Leland Stanford | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Stanford in 1890 | |
| United States Senator fromCalifornia | |
| In office March 4, 1885 – June 21, 1893 | |
| Preceded by | James T. Farley |
| Succeeded by | George Clement Perkins |
| 8th Governor of California | |
| In office January 10, 1862 – December 10, 1863 | |
| Lieutenant | John F. Chellis |
| Preceded by | John Gately Downey |
| Succeeded by | Frederick Ferdinand Low |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Amasa Leland Stanford (1824-03-09)March 9, 1824 Watervliet, New York, U.S. |
| Died | June 21, 1893(1893-06-21) (aged 69) Palo Alto, California, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican (from 1856) |
| Other political affiliations | Whig (until 1856) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Leland Jr. |
| Alma mater | Cazenovia Seminary |
| Occupation |
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| Signature |  |
Amasa Leland Stanford (March 9, 1824 – June 21, 1893) was an American attorney, industrialist, philanthropist, andRepublican Party politician fromWatervliet, New York. He served as the eighthgovernor of California from 1862 to 1863 and represented the state in theUnited States Senate from 1885 until his death in 1893. Stanford and his wifeJane foundedStanford University, named aftertheir late son.[1]
Stanford became a successful merchant and wholesaler after migrating to California in 1852 duringthe gold rush; he built abusiness empire. Stanford was an influential executive of theCentral Pacific Railroad and later of theSouthern Pacific railroads from 1861 to 1890; these positions gave him tremendous power in theWestern United States which left a lasting impact on California.[2][need quotation to verify][3][need quotation to verify][4][5][failed verification][6]Stanford also played a significant role as a shareholder and executive in the early history ofPacific Life andWells Fargo. He was the firstRepublican governor of California. Stanford is widely considered arobber baron.[7][8][9][10][6]
Leland Stanford was born in 1824 in what was thenWatervliet, New York (now the Town ofColonie). He was one of eight children of Josiah and Elizabeth Phillips Stanford. Among his siblings were New York State SenatorCharles Stanford (1819–1885) and Australian businessman and spiritualistThomas Welton Stanford (1832–1918). His ancestor, Thomas Stanford, settled inCharlestown, Massachusetts, in the 17th century.[11] Later ancestors settled in the easternMohawk Valley of central New York about 1720.
Stanford's father was a farmer of some means. Stanford was raised on family farms in theLisha Kill andRoessleville (after 1836) areas of Watervliet. The family home in Roessleville was called Elm Grove. The Elm Grove home was razed in the 1940s. Stanford attended the common school until 1836 and was tutored at home until 1839. He attendedClinton Liberal Institute, inClinton, New York, and studied law atCazenovia Seminary inCazenovia, New York, in 1841 to 1845. In 1845, Stanford entered the law office of Wheaton, Doolittle, and Hadley inAlbany.[11]
After being admitted to the bar in 1848, Stanford moved with many other settlers toPort Washington, Wisconsin, where he began a law practice with Wesley Pierce.[12] His father presented him with a law library said to be the finest north ofMilwaukee.[11] In 1850, Stanford was nominated by theWhig Party asWashington County, Wisconsin, district attorney.
In 1852, having lost his law library and other property to a fire, Stanford followed his five brothers to California during theCalifornia gold rush. His wife, Jane, returned (temporarily) to Albany and her family. Stanford went into business with his brothers and became the keeper of a general store forminers inMichigan City, California, later the name changed to Michigan Bluff inPlacer County; later, he had a wholesale house. Stanford served as ajustice of the peace and helped organize theSacramento Library Association, which later became the Sacramento Public Library. In 1855, he returned to Albany to join his wife, but found the pace too slow after the excitement of developing California.
