Lucky Baldwin

Elias Jackson "Lucky" Baldwin (April 3, 1828 – March 1, 1909) was "one of the greatest pioneers"[1] of California business, an investor, and real estate speculator during the second half of the 19th century.He built the luxury Baldwin Hotel and Theatre in San Francisco and bought vast tracts of land in Southern California, where a number of places and neighborhoods are named after him.At age 18, he eloped with a neighbor girl named Sarah Ann Unruh and returned home to farm and train horses.During the five-month trek west, Baldwin scouted ahead and got lost, and was only saved from starvation by friendly Native Americans who took him back to the wagon train.[1] Outside Salt Lake City, his caravan was attacked by less friendly Native Americans and Baldwin barely escaped with his life.[7] In another stroke of good fortune that cemented his reputation as "Lucky" Baldwin, he left instructions with his broker to sell his Norcross stock if it fell below $800 a foot.In an incredible stroke of good fortune, the stock price had rebounded to a spectacular level, creating a multimillion-dollar profit for Baldwin.[1] During the summer of 1879, Baldwin was in South Lake Tahoe and spent time at a small hotel owned by Ephraim "Yank" Clements situated on 2,000 acres (810 ha) and with rights to an entire mile of lakefront shoreline.The resort was unusual because it still retained the majestic old-growth forests that had been harvested throughout much of the basin for beams to support silver mine tunnels in the Comstock Lode.He divorced his wife Sarah and in 1875, Baldwin moved to Southern California and bought the Rancho Santa Anita in the fertile San Gabriel Valley from Harris Newmark.A visitor to Santa Anita in 1886 wrote: "The ranch is a principality not unlike a Southern plantation before the [Civil] [W]ar, save that all the laborers are well-paid and well fed."[15] One woman remembered for accusing him of breach of promise shot and wounded him in 1883 with a pistol inside his luxury Baldwin Hotel, built in 1876[17] on the northeast corner of Powell and Market St.One of his best filly runners, Los Angeles, competed at tracks on the East Coast of the United States where she won the 1887 Tyro and Spinaway Stakes plus the 1888 Monmouth Oaks and Latonia Derby.Among other successes, Baldwin's horses won the American Derby at the now defunct Washington Park Race Track four times: Volante (1885); Silver Cloud (1886); Emperor of Norfolk (1888); and Rey el Santa Anita (1894).[3] Wyatt Earp, a long-time admirer of fine horse breeding, frequented the race track when he and his wife Josephine were in Los Angeles.The actor William Hudson was cast as Baldwin in the 1957 episode, "The Man Who Was Never Licked" of the western television anthology series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews.[27] In 2013, the city of Arcadia installed a 9-foot bronze statue of Baldwin titled A Dawn in the West by artist Alfred Paredes in the Monsignor Gerald M. O’Keefe Rose Garden near the main southern gate of Santa Anita Park race track.
Indian attack on the Baldwin Party near Salt Lake City in 1853, as pictured by the artist Cross, from Lucky Baldwin's description. Image from C.B. Glasscock's 1933 biography Lucky Baldwin: The Story of an Unconventional Success .
Baldwin's Hotel and Theatre (built in 1876, burned down in 1898)
Sheep at Baldwins Ranch (1903)
The lake, Lucky Baldwin's ranch, Pasadena taken between 1898 and 1905
Lillian Ashley (later Turnbull) signed a "wedding contract" with Lucky Baldwin. Los Angeles Herald [ 16 ]
A Dawn in the West (a statue of Lucky Baldwin), in Arcadia, California
Lucky's daughter Anita Baldwin in 1929
Butler County, OhioArcadia, CaliforniaPacific Stock ExchangeBaldwin HotelSanta Anita ParkBaldwin TheaterBaldwin Hills, Los Angeles, CaliforniaBaldwin Park, CaliforniaBaldwin StakesCaliforniaHamilton, OhioIndianaValparaiso, IndianaCalifornia Gold RushRacine, Wisconsinwagon trainCouncil Bluffs, IowaSalt Lake CityMormonsBrigham YoungPlacervilleliverySan Francisco Stock ExchangeU.S. MintFort PointAlcatraz IslandBaldwin Hotel and TheaterPowell StreetMarket StreetUnion SquareComstock LodesafariBaldwin's Hotel and TheatreBaldwin Theater and HotelSouth Lake TahoeforeclosureMount TallacSouthern CaliforniaRancho Santa AnitaSan Gabriel ValleyHarris NewmarkdefaultHugo Reid AdobeCalifornia Historic LandmarkArcadiaMonrovia, CaliforniaLa Cienega RanchoBaldwin HillsSierra Madrebreach of promiseseductionThoroughbredracehorsesEast Coast of the United StatesSpinaway StakesMonmouth OaksLatonia DerbyAmerican DerbyWashington Park Race TrackSilver CloudEmperor of NorfolkWyatt EarpJosephineI Married Wyatt EarpNational Museum of Racing and Hall of FameA Dawn in the WestHiram A. Unruhhorse racingWilliam Hudsonanthology seriesDeath Valley DaysStanley AndrewsAdolph SutroBaldwin CottageBaldwin PondLos Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic GardenBaldwin Hills neighborhoodSouth Los AngelesBaldwin ParkBaldwin VillageBaldwin LakeSan Bernardino MountainsProQuestWayback MachineLos Angeles Times