User:Ronyanbu/Hulett merritt

Hulett Clinton Merritt was born 17 Aug 1872 in Duluth, Minnesota and died 13 Jan 1956 at his estate at Montecito, near Santa Barbara, California. He is buried along with his wife Rosaline Calistine "Rose" Haben at the Pasadena Mausoleum at Mountain View Cemetery, Pasadena, California.

Hulett C. Merritt Sr. started out in business in Minnesota helping his father and uncles as an employee of the Duluth Mesabi & Northern Railroad. As recorded in 1934 by Andrus R. Merritt in his lengthy remembrance "The Story of the Mesabi", Hulett Sr. sided with John D. Rockefeller Sr. during the Merritt family's civil suit in 1895 concerning their loss of the Mesabi iron mines and railroad to Rockefeller. Hulett Sr. was able to keep his shares in Consolidated and they were later sold to the Steel Trust. Hulett Sr. subsequently became one of the largest shareholders in the resultant U.S. Steel Corporation. Research at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library has revealed a letter written by Hulett Sr. on December 19, 1951 to former President Hoover in which he referred to John D. Rockefeller Sr. as "My dearly beloved and honorable business associate for many years...". Another letter written by Hulett Sr. on January 9, 1952 to former President Hoover stated: "...my association for many years with John D. Rockefeller Sr. was as close as it could be, and my efforts paid me very handsomely and netted Mr. Rockefeller exactly $200,000,000."

Hulett Sr. moved to Southern California in 1898. He was successful with various real estate and business ventures in Southern California and was president of the United Electric, Gas and Power Company in 1900. It has been reported that when Hulett Sr. sold his shares of United Electric to the Southern California Edison Company in 1903, United Electric subsequently represented one third of SoCal Edison's territory at the time. He financed construction of the Olds, Wortman & King Building in Portland, Oregon. The building housed "Olds & Kings", a well known department store for many years. He also controlled a number of companies, including the Pacific States Corp., Superior Beet Sugar Co. and the Itasca Mercantile Co. (department stores and the Merritt Building in Grand Rapids, Minnesota).

Operating with Harry Gray, Hulett Sr. had extensive investments in the Broadway, Hill and Spring Streets area of Los Angeles. Hulett Sr. purchased it for $234,000 in May 1908 from the Hamburger Realty and Trust Co. He constructed the white marble Merritt Building on the site in 1914. Most of Hulett Sr.'s property in downtown Los Angeles was sold after development except for the Merritt Building. Hulett Sr.'s office was located at 702 South Spring Street in Los Angeles. Hulett Sr. also owned the 100 acre Merritt Park residential area near Beverly Hills and, in association with railroad magnate Henry E. Huntington, he developed the West Adams Heights residential subdivision in Los Angeles. West Adams was once the wealthiest district in LA, with its Victorian mansions and sturdy Craftsman bungalows home to Downtown businessmen and professors at USC.

Hulett Sr.'s country estate in Tulare County, California was his place of legal residence and voting registration. His residence in Tulare County was named "The Oaks" by the original owners. Hulett Sr. purchased The Oaks in the early 1920s. It was a very large Southern Colonial style home on 40 acres. He subsequently renovated the mansion and renamed it "Merritt Manor". Although Hulett Sr. lived the majority of his time in Pasadena, his mansion near Tulare was kept in readiness for his visits at any time. The Merritt Manor was located at the southeast corner of the present day Oak Street and Merritt Avenue in Tulare. The manor was taken down in 1959 and the Merritt Manor subdivision was subsequently constructed on the property.

Hulett Sr. purchased the Tagus Ranch property in 1912. The ranch sat along Highway 99 between Tulare and Visalia in Tulare County. Hulett Sr. enlarged the original 3,000 acre ranch to 7,000 acres and used the Tagus Ranch to operate a peach orchard and grow nectarines, plums, prunes and other fruit.

