Baldwin: Successful rancher; Big-time Bon-vivant; Founder of Arcadia

“Hell, we’re giving away the land. We’re selling the climate” – Lucky Baldwin

Baldwin, a skilled poker player is seen in a playful photo.

When Elias Jackson “Lucky” Baldwin acquired the Rancho Santa Anita in 1875, the region was very rural with small populations. Even in Pasadena, the Indiana Colony, formed in 1873, was focused on growing citrus and walnuts, not towns and population. But in a mere 10 years all that changed. Pasadena, incorporated in 1886 had a population of almost 9,000—its incorporation spurred by citizen’s attempts to rid the city of saloons. Real estate was selling and by 1886 a real estate boom was in full swing.

Baldwin, a successful rancher and Northern California businessman, saw opportunity in land. Ever the visionary and risk-taking entrepreneur, he signed a contract with the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad Co. in 1885 to bring a line to the ranch—and that would bring buyers to his development dreams. The line reached Santa Anita Ave. in 1886, just in time for Baldwin and his business manager Hyram Unruh to open properties to the public under the development name, “Baldwin”. Monrovia, just to the east, was a bustling center of land sales, but the Baldwin development for unknown reasons simply died. Unruh and Baldwin tried the scheme again in 1887, first with an announced name of “Live Oak”, but as the sales office opened, the development name was changed to “Arcadia” perhaps to extol the virtues of country living over expanding cities such as Los Angeles and Pasadena.

This time, Baldwin was successful as 400 lots were sold in four days and almost sold out by April of 1887. “Hell”, Baldwin was thought to have said, “We’re giving away the land. We’re selling the climate!” according to Sandy Snider and Pat McAdam’s excellently written and researched book, “Arcadia, Where Ranch and City Meet”. Snider, now retired as Associate/Curator-historian at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Gardens , has extensively researched and written about Baldwin’s life and is the basic source for this series.

During this period, Baldwin, a self-described bon-vivant, had a personal life in turmoil. He was constantly in court on scandalous charges. According to the Arcadia Historical Museum, he was “involved” with his cousin, Veronica Baldwin. She shot him in the arm at his Baldwin Hotel in San Francisco in 1883. From jail, she told a reporter, “He ruined me in body and mind. That is why I shot him.” Later, she filed a paternity suit against him. Baldwin was married four times, first to Sarah Ann Unruh, then, Mary Ford Cochrane, to Jennie Dexter (Anita Baldwin’s mother) who was 16 years-old (Baldwin was 48) and to the 16 year-old Lillie Bennett (he was 56).

An 1878 Stereopticon view shows the Baldwin home and the lake in the foreground.

Meanwhile, ranch and real estate business continued. Although the lots in the Arcadia development sold well, there was a real-estate bubble that burst soon after, leaving the new community to languish. Baldwin returned to his agricultural pursuits. As a result the ranch became monetarily successful in 1891 as Baldwin planted and shipped out produce from his 16,000 lemon and orange trees, 2,000 pomegranates, 3,000 walnut trees, 5,000 almond, 2,500 peach, 2,000 apricot and 1,000 fig trees. His vineyards produced some 384,000 gallons of wine and 55.000 gallons of excellent brandy annually.

Because of his business dealings in Northern California, Baldwin continued to spend the majority of his time in San Francisco. He finally settled on the Santa Anita Rancho in 1900. Eventually, as the real estate market returned to an upswing, and tourism became popular, Baldwin filed for incorporation papers—which required a minimum population of 500—with a census of 642. Knowing his intent, in 1902 the Anti-Saloon League fought his attempts to incorporate as a city listing, among other things, ribaldry, horse racing, gambling and gaming. Others doubted Arcadia had the required number of full-time residents. They insisted Baldwin had no such thing as 600 residents in his purported city. Various histories accuse Baldwin of outright chicanery such as bringing in peons of the Pacific Electric gang then building a line from Oneonta station (in San Marino) to Arcadia, or maybe moving “citizens” from area to area to be counted in order to meet the population minimums.

Nevertheless, the incorporation election was held July 27, 1903 with 39 voters approving the move. In the election, Baldwin was elected Mayor with a plurality of 38 votes. The Board of Trustees voted in were Melville Lawrence (operations manager of Baldwin’s Hotel Oakwood), H. A. Unruh (ranch manager), D. P. Unruh (Hyram’s son), and Hull McClaughry (Anita Baldwin’s husband). Ranch foremen Charles and Elmer Anderson were elected to position of Treasurer and Marshal, respectively and J. P. Cavallier became City Clerk. The signing of incorporation of the City of Arcadia took place in one of the rooms in the adobe section of the Baldwin Home at the historic center of Arcadia, now the Arboretum.

Those worried that Arcadia would become a wide-open city were certainly prescient: the Board of Trustees approved the sale of a liquor license less than two months following the election for incorporation to Baldwin’s daughter, Clara Baldwin-Stocker. The cost of a license was set at $40. Eventually there were nine “entertainment” locations and Baldwin’s racetrack, Santa Anita Park, opened in 1907 (citizens, in 1912, demanded that liquor sales be stopped). Through the Pacific Electric, Tally-Ho tours brought folks to Arcadia for entertainment and tours of the ranch.

At age 80, in 1909, Baldwin whose health was in decline, had a bout of influenza that deepened into pneumonia that finally led to his death. In one of the rooms of the adobe that served as a part of a wood-frame annex that Baldwin added some 30 years earlier, Baldwin died on March 1, 1909.

Baldwin had drawn a will a year earlier that named associates, former wives and even an illegitimate child as beneficiaries as well as his two daughters, Clara and Anita. Although the estate had been appraised at $25 million, debts reduced the value to about $11 million. Nevertheless, by the time voluminous litigation of the estate was completed, in 1913, the estate had recovered enough to have a value approaching $20 million, with Clara and Anita inheriting $10 million each.

The founder of Arcadia was certainly no saint. He possessed a flamboyant personality and the conniving and unfettered manners of entrepreneurs of his day. Still, Baldwin’s visions of opportunity at the Rancho Santa Anita as a rancher and real estate developer has left us with an important legacy in the establishment of one of Southern California’s premier communities.

Next week:

Arcadia must restore the Baldwin home to its rightful place in the city’s history.

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