John Diedrich Spreckels (August 16, 1853 – June 7, 1926), the son of German-American industrialist
Claus SpreckelsClaus Spreckels, formally Adolph Claus J. Spreckels , , was a major industrialist in Hawai'i during the kingdom, republican and territorial periods of the islands' history...
, founded a transportation and real estate empire in
San Diego, CaliforniaSan Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The
entrepreneurAn entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
's many business ventures included the
Hotel del CoronadoHotel del Coronado is a beachfront luxury hotel in the city of Coronado, just across the San Diego Bay from San Diego, California. It is one of the few surviving examples of an American architectural genre: the wooden Victorian beach resort...
and the
San Diego and Arizona RailwayThe San Diego and Arizona Railway was a short line American railroad founded by "sugar heir," developer, and entrepreneur John D. Spreckels, and dubbed "The Impossible Railroad" by many engineers of its day due to the immense logistical challenges involved...
, both of which are credited with helping San Diego develop into a major commercial center.
Upon his death he was eulogized as "One of America's few great Empire Builders who invested millions to turn a struggling, bankrupt village into the beautiful and cosmopolitan city San Diego is today."
Early years
The oldest of five children, Spreckels was born in
Charleston, South CarolinaCharleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
, though the family soon moved to New York and then went on to
San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, where he was raised. Spreckels attended Oakland College and then the Polytechnic College in
HanoverHanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
until 1872 where he studied
chemistryChemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
and
mechanical engineeringMechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...
. He returned to California and began working for his father,
Claus SpreckelsClaus Spreckels, formally Adolph Claus J. Spreckels , , was a major industrialist in Hawai'i during the kingdom, republican and territorial periods of the islands' history...
, who had grown extremely wealthy in the
sugarSugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
business. In 1876 he went to the
Hawaiian IslandsThe Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...
, where he worked for his father's sugar business,
Spreckels Sugar CompanyThe Spreckels Sugar Company is an American sugar beet refiner that for many years controlled much of the U.S. West Coast refined sugar market. Spreckels Sugar was founded by entrepreneur, industrialist, newspaper publisher, and railroad executive Claus Spreckels in 1881...
.
Entrepreneur beginnings
In 1880, with two million dollars in capital, he organized J. D. Spreckels and Brothers, a company to establish a trade between the mainland United States and the Hawaiian Islands. The company began with one sailing vessel, the
Rosario, and later controlled two large fleets of sail and steam ships. The firm also engaged extensively in sugar refining, and became agents for leading
sugar plantations in HawaiiSugarcane was introduced to Hawaii by its first inhabitants in approximately 600 AD and was observed by Captain Cook upon arrival in the islands in 1778. Sugar quickly turned into a big business and generated rapid population growth in the islands with 337,000 people immigrating over the span of a...
. Much of the development of commercial interests between the United States and Hawaii is due to this firm.
In October, 1877, he married Lillie Siebein in
HobokenHoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...
,
New JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, and together they had four children: Grace (born September 1878), Lillie (born November 1879), John (born April 1883), and Claus (born March 1888). They first lived in the
Kingdom of HawaiiThe Kingdom of Hawaii was established during the years 1795 to 1810 with the subjugation of the smaller independent chiefdoms of Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lānai, Kauai and Niihau by the chiefdom of Hawaii into one unified government...
and then in San Francisco. In 1887, Spreckels visited San Diego on his yacht
Lurline to stock up on supplies. Impressed by the
real estateIn general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
boom then taking place, he invested in construction of a wharf and coal bunkers at the foot of Broadway (then called "D" Street). That boom ended soon but Spreckels' interest in San Diego would last for the rest of his life.
He acquired control of the Coronado Beach Company, the
Hotel del CoronadoHotel del Coronado is a beachfront luxury hotel in the city of Coronado, just across the San Diego Bay from San Diego, California. It is one of the few surviving examples of an American architectural genre: the wooden Victorian beach resort...
and Coronado Tent City; he bought the
San Diego street railway systemThe San Diego Electric Railway was a mass transit system in Southern California, USA, using streetcars and buses.The SDERy was established by "sugar heir," developer, and entrepreneur John D. Spreckels in 1892...
, changing it from horse power to electricity, in 1892.
For a time, Spreckels was owner of the
San Francisco CallThe San Francisco Call was a newspaper that served San Francisco, California. Because of a succession of mergers with other newspapers, the paper variously came to be called The San Francisco Call & Post, the San Francisco Call-Bulletin, San Francisco News-Call Bulletin, and the News-Call Bulletin...
, then a morning newspaper. While still living in San Francisco he continued his investment in San Diego, buying the
The San Diego Union newspaper in 1890 and the
San Diego Evening Tribune in 1901. He moved his family permanently to San Diego immediately after the
1906 earthquakeThe San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.9; however, other...
and moved into his new mansion on Glorietta Blvd. in
CoronadoCoronado, also known as Coronado Island, is an affluent resort city located in San Diego County, California, 5.2 miles from downtown San Diego. Its population was 24,697 at the 2010 census, up from 24,100 at the 2000 census. U.S. News and World Report lists Coronado as one of the most expensive...
in 1908. That structure survives today as the Glorietta Bay Inn.
