Silsby Spalding (May 29, 1886 – May 5, 1949) was an American businessman and politician. He served as the first mayor of Beverly Hills, California, from 1926 to 1928.
Early life Silsby Morse Spalding was born on May 29, 1886, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.Ancestry.comClaremont Colleges Digital Library: Students on steps of the Fulkerson's house in Claremont, California, 1904Digital Library: Student residence interior with students smoking pipes, Pomona College, 1904 His father was Salathiel Martin Spalding and his mother, Sarah Eglantine Camp. He studied at the Pomona College Preparatory School in Claremont, California, and later at Stanford University.
Career Spalding was a sporting goods magnate.Ruth Ryon, Updated Estate Is Rich in History, The Los Angeles Times, January 27, 2002Cecilia Rasmussen Tale of Wealth, Murder and a Family's Decline, The Los Angeles Times, August 20, 2000 He also served as one of the earliest Presidents of the Aero Club of Southern California, and was an executive at the Mexican Eagle Petroleum Company and the Pan-American Petroleum and Transport Co.
Spalding served as the first Mayor of Beverly Hills, California from 1926 to 1928.Roots of Beverly Hills Streets Go Deeper Than Movie Era, The Los Angeles Times, February 03, 1994 During his tenure, he appointed Will Rogers as honorary mayor, garnering worldwide publicity for Beverly Hills.OBITUARY -- Silsby Spalding, Beverly Hills Ex-Mayor, Dies, The Los Angeles Times, May 7, 1949
Personal life Spalding married Caroline Canfield (1890-1970), daughter of oilman Charles A. Canfield (1848-1913) in 1911.Marc Wanamaker, Early Beverly Hills, Arcadia Publishing, 2005, pp. 42-43 Marc Wanamaker, Beverly Hills, (Ca): 1930-2005, Arcadia Publishing, 2006, p. 69 They had a daughter, Deborah C. Spalding (1921-2011).
In 1912, after Canfield's death, they moved into Grayhall, an estate located at 1100 Carolyn Way, formerly built by Carole Lombard's father as a hunting lodge and later owned by George Hamilton and Bernard Cornfeld.George Hamilton, William Stadiem, Don't Mind If I Do, Simon and Schuster, 2008, p. 144 Mary Ann Bonino, The Doheny Mansion: A Biography of a Home, Pioneers, 2008, p. 180 From 1918 to 1921, they lived in the Frank Flint Estate, a Colonial Revival-style mansion resembling a Southern plantation located at 1006 North Crescent Drive. He later purchased the Tecolote Ranch in Goleta, California, where he raised purebred cattle and horses, and grew walnut and citrus trees.
Death and legacy Spalding died on May 5, 1949, at his main residence at 1019 Laurel Way in Beverly Hills, California.
Spalding Drive in Beverly Hills is named in his honor.Google Maps
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