George N. Gage
16 Mar 1842
bornPelham, New Hampshire, USA
SchooltblData
BiographyHome builder; Manager of the L. W. Blinn Lumber Company in Tempe; Secretary of the Tempe Land and Improvement Company.Came to Tempe c1888.
He was a railroad station agent in Charleston, Illinois, c1860-1870. He then worked for a lumber business in Charleston for several years. Moved to Tombstone, Arizona, in 1886, and moved to Tempe c1888.
He was a member of the board of railroad commissioners of Arizona, 1886-1890. After moving to Tempe, he became secretary of the Tempe Land and Improvement Company and manager of the L. W. Blinn Lumber Company.
One of most important figures associated with development of early Tempe. As secretary of the Tempe Land and Improvement Company, he was most directly responsible for development of the Tempe townsite during the community's first period of real growth, 1888-1909. Along with other investors from Tombstone and California, he formed the Tempe Land and Improvement Company to purchase land and develop the townsite of Tempe. Under the local supervision of Gage, the company promoted the sale of lots in the new townsite, and helped build commercial buildings to form the nucleus of the business center. He was with
J. H. Woods & Co. in 1892. He helped organize the Bank of Tempe, and provided construction material through a local branch of the L. W. Blinn Lumber Company. Gage became manager of the Tempe branch of the lumber yard. In 1909, he subdivided 80 acres south of 8th Street (now University Drive) on either side of the Normal School, initiating the first major expansion of the townsite. He moved to Los Angeles in 1919.
He lived at 115 W. 8th Street (University Drive), 1888-1919.
Member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Masonic Lodge.
Federal census (Tempe), 1900
BIO-Gage
HPS-203
Tempe CD, 1892-1906
Person TypeIndividual
