Aid Society and is president of the Prisoners Aid Society. He is a student
of the sociological and economic problems which the country faces, recognizes
the duty of man to his fellowman and is ever ready to lend the helping hand of
practical assistance, to aid by word of friendly encouragement. His life has
thus become largely an expression of "man's humanity to man" and his history may
be summed up in the single sentence that his life record is one in which notable
business ability and recognition of influence, opportunity and application are
well balanced forces.
 

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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in December 2008 by Diana Smith. Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.