Isaias W. Hellman
Overview
Contents26 sections
Key facts
1842Birth in Bavaria
Hellman was born in Reckendorf, Bavaria, in 1842 and later emigrated to the United States.[5]
1854Commercial Education
In 1854, he entered a commercial school in Marktbreit, studying bookkeeping, mathematics and languages.[6]
1859Arrival in Los Angeles
In 1859, he moved to Los Angeles with his brother Herman and worked in relatives’ store.[5]
1865From Retailing to Deposits
By 1865, he operated his own dry-goods business. Customers’ practice of leaving money with trusted merchants led him to offer banking services inside the store.[1]
1867U.S. Citizenship
Hellman became a U.S. citizen in 1867.[5]
1868Hellman, Temple and Co.
In 1868, he helped establish Hellman, Temple and Co., entering formal banking.[5]
1870Marriage to Esther Newgass
On April 14, 1870, he married Esther Newgass. They had three children: Isaias William Jr., Clara and Florence.[5]
1871Farmers and Merchants Bank
In 1871, he founded Los Angeles’s Farmers and Merchants Bank, with John G. Downey as its first president. Hellman succeeded him in 1876.[1]
1872Jewish Community Leadership
Hellman was president of Congregation B’nai B’rith when it built Los Angeles’s first synagogue in 1872.[5]
1879Land for USC
In 1879, Hellman, Ozro W. Childs and John G. Downey jointly deeded 308 lots to USC’s trustees. Some land formed the campus; sales of other lots supported its endowment. The university opened in 1880.[3]
1881–1918University of California Regent
1890Taking Over Nevada Bank
In 1890, he moved to San Francisco to take over the struggling Nevada Bank, extending his California banking interests.[2]
1893Union Trust Company
In 1893, he founded Union Trust Company, extending his business into personal trusts and asset management.[6]
1896Litigation over Pledged Shares
Nevada Bank faced Rudolph Spreckels’s challenge to transferring pledged shares. On June 15, 1896, California’s Supreme Court reversed an order dissolving a preliminary injunction: recording a pledge could protect the bank without automatically entitling it to cancel certificates and obtain replacements in its own name. The ruling concerned a civil dispute between the bank and a pledgor.[7]
1897–1903A Lake Tahoe Home
He began acquiring land at Sugar Pine Point in 1897. Pine Lodge, his summer house designed by Walter Danforth Bliss, was completed in 1903. His daughter Florence Hellman Ehrman later inherited the estate.[8]
1901Pacific Electric and Land Development
In 1901, Hellman and Henry E. Huntington established Pacific Electric Railway. Huntington brought railway expertise and Hellman financing; the system also supported Southern California property development. Its Long Beach line opened in 1902.[9]
1903Railway Ownership
A 1903 arrangement left Huntington and Southern Pacific’s Edward H. Harriman with about 40 percent each of Pacific Electric, with Hellman and others holding the remainder. Railway operations intersected with investors’ property and transport interests.[10]
1905Wells Fargo Banking Merger
In 1905, Wells Fargo’s banking business merged with Nevada Bank to form Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank, led by Hellman. The transaction concerned banking rather than Wells Fargo’s entire express business.[11]
1906Banking after the San Francisco Earthquake
After the April 18, 1906 earthquake and fires destroyed its building, Hellman’s bank operated temporarily from Emanuel Heller’s Jackson Street home using improvised records. It moved into the Union Trust building on May 21.[11]
1908–1917Health and Education Gifts
After Esther died in 1908, he gave $100,000 to San Francisco’s Mount Zion Hospital. In 1917, he donated $50,000 to UC for four enduring scholarships.[2]
1920Death
Hellman died in San Francisco on April 9, 1920. His son, banker Isaias William Hellman Jr., was a distinct person.[6]
1965Estate Acquired by the State
In 1965, California’s state park system acquired the house and 1,975 acres. The Hellman-Ehrman Mansion is preserved as a historic house museum.[8]
Descendants and Family History
Investor and Hardly Strictly BluegrassHardly Strictly BluegrassHardly Strictly Bluegrass is a free outdoor music festival in San Francisco, founded by Warren Hellman in 2001. Held in Golden Gate Park, it expanded from bluegrass into American roots music and other styles and maintains an online performance archive.Open the full entry founder Warren HellmanWarren HellmanWarren Hellman (1934–2011) was an investor, philanthropist and banjo player. He served as president of Lehman Brothers, co-founded Hellman & Friedman and founded San Francisco’s free Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival.Open the full entry was his great-grandson.[12]
Related Organizations, Websites, and Public Accounts
University of Southern California: Official website: https://www.usc.edu/ (opens in a new window).[3]
University of California (Board of Regents): Official link: https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/ (opens in a new window).[4]
Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank (Wells Fargo History): Official link: https://history.wf.com/ (opens in a new window).[11]
Hellman-Ehrman Mansion state park page: Official link: https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=991 (opens in a new window).[8]
Sources
- The Era of the Founders (opens in a new window)
- Isaias W. Hellman: San Francisco Years (opens in a new window)
- A Brief History — Catalogue 2014/15 (opens in a new window)
- The Regents of the University of California (opens in a new window)
- Isaias W. Hellman: Los Angeles Years (opens in a new window)
- Isaias Wolf Hellman (opens in a new window)
- Spreckels v. Nevada Bank, 113 Cal. 272 (opens in a new window)
- Hellman-Ehrman Mansion (opens in a new window)
- Westside Area Plan — Historic Context Statement (opens in a new window)
- From Point A to Point B with The Pacific Electric Magazine (opens in a new window)
- Helping San Francisco Recover in 1906 (opens in a new window)
- Hillbillionaire (opens in a new window)