By BEVERLY KODESH
Special to the Daily Press
Fourth of July, our country’s celebration of independence. Four generations. Fourth Street. What’s the tie? It’s J.S. Ward & Son celebrating its 90th year as an independent insurance agency in Artesia.
In April 1925, J.S. “Fritz” Ward set up shop in a building just west of Guy Chevrolet’s current location. Next door was the office of Martin Yates Jr.’s fledgling petroleum company. One of Ward’s early customers was a classmate, Charles R. Martin, whose initial framed policy No. 8 hangs on the wall of the company’s current office in the Ward Building on Fourth Street. … For the rest of the story, subscribe in print and on the web.