Tagus Ranch was the site of a prisoner of war camp for 250 German prisoners during WW II. The prisoners were housed in a portion of the Ranch's employee housing and were expected to work on the property. As reported in the March 26, 2000 issue of the "Fresno Bee" Newspaper: "Tagus Ranch is today a ...hodgepodge of cotton fields, peach trees and walnut orchards that's never officially been turned into a community, yet still has its name on maps". The last noticeable sign of its existence was reported in the Fresno Bee to be a 25-foot-high freeway monument "World Famous Tagus Ranch" that is still visible to drivers. Canned-fruit labels from the ranch hang on a wall in the Tulare Historical Museum and the labels read: "These delicious fruits are grown on world famous Tagus Ranch in Tulare, California." The Visalia, California "Delta Times" Newspaper reported on June 14, 2004: "In the 1930s and '40s, Tagus Ranch was one of the largest orchards in the world with 7,000 acres of peaches, plums, apricots and grapes. The ranch employed hundreds and provided housing for them. The property included a bar, a general store, a post office and 14 labor camps with 300 homes for its workers."

The treatment of farm workers at the Tagus Ranch in the 1930s has been reported as similar to the conditions described by Sinclair Lewis in the novel "Grapes of Wrath". As an example, Hulett paid his workers in company tokens in the 1930s that could only be redeemed at the Tagus Ranch Store. Mrs. Alice Merritt Petterson, daughter of M.L. Merritt, lived in Tulare in the late 1930s while her husband managed a corporate dairy farm and she remembers being warned by local citizens to not mention that she was distantly related to Hulett Sr. As reported in Los Tulares in 1979, "Merritt had the reputation for not paying bills until forced to do so. He was continually being sued for some reason or another. He was an avid art collector but there seems to be a question about the quality of much of what he bought. He couldn't bear to have anyone outbid him at an auction".

Hulett Sr.'s estate "Villa Merritt Ollivier" in Pasadena was built on four acres for $1,100,000 in 1905 - 1908. This area on South Orange Grove Avenue was referred to locally as "Millionaires' Row" (per the City of Pasadena's Architectural and Historical Survey of 1997). His mansion was located at 99 Terrace Drive and bounded on the north by Olcott Place and on the west by South Orange Grove Avenue. After Hulett Sr.'s death, the property was purchased by Herbert W. Armstrong from Hulett's four surviving grandchildren in October 1956 because it was adjacent to Ambassador College. Villa Merritt Ollivier was renamed "Ambassador Hall" and Ambassador College subsequently obtained permission to close Terrace Drive. Thereafter, the residence and street address for the former Villa Merritt Ollivier was renamed Ambassador Hall, 100 S. Orange Grove Blvd., Pasadena.

The College built two modern classroom buildings flanking Ambassador Hall and the formal Italian sunken garden, with a plaza in the center, joined the three buildings and the garden into an academic center. Hulett Sr.'s former mansion was also featured as the opening scene in the old TV show "The Millionaire" looking upward from the tree lined steps towards the hill with the mansion and towering palms above. The Pasadena 1997 Architectural Survey stated at Page 2.1-33: "The Hulett C. Merritt' House is significant as the residence of one of Pasadena's most celebrated millionaires and foremost residents of South Orange Grove Blvd."

The Pasadena "Star News" Newspaper reported on Jan. 15, 1956 that Hulett Sr. had suffered a broken hip in December 1954 in a fall while getting out of his vehicle in front of the Green Hotel. After recovering at the Huntington Memorial Hospital, he moved to his residence in Santa Barbara. Hulett Sr. died on January 13, 1956 at his Santa Barbara estate "Far Afield". The Jan. 15, 1956 edition of the New York Times printed Hulett Sr.'s obituary with the headline: " HULETT MERRITT, FINANCIER, DEAD; Multi-Millionaire at 21 Was Largest Stockholder in U.S. Steel, Art Connoisseur." The Pasadena "Independent" Newspaper reported in his obituary on January 14, 1956 that Hulett Sr. was to be buried in the Pasadena Mausoleum, which is located at the Mountain View Cemetery, 2400 North Fair Oaks, Altadena. Time Magazine reported in its issue of Jan. 23, 1956: "Died. Hulett Clinton Merritt, 83, financier-industrialist who was a multimillionaire at 21, sold his rail and mining interests to become the largest individual stockholder in U.S. Steel, was president or board chairman of 138 different companies; in Santa Barbara, Calif."

Hulett Sr. was reported to have been a member of many social and civic organizations, including: the Annandale Golf Club in Pasadena; the Bolsa Chica Gun Club; the Los Angeles Athletic Club; the Los Angeles, Catalina Island and Newport Harbor Yacht Clubs; and an active backer of the Tournament of Roses in Pasadena. He was also a member of the First Methodist Church of Pasadena. At the time of his death, Hulett Sr. had outlived his wife, both children and his only grandson.