Ben E. Short

SHORT, CIPHERS, PETERSON

Posted By: Connie Swearingen- Volunteer (email)
Date: 12/17/2015 at 12:23:55

Northwestern Iowa
Its History and Traditions
1804 – 1926

Ben E. Short, president and manager of the Short Construction Company, enjoys the distinction of being the oldest building contractor in Sioux City in point of years of service and is also the largest contractor in relation to volume of business. His record since engaging in this business is one of which he has reason to be proud, and today no citizen of Sioux City stands higher in public esteem than he. Born in Washington County, Indiana, on the 1st day of September, 1873, he is the son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Ciphers) Short, the former a native of Scotland and the latter of Germany. They were brought to this country in childhood by their respective parents, who located on farms about two and a half miles apart in Washington County, Indiana. There the young couple were married and in 1880 moved to Nebraska, where Mr. Short continued his farming operations until 1890, when he came to Sioux City and lived retired to the time of his death, which occurred in 1898. The mother had passed away in 1880, soon after their removal to Nebraska.

Ben E. Short was educated in the public schools of Nebraska and Sioux City, supplementing this by special study in a night school in the latter city. He left home at the early age of thirteen and began an apprenticeship at the carpenter trade, lasting three years. During the first two years he received a wage of fifty cents per day and paid his own board, while during the third year he received a dollar a day. In 1897, at the age of twenty-four years, he began his career as a building contractor, in which line of business he has continued uninterrupted to the present time. During these years, which have been momentous ones in the history of Sioux City, he has contributed his full share to the improvement of the City, not only through the medium of his building operations, but also by his personal efforts in other directions, cooperating in every possible way in advancing the commercial prosperity of the community. Among the many important buildings erected by the Short Construction Company are the Moore-Shaukeberg wholesale grocery buildings, the Howard Hotel, the Brown & Bolton block, the Interstate Brewery buildings, the T.S. Martin Company department store building, the Sioux City Journal building, the Hansen Glass and Paint Company building, St. Vincent hospital, the Stock Yards National Bank building, the Newspaper Union building, the Methodist Episcopal hospital, the city municipal buildings, and also many school buildings in northwestern Iowa, the Palmer wholesale houses, the Armour office and branch office in Sioux City, and the big concrete hog yards in the Sioux City stock yards. He is a man of sterling integrity and has rigidly executed every contact to the last letter, so that he has long commanded the confidence of the public in business affairs.

On November 24, 1896, Mr. Short was united in marriage to Miss Amanda Peterson, of Sioux City, who died December 24, 1921, leaving two children; Maybell, who is the wife of Milton Follis, of East Sioux City; and Hazel, who is the wife of E.J. Davis, of East Sioux City, and has a daughter, Betty Babe. Mr. Short is a member of Sioux City Lodge, No. 112, Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He is a gentleman of straightforward manner, conscientious in his performance of the duties of citizenship and generous in his support of all worthy objects, so that he has been regarded as one of Sioux City’s foremost residents.