Los Angeles County
Biographies
HENRY WEST HUGHES
HUGHES, HENRY WEST (Retired Physician), President, Union Trust Company, