 In the 1890s he was a stockholder and member of the board of directors of Farmers and Merchants Bank of Los Angeles, of which Isaias W. Hellman was president.Ducommun kept pace with the growth of the southern California economy, and in 1907 incorporated as The Ducommun Hardware Company, evolving into a value added-distributor of metals provided by the Eastern mills.This coincided with the emergence of a defense-based industry, "e.g.