Porter, Evan Doyle

Evan Doyle Porter was born in Monmouth, Illinois, in 1876 to J. K. Porter and Mary Chandler. He spent his early youth attending public schools in Denver, Colorado, before returning to his hometown to attend Monmouth Business College and study mechanical engineering. After serving as superintendent of a major Illinois manufacturing plant and managing brick works in La Junta, Colorado, he migrated to California in 1908.

Upon moving to Fresno, Mr. Porter oversaw the design and construction of the Fresno Brick and Tile Company plant before turning his talents toward agriculture. Following a period spent homesteading 160 acres on Carisa Plains in San Luis Obispo County, he returned to Fresno County in 1913 to enter the viticulture industry in Nevada Colony. He eventually acquired a high-quality forty-acre vineyard on Belmont Avenue planted with muscats, malagas, and Thompsons, which he managed alongside his wife, Inez Bates of Monmouth, and their daughter, Dorothy.