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Banning Company Records: Finding Aid
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Title: Banning Company Records
Dates (inclusive): 1859-1948
Collection Number: mssBanning Company
Creator:
Banning Company
Extent:
12,104 pieces in 33 boxes, 203 volumes, and 1 rolled map.
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2129
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: This collection consists of business records chiefly to the Banning Company, founded by Phineas
Banning (1830-1885) in Los Angeles, California. There are also records of the various
subsidiary firms of the Banning Company, as well as Banning family letters, and receipts of
William and Hancock Banning. Subject matter in the collection includes: land in Southern
California (Wilmington, San Pedro, Pasadena, Compton, Newport Beach, and Los Angeles), Santa
Catalina Island, Railroads (Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad, Southern Pacific Railroad,
and the California Pacific), Inter-urban lines (Los Angeles Inter-urban and the Pacific
Electric), Los Angeles harbor, the petroleum industry, the city of Yuma, Arizona, and Fort
Yuma, California.
Language: English.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department.
For more information, contact Reader Services.
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]. Banning Company Records, The Huntington Library, San Marino,
California.
Gift of Hancock Banning, Jr., in 1962, with a small quantity of addenda acquired from
Green Door Books in 1972 and another from Mrs. Hancock Banning, Jr., and Robert Banning in
1985. Additional material donated in 1996 by Nancy Call is currently being processed.
Related Materials in the Huntington Library
- Banning Company Records, Addenda I, 1819-1979 (bulk 1855-1925)
- Banning Company Records, Addenda II, 1841-1989 (bulk 1854-1944)
- Banning Family Collection of Photographs, Part I, 1850-1979 (bulk 1880s-1910s) (Call number: photCL 180)
- Banning Family Collection of Photographs, Part II, 1814-1879, (bulk 1880-1920) (Call number: photCL 451)
The Banning Company was started by Phineas Banning (1830-1885), a transportation leader in the Los Angeles area and founder
of the city of Wilmington, California.
Phineas Banning (1830-1885) was born in 1830 in Wilmington, Delaware, went to Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, to work as a clerk in the law office of his brother William L. Banning, and
came to California at the age of 21 as an assistant to a merchant. On arriving at San Pedro
in 1852, he took a job with commission merchants Douglass & Sanford. Soon he became the
partner of David W. Alexander in the freight and stage lines between San Pedro and Los
Angeles. In 1858 Alexander became a silent partner and the firm was known as Banning &
Co. After a short period of partnership with A. F. Hinchman, Banning took over sole
leadership for the Banning Co.
In 1857, the Dominguez family sold Banning a large parcel of land at the head of the slough
northeast of San Pedro. Banning started a settlement called New San Pedro, then in 1859
changed the name to Wilmington after his birthplace. He built a wharf, warehouses, and a
lumber yard. He built lighters and steamboats and bought stages and wagons to carry
passengers and freight from San Pedro to Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and even as far as
Yuma and Salt Lake City.
In 1865, Banning was elected state senator and through his exertions railroads were
encouraged in Southern California. Los Angeles voted the necessary bonds to build a railroad
from Los Angeles to Wilmington. In time, the Southern Pacific Railroad purchased this Los
Angeles and San Pedro Railroad and work began on improving the harbor. A suit was initiated
to definitely settle the title to the tidelands which had been purchased by Phineas Banning.
The litigation began in 1880 and continued until 1917 when the final settlements were made,
generally in favor of the Banning family.
Phineas Banning died in 1885. The business was carried on by his three sons, William,
Joseph Brent, and Hancock. The company purchased Santa Catalina Island, developed it as a
resort and provided the ships for transportation. Wilmington Transportation Company, Santa
Catalina Island Company, and Wilmington Development Company were subsidiary firms of the
Banning Company. The company's real estate interests also grew and included land in Los
Angeles, Pasadena, Newport Beach, as well as petroleum leases near Wilmington and
Newport.
The final dissolution of the company came in 1920 at the time of the death of Joseph Brent
Banning.
Krythe, Maymie,
Port Admiral Phineas
Banning,
California Historical Society, S.F. 1957 (F 867 B3 K7)
Newmark, Marco R.,
Phineas Banning:
Intrepid Pioneer,
Historical Society of Southern California, Vol. XXXV, No. 3,
Sept. 1953
Banning, Hancock, Jr.,
The Banning Family
in Southern California,
University of California, c. 1971 (F 868 L 8 B
35)
Scope and Content Note
The collection consists of legal papers, correspondence, letter books, ledgers, and account
books related chiefly to the Banning Company, Wilmington harbor, Wilmington property, and
Santa Catalina Island. There are also papers of the various subsidiary firms of the Banning
Company, as well as Banning family letters, and receipts of William and Hancock Banning. After 1920,
with the final dissolution of the company, business papers are in the names of William Banning or Hancock Banning individually.
