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{{Short description|American businessman (1830–1885)}}
{{For|the high school|Phineas Banning High School}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
|name= Phineas Banning
|name= Phineas Banning
|image= Banning.jpg
|image= Phineas Banning.jpg
|image_size=
|image_size=
|caption= Founder of the [[Port of Los Angeles]]
|caption= Founder of the [[Port of Los Angeles]]
|birth_date= {{Birth date|1830|08|19}}
|birth_date= {{Birth date|1830|08|19}}
|birth_place= [[Wilmington, Delaware]], USA
|birth_place= [[Wilmington, Delaware]], US
|death_date= {{Death date and age|1885|03|08|1830|08|19}}
|death_date= {{Death date and age|1885|03|08|1830|08|19}}
|death_place= [[San Francisco|San Francisco, California]], USA
|death_place= [[San Francisco, California]], US
|occupation=
|occupation= Businessman
|years_active=
|years_active=
|spouse= Rebecca Sanford (1856–1868) (her death) <br> Mary Hollister (1870–1885) (his death)
|spouse= Rebecca Sanford (1856–1868) (her death) <br/> Mary Hollister (1870–1885) (his death)
}}
}}
'''Phineas Banning''' (August 19, 1830 &ndash; March 8, 1885) was an American [[businessperson|businessman]], [[financier]] and [[entrepreneur]].
'''Phineas Banning''' (August 19, 1830 – March 8, 1885) was an American [[businessperson|businessman]], [[financier]] and [[entrepreneur]].


Known as "The Father of the [[Port of Los Angeles]]," he was one of the founders of the town of [[Wilmington, Los Angeles, California|Wilmington]], which was named for his birthplace. His drive and ambition laid the foundations for what would become one of the busiest [[port]]s in the world.
Known as "The Father of the [[Port of Los Angeles]]," he was one of the founders of the town of [[Wilmington, Los Angeles, California|Wilmington]], 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 busiest [[port]]s in the world.


Besides operating a [[freighting]] business, Banning operated a [[stage coach]] line between [[San Pedro, California|San Pedro]] and Wilmington, and later between [[Banning, California]], which was named in his honor, and [[Yuma, Arizona]].
Besides operating a [[freighting]] business, Banning operated a [[stage coach]] line between [[San Pedro, California|San Pedro]] and Wilmington, and later between [[Banning, California]], which was named in his honor, and [[Yuma, Arizona]].{{r|LAT 2023-08-03}}


During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], he ceded land to the [[Union Army]] to build a fort at Wilmington, the [[Drum Barracks]]. He was appointed a [[Brigadier general (United States)|Brigadier General]] of the First Brigade of the [[Militia (United States)|militia]], and used the title of general for the rest of his life.
During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], he ceded land to the [[Union Army]] to build a fort at Wilmington, the [[Drum Barracks]]. He was appointed a [[Brigadier general (United States)|brigadier general]] of the First Brigade of the [[Militia (United States)|militia]], and used the title of [[general]] for the rest of his life.


==Early life==
==Early life==
Banning was born in [[Wilmington, Delaware]], the seventh of 11 children to John Alford Banning (1790–1851) and Elizabeth Lowber (1792–1861). At age 13, he moved to [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]] to work in his oldest brother's [[law firm]]. By his late teens, Banning was working on the [[dock (maritime)|dockyards]] of Philadelphia. At the age of 20, he signed up to work a passage to a then-exotic destination&mdash;[[Southern California]].<ref>Krythe, M. (1957). Port admiral: Phineas Banning. San Francisco: California Historical Society.</ref>
Banning was born in [[Wilmington, Delaware]], the seventh of 11 children to John Alford Banning (1790–1851) and Elizabeth Lowber (1792–1861). At age 13, he moved to [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]] to work in his oldest brother's [[law firm]]. By his late teens, Banning was working on the [[dock (maritime)|dockyards]] of Philadelphia. At the age of 20, he signed up to work a passage to a then-exotic destination{{snd}}[[Southern California]].<ref name=Krythe>Krythe, M. (1957). ''Port admiral: Phineas Banning.'' San Francisco: California Historical Society.{{page?|date=June 2021}}{{ISBN?}}</ref>


