Baxter Ward Schwellenbach (November 5, 1919 – February 4, 2002) was a television news anchor who served two terms on the

Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (LACBOS) is the five-member Board of Supervisors, governing body of Los Angeles County, California, United States. History On April 1, 1850 the citizens of Los Angeles elected a three-man Court of Se ...

. Prior to his election on the board, he ran third in an unsuccessful bid to unseat Sam Yorty for Mayor of Los Angeles in 1969.

Background

The nephew of Lewis B. Schwellenbach, Ward was born in

Superior, Wisconsin Superior (; ) is a city in Douglas County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. The population was 26,751 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located at the western end of Lake Superior in northwestern Wisconsin, the city l ...

, and grew up in

Ephrata, Washington Ephrata ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Grant County, Washington, United States. Its population was 8,477 at the 2020 census. History Ephrata was officially incorporated on June 21, 1909 and was given the county seat for the newly crea ...

. Ward served as a Los Angeles County Supervisor from 1972 to 1980. As supervisor, Ward was an early advocate for passenger rail transportation in the county, something Los Angeles had lacked since the abandonment of the Pacific Electric Railway in the 1950s. Under Ward, L. A. County purchased eight rail cars from the '' El Camino'' in an attempt to bootstrap

commuter rail Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...

in the greater Los Angeles area. Baxter Ward's initial effort failed, dubbed "Baxter's Choo-Choo" by its numerous contemporary critics, and although the purchased cars were used on

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

's '' San Diegan'' for six months in 1978, the criticism stuck, ultimately contributing to his 1980 election loss to Michael D. Antonovich. The original commuter rail route envisioned by Ward eventually did come to fruition in the form of Metrolink's Orange County Line some years after the end of his career as a Los Angeles County Supervisor. During the 1950s and early 60s he introduced a

non-fiction Non-fiction (or nonfiction) is any document or content (media), media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real life, real world, rather than being grounded in imagination. Non-fiction typically aims to pre ...

documentary

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

show called Adventure Tomorrow with Dr. Martin L. Klein, which presented

technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

of the early Space Age. The program's producer, George Van Valkenburg described the series as covering anything that moves, flies or explodes. Ward also worked as a television news anchor first at KCOP-Channel 13, and then with KABC-Channel 7 in Los Angeles before he ran for Mayor. He ran for mayor of Los Angeles one last time in 1989 against Mayor Tom Bradley. Ward died in 2002, following a battle with lung cancer.

References

External links

Biography at OurCamcapigns.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Baxter American television reporters and correspondents Television anchors from Los Angeles People from Ephrata, Washington Politicians from Superior, Wisconsin 1919 births 2002 deaths Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Candidates in the 1989 United States elections 20th-century California politicians