William George Kerckhoff (1856–1929) was an American businessman.

Early life

Kerckhoff was born on March 30, 1856, in

Terre Haute, Indiana Terre Haute ( ) is a city in Vigo County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 58,389 and Terre Haute metropolitan area, its metropolitan area had a populati ...

.
Short History of the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research
', W. G. Kerckhoff Institute]

Career

Kerckhoff moved to

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the List of United States counties and county equivalents, most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 202 ...

, from

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

in 1878-1879 and worked for the Jackson Lumber Company.West Adams Heritage Association
/ref> In 1887, along with James Cuzner of the Kerckhoff-Cuzner Lumber Company, he built the ''Pasadena''. It was the first ocean-going vessel to use oil for fuel. In the 1890s, he founded the San Gabriel Power Company, a hydroelectric power company in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. By the turn of the century, together with A.C. Balch, he owned half the stock of Henry E. Huntington's Pacific Light & Power Company used to provide electricity to

Pacific Electric The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned Public transport, mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electr ...

, and he served as its president. In 1902, they purchased the San Joaquin Electric Company. They also founded Southern California Gas Corporation in 1910, and built a 120-mile pipeline from the

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; Spanish language in California, Spanish: ''Valle de San Joaquín'') is the southern half of California's Central Valley (California), Central Valley. Famed as a major breadbasket, the San Joaquin Valley is an importa ...

to Los Angeles. In 1906, with

Burton E. Green Burton Edmond Green (September 6, 1868 – May 13, 1965) was an American oilman and real estate developer. He was critical in the development of Beverly Hills, California, and he is credited with naming it Beverly Hills after Beverly Farms in ...

(1868-1965), Charles A. Canfield (1848-1913),

Max Whittier Mericos "Max" Whittier (1867–1925) was a pioneer in the early California oil industry and was instrumental in the development of 3 of California's billion barrel oil fields: Kern River, Midway-Sunset, and South Belridge. With his partner Burt ...

(1867–1928), Frank H. Buck (1887-1942), Henry E. Huntington (1850-1927), William F. Herrin (1854-1927), W.S. Porter and Frank H. Balch, known as the Amalgamated Oil Company, he purchased

Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas was a land grant in present day Beverly Hills in Los Angeles County, California, given to María Rita Quinteros Valdez de Villa in 1838. Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas (Ranch of the Gathering Waters), is named for the stre ...

from the heirs of

Henry Hammel and Andrew H. Denker Andrew Henry Denker (October 17, 1840 – November 13, 1892) was a German-born American businessman and politician was a business partner of Henry Hammel. He and Hammel, his brother-in-law, ran hotels and owned an extensive spread of agricultural ...

. After drilling for oil and only finding water, they reorganized their business into the Rodeo Land and Water Company to develop a new residential town later known as

Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hills ...

. As president of the South Coast Land Company, he also helped found the city of

Del Mar, California Del Mar (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Of the Sea") is a beach city in San Diego County, California, located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Established in 1885 as a seaside resort, the city incorporated in 1959. The population was 3,954 ...

. and the small town of

Biola, California Biola is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fresno County, California, United States. The population was 1,427 at the 2020 census, down from 1,623 at the 2010 census. Biola is located north-northeast of Kerman, at an elevation of 253 feet (77 m) ...

Personal life

Kerckhoff married Louisa Eshman of

Terre Haute Terre Haute ( ) is a city in Vigo County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 58,389 and its metropolitan area had a population of 168,716. Located along the Wabash River about e ...

in 1883. They lived in a grand mansion at 734 West Adams Boulevard designed by the architects

Sumner Hunt Sumner P. Hunt (Brooklyn, New York state, May 8, 1865 – Los Angeles, California, November 19, 1938) was an architect in Los Angeles from 1888 to the 1930s. On January 21, 1892, he married Mary Hancock Chapman. They had a daughter Louise Hunt. ...

(1865-1938),

Abraham Wesley Eager Abraham Wesley Eager (1864–1930) was a Canadian-born American architect. He designed many houses in Los Angeles, California. Early life Abraham Wesley Eager was born in 1864 in Hamilton, Canada West. He moved to California in 1887, and sett ...

(1864-1930) and

Silas Reese Burns Silas Reese Burns (1855–1940) was an American architect. Biography Early life He was born on April 8, 1855, in Morgantown, Virginia. He became a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1882. He graduated from the Massachusetts Inst ...

(1855-1940). Originally donated to the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

for use as the Louise E. Kerckhoff Medical Sciences Laboratory, it now stands at the center of USC's Annenberg Research Park.

Death and legacy

Kerckhoff died in Los Angeles on February 22, 1929. The Kerckhoff Marine Laboratory in

Corona del Mar, Newport Beach Corona del Mar (Spanish for "Crown of the Sea") is a seaside neighborhood in the city of Newport Beach, California. It generally consists of all the land on the seaward face of the San Joaquin Hills south of Avocado Avenue to the city limits, a ...

is named in his honor, as are the "Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research - W.G. Kerckhoff Institute" and the "Kerckhoff-Klinik" (a hospital for cardiology, cardiac surgery, pulmology, thoracic surgery, and rheumatology, affiliated with the

University of Giessen University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in the German-speaking world. It is named afte ...

School of Medicine and part of the William G. Kerckhoff Foundation), both in

Bad Nauheim Bad Nauheim () is a town in the Wetteraukreis district of Hesse state of Germany. As of 2020, Bad Nauheim has a population of 32,493. The town is approximately north of Frankfurt am Main, on the east edge of the Taunus mountain range. It is a w ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The William G. Kerckhoff Laboratories of the Biological Sciences at Caltech were built in 1928 to house the Institute's new biology division.

Kerckhoff Hall Kerckhoff or Kerckhoffs is a Dutch and Low German Low German is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language variety, language spoken mainly in Northern Germany and the northeastern Netherlands. The dialect of Plautdietsch is also spoken ...

, designed by

Allison & Allison Allison & Allison was the architectural firm of brothers James E. Allison (1870 – 1955) and David C. Allison (1881 – 1962). They established their firm in Pittsburgh in 1904 and moved to Los Angeles in 1910, where they would become we ...

, is home to various student media, clubs, and organizations on the UCLA campus. It was the result of a US$815,000 ($100,000 for furnishing) donation from his widow Louisa.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerchoff, William G. 1856 births 1929 deaths American people of German descent Businesspeople from Los Angeles Businesspeople from Beverly Hills, California People from Del Mar, California People from West Adams, Los Angeles