Frederick A. Hihn Records, 1850-1954, bulk 1858-1913

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Summary

Extent:
68 Linear Feet 35 boxes, 8 framed items, and 959 maps
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

Frederick A. Hihn Records. MS 201. Special Collections and Archives, University Library, University of California, Santa Cruz.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection documents the career of Frederick Augustus Hihn, an immigrant from Germany and early settler of Santa Cruz, California who was involved with the early timber, railroad, water infrastructure, road construction, and real estate industries in the Santa Cruz area from 1851 to his death in 1913. It contains ledger books which include deeds, leases, inventories, and contracts for work and supplies, and which document the business transactions of Hihn, the F.A. Hihn Company, the Capitola-Hihn Company, the Santa Cruz Water Company, the Valencia-Hihn Company, and related corporate enterprises. The collection also includes five letter impression books which primarily contain business correspondence, though not exclusively. The collection also includes a small number of Hihn's personal records, including his marriage certificate, application for citizenship, and documents from the execution of his will from 1913 to 1917.

Biographical / historical:

Frederick Augustus Hihn (originally Hühn) was an early settler to Santa Cruz County and a prominent businessman in the development of the City of Santa Cruz, from his arrival to the area in 1851 to his death in 1913. He owned a range of businesses, including real estate, water, lumber, and railroad companies. He also served in local Santa Cruz and state politics.

Hihn was born in Holzminden, Germany, on August 16th, 1829, to a family with nine children. His father was a merchant, and while in Germany, Hihn was educated in mercantilism and business. He immigrated to California from Germany with two brothers for the Gold Rush on the brig Reform in 1849. After a short time in gold mining, Hihn returned to Sacramento and opened a candy factory and store. However, that winter, the Sacramento River flooded and destroyed his factory and store.

In 1851 Hihn moved to San Francisco and opened a small drugstore. However, the Great Fire of May 1851 burned most of his stock and possessions, and what he managed to recoup was burned in the June 1851 fire. As a result he came to Santa Cruz with a friend in October 1851, thinking the risk of fire would be lower, and set up a mercantile shop on the corner of present-day Front Street and Pacific Street. In 1853 Hihn and Therese Paggen married, and they had six children together.

Hihn was heavily involved in real estate development of Santa Cruz and the surrounding areas, buying large tracts of land and developing them to be sold in smaller parcels. He also founded the town of Capitola, and directed the construction of many of Santa Cruz's current streets. Other business enterprises included railroad construction and operation, the development of a wagon road across the Santa Cruz mountains. and the construction of the cliff road from Santa Cruz to Capitola. Hihn was also involved in early water infrastructure for Santa Cruz and the surrounding towns, banking, and the lumber industry, owning two sawmills near Aptos and Laurel, California.

Hihn was a school trustee of Santa Cruz, served on the State Assembly for one term in 1869, served as Santa Cruz Supervisor for six years, and was the Vice President of the Society of California Pioneers. Hihn was also a founding trustee of California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) in San Luis Obispo.

Hihn established the F.A. Hihn Company in 1890, and organized a corporation under the name of the Company which bound together his children by mutual interest. Hihn's principal attorney was Charles Bruce Younger. Hihn's daughter, Agnes Hihn, and Younger's son, C.B. Younger Jr., were married, uniting the two families.

F.A. Hihn died at age 84 on August 23rd, 1913.

References: Guinn, James M. History of the State of California and Biographical Record of Santa Cruz, San Benito, Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties. An Historical Story of the State's Marvelous Growth from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1903.

Stevens, Stanley. "Brief Biography of F. A. Hihn, Friedrich August Ludewig Hühn, better known by his American name, Frederick Augustus Hihn." For the Museum of Art and History's 1999 Commemoration of the 150th Anniversary of the Arrival of Frederick Augustus Hihn in California for the Gold Rush.

Acquisition information:
Gifts of Gloria Hihn Welsh, Helen Hihn Younger, and Marion Stowell Younger.
Processing information:

Preliminary processing and transcription conducted by Stanley D. Stevens and Jennifer Fosgate, circa 1990-2018. Processing completed in 2020 by Vivian Underhill in the Center for Archival Research and Training (CART) with assistance from Alix Norton.

This finding aid was revised in the Reparative Archival Redescription Project in 2021-2022. Previous versions of this finding aid are available upon request.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged in six series:

  • Series 1: Business Records
  • Series 2: Correspondence
  • Series 3: Personal Papers
  • Series 4: Framed Items
  • Series 5: Photographs
  • Series 6: Maps
Materials within each series are arranged chronologically unless otherwise specified.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Copyright for the items in this collection is owned by the creators and their heirs. Reproduction or distribution of any work protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the copyright owner. It is the responsibility of the user to determine whether a use is fair use, and to obtain any necessary permissions. For more information see UCSC Special Collections and Archives policy on Reproduction and Use.

Preferred citation:

Frederick A. Hihn Records. MS 201. Special Collections and Archives, University Library, University of California, Santa Cruz.

Location of this collection:
Special Collections and Archives, University Library
1156 High Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95064, US
Contact:
(831) 459-2547
speccoll@library.ucsc.edu
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