Relocation to San Diego
In the next decades, Spreckels became a millionaire many times over, and the wealthiest man in San Diego. At various times he owned all of
Coronado IslandCoronado, also known as Coronado Island, is an affluent resort city located in San Diego County, California, 5.2 miles from downtown San Diego. Its population was 24,697 at the 2010 census, up from 24,100 at the 2000 census. U.S. News and World Report lists Coronado as one of the most expensive...
, the San Diego-Coronado Ferry System, the Union-Tribune Publishing Co., the San Diego Electric Railway, the San Diego & Arizona Railway, and the
Belmont ParkThe Giant Dipper, also known as the Mission Beach Roller Coaster, is a wooden roller coaster, built in 1925. The Giant Dipper is in Belmont Park, right on Mission Beach in San Diego...
in
Mission BeachMission Beach is a community built on a sandbar between the Pacific Ocean and Mission Bay. It is part of the city of San Diego, California.Mission Beach spans nearly two miles of ocean front. It is bounded by the San Diego River estuary on the south, Mission Bay Park on the east, and the community...
. He built several downtown buildings, including the Union Building in 1908, the
Spreckels Theater BuildingThe Spreckels Theater Building was built in San Diego, California in 1912. It was touted as "the first modern commercial playhouse west of the Mississippi". It has been in continuous operation since its opening, with a few brief intervals for refurbishing....
in 1912, the Hotel San Diego, and the Golden West Hotel. He employed thousands of people and at one time he paid 10% of all the property taxes in San Diego County.
Spreckels was president of several companies, including the Oceanic Steamship Company, operating a mail and passenger line to Hawaii and
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, the Western Sugar Refining Company, the Coronado Water Company, the San Diego and Coronado Ferry Company, the San Diego and Coronado Transfer Company, the Pajaro Valley Consolidated Railroad Company, the
San Diego Electric RailwayThe San Diego Electric Railway was a mass transit system in Southern California, USA, using streetcars and buses.The SDERy was established by "sugar heir," developer, and entrepreneur John D. Spreckels in 1892...
, and the
San Diego and Arizona RailwayThe San Diego and Arizona Railway was a short line American railroad founded by "sugar heir," developer, and entrepreneur John D. Spreckels, and dubbed "The Impossible Railroad" by many engineers of its day due to the immense logistical challenges involved...
Company.
San Diego Electric Railway
The San Diego Electric Railway (SDERy) was a San Diego-based,
light railLight rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
mass transit system founded by Spreckels in 1892. Spreckels' strategy involved buying up several failed downtown horse- and cable-drawn trolley routes, consolidating and standardizing the trackage, and elecrifying resulting unified street railway system.
Over the years, the SDERy constructed new lines to connect San Diego's burgeoning downtown with the region's up-and-coming outlying communities, including Mission Beach,
Pacific BeachPacific Beach is a neighborhood of San Diego, bounded by La Jolla to the north, Mission Beach and Mission Bay to the south, Interstate 5 to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. While largely populated by young people, surfers, and college students, the population is becoming older, more...
, and Normal Heights (developments where Spreckels owned the bulk of the land). Spreckels' underlying philosophy in this regard can best be summed up as follows:
At its peak, the SDERy's routes would operate throughout the greater San Diego area over some 165 miles (266 kilometers) of track. And though the system had operated continuously for more than half a century, steadily declining ridership (due in large part to the phenomenal rise in popularity of the automobile) ultimately led the company to discontinue all streetcar service in favor of bus routes in 1949.
San Diego Class 1 Streetcars
One of Spreckels' major contributions to the city of San Diego was his commitment to the construction of
Balboa ParkBalboa Park is a urban cultural park in San Diego, California. The park is named after the Spanish maritime explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa...
in preparation of the Panama-California Exposition. As the owner of the San Diego Electric Railway Company, he also developed a unique fleet of special streetcars that could handle the large crowds attending this event. Following the Exposition, the Class 1 streetcars would go on to provide a continuing public transportation service for the city of San Diego over the next 27 years.
An evolution from previous streetcar models, the Class 1s were designed with artistry, state-of-the-art technology and San Diego's unique climate in mind. Under Spreckels' guise, the engineers of SDERy drafted up plans that took elements from both the "California Car" and the "Closed Car" designs and refashioned them into a new, modern transit fleet. Their plans were sent to the
Saint Louis Car CompanyThe St. Louis Car Company was a major United States manufacturer of railroad passenger cars, streetcars, trolleybuses and locomotives that existed from 1887–1973, based in St. Louis, Missouri.-History:...
