. F. Dostal, proprietor of Dostal's Hardware Store, is a native of Jones county, Iowa, although most of his early life, from his birth in 1865, was spent at a village with the flowing Indian name of Maquoketa, in Jackson county, Iowa. Here Mr. Dostal went to the common schools until old enough to learn a trade which, in his case, was the tinner's trade. He came to California from Iowa, in 1887, and, after a brief residence at San Bernardino, came to Redlands. His father, John Dostal, bought and still owns a twenty-acre ranch in Lugonia, which he has planted and brought into bearing orchards.

Mr. Dostal worked at this trade in Redlands for J. W. Baker, the Drake Company, and Westbrook and Byrne. It may be noticed that only one of these three firms, Drake Company, has survived the business changes and chances of the past few years. January 7, 1896, Mr. Dostal opened his present store on Orange Street, having purchased a part of the stock of Byrne and Drew, a firm that succeeded his former employers, Westbrook and Byrne. Mr. Dostal carries a general line of hardware, paints, oils and tinner's and plumbers' supplies. He also does a general plumbing business in the management of which his own practical knowledge gives him a great advantage. He makes a specialty of heating apparatus and furnace work, and in all these lines is prepared to bid for contracts or to fill orders for any amount of work or material.

(Source: Illustrated Redlands, 1897, p. 71.)