Holland, Frank

Born in Marietta, Ohio, in 1854, Frank Holland crossed the plains to Virginia City, Nevada, in 1863 before attending school in California and assisting with the initial landscaping of the University of California campus at Berkeley. After working in express delivery, newspaper printing, and merchandising across Nevada and California, he joined the Wells Fargo Express Company in Los Angeles in 1883. Transferring to Fresno in 1888, he drove the town’s first express wagon and went on to complete over thirty-six years of continuous service with the company.

Outside of his long career as an express messenger, Holland briefly owned and operated a wholesale and retail ice cream parlor on J Street in early Fresno. He maintained an active social life in the growing community, holding membership in the local lodge of the Loyal Order of Moose. Through his decades of transportation service and local business enterprise, Holland stood as a respected figure in Fresno’s commercial development.