
Adolph Bernard Spreckels (January 5, 1857 – June 28, 1924) was a
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...
businessman who ran
Spreckels Sugar Company
The Spreckels Sugar Company is an American sugar beet refiner that for many years controlled much of the U.S. West Coast refined sugar market. It is currently headquartered in Brawley, California.
History
The Spreckels Sugar Company was founded b ...
and who donated the
California Palace of the Legion of Honor
The Legion of Honor, formally known as the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, is an art museum in San Francisco, California. Located in Lincoln Park, the Legion of Honor is a component of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, which also ...
art museum to the city of
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
in 1924. His wife
Alma
Alma or ALMA may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Alma'' (film), a 2009 Spanish short animated film
* ''Alma'' (Oswald de Andrade novel), 1922
* ''Alma'' (Le Clézio novel), 2017
* ''Alma'' (play), a 1996 drama by Joshua Sobol about Alma ...
was called the "great grandmother of San Francisco".
His 1912 mansion is in
Pacific Heights
Pacific Heights is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. It has panoramic views of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Bay, the Palace of Fine Arts, Alcatraz, and the Presidio.
The Pacific Heights Residents Association defines the ne ...
and is San Francisco Landmark #197.
Life and career
Spreckels was born in San Francisco, California. His parents were Anna Christina Mangels and
Claus Spreckels
Adolph Claus J. Spreckels (July 9, 1828 – December 26, 1908) (his last name has also been misspelled as Spreckles) was a major industrialist in Hawai'i during the kingdom, republican and territorial periods of the islands' history. He also ...
, founder of the
Spreckels Sugar Company
The Spreckels Sugar Company is an American sugar beet refiner that for many years controlled much of the U.S. West Coast refined sugar market. It is currently headquartered in Brawley, California.
History
The Spreckels Sugar Company was founded b ...
. At the age of 12, Adolph studied abroad in
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
for two years, returning to San Francisco to finish his studies.
When the company was founded in 1881, he was named a vice-president. Spreckels succeeded his father as company president upon the latter's death in 1908. He was intensely loyal to both his father and his brother
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Seco ...
. In 1884, he shot
Michael H. de Young
Michael Henry de Young (September 30, 1849 – February 15, 1925) was an American journalist and businessman.
Early life
De Young was born in St. Louis, Missouri. The family was Jewish. Michael in later years claimed that his father was a Balti ...
, co-founder of the ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pap ...
'', supposedly because of an article in that newspaper suggesting his sugar company defrauded its shareholders. Spreckels pleaded
temporary insanity to the charge of
attempted murder
Attempted murder is a crime of attempt in various jurisdictions.
Canada
Section 239 of the ''Criminal Code'' makes attempted murder punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment. If a gun is used, the minimum sentence is four, five or seven ...
and was acquitted. The California Palace of the Legion of Honor was championed by his wife Alma and paid for from the Spreckels fortune. It was merged with the
M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in 1972; they became the
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. The permanent collection of the F ...
.
Besides the sugar company, Spreckels was president of the
San Francisco and San Mateo Electric Railway, vice-president of both the
Western Sugar Company
The Western Sugar Cooperative is a grower owned American agricultural cooperative originating from the Great Western Sugar Company in 1901.
History
The Great Western Sugar Company was incorporated in February 1901 by Charles Boettcher and other ...
and the
Oceanic Steamship Company, as well as a director of the
Sunset Monarch Company. In addition to his business enterprises, Spreckels served as a San Francisco Park Commissioner and was heavily involved in the development of Golden Gate Park.
Spreckels Lake
The Spreckels Lake Model Yacht Facility, commonly referred to as "Spreckels Lake", is an artificial reservoir behind an earthen dam and adjoining clubhouse situated on the northern side of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Completed in mid-Marc ...
, in the park, is named after him.
Spreckels Organ Pavilion
Spreckels Organ Pavilion houses the open-air Spreckels Organ in Balboa Park, San Diego, California. The Spreckels Organ is the world's largest pipe organ in a fully outdoor venue. Constructed for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, it is loca ...
in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
's
Balboa Park, housing the largest outdoor pipe organ in the world, was also built by Spreckels and his brother John. Furthermore, John commissioned
Spreckels Organ in the Palace of the Legion of Honor in tribute to Adolph, who died before it was completed.
Thoroughbred racing
Spreckels was also fond of
horse racing and owned and bred a number of race horses, most famously
Morvich, the first California-bred horse to win the
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-yea ...
(1922).
Family
He and
Alma de Bretteville were married on May 11, 1908, after a five-year courtship. They had three children, daughter Alma Emma, son Adolph Bernard, Jr., and another daughter, Dorothy Constance.
After the birth of their last daughter, Spreckels' health began to deteriorate due to
syphilis he had contracted before his marriage. He had known about the disease and had kept it secret from his wife, but fortunately for her during their intimate years it had been in a latent, non-contagious state. Spreckels died in 1924 from
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...
.
Spreckels Mansion
The family's c.1912 mansion, located at 2080 Washington Street in the
Pacific Heights
Pacific Heights is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. It has panoramic views of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Bay, the Palace of Fine Arts, Alcatraz, and the Presidio.
The Pacific Heights Residents Association defines the ne ...
neighborhood of San Francisco, is most recently the home of novelist
Danielle Steel
Danielle Fernandes Dominique Schuelein-Steel (born August 14, 1947) is an American writer, best known for her romance novels. She is the bestselling author alive and the fourth-bestselling fiction author of all time, with over 800 million ...
. The mansion was designed by George A. Applegarth and
Kenneth A. MacDonald Jr.
Kenneth A. MacDonald Jr. (1880–1937) was an American architect, known for his residential and commercial work in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Early life
Kenneth MacDonald Jr. was born 1880 in Louisville, Kentucky. His father was an architect ...
in the French Baroque style. The chateau was designated as San Francisco Landmark #197 on June 9, 1990.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spreckels, Adolph B.
Businesspeople from San Francisco
19th-century American businesspeople
Businesspeople in the sugar industry
American racehorse owners and breeders
Philanthropists from California
1857 births
1924 deaths
Deaths from pneumonia in California
People acquitted by reason of insanity