Harold E. Fowle Page 598-599 - Harold E. Fowle, secretary and manager of Ponce de Leon Company, 507 Division street, has followed in the footsteps of his father by continuing and expanding this business in distilled and soft spring waters. He was born on January 19, 1894, a son of William H. and Georgia (Stiven) Fowle. William H. Fowle was born at Traverse City, Michigan, on April 2, 1861, and came to Grand Rapids as a young man where he married Georgia Stiven, a native of the west side in Grand Rapids, born on September 17, 1961. She was a daughter of David L. and Rose (Haynes) Stiven, her father being a native of Scotland and her mother a native of England. David L. Stiven came early in his life to Grand Rapids, here married and passed the remainder of his days. His wife, Rose (Haynes) Stiven, is still living at the advanced age of eighty-four years. A great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch and the grandfather of Mrs. Georgia Fowle was a pioneer of Grand Rapids who helped to build many of the early mills. He spent his declining days in Grand Rapids. William H. Fowle, father of the subject of this narrative, started the first water company in Grand Rapids, then known as the Crystal Spring Water Company, on June 13, 1892. The original Ponce de Leon Company was established sixty days after the inception of the Crystal Springs Company by a Mr. McCraft. In June 1915, William H. Fowle and his son took over the Crystal Springs Company, out of which grew the Ponce de Leon Company, Inc., of which Mrs. Georgia E. Fowle is now president, and Harold E. Fowle is secretary and general manager. The children of William H. (Stiven) Fowle were: William Stuart, who graduated from high school and the Michigan Agricultural College; George, who graduated from South high school in Grand Rapids, and Harold E., subject of this sketch, who is a graduate of the Central high school in Grand Rapids and he was also a student at McLaughlin’s Business College. On June 30, 1917, he enlisted in the World war and was in training at Fort McPherson from December, 1917. On May 11, 1918, he embarked for England and thence to Paris, France. He returned to the United States, April 30, 1919, and on May 12, 1919, was given an honorable discharge form military service. On August 19, 1922, he married Miss Estelle Scalise, of Warren, Pennsylvania. Harold is a member of the Episcopal church. The daughters of William H. and Georgia Fowle and sisters of Harold, are: Bathea, a graduate of the Central high school, who is the wife of George W. Barth, a contractor of Grand Rapids, and Helen, also a graduate of Central high school and wife of A. Crew Waite, a contractor of Long Beach, California. Helen was also a graduate of the Olds Kinderkarten School and taught there for several years. The Ponce de Leon Company, with its extensive business stands as a business monument to the energy, ability and co-operation of the Fowle family.

Transcriber: Nancy Myers
Created: 13 December 2002