| Henry Edwards Huntington | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 27, 1850 Oneonta, New York |
| Died | May 23, 1927 Philadelphia |
| Spouse | Arabella Huntington |
Henry Edwards Huntington (February 27, 1850, Oneonta, New York–May 23, 1927, Philadelphia) was a railroad magnate and collector of art and rare books.[1] Born in Oneonta, New York, Huntington settled in Los Angeles, where he owned the Pacific Electric Railway as well as substantial real estate interests. In addition to being a businessman and art collector, Huntington was a major booster for Los Angeles in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
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Henry E. Huntington was the nephew of Collis P. Huntington, one of The Big Four, the men instrumental in creating the Central Pacific Railroad (later called Southern Pacific), one of the two railroads that built the transcontinental railway in 1869. Huntington held several executive positions working alongside his uncle with the Southern Pacific Transportation Company. After Collis P. Huntington's death, Henry E. Huntington assumed Collis Huntington's leadership role with Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Virginia, and married his widow Arabella Huntington.
In friendly competition with his uncle's Southern Pacific, in 1898, Huntington purchased the narrow gauge, city oriented Los Angeles Railway (LARy) known colloquially as the 'Yellow Car' system. In 1901 Huntington formed the sprawling interurban, standard gauge Pacific Electric Railway (the PE), known more familiarly as the 'Red Car' system, centered at 6th and Main Streets in Los Angeles. This competition with his uncle's Southern Pacific could be achieved by the need for passenger friendly streetcars, on 24/7 schedules, that the railroads couldn't match—and by the boom in Southern California land development—where houses were built in distant places, like Orange County's Huntington Beach, a Huntington sponsored development, where streetcars served passenger needs that the railroads had never considered.
By 1910, the Huntington trolley systems stretched over approximately 1,300 miles (2,100 km) of southern California.[2] At its most robust size, the system contained over 20 streetcar lines and 1,250 trolleys, most running through the core of Los Angeles and serving such nearby neighborhoods as Echo Park, Westlake, Hancock Park, Exposition Park, West Adams, the Crenshaw district, Vernon, Boyle Heights and Lincoln Heights; The system integrated the 1902 acquisition, the Mount Lowe Scenic Railway above Altadena, California in the San Gabriel Mountains.[3]
In 1905 Huntington, A. Kingsley Macomber, and William R. Staats developed the Oak Knoll subdivision, located to the west of his San Marino estate in the oak-covered hilly terrain near Pasadena.
In 1906 Huntington, along with Frank Miller, owner of the Mission Inn, and Charles M. Loring, formed the Huntington Park Association, with the intent to purchase Mount Rubidoux in Riverside, build a road to the summit, and develop the hill as a park to benefit the city of Riverside.[4] The road was completed in February 1907.[5] The property was later donated to the city of Riverside by the heirs of Frank Miller, and today the hill is a 161-acre (0.65 km2; 0.252 sq mi) city park.
Huntington retired from active business in 1916. In 1927 Henry E. Huntington died in Philadelphia while undergoing surgery. He is buried, with a large monument, in the Gardens of the Huntington Library.[6]
The Huntington Hotel was originally named Hotel Wentworth when it opened its doors on February 1, 1907. Financial problems and a disappointing first season forced the Hotel Wentworth to close its doors indefinitely. Railroad tycoon and art collector Henry Huntington purchased the Hotel Wentworth in 1911, renaming it the Huntington Hotel. It reopened in 1914, transformed into a beautiful winter resort. The 1920s were a prosperous time for the hotel, as Midwestern and Eastern entrepreneurs discovered California's warm winter climate.
The Hotel's reputation for fine service began with a long-time general manager and later hotel owner Stephen W. Royce. By 1926, the hotel's success prompted Royce to open the property year-round. The "golden years" ended with the stock market crash and the Great Depression of the late 1920s and early 1930s. However, by the end of the 1930s the hotel was back on solid ground. When World War II began all reservations were cancelled and the hotel was rented to the Army for $3,000 a month. Following the war, the Huntington's fortune turned upwards once again. In 1954 Stephen Royce sold the hotel to the Sheraton Corporation remaining as the general manager until his retirement in 1969. The hotel continued operating until 1985 when it was forced to close because of its inability to meet earthquake standards. The unusual structure was completely built of un-reinforced concrete as it was built in 1906.
After a two and a half year major renovation the hotel reopened in March 1991 as the Ritz Carlton Huntington Hotel and Spa. The hotel completed a 19 million dollar renovation in Jan 2006. The hotel changed hands in early 2007 and became Langham Brand International, Huntington Hotel & Spa.
His most prominent legacy in America is The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino near Pasadena. Other legacies in California includes the eponymous cities Huntington Beach and Huntington Park, as well as Huntington Lake.
Also in greater Los Angeles are the Huntington Hospital, the Henry E. Huntington Middle School, and the grand boulevard, Huntington Drive, running east bound from downtown Los Angeles. Its landscaped central parkway was previously the right-of-way for Huntington's Pacific Electric Railroad.
Riverside's city park on Mount Rubidoux was originally named Huntington Park, and the road to the top was named Huntington Drive.[7] After Frank Miller's heirs donated the property to the city, the city renamed the park the Frank A. Miller Rubidoux Memorial Park, and the road has become known as Mount Rubidoux Drive. A plaque that was dedicated to Huntington in 1907, in recognition of his contributions to the development of Mount Rubidoux, remains on a large boulder known as Huntington Rock.[8] After Huntington's death a second tablet was placed on the north side of the hill at a place named the Huntington Shrine.[9]
His legacy in on the East Coast includes: the Huntington Park on the James River in Newport News, Virginia at one end of the James River Bridge, community landmark named in his honor; and the Huntington Memorial Library in Oneonta, NY,[10]
Portraits of Huntington were also painted by the Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury; a full-length, based on a photograph, is at the Howard Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, and two seated versions, a small one of which was the property of Huntington's son-in-law John Metcalf, and a larger one which was engraved by an artist called Witherspoon in 1928.
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