Orello Eugene Frink (1855-1916)

Portrait from the History of Colorado, Volume II, 1918.

  New York native Orello Eugene Frink found his business fortune in Colorado, where he first settled in 1891. Following his move, Frink established himself in the produce and retail meat business and after moving to Fort Lupton made his mark as a canned food distributor, founding the Silver State Canning and Produce Company. In 1912 Frink had a brief flirtation with elective office when he was a candidate for the Colorado House of Representatives but lost out in that year's Democratic primary. Born in DeRuyter, New York on May 16, 1855, Orello Eugene Frink was the son of Ephraim and Lucinda (Ferguson) Frink.

  Orello Frink's education was obtained in the state of his birth and for nine years was a schoolteacher in that state. He married Junietta Patience "Etta" Peckham (1859-1952) in 1877, with whom he had four children, Clarence (1879-1945), Margurite (1881-1972), Ruby (1883-1953), and Richard Freelove (1894-1986). In 1891 he and his family left New York for Colorado and first settled in Denver. After establishing a home he embarked on a career in wholesale produce, and, later, a "retail meat market." In 1892, while still conducting business in Denver, the Frinks removed to Fort Lupton, and around 1895 he began a creamery and cheese factory.

  Within a few years of its construction, Frink's business outgrew its original confines and soon a larger business took its place, one that would become one of the largest canning facilities in the state. Operating under the name of the Silver State Canning and Produce Company, by 1912 that company could boast of 183 employees, and in that year construction began on "a warehouse 60 by 80 feet", as well as a large basement equipped with machinery for making sauerkraut. Among other vegetables canned by the company were peas, corn, tomatoes, beans, and pickles, and in addition to his canning interests "owned and operated nine different farms, on which he mostly employed Japanese help." 

  Through the succeeding years, Frink's cannery continued to expand, with their product being transported by railroad car "to San Francisco, Iowa, Texas, and the Eastern states." In the early 1900s, Frink became active in local politics, winning election to the Fort Lupton town board of trustees. In the summer of 1912, he announced his candidacy for the Colorado House of Representatives, and, running on the Democratic ticket, hoped to represent the county of Weld. 

From the Greeley Tribune, September 5, 1912.

  In an August 1912 write-up on his candidacy, Frink detailed his extensive business dealings and also made note that:

"Even if I am a candidate for state representative on the democratic ticket, I shall continue to put up Fort Lupton products more enthusiastically than ever. My wife will see to the management while I am out campaigning."

  One of three candidates vying for the Democratic nomination, Frink polled third on primary election day in September, garnering 572 votes to Charles Philip's winning total of 680. Following his defeat Frink continued with his business interests and although a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was remarked as having "contributed generously to the support of all churches." Frink died of heart failure at his Fort Lupton home on November 11, 1916, aged 61. His wife Etta survived him by nearly forty years, dying at age 93 in 1952. Both were interred at the Hillside Cemetery in Fort Lupton.

From the Windsor Beacon, November 16, 1916.