Frank A. Homan

Frank Andrew Homan (born Francis Andreas Hohman) was a business owner, Fresno Unified School District board member, Fresno City commissioner, and mayor of Fresno from 1937–1941.

Frank A. Homan
10th Mayor of Fresno, California
In office
April 26, 1937 – April 28, 1941
Preceded byZ. S. Leymel
Succeeded byZ. S. Leymel
Personal details
Born
Francis Andreas Hohman

(1875-05-29)May 29, 1875
Fremont, California, U.S.
DiedJune 25, 1958(1958-06-25) (aged 83)
Fresno, California, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Sarah Estella Chance (m.1900-1958)
EducationMaster of Public Service Honorary

Frank A. Homan was born May 29, 1875, to Catherine (Katherina) and Jacob (Jakob) Hohman in Fremont, California. Frank was one of six children for the Hohmans.[1] By 1883, the Hohmans moved to Fresno from Mayfield, California (present-day Palo Alto, California).[2] The Americanization of "Hohman" to "Homan" began about the time of Jacob's naturalization in 1868.[3] By the time the family arrived in Fresno, Homan was the surname used. Frank Homan grew up on the edge of the Germantown neighborhood of Fresno.[2]

Homan attended Fresno High School being involved in student government and baseball. Homan played baseball outside of class for The Fresno Expositor on a company sponsored team alongside future MLB player and manager Frank Chance.[4] After graduation in 1893, Homan begin work as a reporter for the The Fresno Morning Republican. Homan would work until 1895 when he would join the United States Postal Service as the assistant postmaster until 1903.[5] On January 4, 1900, Homan would marry Frank Chance's sister, Sarah, in which Chance would give away the bride during the off-season while a player for the Chicago Cubs.[6] Homan would go into the private financial business selling oil stock and supplies.[7]

Civic career

Fresno City Board of Education

Homan ran for office in 1909 to serve as Board President of the Fresno City Schools[8] During that term, Homan, along with school superintendent C. L. McLane built an open air school to teach quarantined students that did not have the Smallpox vaccine. Homan served for a single term from 1909–1913.[9] Although no longer on the school board, Homan would continue to advocate for better schools, bond measures and the construction of the new Fresno High School.[10]

While not engaging directly in civic business, Homan continued to build his business as he began to transform his business into a sporting goods and athletics supplies store called Homan & Company.[11]

Merchant's Association

Homan was part of the original businesses that established the Merchants Association of Fresno where he would be elected president of the association from 1915 to 1918.[12][13] Homan would also find himself called upon by virtue of his associations with politicians and merchants alike to continue in civic leadership. As World War I began, Homan was placed in charge of Fresno's Liberty bond campaign which further made Homan a staple in the city after raising $75,000 (equivalent to $1.6 million in 2020 dollars) in a single day.[14]

Homan continued in business ventures alongside his sporting goods store. Homan would serve until the Great Depression as the Vice-President of Fresno County Chamber of Commerce. During the 1920s, Homan would serve on the board of directors for banks and mortgage businesses.[15][16] Homan would begin to reenter the political world with an appointment by Mayor A. E. Sunderland to study the matters of improving of travel and traffic through the city.[17] The committee would recommend traffic police, crosswalks, uniform street widths, signal lights, parking meters, parallel parking, and speed limits throughout the city.[18] The committee would also recommend the expansion of Fresno Chandler Executive Airport.[19]

During the Depression, Homan would be selected by Mayor Z. S. Leymel to be part of the committee of fifteen that would review, advise, and approve PWA projects as part of the New Deal under the Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration.[20]

Mayor

In March 1937, Homan agreed to enter the race for mayor against Z. S. Leymel who was going for his third consecutive term. Leymel recently had lost a citywide vote on city takeover of public utilities and was seen as weak going into the election. He ran on a pro-business, pro-recovery, lower private-owned utility rate platform and won with 62% of the vote over the incumbent.[21] During this term, Homan and the city commission worked with New Deal opportunities to build a new city hall (today known as the City Hall Annex) and work to begin the first of several projects to create flood control.[22][23] Homan's term however was dominated by the discontinuing of the electric trams of the Fresno Traction Company in favor of bus service.[24] Homan and the city commission worked for nearly two years to create a franchise agreement that would result in less annual revenue to the city in trade for the scrap metal from the removal of the steel tracks.[25] The agreement was completed and the Fresno Traction Company discontinued railway service and began bus service on March 1, 1939. On March 22, Fresno Traction Company's parent company the Southern Pacific Transportation Company sold the line to National City Lines which rebranded the system Fresno City Lines, Inc.[26] Homan and city commissioner Jean L. Vincenz were unaware of the sale until invited to the March 22 announcement by Southern Pacific Transportation Company. Less than one year later, Homan and the city commission were then informed that National City Lines had sold Fresno City Lines, Inc. to Pacific City Lines.[27] The bus service would continue to follow Homan's administration to the ballot box in April 1941 where he would run for re-election the same day that the city would vote to end the franchise agreement and begin the bus service as a municipal ran system.[28] Both the municipal bus service vote and Homan would be defeated at the ballot box when former Mayor Z. S. Leymel would win and regain the mayoral office with 57% of the vote.[29]

Post-Mayor

His post-mayoral civic career found Homan sitting as Chairman of the Fresno State College board of governors from 1941 to 1958 and earning an honorary Master's Degree in Public Service.[30] Homan found himself continuing to be called upon in civic affairs as a city elder to work on a new city charter, the only living former mayor between 1950–1957, President of the Fresno County Historical Society, and Chairman of the corps advisory council for the Fresno Salvation Army.[31][32][33] Homan would honored by the city and Fresno City School with the Frank A. Homan Elementary School named for him in 1952.[34]

