Adolph Sutro
Encyclopedia
Adolph Heinrich Joseph Sutro (April 29, 1830 – August 8, 1898) was the 24th mayor of San Francisco, and second Jewish mayor, serving in that office from 1894 until 1896. He is today perhaps best remembered for the various San Francisco lands and landmarks that still bear his name.
, Prussia
(today North Rhine-Westphalia
, Germany), Sutro, educated as an engineer, at the age of twenty arrived in the United States and in 1850, he introduced himself to William Ralston of the Bank of California
and introduced his plans for de-watering and de-gassing the mine shafts of the Comstock Lode
by driving a tunnel through Mount Davidson to drain the water. Sutro incorporated the Sutro Tunnel
company and raised US$3 million, a considerable fortune through this work in Nevada
. He included the miners in his scheme, and planned to sail to Europe to negotiate with the Parisian Bank, but the Franco-Prussian War commenced in the middle of July 1870. Sutro was stymied, but out of the blue came an offer from a London bank led by a banker named McClamont, who offered $650,000 in gold per year for the Comstock.
According to Dickson, "... Sutro set off blasts of dynamite, ... leading the way for tunnel diggers. He fought avalanches, mud slides and poisonous gases. He dug air shafts to relieve the danger; the shafts filled with water, one of them to the depth of nine hundred feet. He fought cave-ins and solid rock. Through the grueling months, day after day and month after month, he marched ahead of his men, stripped to the waist, laboring with them, sweating with them, facing death with them, and in the end, winning through with them to victory."
Adolph Sutro became King of the Comstock because his tunnels drained three to 4 million USgals (15,141.6 m³) of water a day, rented by mine owners at an average of $10,000 a day, "all moneys accumulated for his stockholders."
Sutro saw that better German pumps were becoming available, that the Comstock was going even deeper than his drainage tunnel and diminishing in metal output, and sold out before conditions worsened further, departing rich for San Francisco.
, Land's End (the area where Lincoln Park
and the Cliff House are today), and Mount Davidson, which was called "Blue Mountain" at the time.
Sutro opened his own estate to the public and was heralded as a populist
for various astute acts of public munificence, such as opening an aquarium and an elaborate and beautiful, glass-enclosed entertainment complex called Sutro Baths
. Though the Baths were not opened until 1896, Sutro had been developing and marketing the project for years, attempting four separate times to insulate the site from waves using sea walls, the first three of which collapsed into the Pacific
. In 1896, Adolph Sutro built a new Cliff House, a seven story Victorian Chateau, called by some "the Gingerbread Palace," below his estate on the bluffs of Sutro Heights. This was the same year work began on the famous Sutro Baths, which included six of the largest indoor swimming pools north of the Restaurant that included a museum, skating rink and other pleasure grounds. Great throngs of San Franciscans arrived on steam trains, bicycles, carts and horse wagons on Sunday excursions.
The Baths were saltwater and springwater pools, heated to varying degrees, and surrounded by a concert hall and museums stocked with treasures that Sutro had collected in his travels. The baths became very popular despite their remote location, across the open dunes to the west of the populated areas of the city. This popularity was partly due to the low entry fee for visiting the Baths and riding the excursion railroad he built to reach them. The railroad grade still exists as a walking trail along the Land's End cliffs.
Sutro managed a great increase in the value of his outlying land investments as a direct result of the development burst that his vacationers' railroad spawned. He also increased the value of his lands by planting his property at Mount Sutro with saplings of fast-growing eucalyptus
. This occurred at the same time as city Supervisors granted tax-free status to "forested" lands within city limits
. Small fragments of the forest still exist. The largest is at Mount Sutro, where 61 acres (246,858.5 m²) are the property of the University of California, San Francisco
, and another 19 are property of the City of San Francisco.
had over local businesses. Nevertheless, he was quickly considered a failed mayor, ill suited for political work, and did not provide the popularity boost his party had hoped to achieve by association with him.
At the time of his death, in 1898, his fortune was extensive and his legal affairs in disarray. As a result, his heirs fought bitterly over his holdings.
Many of Sutro's gifts to the city of San Francisco still exist and bear his name, such as Mount Sutro, originally Mount Parnassus (a lower hill nearby is the location of the Sutro Tower
), and Sutro Heights. Sutro Baths
became a skating rink and then was destroyed by a fire in 1966. The ruins of the baths (mostly the cement foundations) are just north of the Cliff House. They are part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
, an organist, conductor and minor composer who was very prominent in musical life in Baltimore
, Maryland.