==California and enterprise==
==California and enterprise==
[[Image:Wilmington-1870.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Banning's Landing, Wilmington, 1870]]
[[Image:Wilmington-1870.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Banning's Landing, Wilmington, 1870]]
Banning arrived in [[San Pedro, California]], in 1851, after a long land and sea journey that included crossing the [[isthmus]] of [[Panama]] before taking another ship to [[California]]. The 21-year-old was ambitious and worked in the fishing village of San Pedro, initially as a store clerk, and later as a [[stagecoach]] driver on the line that connected the hamlet with the pueblo of [[Los Angeles]], a town of less than 2,000 people 20 miles (30&nbsp;km) to the north.<ref>Queenan, C. (1986). Long Beach and Los Angeles: A tale of two ports. Northridge: Windsor Publications.</ref>
Banning arrived in [[San Pedro, California]], in 1851, after a long land and sea journey that included crossing the [[isthmus]] of [[Panama]] before taking another ship to [[California]]. The 21-year-old was ambitious and worked in the fishing village of San Pedro, initially as a store clerk, and later as a [[stagecoach]] driver on the line that connected the hamlet with the pueblo of [[Los Angeles]], a town of less than 2,000 people 20 miles (30&nbsp;km) to the north.<ref name=Queenan>Queenan, C. (1986). ''Long Beach and Los Angeles: A tale of two ports''. Northridge: Windsor Publications.{{ISBN?}}{{page?|date=June 2021}}</ref>


Banning was elected to a one-year term on the [[Los Angeles Common Council]], the governing body of that city, beginning May 10, 1858, and ending May 9, 1859.<ref>[ ''Chronological Record of Los Angeles City Officials,1850-1938,'' compiled under direction of Municipal Reference Library, City Hall, Los Angeles (March 1938, reprinted 1966). "Prepared ... as a report on Project No. SA 3123-5703-6077-8121-9900 conducted under the auspices of the [[Works Progress Administration]]."</ref>
Banning was elected to a one-year term on the [[Los Angeles Common Council]], the governing body of that city, beginning May 10, 1858, and ending May 9, 1859.<ref>''Chronological Record of Los Angeles City Officials, 1850–1938,'' compiled under direction of Municipal Reference Library, City Hall, Los Angeles (March 1938, reprinted 1966). "Prepared ... as a report on Project No. SA 3123-5703-6077-8121-9900 conducted under the auspices of the [[Works Progress Administration]]."</ref>


Banning began his own [[staging (stagecoaches)|staging]] and [[shipping]] company. By the 1860s, Banning wagons were traveling to [[Salt Lake City]], the [[Kern River]] gold fields, the new military installation at [[Yuma, Arizona]], the [[Mormon]] settlement at [[San Bernardino, California|San Bernardino]], and in an arc around the [[Southern California]] region.<ref>Krythe, M. (1957). Port admiral: Phineas Banning. San Francisco: California Historical Society.</ref>
Banning began his own [[staging (stagecoaches)|staging]] and [[shipping]] company. By the 1860s, Banning stagecoach wagons were traveling to [[Salt Lake City]], the [[Kern River]] gold fields, the new military installation at [[Yuma, Arizona]], the [[Mormon]] settlement at [[San Bernardino, California|San Bernardino]], and in an arc around the [[Southern California]] region.<ref name=Krythe />


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 for [[Spanish Missions of California|mission]] contraband during the [[Spain|Spanish]] and [[Mexico|Mexican]] eras, 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 as [[Wilmington, Los Angeles, California|Wilmington]], after Banning's [[Delaware]] birthplace, 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.<ref>Queenan, C. (1986). Long Beach and Los Angeles: A tale of two ports. Northridge: Windsor Publications.</ref>
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 for [[Spanish Missions of California|mission]] contraband during the [[Spain|Spanish]] and [[Mexico|Mexican]] eras, 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 as [[Wilmington, Los Angeles, California|Wilmington]], after Banning's [[Delaware]] birthplace, 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.<ref name=Queenan />