In 1856, Stanford and his wife moved toSacramento, where he engaged in mercantile pursuits on a large scale. Stanford was one of the four merchants known popularly as "The Big Four" (or among themselves as "the Associates"), who were the key investors in Chief EngineerTheodore Dehone Judah's plan for theCentral Pacific Railroad. The five of them incorporated it on June 28, 1861, and Stanford was elected as its president. The other three associates wereCharles Crocker,Mark Hopkins, andCollis P. Huntington.
The Central Pacific's first locomotive, namedGov. Stanford in his honor, is preserved on static display at theCalifornia State Railroad Museum, in Sacramento.[13][14][15]
Stanford ran unsuccessfully for governor of California in 1859. He was nominated again in 1861 and won the election. Due to theGreat Flood of 1862, Stanford had to row to his inauguration in a rowboat.[16] He served one term, then limited to two years.
While the Central Pacific was under construction, Stanford and his associates in 1868 acquired control of theSouthern Pacific Railroad. Stanford was elected president of the Southern Pacific, a post he held until 1890 (except for a brief period in 1869–1870 when Tevis was acting president) when Stanford was ousted byCollis Huntington.
As head of the railroad company that built the western portion of the "First Transcontinental Railroad" fromSacramento eastward over theSierra Nevada mountains in California to Nevada and Utah, Stanford presided at the ceremonial driving of "Last Spike" inPromontory, Utah, on May 10, 1869. The grade of the CPRR met that of theUnion Pacific Railroad, which had been built westward from its eastern terminus atCouncil Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska. He was even given the honor of driving the final spike.
Stanford moved with his family from Sacramento to San Francisco in 1874, where he assumed presidency of theOccidental and Oriental Steamship Company, the steamship line to Japan and China associated with the Central Pacific.[17]
TheSouthern Pacific Company was organized in 1884 as a holding company for the Central Pacific-Southern Pacific system. Stanford was president of the Southern Pacific Company from 1885 until 1890 when he was forced out of that post (as well as the presidency of the Southern Pacific Railroad) by Collis Huntington, the company's ranking vice president and the corporate directorate. That was thought to be retaliation for Stanford's election to theUS Senate in 1885 over Huntington's friend,Aaron A. Sargent.[18]
Stanford was elected chairman of the Southern Pacific Railroad's executive committee in 1890, and he held this post and the presidency of the Central Pacific Railroad until his death.[18]
In May 1868, Stanford joinedLloyd Tevis,Darius Ogden Mills, H.D. Bacon, Hopkins, and Crocker in forming the Pacific Union Express Company. It merged in 1870 withWells Fargo and Company.[19] Stanford was a director of Wells Fargo and Company from 1870 to January 1884. After a brief retirement from the board, he served again from February 1884 to his death in June 1893.[20] Also in May 1868, Stanford started the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company (nowPacific Life) and served as its first president from 1868 to 1876.
Stanford owned two wineries, theLeland Stanford Winery inAlameda County founded in 1869, and run and later inherited by his brother Josiah, and the 55,000 acres (223 km2)Great Vina Ranch inTehama County, containing what was then the largest vineyard in the world at 3,575 acres (14 km2) and given to Stanford University.[21][page needed]
Stanford was also interested in horses and owned theGridley tract of 17,800 acres (72 km2) inButte County. InSanta Clara County, he founded hisPalo Alto Stock Farm.[17][22] Stanford bredStandardbred horses to be raced as trotters, including his chief sire, Electioneer (sired byHambletonian)[23] and his winning offspring: Arion,[24] Sunol,[25] Palo Alto, and Chimes[26] (out of Stanford's best known dam Beautiful Bells[27]); andThoroughbreds for flat racing. In 1872, Stanford commissioned the photographerEadweard Muybridge to undertake scientific studies of the gaits of horses at a trot and gallop at the Agricultural Park racetrack in Sacramento. Images of the horses' feet were captured there, later moving to his Palo Alto Stock Farm. Stanford wanted to determine if the horses ever had all four feet off the ground at the same time. The result was the proto-filmSallie Gardner at a Gallop (1878). As thePalo Alto breeding farm was later developed into theStanford University, the university was nicknamed "The Farm."