His nieces (Otto's daughters) were Rose and Ottilie Sutro
, the first recognised piano-duo team.
Sutro Tunnel
Born in AachenAachen
Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...
, Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
(today North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
, Germany), Sutro, educated as an engineer, at the age of twenty arrived in the United States and in 1850, he introduced himself to William Ralston of the Bank of California
Bank of California
The Bank of California was opened in San Francisco, California, on July 4, 1864, by William Chapman Ralston. It was the first commercial bank in the Western United States, the second-richest bank in the nation, and considered instrumental in developing the American Old West.-History:The ancestor of...
and introduced his plans for de-watering and de-gassing the mine shafts of the Comstock Lode
Comstock Lode
The Comstock Lode was the first major U.S. discovery of silver ore, located under what is now Virginia City, Nevada, on the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, a peak in the Virginia Range. After the discovery was made public in 1859, prospectors rushed to the area and scrambled to stake their claims...
by driving a tunnel through Mount Davidson to drain the water. Sutro incorporated the Sutro Tunnel
Sutro Tunnel
The Sutro Tunnel is a drainage tunnel connected to the Comstock Lode in Northern Nevada. It begins at Virginia City, Nevada and empties approximately 6 miles southeast the town of Dayton, Nevada....
company and raised US$3 million, a considerable fortune through this work in Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
. He included the miners in his scheme, and planned to sail to Europe to negotiate with the Parisian Bank, but the Franco-Prussian War commenced in the middle of July 1870. Sutro was stymied, but out of the blue came an offer from a London bank led by a banker named McClamont, who offered $650,000 in gold per year for the Comstock.
According to Dickson, "... Sutro set off blasts of dynamite, ... leading the way for tunnel diggers. He fought avalanches, mud slides and poisonous gases. He dug air shafts to relieve the danger; the shafts filled with water, one of them to the depth of nine hundred feet. He fought cave-ins and solid rock. Through the grueling months, day after day and month after month, he marched ahead of his men, stripped to the waist, laboring with them, sweating with them, facing death with them, and in the end, winning through with them to victory."
Adolph Sutro became King of the Comstock because his tunnels drained three to 4 million USgals (15,141.6 m³) of water a day, rented by mine owners at an average of $10,000 a day, "all moneys accumulated for his stockholders."
Sutro saw that better German pumps were becoming available, that the Comstock was going even deeper than his drainage tunnel and diminishing in metal output, and sold out before conditions worsened further, departing rich for San Francisco.
Estate, baths, and home
His wealth was increased by large real estate investments in San Francisco, where he became an entrepreneur and public figure after returning from the Comstock in 1879. These land investments included Mount SutroMount Sutro
Mount Sutro is a hill in San Francisco, California. Most of Mount Sutro remains private property owned by the University of California, San Francisco , but a parcel, including the summit, has been set aside as the Mount Sutro Open Space Reserve and is open to the public. It is one of San...
, Land's End (the area where Lincoln Park
Lincoln Park (San Francisco)
Lincoln Park in San Francisco, California, was dedicated to President Abraham Lincoln in 1909 and includes about of the northwestern corner of the San Francisco Peninsula....
and the Cliff House are today), and Mount Davidson, which was called "Blue Mountain" at the time.
Sutro opened his own estate to the public and was heralded as a populist
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
for various astute acts of public munificence, such as opening an aquarium and an elaborate and beautiful, glass-enclosed entertainment complex called Sutro Baths
Sutro Baths
The Sutro Baths were a large, privately owned swimming pool complex in San Francisco, California, built in the late 19th century. The building housing the baths burned down in 1966 and was abandoned. The ruins may still be visited.- History :...
. Though the Baths were not opened until 1896, Sutro had been developing and marketing the project for years, attempting four separate times to insulate the site from waves using sea walls, the first three of which collapsed into the Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
. In 1896, Adolph Sutro built a new Cliff House, a seven story Victorian Chateau, called by some "the Gingerbread Palace," below his estate on the bluffs of Sutro Heights. This was the same year work began on the famous Sutro Baths, which included six of the largest indoor swimming pools north of the Restaurant that included a museum, skating rink and other pleasure grounds. Great throngs of San Franciscans arrived on steam trains, bicycles, carts and horse wagons on Sunday excursions.
