Friberg, William, building contractor, factory owner – Portland – born in Rättvik, Dalarna, on February 6, 1866. He moved with his parents to America in the spring of 1868, where the family first stayed in Marshalltown, Iowa. The father worked in his trade as a bricklayer. Later the family moved to Clay County, South Dakota, and claimed 160 acres of land. Mr. Friberg worked the farm, attended school, and in the spring of 1883 moved to Omaha, Nebraska, where he got employment in a brickyard. There he learned how to make and lay bricks. In the evenings, when the day’s work was done in the brickyard, he practiced and improved his skills as a bricklayer. After a couple of years he moved to Kansas City, Missouri, to complete his bricklaying skills. After two years there he spent one year in Sioux City, Iowa, and, beginning in 1888, a couple of years in Denver, Colorado, and several other places. Towards the end of 1890 he came to Portland, Oregon, where he worked as a bricklayer on several building projects. In 1894 he started taking on contracts for erecting brick buildings. In 1897 he established a partnership with his brother Andrew under the company name Friberg Bros. Among the more significant buildings built by this company are the Commercial Club, the Elks and Henry buildings, Hotel Seward, the Museum of Art on 5th St., Neustadter Bros’ building at 5th & Ankeny St., Neighborhood House on 2nd & Woods St., and the Y. M. C. A. Building, the Edward Holman’s building, among many others. All in all, the Friberg Brothers have built 42 buildings. On January 1, 1907 they bought a well-known area west of Portland named Woods Addition, where they established a brickyard known as the Friberg Bros’. Brickyard. Mr. Friberg owns a home close t
o the brickyard, and lives either there or in Portland. He is a member of the Order of Freemasons, 32nd grade, and Shriners. He married Adele Lundgren from Örebro, Kalmar County on September 8, 1894, and they have one son, Louis William, born on January 15, 1900.