Henry Gaylord Wilshire (June 7, 1861 – September 7, 1927), known to his contemporaries by his middle name of "Gaylord", was an Americanland developer, publisher, and outspokensocialist. He ran at various times as a candidate for several leftist parties, albeit never elected. He is thenamesake of Los Angeles'Wilshire Boulevard and an early resident of the city ofFullerton inOrange County.
Henry Gaylord Wilshire was born June 7, 1861, inCincinnati, Ohio.[1] He moved toLos Angeles, California in 1884.[2]
Wilshire turnedpopulist politics in the early 1890s, writing from London in the fall of 1892 to theAnaheim Journal to advocate thenationalization of America's railways as a means of reining in the "chief grabbers"Jay Gould andCornelius Vanderbilt.[3]
He was author of the 1890 bookWhy workingmen should be social democrats,The Problem of the Trust (1900), andSocialism Inevitable (1907).
In 1895 he began developing 35 acres (140,000 m2) stretching westward fromWestlake Park for an elite residential subdivision. He donated a strip of land to the city of Los Angeles for a boulevard through what was then a barley field, on the conditions that it would be named for him and that railroad lines and commercial or industrial trucking would be banned.[4]
Wilshire was a frequent and far-ranging political candidate.
In 1890, he stood as theNationalist Party candidate forCongress inCalifornia's 6th congressional district in the Fullerton area. He was the first congressional candidate in the U.S. for what was a socialist party. He received more than a thousand votes but was not elected.
He ran as theSocialist Labor Party candidate for Attorney General in 1891 and was nominated to run for theBritish Parliament in 1894 (but had to return to the U.S. prior to the election).[5]
Beside his political work, Wilshire also involved himself in the search for cheap energy. He was the author of the 1899 bookLiquid air - perpetual motion at last - Tripler's surplusage explained, in which he explained a way to use the heat of sunlight to pressurize water and create heat and horsepower.[6]
In 1900, Wilshire launched the first of his publishing ventures in Los Angeles, a magazine calledThe Challenge. At least 40 issues of the publication were produced between December 1900 and October 1901.[7] The name of this publication was subsequently changed toWilshire's Monthly Magazine in 1901, before being shortened toWilshire's Magazine (1902) andWilshire's (1904),[8] with publication variously in New York and Toronto. (He lived in Toronto circa 1902.)
First a small-format magazine, later a tabloid newspaper,Wilshire's continued in production until February 1915.[citation needed]
He ran for Congress in California's 6th district again in 1900, this time on the ticket of theSocial Democratic Party of America. That year he was author ofThe Problem of the Trust (1900).
In 1900, Wilshire was arrested for speaking in a public park in Los Angeles. A judge dismissed the charges, but the incident caused Wilshire to leave Los Angeles for New York.[9]
When his magazine was banned in the U.S., he moved to Canada and mailed his newspaper into the U.S. from that outside location. He is said to have run for theCanadian Parliament in 1902.
He moved to New York City and ran to be a New York Congressman in 1904. In 1909 he was president of he Beaver National Bank of New York City.[10]
Wilshire eventually returned to Los Angeles and made his connection with the now famous boulevard that bore his name. He had no direct involvement with its gradual expansion in the years while he was absent from the region.[11]
In 1909 Wilshire was a candidate for the Los Angeles city council as a member of the Socialist Party slate. The Socialist Party was backed at that time by Los Angeles unions.
Wilshire and Dr. John R. Haynes fought for Direct Legislation to be included in L.A.'s new city charter. With their success, the way was open to address the corruption that had been rampant.[12]
By about 1911 Wilshire expressed doubts about electoral politics, and in his writing, shifted to revolutionarysyndicalism and advocacy of the general strike. He was author ofSyndicalism: What It Is (1912).[13] He was also the editor of the Syndicalist League's magazineThe Syndicalist in April and May 1912 when the editor, Guy Bowman, was imprisoned, and was editor again in 1913.[14]
During World War I Wilshire worked withEmma Goldman in theFree Speech League in New York.[citation needed] He was author of the 1918 bookAutocracy vs. democracy: Both failures.
Wilshire was also interested in the health industry. In 1925, he started marketing theIonaco, an electric belt that could purportedly improve health. The belt gained popularity from its marketing,[15]: 33–36 but was dismissed by medical health experts asquackery.[16][17]
Gaylord Wilshire died destitute on September 7, 1927 in New York.[11]
Wilshire Drive inPhoenix, Arizona, was named after him, as is Wilshire Avenue inFullerton, California (where he first ran for Congress in 1890, the first congressional candidate in America from what became a socialist-oriented party).[18]
