WILLIAM SPENCER HOOK

Los Angeles County

Biographies

WILLIAM SPENCER HOOK

HOOK, WILLIAM SPENCER (deceased), Capitalist, Los Angeles, California, was born at Jacksonville, Illinois, the son of Cornelius Hook and Ann (Spencer) Hook. He married Mary Barbee, daughter of an eminent Indiana jurist, at Lafayette, Indiana, April 2, 1885. They had two sons, William S. Hook, Jr., and Barbee S. Hook.

Mr. Hook, who was one of a large family of children, had scant opportunities for education in his youth, being compelled to leave school when he was only twelve years of age to aid in the support of the house. The teaching he had obtained was in the common schools of the district, which at that time were not extensive educational institutions.

His first position after leaving school was in a general merchandise store at Jacksonville, where he worked for several years in various capacities, but principally as a clerk. He left that place in the late fifties to take a position as a clerk in the private bank of M. P. Ayers & Company, an old established financial institution of Jacksonville. Having been denied adequate educational opportunities himself, Mr. Hook learned higher mathematics by studying with a younger sister, who was more fortunate than he in this respect. In this way he fitted himself for advancement in the financial world and was rapidly promoted in the Ayers bank.

Within a few years Mr. Hook was admitted to partnership and rapidly became one of the leading financiers of that section of the Middle West. He devoted himself exclusively to banking for many years, but in the early eighties decided to enter the broader field of railroad operation. He had plans for the development of the State of Illinois by means of a network of steam railroads and he began work by purchasing the Jacksonville & Southeastern Railroad, a line which tapped a rich section of the State. In rapid succession he added other lines to this and it was not long before he was realizing his plans for opening up Illinois to wider commercial advantages.

He then turned his attention to street railroads and purchased the horse car lines of Jacksonville and transformed them into electric roads, being one of the earliest men to introduce modern traction facilities in the West. He brought the street railway service to a high state of efficiency and then turned his attention again to further improvement of his steam railroad properties. His plans included the construction of a great steel bridge and other work, but the financial depression of 1893 interfered and he was compelled to abandon operations temporarily, although at any other time he could have commanded millions of capital in Eastern financial centers.

In the spring of 1894, Mr. Hook and his wife went to California on a pleasure trip and halted for a time in Los Angeles. It was not then the metropolitan city of the present and was lacking in many respects, including modern street railway facilities. This feature appealed strongly to Mr. Hook, who had modernized the tractions of his native city, and although he was nearing the age of retirement, he determined to give the city a modern transportation system. Accordingly he arranged for the purchase from the city of a franchise granting him a route through the Southwestern portion of Los Angeles, then returned to Illinois to close out some of his less important business affairs.

In February, 1895, Mr. Hook and his family returned to Los Angeles and there established a permanent residence. His franchise having been granted the previous August, he began work at once on the construction of his railroad. In August, 1895, just about a year after the granting of his franchise, he began to operate cars under the name of the Los Angeles Traction Company, of which he and other members of the Hook family were sole owners.

In the growth of a city no factor is more potent than its street railways. Outlying tracts of land, commanding sweeping vistas of mountain, valley and ocean remain ranch property or lie in fallow fields until touched by a car line, when there soon follows a speedy transformation into graded streets, green lawns, spacious grounds and all that goes to make a desirable residence district, while the ranch land becomes valuable suburban property. Nowhere has there been a more striking illustration of this than in Los Angeles, with its almost unprecedented growth and the rapid expansion of its boundary line, owing unquestionably to its splendidly equipped electric railway lines.

With the building of Mr. Hook’s first line, running through the Southwestern part of the city, the transportation of Los Angeles was brought up to a modern standard and the territory through which it passed was quickly changed from an undeveloped stretch of land into a beautiful residential district. Tracts were opened, real estate values advanced, wide boulevards built and this section, known now as the West Adams District of Los Angeles, is made up of palatial residences and is one of the most exclusive and fashionable home districts in America. Leading the way for others, Mr. Hook, in 1895, built a magnificent residence there and it has long been one of the show places of Los Angeles, being owned now by William H. Holliday, a wealthy banker to whom Mrs. Hook sold the property in 1912.

His first line proving a success, Mr. Hook built other traction lines in Los Angeles and had plans for the building of an interurban system that would join Los Angeles with Pasadena and Santa Monica, California. He was prevented by failing health, however, from realizing these plans. Never a robust man, he began to feel the effects of his long and active career, and in 1903, after a determined battle against illness, was compelled to retire from participation in active business. Shortly after this he disposed of all his traction interests.

This practically closed the business career of Mr. Hook, his death ensuing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, less than a year later, on June 24, 1904. He was laid to rest in his native city.

During his life Mr. Hook occupied a leading position among the financial interests of the United States and was a staunch supporter of the Republican party, but like many other substantial men he devoted himself to business and took no active part in politics. Owing to the diversity of his interests and the fact that he had to conserve all of his efforts for his work, he devoted little or no time to clubs, spending his leisure in resting for the next day’s activities. He was liberal but unostentatious in his charities and although he was one of the most enterprising capitalists of the West, was little known outside of business circles.

His widow and sons survive him.

Transcribed 1-2-09 Marilyn R. Pankey.

Source: Press Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 171, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta. 1913.

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