(SLCCo) where these beautiful,
Arts & CraftsArts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
-style streetcars were built and shipped out to San Diego. Ultimately, the Class 1 streetcars ran all over San Diego, from
CoronadoCoronado, also known as Coronado Island, is an affluent resort city located in San Diego County, California, 5.2 miles from downtown San Diego. Its population was 24,697 at the 2010 census, up from 24,100 at the 2000 census. U.S. News and World Report lists Coronado as one of the most expensive...
through Downtown,
Mission HillsMission Hills is a neighborhood of San Diego, California, USA. It is located on hills just south of the San Diego River valley and north of downtown San Diego, overlooking Old Town and San Diego Bay. It was subdivided on January 20, 1908 as a smaller portion of what is now referred to as Mission...
,
Ocean BeachOcean Beach is a beachfront neighborhood of San Diego, California.-Geography:Ocean Beach is located in San Diego on the Southern California coast. It lies on the Pacific Ocean at the estuary of the San Diego River, at the western terminus of Interstate 8. It is approximately from Downtown San...
,
North ParkNorth Park is a neighborhood in San Diego, California, USA. It is situated to the northeast of Balboa Park, bounded on the north by the canyons overlooking Mission Valley, on the south by Switzer Canyon and the South Park neighborhood, on the east by Interstate 805 and City Heights, and on the...
,
Golden HillGolden Hill is a neighborhood of San Diego, California. It is located south of Balboa Park, north of Sherman Heights/Highway 94 , and east of Downtown....
, and
KensingtonKensington is a neighborhood of San Diego, California. Its borders are defined by Interstate 15 to the west, Interstate 8 to the north, Fairmount Avenue to the east, and El Cajon Boulevard to the south. Its neighboring communities are Normal Heights to the west, Talmadge to the east, and City...
. They even briefly served as a link to the U.S.-Mexico Border.
These streetcars were "retired" in 1939 to give way to the cheaper, Depression-era
Presidents’ Conference Committee (PCC) streetcarsThe PCC streetcar design was first built in the United States in the 1930s. The design proved successful in its native country, and after World War II was licensed for use elsewhere in the world...
. Today, only three of the original twenty-four Class 1 streetcars remain in existence.
San Diego and Arizona Railway
In 1919, Spreckels completed the San Diego and Arizona Railway, a short line
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
railroad, dubbed "The Impossible Railroad" by many engineers of its day due to the immense logistical challenges involved. Established in 1906 to provide San Diego with a direct rail link to the east by connecting with the
Southern Pacific RailroadThe Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....
(which secretly provided the funding for the endeavor) lines in El Centro,
CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, the 148-mile (238-kilometer) route of the SD&A originated in San Diego and terminated in the Imperial County town of
CalexicoCalexico is a city in Imperial County, California. The population was 38,572 at the 2010 census, up from 27,109 at the 2000 census. Calexico is about east of San Diego and west of Yuma, Arizona...
.
The total construction cost was approximately $18 million, or some $123,000 per mile; the original estimate was $6 million. Construction delays, attacks by
MexicanThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
revolutionaries, and government intervention during
World War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
all served to push the construction completion to November 15, 1919 when the "golden spike" was finally driven by none other than Spreckels himself. Completing the SD&A was a monumental task that seriously affected Spreckels' health, almost costing him his life.
In subsequent years, damage to the lines from heavy rainstorms, landslides, and fires took a financial toll on the railroad, as did border closings with
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. In 1932, financial difficulties forced Spreckels' heirs to sell their interests in the firm for $2.8 million to the
Southern PacificThe Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....
, which renamed the railroad the
San Diego and Arizona Eastern RailwayThe San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway is a short-line American railroad originally founded in 1906 as the San Diego and Arizona Railway by sugar heir, developer, and entrepreneur John D. Spreckels...
(SD&AE).
Southern California Mountain Water Company
Spreckels organized the Southern California Mountain Water Company, which in turn built the Morena and the Upper and
Lower Otay ReservoirLower Otay Reservoir is an artificial lake in San Diego County, California, flanked by Otay County Open Space Preserve and Chula Vista. The reservoir is formed by impounding the waters of the Otay River, behind Savage Dam, completed in 1918, and is the terminus for the Second San Diego Aqueduct...
dams, the Dulzura conduit and the necessary pipeline to the city.
Legacy
Spreckels contributed to the cultural life of the city by building the
Spreckels TheatreThe Spreckels Theater Building was built in San Diego, California in 1912. It was touted as "the first modern commercial playhouse west of the Mississippi". It has been in continuous operation since its opening, with a few brief intervals for refurbishing....
, the first modern commercial playhouse west of the Mississippi. He gave generously to the fund to build the 1915 Panama-California Exposition and, together with his brother
Adolph B. SpreckelsAdolph Bernard Spreckels was a California businessman who ran Spreckels Sugar Company and who donated the California Palace of the Legion of Honor art museum to the city of San Francisco in 1924. His wife Alma was called the "great grandmother of San Francisco".-Biography:His father was Claus...
, donated the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park to the people of San Diego just before the opening of the Exposition. Spreckels paid the salaries of a resident organ tuner and of the organist for many years, providing free daily organ concerts.
Spreckels died in San Diego on June 7, 1926. His biographer, Austin Adams, called him "one of America's few great Empire Builders who invested millions to turn a struggling, bankrupt village into the beautiful and cosmopolitan city San Diego is today."
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