Stanford was politically active and became a leading member of theRepublican Party. In 1856, he met with other Whig politicians in Sacramento on April 30 to organize theCalifornia Republican Party at its first state convention. Stanford was chosen as a delegate to the Republican Party convention that selected US presidential electors in both 1856 and 1860. He was defeated in his 1857 bid for California state treasurer, and his 1859 bid for the office of governor of California. In 1860, Stanford was named a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Chicago, but did not attend. He was elected governor in a second campaign in 1861.[13]
Stanford was elected the eighthGovernor of California, serving from January 1862 to December 1863, and the first Republican governor. Due to theGreat Flood of 1862, the governor was said to have needed to row in a boat to his own inauguration. A large, slow-speaking man who always read from a prepared text, he impressed his listeners as being more sincere than a glib, extemporaneous speaker.[28][29]
During his gubernatorial tenure, Stanford cut the state's debt in half and advocated for the conservation of forests. He also oversaw the establishment of California's first statenormal school in San Jose, later to becomeSan Jose State University. Following Stanford's governorship, the term of office changed from two years to four years, in line with legislation passed during his time in office.
The ongoingeradication of the Native Americans living in California continued under Stanford's administration.[30][31] He did sign into law an act reversing part of the 1850Act for the Government and Protection of Indians that allowed the enslavement of Native Americans.[32] However, Stanford also continued the prosecution of theBald Hills War in Northern California.
The gold strike in California had brought a large influx of newcomers into the territory, including Chinese immigrants, who faced persecution.[33] Anti-Chinese sentiment became a political issue over time. In a message to the legislature in January 1862, Governor Stanford said:
To my mind it is clear, that the settlement among us of an inferior race is to be discouraged by every legitimate means. Asia, with her numberless millions, sends to our shores the dregs of her population. Large numbers of this class are already here; and, unless we do something early to check their immigration, the question, which of the two tides of immigration, meeting upon the shores of the Pacific, shall be turned back, will be forced upon our consideration, when far more difficult than now of disposal. There can be no doubt but that the presence among us of numbers of degraded and distinct people must exercise a deleterious influence upon the superior race, and to a certain extent, repel desirable immigration.[34]
Stanford was initially acclaimed for such statements, but lost support when it was revealed that his Central Pacific Railroad was also importing Chinese workers to construct the railroad.[35]
Later, Stanford served in theUnited States Senate from 1885 until his death in 1893. Stanford served for four years as chairman of theU.S. Senate Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds and on the Naval Committee. He was president and director of the Central Pacific Railroad the entire time he sat in the Senate. Stanford authored several Senate bills that advanced ideas advocated by thePeople's Party: a bill to foster the creation ofworker-owned cooperatives,[36][37] and a bill to allow the issuance of currency backed by land value instead of only thegold standard.[38][39] Neither bill made it out of committee. In Washington, D.C., he had a residence on Farragut Square near the home of BaronKarl von Struve, Russian minister to the United States.
With his wife Jane, Stanford foundedLeland Stanford Junior University as a memorial for their only child,Leland Stanford Jr., who died at age 15 oftyphoid fever inFlorence, Italy, in 1884 while on a trip to Europe. The university was established by the Endowment Act of the California Assembly and Senate of March 9, 1885, and the Grant of Endowment from Leland and Jane Stanford signed at the first meeting of the board of trustees on November 14, 1885.[40]
The Stanfords donated approximately $40 million[41] (equivalent to approximately $1,400,000,000 today) to develop the university, which held its opening exercises on October 1, 1891, and was intended for agricultural studies. Its first student, admitted to Encina Hall that day, wasHerbert Hoover, who went on to become the 31st US president. The wealth of the Stanford family during the late 19th century is estimated at $50 million (equivalent to approximately $1,890,000,000 today).