The Baths were saltwater and springwater pools, heated to varying degrees, and surrounded by a concert hall and museums stocked with treasures that Sutro had collected in his travels. The baths became very popular despite their remote location, across the open dunes to the west of the populated areas of the city. This popularity was partly due to the low entry fee for visiting the Baths and riding the excursion railroad he built to reach them. The railroad grade still exists as a walking trail along the Land's End cliffs.
Sutro managed a great increase in the value of his outlying land investments as a direct result of the development burst that his vacationers' railroad spawned. He also increased the value of his lands by planting his property at Mount Sutro with saplings of fast-growing eucalyptus
Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of flowering trees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Members of the genus dominate the tree flora of Australia...
. This occurred at the same time as city Supervisors granted tax-free status to "forested" lands within city limits
City limits
The terms city limits and city boundary refer to the defined boundary or border of a city. The area within the city limits is sometimes called the city proper. The terms town limits/boundary and village limits/boundary mean the same as city limits/boundary, but apply to towns and villages...
. Small fragments of the forest still exist. The largest is at Mount Sutro, where 61 acres (246,858.5 m²) are the property of the University of California, San Francisco
University of California, San Francisco
The University of California, San Francisco is one of the world's leading centers of health sciences research, patient care, and education. UCSF's medical, pharmacy, dentistry, nursing, and graduate schools are among the top health science professional schools in the world...
, and another 19 are property of the City of San Francisco.
Mayor
Sutro's reputation as a provider of diversions and culture for the average person led the politically weak and radical Populist Party to draft him to run for mayor on their ticket. He won on an anti-big business platform, inveighing against the tight grip that the Southern Pacific RailroadSouthern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....
had over local businesses. Nevertheless, he was quickly considered a failed mayor, ill suited for political work, and did not provide the popularity boost his party had hoped to achieve by association with him.
At the time of his death, in 1898, his fortune was extensive and his legal affairs in disarray. As a result, his heirs fought bitterly over his holdings.
Many of Sutro's gifts to the city of San Francisco still exist and bear his name, such as Mount Sutro, originally Mount Parnassus (a lower hill nearby is the location of the Sutro Tower
Sutro Tower
Sutro Tower is a three-pronged antenna tower near Clarendon Heights in San Francisco, California. Rising from a hill between Twin Peaks and Mount Sutro, it is a prominent part of the city skyline and a landmark for city residents and visitors...
), and Sutro Heights. Sutro Baths
Sutro Baths
The Sutro Baths were a large, privately owned swimming pool complex in San Francisco, California, built in the late 19th century. The building housing the baths burned down in 1966 and was abandoned. The ruins may still be visited.- History :...
became a skating rink and then was destroyed by a fire in 1966. The ruins of the baths (mostly the cement foundations) are just north of the Cliff House. They are part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Family
His brother was Otto SutroOtto Sutro
Otto Sutro was a German-born American organist, conductor, minor composer, publisher and music store owner, and a leading figure in the musical life of Baltimore, Maryland.Sutro was born in Aachen, Germany...
, an organist, conductor and minor composer who was very prominent in musical life in Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, Maryland.
His nieces (Otto's daughters) were Rose and Ottilie Sutro
Rose and Ottilie Sutro
Rose Sutro and Ottilie Sutro were American sisters who were notable as one of the first recognised duo-piano teams. It has been claimed they were the first such team, but Willi and Louis Thern preceded them by almost 30 years...
, the first recognised piano-duo team.
Further reading
- The Western Jewish History Center of the Judah L. Magnes MuseumJudah L. Magnes MuseumThe Judah L. Magnes Museum is a museum of Jewish history, art, and culture in Berkeley, California. It was founded in 1962 by Seymour and Rebecca Fromer and named for Jewish activist Rabbi Judah L. Magnes, a native of Oakland...
in Berkeley, CaliforniaBerkeley, CaliforniaBerkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
has a large collection of papers relating to Adolph Sutro and the Sutro Tunnel.
- The Sutro Library in San Francisco houses Adolph Sutro's impressive rare book collection, as well as local history resources and the largest genealogical collection west of Salt Lake City.
External links
- Adolph Sutro's story (written about the time of his death)
- Adolph Sutro bio @ Western Neighborhoods Project
- Farms, Fire and Forest: Adolph Sutro and Development "West of Twin Peaks
- Photographs of Sutro Heights, Adolph Sutro's estate, taken by I.W. Taber, 1886, The Bancroft Library
- Guide to the Adolph Sutro Papers at The Bancroft Library
- Sutro-related discussions on greenspun.com
- Cliff House Historical information
- Magnes Western Jewish History Center, Berkeley, CA