Andy James Egan Page 509-510 Andy James Egan is successfully engaged in the heating and ventilating business, with headquarters at 312 Bond avenue, northwest, and has the distinction of being at the time of this writing, in 1925, president of the Grand Rapids Builders and Traders Exchange, a progressive organization that functions effectively in connection with civic and material advancement in the city. Mr. Egan was born on a farm near Peru, Indiana, September 22, 1867, and is a son of John and Julia (Holland) Egan, who established their home in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1872, the father having here engaged in work at the carpenter trade. The youthful education of Andy J. Egan was limited as he began to work when he was but eleven years old. He learned his trade in the Hoffman plumbing and heating establishment, later was associated with the Adolph Leitelt Iron Works, and with the city water works system he thereafter worked his way forward to the position of assistant chief engineer of the plumping station. In his trade he was later employed in the city of Muskegon, by the Howden Company, by which he was eventually assigned management of the branch in his home city of Grand Rapids, this branch being conducted under the title of the Grand Rapids Plumbing & Heating Company. After two years, Mr. Egan resumed his connection with the Leitelt Iron Works, in charge of the plant, and after having been in the employ of others thirty-five years he engaged in business in an independent way. His success has been substantial, and his is now one of the leading exponents of the heating and ventilating business in Grand Rapids, with a reputation as an expert in this important field of enterprise. He has installed heating and ventilating systems in many of the important buildings of this section of Michigan, including the Grand Rapids National Bank, the South Side high school, the Lexington and Henry public schools, the Wurzburg department store, the Rowe hotel, the new Telephone building, the Berkey & Gay furniture factory, the building of the Peninsular Club, the Shank storage warehouse, the buildings of the Ypsilanti Furniture Company (the world's largest manufacturers of reed furniture), the Portland cement plant at Newaygo, the Gratiot county court house (at Ithaca), the high school building at Alma, and the hotel building at Reed City, this structure including a bank and a hotel. Mr Egan owns the building in which he has his business headquarters. In addition to being president and a director of the Builders and Trader Exchange, his is a valued member of the Association of Commerce, is a director of the Bennett Brass Works, at Greenville, and is a director of the Palmer Construction Company, for which at the time of this writing, he is installing the heating and ventilating system in the fine mausoleum building recently erected by the company in Grand Rapids. Mr. Egan has his basic Masonic affiliation with Doric Lodge, A. F. & A. M, and is a Noble of the Mystic Shrine, besides being a member of the local lodge of Elks. He is a member of the Grand Rapids Engineering Society and of the Masonic Steam Engineers. In 1914 Mr. Egan married Mrs. Orpha Feldner, of Grand Rapids, no children having been born of this union. They maintain a pleasant home at 1258 Dunham street, southeast, Grand Rapids.

Transcriber: Gloria Paas
Created: 13 December 2002