Louis Phillips (April 22, 1830 – March 16, 1900) was a wealthy land owner and rancher in
Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...
, California..
Biography
Phillips was born Louis Galefsky to a Jewish family in
Kempen,
Province of Posen
The Province of Posen (; ) was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1848 to 1920, occupying most of the historical Greater Poland. The province was established following the Greater Poland Uprising (1848), Poznań Uprisi ...
,
Prussia
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
(now
Kępno
Kępno is a town in south-central Poland. Kępno is located in the historical Wieluń Land. It lies on the outskirts of the Greater Poland Voivodeship, bordering the historical region of Silesia and the Łódź Voivodeship. As of December 31, 200 ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
) and moved to California in the early 1850s, changing his name to Phillips. He moved to
Spadra (now part of
Pomona) in 1862 and began engaging in sheep herding and cattle raising.
[ Frank Parkhurst Brackett, 1920, ''History of Pomona Valley, California'', Historic Record Company, Los Angeles] In 1864, Schlesinger and Tischler acquired the
Rancho San Jose in a foreclosure. Phillips, who had previously been a manager on the ranch, bought out of the foreclosure.
In January 1874, the
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...
completed a rail line from Los Angeles to Spadra, spurring interest in land development in the area. In 1875, Phillips built the
Phillips Mansion (now operated by the Historical Society of Pomona Valley) and also sold most of his for subdivision into the Pomona Tract, thus beginning the formation of Pomona.
Phillips retained surrounding his mansion, which he operated as a cattle and sheep ranch.
In 1867, Phillips married Esther Blake, with whom he had three sons (Charles, George and Louis, Jr.) and two daughters (Mrs. Frank George and adopted daughter, Kate Cecil).
[ He also acquired large land holdings in other parts of the county, including the Los Angeles business district where he owned the Phillips Block on Spring Street, a block on Los Angeles Street and another on Third Street.][ By 1892, the ''Los Angeles Times'' reported that Phillips, "who lives so quietly out at Spadra, near Pomona," was "the richest man in Los Angeles County."][
He died of ]pneumonia
Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...
in 1900[ and is interred at ]Spadra Cemetery
Spadra Cemetery is a historic cemetery in Pomona, California
Pomona ( ) is a city in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. Pomona is located in the Pomona Valley, between the Inland Empire and the San Gabriel Valley. At the ...
, Pomona.
See also
* Phillips Block
* Phillips Mansion
* Phillips Ranch
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Louis
1830 births
1900 deaths
Prussian emigrants to the United States
Deaths from pneumonia in California
Farmers from California
Businesspeople from California
People from Pomona, California