==Family life==
==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&mdash;William Banning (1857–1946), Joseph Brent Banning (1862–1920), and Hancock Banning (1865–1925).
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{{snd}}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.
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.
Line 40: Line 43:
[[File:Mary E. Hollister Banning, portrait (00081952).jpg|thumb|upright|Mary E. Hollister Banning]]
[[File:Mary E. Hollister Banning, portrait (00081952).jpg|thumb|upright|Mary E. Hollister Banning]]


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


==Southern California development: 1860-1880==
==Southern California development: 1860–1880==
===Civil War California===
===Civil War California===
Following the election of [[Abraham Lincoln]] in 1860, several [[Southern United States|Southern]] [[U.S. state|states]] broke away to form the [[Confederate States of America]], which marked the beginning of the [[American Civil War]] (1861–1865). The effects of the war were felt in [[California]], and particularly in Los Angeles, which had many [[Confederate States of America|Southern sympathizers]], an alarming development for the new territory. An astute businessman and a vocal patriot, Banning and fellow Californian politician [[Benjamin Davis Wilson|Benjamin Wilson]] donated adjacent plots of land in Wilmington for a military base. The outpost, named [[Drum Barracks]], or Camp Drum (1861–1871), served as headquarters for the Union's Southwestern command for the state of California and territory of [[Arizona]]. The move brought [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] troops to [[Wilmington, Los Angeles, California|Wilmington]], further enriching Banning. He was nearly killed, along with his first wife Rebecca, when the boiler exploded on one of his packet steamers, the [[SS Ada Hancock|SS ''Ada 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 with [[Winfield Scott Hancock]] when Hancock was stationed in Los Angeles. Phineas' son Hancock was named after the general.
Following the election of [[Abraham Lincoln]] in 1860, several [[Southern United States|Southern]] [[U.S. state|states]] broke away to form the [[Confederate States of America]], which marked the beginning of the [[American Civil War]] (1861–1865). The effects of the war were felt in [[California]], and particularly in Los Angeles, which had many [[Confederate States of America|Southern sympathizers]], an alarming development for the new territory. An astute businessman and a vocal patriot, Banning and fellow Californian politician [[Benjamin Davis Wilson|Benjamin Wilson]] donated adjacent plots of land in Wilmington for a military base. The outpost, named [[Drum Barracks]], or Camp Drum (1861–1871), served as headquarters for the Union's Southwestern command for the state of California and territory of [[Arizona]]. The move brought [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] troops to [[Wilmington, Los Angeles, California|Wilmington]], further enriching Banning. He was nearly killed, along with his first wife Rebecca, when the boiler exploded on one of his packet steamers, the {{SS|Ada 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 with [[Winfield Scott Hancock]] when Hancock was stationed in Los Angeles. Phineas' son Hancock was named after the general.


The American government presented Banning with an honorary title, that of [[Brigadier general (United States)|Brigadier General]] of 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.
The American government presented Banning with an honorary title, that of [[Brigadier general (United States)|Brigadier General]] of 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.<ref name="LAT 2023-08-03">{{Cite news |last=Morrison |first=Patt |date=2023-08-03 |title=Real estate, transit, oil — how early L.A. built fortunes and bred scoundrels |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-08-03/real-estate-transit-oil-how-early-la-built-fortunes-and-bred-scoundrels |access-date=2023-08-04 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref>


