Morris & Garritano Insurance History: 1885 - 1927
In 1885, while hooves thumped the dust of Higuera Street, Archibald McAlister opened a “Lands, Loans, Rents, & Insurance” office. Straightforward and amiable, Mr.McAlister earned the community’s trust.
Let the wooden gears of his wall clock turn for sixteen years, then find him on the committee to “bond and secure options from which a site could be selected” for the future Cal Poly.
A decade later, San Luis Obispoans elected McAlister their Mayor. That same year the agency gained his son-in-law Ernest Vollmer, whose schooling had an unusual acceleration...
In 1906, President Teddy Roosevelt needed a vice-consul in Tsingdao, China. Ernest Vollmer, an undergraduate at the time, was recommended by Benjamin Ide Wheeler, President of the University of California. Vollmer, however, refused to leave Berkeley without graduating. We can infer Vollmer’s talents by his rare early degree.
After a decade of sharing work, Archibald McAlister retired, and his son-in-law continued his tradition. Along with running “Ernest Vollmer, Real Estate & Insurance,” Vollmer served as an inheritance tax appraiser for the County of San Luis Obispo. His integrity sustained such undertakings and cemented a foundation for those who would follow.
