Henry E. Huntington and the Creation of Southern California is the first business biography of the legendary entrepreneur who helped shape the Los Angeles basin. Based largely on archival sources, William Friedricks’s study presents a balanced view of the energetic Huntington, whose prodigious control of street railways, electric power, and real estate enabled him to leave a lasting imprint on southern California.

Greater Los Angeles attained its modern configuration during the first two decades of the twentieth century. Its development was influenced heavily by the creative energy and genius of a few entrepreneurs, and of this group, Henry Huntington played the major role. By rapidly pouring vast amounts of capital into his triad of interrelated businesses—all critical for regional growth—he achieved a virtual monopoly over the development of many parts of the Los Angeles basin.

Operating at a time when local planning commissions had little regulatory power, he became the region’s de facto metropolitan planner, building trolley lines where and when he wanted and determining the spatial layout of the area. Then, as a large-scale subdivider, he further dictated the socioeconomic mix of many of the suburbs.

Huntington further encouraged development in southern California through his involvement in local agriculture and industry, the hotel business, and many leading social and civic organizations. As a philanthropist, he donated land for parks and schools and provided money to various youth organizations. To encourage and enrich the intellectual and cultural life of southern California, he lent his support to a number of regional institutions of higher education and founded the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.

William Friedricks’s biography of Henry Huntington is an important contribution to the fields of business and urban history, as well as to the history of California, and provides insight into the development of one of the nation’s most important metropolitan areas.

William B. Friedricks is assistant professor of history at Simpson College and the author of several articles on the development of southern California.

About Henry Edwards Huntington

Henry Edwards Huntington (February 27 1850–May 23 1927) was a railroad magnate and business leader. He was born in Oneonta, New York, USA and died in San Marino, California.

He was the nephew of Collis P. Huntington, one of The Big Four, the men instrumental in the creation of the transcontinental railway. Huntington held several executive positions working along side his uncle with the Southern Pacific Railway.

His life in Southern California

When Collis died in 1900, Henry inherited much of his uncle's fortune. He also married Collis' widow Arabella Huntington. Shortly thereafter he moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles, a place he had visited only seven years prior. At that time he had exclaimed that one day someone was going to come here (to Southern California) and make a fortune in real estate and transportation. Little did he know that he was foretelling his own future.

He founded the Pacific Electric Railway, centered in Los Angeles, and developed a massive intercity transit system known colloquially as the Red Car Line. The main station was located at 6th and Main Streets. Trains ran laterally as far east as San Bernardino, Redlands, Riverside, and Corona; as far north as San Fernando and Chatsworth; from the coastal cities as far west as Santa Monica and as far south as Newport Beach; and included the 1902 acquisition of the Mount Lowe Railway in the San Gabriel Mountains above Altadena.

In 1903, Huntington began collecting rare books and manuscripts, many from prominent book dealer A.S.W Rosenbach. His collection grew into The Huntington Library, which included an art collection and botanical gardens on his estate in San Marino, California. Today this estate is a popular attraction for tourists, with daily tours being conducted of the library and its grounds. It is also an exclusive resource for researchers of local history.

In 1910 Huntington acquired the Wentworth Hotel in Pasadena to be renamed the Huntington Hotel. This hotel served as the grandest hotel in Pasadena until 1990 when it was discovered to be seismically inadequate. It would go down in history as the largest unreinforced concrete structure in Southern California. The facility was sold to new owners who had the hotel razed and properly rebuilt to be named the Huntington Ritz-Carlton.

Legacy

Huntington retired from active business in 1916. His legacy includes several monuments to his name: the cities of Huntington Beach and Huntington Park, the Huntington Library, the Huntington Memorial Library in Oneonta, NY,[1] the Huntington Hotel (now the Huntington Ritz-Carlton), Huntington Hospital, Henry E. Huntington Middle School, and Huntington Drive, a grand boulevard whose median served as a main east-west artery of the Pacific Electric Railroad. (From wikipedia)

Visit Henry E. Huntington and the Creation of Southern California Download Page

1: Introduction: Metropolitan Entrepreneurship and the Los Angeles Basin
2: Business Beginnings
3: Apprenticeship Years in San Francisco, 1892–1901
4: Trolley, Real Estate, and Electric Power, 1898–1903
5: Shaping the Basin and Developing the Economy, 1903–1907
6: Changing Course and Shifting Gears, 1908–1913
7: Twilight of the Business Triad, 1914–1917
8: Organized Labor, 1900–1920
9: Conclusion: The Huntington Legacy

Appendixes and Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index

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