===1870s: Railroads, industries, and breakwaters===
===1870s: Railroads, industries, and breakwaters===
[[File:Gen. Phineas Banning (00040887).jpg|thumb|125px|<center>Banning in 1883</center>]]
[[File:Gen. Phineas Banning (00040887).jpg|thumb|125px|{{center|Banning in 1883}}]]
Between 1868 and 1869 he organized the construction of [[Southern California]]'s first railroad, the [[Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad]] which he sold to the [[Southern Pacific Railroad]] in 1873.<ref name=kcet2>{{cite web |url=http://www.kcet.org/updaily/socal_focus/history/la-as-subject/photos-las-first-railroads.html |title=Photos: L.A.'s First Railroads Connected the Region to the Global Economy |author=Nathan Masters |date=March 14, 2012 |work=Socal Focus |publisher=KCET |accessdate=July 2014}}</ref>
Between 1868 and 1869 he organized the construction of [[Southern California]]'s first railroad, the [[Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad]] which he sold to the [[Southern Pacific Railroad]] in 1873.<ref name=kcet2>{{cite web |url=http://www.kcet.org/updaily/socal_focus/history/la-as-subject/photos-las-first-railroads.html |title=Photos: L.A.'s First Railroads Connected the Region to the Global Economy |author=Nathan Masters |date=March 14, 2012 |work=Socal Focus |publisher=KCET |access-date=}}</ref>

⚫
Banning spent the 1870s in a frenzy of activity. As a [[California Senate|California 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. The [[Southern Pacific Railroad]] began 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.<ref>Krythe, M. (1957). Port admiral: Phineas Banning. San Francisco: California Historical Society.</ref>


⚫
Banning spent the 1870s in a frenzy of activity. As a [[California Senate|California 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. The [[Southern Pacific Railroad]] began 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.<ref name=Krythe />
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.
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==
==Final years==
By 1880, Banning had retreated to the peacefulness of his life in Wilmington and managed several smaller business interests.
By 1880, Banning had moved to Wilmington and managed several smaller business interests.


He was in poor health for the two years prior to his death, suffering from a combination of liver and kidney complaints, and his disease was aggravated by an accident he had met with some time before in San Francisco, where he was knocked down and run over by a passing express wagon.<ref>''Los Angeles Times'', March 10, 1885, "Gen. Phineas Banning --- Death of a Pioneer of Los Angeles County," p. 0_1</ref>
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.<ref name=LATimes>''Los Angeles Times'', March 10, 1885, "Gen. Phineas Banning – Death of a Pioneer of Los Angeles County," p. 1</ref>


Phineas Banning died at age 54 at the Occidental Hotel in [[San Francisco]].<ref>[[Ibid.]]</ref> He is interred in the [[Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery]], Los Angeles.<ref>[http://angelusrosedale.com/interments.php Notable Interments & Their Families ], Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery, Retrieved December 12, 2011</ref>
Banning died at age 54 at the Occidental Hotel in [[San Francisco]].<ref name=LATimes /> He is interred in the [[Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery]], Los Angeles.<ref>[http://angelusrosedale.com/interments.php Notable Interments & Their Families ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111228023726/http://angelusrosedale.com/interments.php |date=December 28, 2011 }}, Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery, Retrieved December 12, 2011</ref>


==Legacy==
==Legacy==
Banning's legacies lived on, and his dreams were realized with the federal approval of the [[Port of Los Angeles]] in the early 20th century, and the completion of a full [[breakwater (structure)|breakwater]] in 1914, creating one of the busiest harbors in the world. Banning's chief residence, constructed in [[Wilmington, Los Angeles, California|Wilmington]] in 1864, is open to the public as a museum devoted to the [[Victorian era]] in California.
Banning's legacies lived on, and his dreams were realized with the federal approval of the [[Port of Los Angeles]] in the early 20th century, and the completion of a full [[breakwater (structure)|breakwater]] in 1914, creating one of the world's busiest harbors. Banning's chief residence, the [[Banning House]], was constructed in [[Wilmington, Los Angeles, California|Wilmington]] in 1864.<ref>[http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007/05/no-25-general-phineas-banning-residence.html Big Orange Landmarks: No. 25 – General Phineas Banning Residence – Wilmington]</ref> It is open to the public as a museum devoted to the [[Victorian era]] in California.<ref>[http://www.banningmuseum.org Banning Residence Museum, Wilmington]</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
* [[David W. Alexander]], 19th century Los Angeles, California, politician and sheriff
*[[Banning House]]
* [[Casa Adobe De San Rafael]]
*[[SS Ada Hancock|SS ''Ada Hancock'' ]]
*[[David W. Alexander]], 19th century Los Angeles, California, politician and sheriff
* [[List of Riverside County, California, placename etymologies#Banning]]


