Turner, William

William Turner was born in Buffalo, New York, on November 30, 1864, to parents John Turner and Adelaide La Page. Raised in Buffalo, Olean, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he began working at the age of twelve and mastered the brickmaking trade through years of employment in Pennsylvania and New York. On April 25, 1904, he relocated to Fresno, California, to accept a position managing bricksetting for the Fresno Brick & Tile Company.

In Fresno County, William purchased an interest in the Craycroft Brick Company in 1907, eventually becoming its superintendent, vice president, and director. He oversaw an expansive eighty-acre plant along Belmont Avenue, opposite Roeding Park, which generated fifty thousand bricks daily. Married in Olean to Ida May Hunt, he raised six children—Arthur, William E., May, Amy, Alice, and Ruth—while building prominent brick structures on Blackstone Avenue and contributing significantly to local civic and commercial growth.