Phineas Banning

For the high school, seePhineas Banning High School.

Phineas Banning
Founder of thePort of Los Angeles
Born	(1830-08-19)August 19, 1830 Wilmington, Delaware,US
Died	March 8, 1885(1885-03-08)(aged 54) San Francisco, California,US
Occupation	Businessman
Spouse(s)	Rebecca Sanford (1856–1868) (her death) Mary Hollister (1870–1885) (his death)

Phineas Banning(August 19, 1830 – March 8, 1885) was an Americanbusinessman,financierandentrepreneur.

Known as "The Father of thePort of Los Angeles,"he was one of the founders of the town ofWilmington,in Los Angeles County, California, which was named for his birthplace. His drive and ambition laid the foundations for what would become one of the busiestportsin the world.

Besides operating afreightingbusiness, Banning operated astage coachline betweenSan Pedroand Wilmington, and later betweenBanning, California,which was named in his honor, andYuma, Arizona.

During theCivil War,he ceded land to theUnion Armyto build a fort at Wilmington, theDrum Barracks.He was appointed abrigadier generalof the First Brigade of themilitia,and used the title ofgeneralfor the rest of his life.

Early life

Banning was born inWilmington, Delaware,the seventh of 11 children to John Alford Banning (1790–1851) and Elizabeth Lowber (1792–1861). At age 13, he moved toPhiladelphiato work in his oldest brother'slaw firm.By his late teens, Banning was working on thedockyardsof Philadelphia. At the age of 20, he signed up to work a passage to a then-exotic destination –Southern California.

California and enterprise

Banning's Landing, Wilmington, 1870

Banning arrived inSan Pedro, California,in 1851, after a long land and sea journey that included crossing theisthmusofPanamabefore taking another ship toCalifornia.The 21-year-old was ambitious and worked in the fishing village of San Pedro, initially as a store clerk, and later as astagecoachdriver on the line that connected the hamlet with the pueblo ofLos Angeles,a town of less than 2,000 people 20 miles (30 km) to the north.

Banning was elected to a one-year term on theLos Angeles Common Council,the governing body of that city, beginning May 10, 1858, and ending May 9, 1859.

Banning began his ownstagingandshippingcompany. By the 1860s, Banning stagecoach wagons were traveling toSalt Lake City,theKern Rivergold fields, the new military installation atYuma, Arizona,theMormonsettlement atSan Bernardino,and in an arc around theSouthern Californiaregion.

Banning was not content to consolidate business interests in staging. He also began expanding the harbor and docks at San Pedro from their beginnings as illegal exchange sites formissioncontraband during theSpanishandMexicaneras, and made them efficient enterprises. In the late 1850s Banning and a group of Southern California investors purchased 640 acres (2.6 km2) of land adjacent to San Pedro for port expansion. The land purchase was incorporated asWilmington,after Banning'sDelawarebirthplace, and his facility became known as Banning's Landing. Banning invested the profits from his trade networks into the development of a more sophisticated port complex and for the creation of roads, telegraphs, and other connections to Los Angeles. In 1859, the first ocean-going vessel anchored in Los Angeles-Wilmington harbor, and the 1860s saw the beginning of small-scale maritime trade between San Pedro and ships anchored in the deeper parts of the harbor. After government-funded dredging made a deep water harbor and breakwater a reality, the port continued to grow.

Family life

In 1856, Banning married Rebecca Sanford (1837–1868), the younger sister of his first California employer. Phineas and Rebecca had eight children, of which three survived into adulthood – William Banning (1857–1946), Joseph Brent Banning (1862–1920), and Hancock Banning (1866–1925).

Family life was relatively stable in the Banning household, and Phineas was a doting, if distant father to his three boys, who grew up around the expanding docks in San Pedro. Rebecca Banning died in childbirth in 1868, and the infant, Vincent Banning, died as well.

Mary E. Hollister Banning

In 1870, Banning married Mary Hollister (1846–1919), a wealthy heiress whose family lent their name to the city ofHollister, California.Phineas and Mary had three children, two of which survived to adulthood – Mary Hollister Banning (1871–1953) and Lucy Tichenor Banning (1873–1929).

Southern California development: 1860–1880

Civil War California

Following the election ofAbraham Lincolnin 1860, severalSouthernstatesbroke away to form theConfederate States of America,which marked the beginning of theAmerican Civil War(1861–1865). The effects of the war were felt inCalifornia,and particularly in Los Angeles, which had manySouthern sympathizers,an alarming development for the new territory. An astute businessman and a vocal patriot, Banning and fellow Californian politicianBenjamin Wilsondonated adjacent plots of land in Wilmington for a military base. The outpost, namedDrum Barracks,or Camp Drum (1861–1871), served as headquarters for the Union's Southwestern command for the state of California and territory ofArizona.The move broughtUniontroops toWilmington,further enriching Banning. He was nearly killed, along with his first wife Rebecca, when the boiler exploded on one of his packet steamers, theSSAda Hancock,in 1863. After the end of the American Civil War in 1865, Drum Barracks was decommissioned, but the port and harbor continued to grow. Banning was an avowed Unionist and was friends withWinfield Scott Hancockwhen Hancock was stationed in Los Angeles. Phineas' son Hancock was named after the general.

The American government presented Banning with an honorary title, that ofBrigadier Generalof the California First Brigade. The title was purely honorary, with no basis in military service, yet Banning insisted on being referred to as "General Banning" for the remainder of his life.

1870s: Railroads, industries, and breakwaters

Banning in 1883

Between 1868 and 1869 he organized the construction ofSouthern California's first railroad, theLos Angeles & San Pedro Railroadwhich he sold to theSouthern Pacific Railroadin 1873.

Banning spent the 1870s in a frenzy of activity. As aCalifornia state senator,he campaigned for greater transportation connections to the city of Los Angeles and the growing port, his personal project. Banning eventually pushed through a plan for a small railroad linking Wilmington/San Pedro with the main city of Los Angeles, effectively halving the time necessary for the trip, but the plan was short-lived. TheSouthern Pacific Railroadbegan building track to connect Southern California to the greater national railroad lines, and demanded much of Los Angeles' prime real estate, an enormous sum of money, and Banning's small connector line railroad in exchange for adding Los Angeles as a terminus on the railroad. Realizing that Los Angeles would wither into nothingness if the company bypassed it, the city complied and Banning surrendered his hard-earned railroad. Several personal successes marked the decade for Banning. The first breakwater was built for the nascent port in 1873, and Banning began to work for the Southern Pacific as a railroad agent.

Final years

By 1880, Banning had moved to Wilmington and managed several smaller business interests.

He was in poor health for two years prior to his death, suffering from liver and kidney problems. His disease was aggravated by an accident in San Francisco, where he was knocked down and run over by an express wagon.

Banning died at age 54 at the Occidental Hotel inSan Francisco.He is interred in theAngelus-Rosedale Cemetery,Los Angeles.

Legacy

Banning's legacies lived on, and his dreams were realized with the federal approval of thePort of Los Angelesin the early 20th century, and the completion of a fullbreakwaterin 1914, creating one of the world's busiest harbors. Banning's chief residence, theBanning House,was constructed inWilmingtonin 1864.It is open to the public as a museum devoted to theVictorian erain California.

See also

• David W. Alexander,19th century Los Angeles, California, politician and sheriff
• Casa Adobe De San Rafael
• List of Riverside County, California, placename etymologies#Banning

External links

• A Beacon in the Wilderness: The History of the Port of Los Angeles
• Phineas BanningatFind a Grave