==Notes==
==Notes==
Line 75: Line 77:


==External links==
==External links==
⚫
* [https://archive.today/20240524172008/https://www.webcitation.org/5ko5dQXW0?url=http://www.geocities.com/socsea84/beaconinwilderness.html A Beacon in the Wilderness: The History of the Port of Los Angeles]
*[http://www.banningmuseum.org Banning Residence Museum, Wilmington]
⚫
* {{Find a Grave|3701}}
*[http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007/05/no-25-general-phineas-banning-residence.html Big Orange Landmarks: No. 25 - General Phineas Banning Residence - Wilmington]
⚫
*[http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/socsea84/beaconinwilderness.html&date=2009-10-26+02:52:55 A Beacon in the Wilderness: The History of the Port of Los Angeles]
⚫
*{{Find a Grave|3701|accessdate=2009-05-13}}


<br>
{{LosAngelesCommonCouncil}}
{{LosAngelesCommonCouncil}}


{{Authority control|VIAF=34346664}}
{{Authority control}}

{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
|NAME= Banning, Phineas
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
|SHORT DESCRIPTION = American businessman
|DATE OF BIRTH= August 19, 1830
|PLACE OF BIRTH= [[Wilmington, Delaware]], USA
|DATE OF DEATH= March 8, 1885
|PLACE OF DEATH= [[San Francisco|San Francisco, California]], USA
}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Banning, Phineas}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Banning, Phineas}}
[[Category:California pioneers]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Los Angeles]]
⚫
[[Category:Landowners from California]]
[[Category:19th-century American landowners]]
[[Category:Los Angeles Common Council (1850–1889) members]]
[[Category:19th-century American legislators]]
[[Category:19th-century American businesspeople]]
[[Category:19th century in Los Angeles]]
[[Category:1830 births]]
[[Category:1830 births]]
[[Category:1885 deaths]]
[[Category:1885 deaths]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from California]]
[[Category:Burials at Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery]]
[[Category:American landowners]]
[[Category:19th-century people from California]]
⚫
[[Category:People from Banning, California]]
⚫
[[Category:People from Wilmington, Delaware]]
[[Category:People of California in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:People of California in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:People from Banning, California]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Wilmington, Delaware]]
⚫
[[Category:People from Wilmington, Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Wilmington, Los Angeles]]
[[Category:History of Riverside County, California]]

Latest revision as of 23:48, 1 June 2024

For the high school, see Phineas Banning High School.

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

Phineas Banning (August 19, 1830 – March 8, 1885) was an American businessman, financier and entrepreneur.

Known as "The Father of the Port of Los Angeles," he was one of the founders of the town of Wilmington, 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 busiest ports in the world.

Besides operating a freighting business, Banning operated a stage coach line between San Pedro and Wilmington, and later between Banning, California, which was named in his honor, and Yuma, Arizona.[1]

During the Civil War, he ceded land to the Union Army to build a fort at Wilmington, the Drum Barracks. He was appointed a brigadier general of the First Brigade of the militia, and used the title of general for the rest of his life.

