Adolph Heinrich Joseph Sutro (April 29, 1830 – August 8, 1898) was a German-American engineer, politician and philanthropist who served as the 24th mayor of San Francisco from 1895 until 1897.

Early life

thumb|left|upright=1.2|Sutro, his brother, and cousins

Born to a Jewish family Soon after, Adolph left for California and arrived in San Francisco on November 21, 1851. Adolph held a number of positions in San Francisco and eventually owned several tobacco shops.

Sutro Tunnel

thumb|left|upright=1.2|Entrance to [[Sutro Tunnel]]

In 1860, Sutro left San Francisco for Virginia City, Nevada after silver was found in the Comstock Lode with plans to continue selling cigars.

In 1865 Sutro incorporated the Sutro Tunnel Company and was granted an exclusive charter to build the tunnel by the U.S. Congress in 1866. and was rented by mine owners at an average of $10,000 a day.

thumb|left|upright=1.2|Sutro in his library 1890

Sutro opened his own estate to the public and was heralded as a populist for various astute acts of public generosity, such as opening an aquarium and a glass-enclosed entertainment complex called Sutro Baths in the Sutro District. 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 Ocean.

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, ice skating rink and other pleasure grounds. Great throngs of San Franciscans arrived on steam trains, bicycles, carts and horse wagons on Sunday excursions.

In 1894, Sutro, in preparation for the opening of the Cliff House, bought a large part of the collection of Woodward's Gardens, a combination zoo, amusement park, aquarium, and art gallery which had closed in 1891.

thumb|right|upright=1.2|Sutro House

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 and from Woodward's Gardens. 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.

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 are the property of the University of California, San Francisco, and another 19 are property of the City of San Francisco.

At his death in 1898, his properties in San Francisco were valued at $3 million.

Destruction of baths

A fire destroyed the baths complex in 1966 and all that remains now are ruins. The fire was later determined to be arson. Developers, planning to renovate the complex into apartments, collected the insurance money and abandoned the property.

Mayor (1894–1896)

thumb|right|upright=1.2|"Pizness Vos Pizness You Know," a caricature of Sutro published in [[The Wasp (magazine)|The Wasp, June 1, 1895]]

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 Railroad had over local businesses. According to historian Alexander Saxton:

Sutro was quickly considered a failed mayor, ill-suited for political work, and did not provide any popularity boost to the Populist party.

Having been in declining health for several years, Sutro died of pneumonia on August 8, 1898 at the age of 68. He left a large fortune in properties, in addition to several unresolved business and legal matters. As a result, protracted court battles over his estate by his heirs would continue for several years.

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 and Sutro Heights Park. Sutro Baths was renovated as a skating rink and then was destroyed by an arson fire in 1966. The ruins of the baths (mostly the concrete foundations) still exist just north of the Cliff House. They are part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

(1894–1896)

Family

In 1854, Sutro married Leah Harris (1832–1893).

Cousins of Adolph Sutro, Charles and Gustav Sutro, founded Sutro & Company, a stockbroking company, in San Francisco in 1858. Sutro & Co. stayed independent until 1986 when it was bought by John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co. There it was merged with Tucker Anthony to form Tucker Anthony Sutro, which in turn was bought by Royal Bank of Canada in 2001.

Portrayal on TV

The actor Robert Argent played Sutro in the 1957 episode (season 5, episode 17), "The Man Who Was Never Licked" of the TV show Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews. William Hudson was cast in the same episode as Lucky Baldwin, a powerful, 19th-century California businessman.

His nieces (Otto's daughters) were Rose and Ottilie Sutro, the first recognized piano-duo team.

Bibliography

  • Samuel Dickson, Tales of San Francisco (Stanford University Press, 1957)

Further reading

  • Robert E. Stewart, Jr. and M.F. Stewart: Adolph Sutro: A Biography, Howell-North Books, 1962
  • The Western Jewish History Center of the Judah L. Magnes Museum in Berkeley, California has a large collection of papers relating to Adolph Sutro and the Sutro Tunnel.
  • The Sutro Library in J. Paul Leonard Library at San Francisco State University 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.
  • Finding aid for the Adolph Sutro collection located at the Sutro Library, San Francisco, California
  • Adolph Sutro's story (written about the time of his death)

<!-- * Sutro's efforts to tunnel to the Comstock Lode - dead link November 29, 2009 -->

  • 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, California