Los Angeles County
Biographies
JAMES VINING BALDWIN
BALDWIN, JAMES VINING, Real Estate Operator, Los Angeles, California, was born at Weston, Ohio, October 25, 1870. His father was Edward Baldwin and his mother was Harriet M. (Taylor) Baldwin. He was reared in Ohio, receiving his preliminary education in the public schools of his home town. He graduated from high school in 1889 and the following fall entered the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio, where he remained for two years.
Shortly after leaving college he entered the mercantile business in Weston, Ohio. During the years that followed he achieved unusual success in his first business venture. His wide acquaintance in his native city, coupled with a shrewd business head and a liberal education, placed him in the front ranks. He managed and directed the business for six years, selling out his entire interests in 1898.
For several years he had been contemplating removal to the Pacific Coast and at this time, with no business connections to hold him back, he left his home city, going direct to Los Angeles, California. He located in Los Angeles in the latter part of 1898, and immediately entered the real estate business.
At the time of Mr. Baldwin’s arrival Los Angeles had but recently passed through a period of depression and was approaching a remarkable growth, which continued for a number of years. Mr. Baldwin, realizing that the city had a great future, invested heavily in real estate, both in the then outlying districts and in the closer-in sections of the city. He grasped the highest class of properties and became one of the leading realty promoters of the Southwest.
Mr. Baldwin made a specialty of the best class of subdivisions and has played a most important role in the rapid growth and development of the western and southwestern sections of Los Angeles — the best and most desirable residence district of that city. He has handled a number of the finest tracts in that section of the community; has bought barren acreage and turned it into residence tracts which rapidly built up with many of the fine residences of which Los Angeles is so justly proud.
His best-known tracts are those in the West Adams and Wilshire Boulevard sections, and comprise the highest class of subdivisions, such as West Adams Heights, Westmoreland Heights, Wellington Place, Westminster Place, Larchmont Heights, Wilshire Hills, Wilshire Heights and many other similar properties in other first-class residence section.
Mr. Baldwin was the first real estate operator to buy up acreage and start the improvement of subdivisions in the now exclusive Wilshire district, and he has been the largest realty operator in that portion of the city. His far-sightedness and belief in the city’s future have caused him to reach out far beyond the generally supposed limits to which the city would expand for many years, and in almost every instance the growth has almost immediately caught up to him, confirming his judgment. It was this advanced judgment that has made him one of the most successful operators in Los Angeles.
The enterprise of Mr. Baldwin was forcibly illustrated when he set out on his campaign to popularize the beautiful Wilshire District. When he first took hold of the property it was a wide-spreading, undeveloped stretch of open country, used principally for cattle-grazing, but recognizing its potential possibilities as a residence section, he inaugurated improvements of various kinds and also caused the building of a street railroad, which, upon its completion, he turned over to the controlling railway interests of the city. This line, which was built at a cost of $59,000, put up by Mr. Baldwin and others, was presented to the railway company as a gift. The result of the building of this road was the opening up of the territory through which it passed.
The Wilshire section has become an exclusive residence district, with numerous handsome homes and wide boulevards to greet the eye where formerly there was naught but unimproved land. It is generally conceded to be one of the most attractive parts of Los Angeles and compares favorably with many of the celebrated private residence districts of the country.
His method of upbuilding the various sections with which he has been identified is characteristic of Mr. Baldwin’s force and progressiveness and his prudence in selecting only those locations where the natural advantages are such that rapid settlement by the most desirable class is practically assured in advance, has been fully demonstrated.
Mr. Baldwin is always found among that group of Los Angeles men who enter into everything that pertains to the development, growth and welfare of a Greater Los Angeles. He watches with keenest interest the development of the Los Angeles Harbor, the Owens River project and other similar movements that have a local or national bearing on the welfare of the city. He has been identified with and is one of the leading spirits in the growth of the Los Angeles Realty Board, an organization formed for the purpose of protecting the best interests of dealer and customer alike, and seeing that the business is conducted on the highest plane.
Mr. Baldwin is interested in a number of industrial and manufacturing projects and is a director in the California Savings Bank of Los Angeles.
A man of genial personality, he is a conspicuous figure in the social life of Los Angeles and is one of the leading clubmen. He is a member of the California Club, the Jonathan Club, the Los Angeles Country Club and of the South Coast Yacht Club. He resides at the California Club.
Transcribed 1-23-2011
Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: Press
Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 575, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San
Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta.
1913.
© 2010 Marilyn R. Pankey.
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