References
  1. The Fresno Morning Republican. "Death of Mrs. Homan Was Not Unexpected." 10 Oct. 1910 https://www.newspapers.com/image/606953576/
  2. The Fresno Morning Republican. "Homan, Pioneer Merchant, Dead." 29 Nov 1915. https://www.newspapers.com/image/607205122/
  3. Index To Naturalization In The U·S· District Court For The Northern District Of California, 1852 -. Accessed 28 Jul 2020. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/imageviewer/collections/1629/images/31193_122188-02910?treeid=&personid=&rc=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=yDP575&_phstart=successSource&pId=5505730
  4. Frank A. Homan. FindAGrave.com. Accessed 27 Jul 2020. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/79407996
  5. The Sacramento Bee. "Along the Coast." 5 Aug 1903. https://www.newspapers.com/image/616484061/
  6. The Fresno Morning Republican. Homan-Chance. 4 Jan 1900. https://www.newspapers.com/image/606875740
  7. The Fresno Morning Republican. Advertisement. Page 4. 3 Apr 1910. https://www.newspapers.com/image/607058292/
  8. The Fresno Morning Republican. "Candidate Returns on Election Costs." Page 3. 22 Apr 1909. https://www.newspapers.com/image/607028140/
  9. The Fresno Morning Republican. "New School Board Advised to Ask Bond Issue." 22 Apr 1913. https://www.newspapers.com/image/607267002
  10. The Fresno Morning Republican. Political Advertisement. Page 15. 7 Apr 1921.https://www.newspapers.com/image/607367237/
  11. The Fresno Morning Republican. Advertisement. Page 6. 21 Jan 1917. https://www.newspapers.com/image/607049973/
  12. The Fresno Morning Republican. "F.A. Homan Heads Merchants Ass'n." Page 14. 21 Apr 1915. https://www.newspapers.com/image/607285645/
  13. The Fresno Morning Republican. "New Officiary for Association of Merchants." Page 9. 13 Mar 1918. https://www.newspapers.com/image/607045361/
  14. The Fresno Morning Republican. "Liberty Loan Bond Canvass Assured of Success." Page 3. 28 May 1917.https://www.newspapers.com/image/606952150/
  15. The Fresno Morning Republican. Advertisement. Page 8. 23 Jul 1923. https://www.newspapers.com/image/607323210/
  16. The Fresno Morning Republican. Advertisement. Page 3. 29 Mar 1928. https://www.newspapers.com/image/607366381/
  17. The Fresno Morning Republican. "Committee Seeks Solution of Fresno Traffic Problems." 18 Jan 1927. https://www.newspapers.com/image/607302614/
  18. The Fresno Morning Republican. "1 Hour, Not 2 Hour Parking Recommended." 24 May 1927. https://www.newspapers.com/image/607304757/
  19. The Fresno Morning Republican. "Seeks Lease of Chandler Home for Airport." 26 Aug 1930. https://www.newspapers.com/image/607603982/
  20. The Fresno Morning Republican. "Fresno Vote Asked On City Improvement Bonds of $911,000." 01 Nov 1933. https://www.newspapers.com/image/26026804/
  21. The Fresno Bee. "Homan Named Mayor; Bonds Lose." 13 Apr 1937. https://www.newspapers.com/image/26013396/
  22. Hanford Morning Journal. "Cost of Flood Control Prorated." 30 Dec 1939. https://www.newspapers.com/image/562839264/
  23. The Fresno Bee. "Homan Speaks on New City Hall. 28 Jul 1941. https://www.newspapers.com/image/25850746/
  24. The Fresno Bee. "City to Contact Rail Board on Bus Project." 28 Aug 1937. https://www.newspapers.com/image/26039109/
  25. The Fresno Bee. "City Commission Delays Action on Mailman Rates." 14 Jan 1938. https://www.newspapers.com/image/25980247
  26. Santa Cruz Evening News. "S. P. Company Has Sold Street Lines in Three Cities." 22 Mar 1939. https://www.newspapers.com/image/50911300/
  27. The Fresno Bee. "Stock Sale Gives Bay Firm Control of Fresno Bus Transportation Lines." 20 Mar 1940. https://www.newspapers.com/image/25795716/
  28. The Appeal-Democrat (Marysville, CA). "Fresno In Election." 14 Apr 1941. https://www.newspapers.com/image/621024300/
  29. The Hanford Sentinel. "Fresno Elects Leymel as Mayor." 15 Apr 1941. https://www.newspapers.com/image/559042008/
  30. Los Angeles Times. "Frank Homan, Former Fresno Mayor, Dies." 26 Jun 1958 https://www.newspapers.com/image/380956359/
  31. The Fresno Bee. "City Government Study Will Begin On December 12th." 24 Nov 1951. https://www.newspapers.com/image/25748416/
  32. The Fresno Bee. "Salvation Army Expands Board." 15 Jan 1949. https://www.newspapers.com/image/25748726/
  33. The Selma Enterprise "Historical Society Will Fete Pioneers At Meeting Sunday." 24 Jun 1954. https://www.newspapers.com/image/630228902/
  34. The Fresno Bee. "Boundaries Are Set for Three New City Schools." 10 May 1952. https://www.newspapers.com/image/25842124/
Political offices
Preceded by
Z. S. Leymel		 10th Mayor of Fresno
1937-1941		 Succeeded by
Z. S. Leymel
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