Stanford had ideas of Stanford University employee ownership for more than 30 years before giving them expression in his plans for the university, proposals as a senator, and in interviews with the news media.[42]
On September 30, 1850, Stanford marriedJane Elizabeth Lathrop in Albany, New York. She was the daughter of Dyer Lathrop, a merchant of that city, and Jane Anne (Shields) Lathrop.[13] The couple did not have any children for 18 years, until their only child, a son,Leland DeWitt Stanford, was born in 1868 when his father was 44.[43]
Stanford was an activeFreemason from 1850 to 1855, joining the Prometheus Lodge No. 17 inPort Washington, Wisconsin.[44] After moving west, he became a member of the Michigan City Lodge No. 47 inMichigan Bluff, California.[45] Stanford was also a member of theIndependent Order of Odd Fellows in California.
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The Stanfords retained ownership of their mansion in Sacramento, where their only son was born in 1868. Now theLeland Stanford Mansion State Historic Park, the house museum is also used for California state social occasions. The Stanfords' home in San Francisco'sNob Hill district was destroyed in the1906 San Francisco earthquake; the site is now occupied by theStanford Court Hotel. The Stanford residence at the Palo Alto Stock Farm became a convalescent home for children in 1919 (the forerunner of theLucille Packard Children's Hospital) and was torn down in 1965.[46][47]
Long-suffering fromlocomotor ataxia, Stanford died of heart failure at home inPalo Alto, California, on June 21, 1893; he was 69 years old.[48] Stanford was buried in thefamily mausoleum on the Stanford campus.Jane Stanford died in 1905 after beingpoisoned with strychnine.[17][18]
In 1862, California volunteer troops re-building a military post at the confluence of the San Pedro River and Aravaipa Creek in Arizona Territory named the postFort Stanford after the governor. However, the post later reverted to its former name, Fort Breckenridge, and in 1866 becameCamp Grant. In 2008, Stanford was inducted intoThe California Museum for History, Women and the Arts,California Hall of Fame. A relative, Tom Stanford, accepted the honors on his behalf.[49]
TheStanford Memorial Church on the university campus is dedicated to Stanford's memory.Mount Stanford, located in California's Sierra Nevada, is named in his honor.[50] Central Pacific locomotives named for Stanford were:[51][52]
Mount Stanford in California'sJohn Muir Wilderness is named for Stanford. This mountain, found in Pioneer Basin, is located near other mountains named forrobber barons, includingMount Huntington,Mount Hopkins, andMount Crocker.
[...] other forty-niners parlayed their gold rush earnings into world-historical fortunes. Each has a name instantly associated with contemporary California: [...] Leland Stanford (the university) [...].
The ex-governor of California, president of both the Central Pacific Railroad and the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, Stanford was a classic robber baron, who owned two hundred horses, a palatial Palo Alto estate, and his own private race course.
The Rockefeller family, the industrialist Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919), and the railroad magnate Amasa Leland Stanford (1824-1893) were other late-nineteenth-century men and women of wealth and power who left sizable philanthropic legacies, perhaps spurred into giving by the pejorative label robber baron.
The presence of numbers of that degraded and distinct people would exercise a deleterious effect upon the superior race.
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forGovernor of California 1859,1861 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of California January 10, 1862 – December 10, 1863 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. senator (Class 3) from California March 4, 1885 – June 21, 1893 Served alongside:John F. Miller,George Hearst,Charles N. Felton,Stephen M. White | Succeeded by |
| Business positions | ||
| Preceded by None | Executive Committee Chairmen Southern Pacific Railroad 1890–1893 | Succeeded by |
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| Under U.S. military (1846–1850) | ||
| U.S. state (since 1850) | ||
| Public Buildings (1838–1857) | | |
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| Public Buildings and Grounds (1857–1947) | ||
| Public Works (1947–1977) | ||
| Environment and Public Works (1977–present) | ||
| International | |
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| Other | |
