Henry E. Huntington
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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 alongside his uncle with the Southern Pacific Railway.
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[edit] 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 The Los Angeles Railway (LARY), centered in Los Angeles, and developed a massive intercity transit system known colloquially as the Yellow Car System. The Soto Street substation of the now-defunct Los Angeles Railway. 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; and included the 1902 acquisition of the Mount Lowe Railway.
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 remodeled the hotel to bring it up to modern anti-earthquake standards. It was renamed the Huntington Ritz-Carlton. In 2008, the Huntington Ritz-Carlton was bought again, this time by Hong Kong-based Great Eagle Holdings, and is now operated by their subsidiary, Langham Hotels International. The hotel has been renamed The Langham, Huntington Hotel & Spa.
[edit] 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 Langham, Huntington Hotel & Spa), 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.
[edit] References
- ^ Huntington Memorial Library (2006). Library Information: History. Retrieved on 2007-04-08.
- The Huntington Library
- Encyclopedia Britannica
- Pasadena Historical Museum
- Altadenorical Society
