Albert A. LeBlanc Page 499 - Albert A. LeBlanc is the proprietor of the Economy Dye House, the largest and best cleaning and dyeing establishment in the city of Grand Rapids and one of the leading concerns of this kind in the state of Michigan. The office of the Economy Dye House is at 116 Fulton street, east, and large and well equipped cleaning and dyeing works are maintained at 147-49 Logan street, southeast, and 445-49 Jefferson street, southeast. Mr. LeBlanc was a youth when he came from his native France to the United States, and through his own ability and well directed efforts he has gained a substantial success and a place as one of the popular and progressive business men of Grand Rapids. Mr. LeBlanc was born in Paris, France in October, 1867, and was still a child at the time of his parents' death. He received his early education in a Paris school conducted by one of the brotherhoods of the Catholic church, and in this school he was prepared also for the practical responsibilities of life, as he there learned the trade of cleaner and dyer of clothes. Mr. LeBlanc was sixteen years of age when he realized his long cherished ambition to come to the United States, and he passed the first four years in traveling about the country, in which connection he visited most of the larger cities of the Union. His financial resources were at low ebb when he made his appearance in Grand Rapids, in 1898, and engaged in the work of his trade by opening a very modest cleaning and dyeing establishment. From this, by close application and effective service, he has developed a large and prosperous business, the while he has gained secure place in popular esteem in his chosen city, his loyalty to which is unbounded. He is a member of, and regularly attends the meeting of the National Dyers & Cleaners Association and the Michigan Dyers & Cleaners Association, of which latter he has served as president, as well as a director. He is a loyal and popular member of the Grand Rapids Association of Commerce and the local Lions Club, is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and he and his wife are communicants of Grace church, Protestant Episcopal. In 1910 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. LeBlanc to Miss Bessie Pauline Root. of Toronto, Canada, and they have four children: Vera, Donna, Bettie, and Albert A., Jr.

Transcriber: Gloria Paas
Created: 25 November 2002