Subject matter in the collection includes: land in Southern California (Wilmington, San
Pedro, Pasadena, Compton, Newport Beach, and Los Angeles), Santa Catalina Island, Railroads
(Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad, Southern Pacific Railroad, and the California
Pacific), Inter-urban lines (Los Angeles Inter-urban and the Pacific Electric), Los Angeles
harbor, the petroleum industry, the city of Yuma, Arizona, and Fort Yuma, California.
Persons represented in the collection include: Adelaida Banning, Anne Ophelia Banning,
Hancock Banning (1865-1925), Hancock Banning (b. 1892), Joseph Brent Banning, Phineas
Banning, William Banning, William L. Banning, Thomas Robert Bard, Joseph Lancaster Brent,
Charles Frederick Crocker, F.S. Douty, T.H. Goodman, Winfield Scott Hancock, Eldridge
Edwards Hewitt, J.W. Horter, William Gates LeDuc, Hayden McLellan, George Smith Patton
(1856-1927), Albert Alexander Polhamus, George Hugh Smith, and Walter Vail. There are also
materials in the collection related to the following businesses and organizations: the
Central Pacific Railroad Company, Kerckhoff-Cuzner Mill and Lumber Company, Los Angeles and
Independece Railroad Company, Los Angeles Trust Company, Southern Pacific Railroad Company,
and the Mayor and Common Council of the city of Yuma, Arizona.
Arrangement
Business papers and correspondence for Banning Co. as a whole, then for individual family members, i.e., Anne Banning, Hancock
Banning, Phineas Banning, and William Banning (Boxes 1 - 32)
Volumes of letterbooks, account books, and miscellaneous (stock ledgers, minute books, etc.) (Volumes 1 - 203)
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
Huntington Library's Online Catalog.
Banning, Hancock, 1865-1925 -- Archives.
Banning, Joseph Brent, 1861-1920 -- Archives.
Banning, Phineas, 1830-1885 -- Archives.
Banning, William, 1858-1946 -- Archives.
Banning Company -- Archives.
California Pacific Railroad.
Central Pacific Railroad Company.
Kerckhoff-Cuzner Mill and Lumber Company.
Los Angeles and Independence Railroad Company.
Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad.
Los Angeles Interurban Railway Company.
Los Angeles Trust Company.
Pacific Electric Railway Company.
Santa Catalina Island Company.
Southern Pacific Railroad Company.
Wilmington Development Company.
Wilmington Transportation Company.
Harbors -- California -- Los Angeles.
Petroleum industry and trade -- California, Southern -- History -- Sources.
Railroads -- California, Southern -- History -- Sources.
Real property -- California -- Compton.
Real property -- California -- Los Angeles.
Real property -- California -- Newport Beach.
Real property -- California -- Pasadena.
Los Angeles (Calif.) -- History.
Santa Catalina Island (Calif.) -- History.
Wilmington (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- History.
Yuma (Ariz.) -- History.
Newport Beach (Calif.) -- History.
Account books -- California, Southern.
Business records -- California, Southern.
Legal documents -- California, Southern.
Letter books -- California, Southern.
Letters (correspondence) -- California, Southern.
Corporation records -- California, Southern.
Banning, Adelaida.
Banning, Anne Ophelia.
Banning, Hancock, 1865-1925.
Banning, Hancock, 1892-1982.
Banning, Joseph Brent, 1861-1920.
Banning, Phineas, 1830-1885.
Banning, William, 1858-1946.
Banning, William L., 1814-1893.
Bard, Thomas Robert, 1841-1915.
Brent, Joseph Lancaster, 1826-1905.
Crocker, Charles, 1822-1888.
Douty, F. S.
Hancock, Winfield Scott, 1824-1886.
Hewitt, Eldridge Edwards.
Horter, J. W.
Le Duc, William Gates, 1823-1917.
McLellan, Hayden.
Patton, George S. (George Smith), 1856-1927.
Polhamus, Albert Alexander.
Smith, George H. (George Hugh)
Vail, Walter.
Banning (Family)
Santa Catalina Island Company.
Wilmington Development Company.
Wilmington Transportation Company.