Early life

[edit]

Banning was born in Wilmington, Delaware, the seventh of 11 children to John Alford Banning (1790–1851) and Elizabeth Lowber (1792–1861). At age 13, he moved to Philadelphia to work in his oldest brother's law firm. By his late teens, Banning was working on the dockyards of Philadelphia. At the age of 20, he signed up to work a passage to a then-exotic destination – Southern California.[2]

California and enterprise

[edit]
Banning's Landing, Wilmington, 1870

Banning arrived in San Pedro, California, in 1851, after a long land and sea journey that included crossing the isthmus of Panama before taking another ship to California. The 21-year-old was ambitious and worked in the fishing village of San Pedro, initially as a store clerk, and later as a stagecoach driver on the line that connected the hamlet with the pueblo of Los Angeles, a town of less than 2,000 people 20 miles (30 km) to the north.[3]

Banning was elected to a one-year term on the Los Angeles Common Council, the governing body of that city, beginning May 10, 1858, and ending May 9, 1859.[4]

Banning began his own staging and shipping company. By the 1860s, Banning stagecoach wagons were traveling to Salt Lake City, the Kern River gold fields, the new military installation at Yuma, Arizona, the Mormon settlement at San Bernardino, and in an arc around the Southern California region.[2]

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 for mission contraband during the Spanish and Mexican eras, 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 as Wilmington, after Banning's Delaware birthplace, 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.[3]

Family life

[edit]

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 of Hollister, 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

[edit]

Civil War California

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Following the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, several Southern states broke away to form the Confederate States of America, which marked the beginning of the American Civil War (1861–1865). The effects of the war were felt in California, and particularly in Los Angeles, which had many Southern sympathizers, an alarming development for the new territory. An astute businessman and a vocal patriot, Banning and fellow Californian politician Benjamin Wilson donated adjacent plots of land in Wilmington for a military base. The outpost, named Drum Barracks, or Camp Drum (1861–1871), served as headquarters for the Union's Southwestern command for the state of California and territory of Arizona. The move brought Union troops to Wilmington, further enriching Banning. He was nearly killed, along with his first wife Rebecca, when the boiler exploded on one of his packet steamers, the SS Ada 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 with Winfield Scott Hancock when Hancock was stationed in Los Angeles. Phineas' son Hancock was named after the general.

The American government presented Banning with an honorary title, that of Brigadier General of 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.[1]

1870s: Railroads, industries, and breakwaters

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Banning in 1883

Between 1868 and 1869 he organized the construction of Southern California's first railroad, the Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad which he sold to the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1873.[5]

Banning spent the 1870s in a frenzy of activity. As a California 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. The Southern Pacific Railroad began 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.[2] 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

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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.[6]

Banning died at age 54 at the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco.[6] He is interred in the Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery, Los Angeles.[7]

Legacy

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Banning's legacies lived on, and his dreams were realized with the federal approval of the Port of Los Angeles in the early 20th century, and the completion of a full breakwater in 1914, creating one of the world's busiest harbors. Banning's chief residence, the Banning House, was constructed in Wilmington in 1864.[8] It is open to the public as a museum devoted to the Victorian era in California.[9]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b Morrison, Patt (August 3, 2023). "Real estate, transit, oil — how early L.A. built fortunes and bred scoundrels". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c Krythe, M. (1957). Port admiral: Phineas Banning. San Francisco: California Historical Society.[page needed][ISBN missing]
  3. ^ a b Queenan, C. (1986). Long Beach and Los Angeles: A tale of two ports. Northridge: Windsor Publications.[ISBN missing][page needed]
  4. ^ Chronological Record of Los Angeles City Officials, 1850–1938, compiled under direction of Municipal Reference Library, City Hall, Los Angeles (March 1938, reprinted 1966). "Prepared ... as a report on Project No. SA 3123-5703-6077-8121-9900 conducted under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration."
  5. ^ Nathan Masters (March 14, 2012). "Photos: L.A.'s First Railroads Connected the Region to the Global Economy". Socal Focus. KCET.
  6. ^ a b Los Angeles Times, March 10, 1885, "Gen. Phineas Banning – Death of a Pioneer of Los Angeles County," p. 1
  7. ^ Notable Interments & Their Families Archived December 28, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery, Retrieved December 12, 2011
  8. ^ Big Orange Landmarks: No. 25 – General Phineas Banning Residence – Wilmington
  9. ^ Banning Residence Museum, Wilmington
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