Early Settlers: Frank Kyle Kirker

The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon.

Frank K. Kirker was born in Kentuky in 1868, the son of James  M. Kirker, captain of a steamboat on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. As a child, he worked with his father on the  steamboat.

Later, according to biographer Samuel Armor, “he studied the science of refrigeration and for years traveled for the York Manufacturing Company of York, Pennsylvania, selling and installing large refrigeration plants…and in his travels he covered the entire West, installing notable plants in Winslow and Tucson, Ariz.; San Francisco, Santa Rosa, and Sacramento, Cal.” 

In 1907, he decided to settle down from his travels, and bought 20 acres of land on East Orangethorpe Avenue in Fullerton, and planted an orange ranch, building a house on the ranch. He became a shareholder in the Anaheim Union Water Company, and marketed his oranges through the Placentia Orange Growers Association of Fullerton.

In 1905 he married Harriet H. Schwinge in Los Angeles. They had three children: James, Catherine, and Helen (who died in  infancy).  

As were so many businessmen of his time, Kirker was a Mason.