Collection Guide
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Crank (James Filmore) Papers
mssCrank
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Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: James Filmore Crank papers
Creator:
Crank, James Filmore, 1842-1935
Identifier/Call Number: mssCrank
Physical Description:
15 Linear Feet
(11 boxes, 13 volumes, 32 maps and drawings)
Date (inclusive): 1875-1929
Abstract: The collection contains material
related to the business enterprises of James Filmore Crank; the material includes
correspondence, letter books, documents, manuscripts, maps, and volumes.
Language of Material: Materials are in
English.
Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at
the Huntington Library for more information.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from
or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The
responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining
necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
[Identification of item]. James Filmore Crank papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino,
California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Mrs. Mildred Crank in 1935 and 1936.
James Filmore Crank (1842-1935) was born in Bushnell, Yates County, New York. He spent some
years in Cleveland, Ohio, and Chicago, Illinois before moving to California because of his
wife's health in 1874. Crank bought the Fair Oaks Ranch in Pasadena, California, from
Benjamin S. Eaton in 1877. Crank was active in Los Angeles, where he organized the First
National Bank, became an owner of the Los Angeles Times, helped secure Westlake Park for the
city, and gave land for the Raymond Hotel in Pasadena. He was instrumental in the founding
of the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad, which began operation in 1885 and was
sold to the Santa Fe Railroad in 1887. He built the first cable street railway in the West
in Los Angeles in 1889 and helped found the city of Monrovia, California, in 1886. He died
in Pasadena, in 1935 at the age of 92.
The collection consists of 450 items from 1875 to 1929, and includes letters, manuscripts,
business documents, and 32 maps and drawings related to the business interests of James
Filmore Crank and the development of Los Angeles County. Of particular note is the
collection's focus on city and interurban railways, including the Los Angeles Cable Railway
Co., Pacific Railway Co., Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad Co., and Los Angeles
Development Co. There are also materials related to the wine industry (Sierra Madre Vintage
Co. and Lamanda Park, California), the Fair Oaks Ranch in Pasadena, the Azusa Land and Water
Co., and education in California private schools during the late nineteenth century.
Correspondents in the collection include: John Dustin Bicknell, Albert Filmore Crank,
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Joseph H. Hoadley, Collis Potter Huntington, Helen Hunt Jackson,
and Edwin Burritt Smith.
Processed by Huntington Library Staff, circa 1940. In 2020, Gayle Richardson created the
finding aid derived from a legacy in-house summary report.
Arranged alphabetically.
Former call number: mssCrank papers.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Businessmen -- California -- Pasadena
Private schools -- California
Railroads -- California -- Los Angeles -- History
Railroads -- California -- Los Angeles Region -- History
Railroads -- California -- San Gabriel River Valley --
History
Wine industry -- California, Southern -- History
Fair Oaks Ranch (Pasadena, Calif.)
Lamanda Park (Calif.)
Los Angeles (Calif.) -- History -- 19th century
Pasadena (Calif.) -- History -- 19th century
Business papers -- California -- 19th century
Business papers -- California -- 20th century
Letters (correspondence) -- California -- 19th century
Letters (correspondence) -- California -- 20th century
Manuscripts -- California -- 19th century
Manuscripts -- California -- 20th century
Maps -- California, Southern -- 19th century
Maps -- California, Southern -- 20th century
Azusa Land and Water
Company (Azusa, Calif.)
Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad
Los Angeles Cable Railway Company
Los Angeles Development Company
Pacific Railway Company
Sierra Madre Vintage Company
Bicknell, John Dustin, 1838-1911
Crank, Albert Filmore
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins,
1860-1935
Hoadley, Joseph H.
Huntington, Collis Potter,
1821-1900
Jackson, Helen Hunt,
1830-1885
Smith, Edwin Burritt,
1854-1906