James Lick (August 25, 1796 – October 1, 1876) was an American real estate investor, carpenter, piano builder, land baron, and patron of the sciences. The wealthiest man in California at the time of his death, Lick left the majority of his estate to social and scientific causes.

Early years

James Lick was born to Pennsylvania Dutch parents in Stumpstown (Fredericksburg), Pennsylvania on August 25, 1796. Lick's paternal grandfather, William <span lang="de" dir="ltr">Lük,</span> was a German immigrant from the Palatinate, and served in the American Revolutionary War. William's son, John, anglicized the family name to Lick.

Upon his arrival, Lick began buying real estate in the small village of San Francisco. The discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill near Sacramento a few days after Lick's arrival in the future state began the California Gold Rush and created a housing boom in San Francisco, which grew from about one thousand residents in 1848 to over twenty thousand by 1850. Lick got a touch of "gold fever" and sought to mine the metal, but after a week decided his fortune was to be made by owning land, not digging in it. Lick continued buying land in San Francisco, and also began buying farmland in and around San Jose, where he planted orchards and built the largest flour mill in the state. He invited his son to join him there in 1854; however, the younger Lick suffered from poor health and returned to Pennsylvania in 1863.

In 1861, Lick began construction of a hotel, known as Lick House, 41 Montgomery Street (Lick Street, 111 Sutter Street), at the intersection with Sutter Street, in San Francisco. The hotel had a dining room that could seat 400, based on a similar room at the palace of Versailles. Lick House was considered the finest hotel west of the Mississippi River. The hotel was destroyed in the fire following the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. The Hunter-Dulin Building was constructed 1925–1927.

Following the construction, Lick returned to his San Jose orchards. In 1874, Lick suffered a massive stroke in the kitchen of his home in Santa Clara. The following morning, he was found by his employee, Thomas Fraser, and taken to Lick House, where he could be better cared for. At the time of his illness, his estates, outside his considerable area in Santa Clara County and San Francisco, included large holdings around Lake Tahoe, a large ranch in Los Angeles County, and all of Santa Catalina Island, making Lick the richest man in California.

In the next three years, Lick spent his time determining how to dispense his fortune. He originally wanted to build giant statues of himself and his parents, and erect a pyramid larger than the Great Pyramid of Giza in his own honor in downtown San Francisco. Through the efforts of George Davidson, president of the California Academy of Sciences, Lick was persuaded to leave the greatest portion of his fortune to the establishment of a mountaintop observatory, with the largest, most powerful telescope yet built.

The principal divisions of the funds were:

  • $700,000 to the University of California for the construction of an observatory and the installation of a telescope more powerful than any other
  • $150,000 for the building and maintenance of free public James Lick Baths in San Francisco
  • $540,000 to found and endow an institution of San Francisco to be known as the California School of Mechanic Arts
  • $100,000 for the erection of three appropriate groups of bronze statuary to represent three periods in Californian history and to be placed before the city hall of San Francisco
  • $60,000 to erect in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, a memorial to Francis Scott Key, author of "The Star-Spangled Banner"

Lick had had an interest in astronomy since at least 1860, when he and George Madeira, the founder of the first observatory in California, spent several nights observing. They had also met again in 1873 and Lick said that Madeira's telescopes were the only ones he had ever used. In 1875, Thomas Fraser recommended a site at the summit of Mount Hamilton, near San Jose. Lick approved, on the condition that Santa Clara County build a "first-class" road to the site. The county agreed and the road was completed by the fall of 1876.

On October 1, 1876, Lick died in his room in Lick House, San Francisco. In 1887, his body was moved to its final resting place, under the future home of the Great Lick Refracting Telescope.

  • To this day, James Lick has family members living in Fredericksburg, Pennsylvania and Jonestown, Pennsylvania. A family reunion is held yearly to honor his family.

References

  • University of California Observatory, biography of James Lick
  • University Mound Ladies Home, a nonprofit assisted living residence for San Francisco women, founded with a bequest from James Lick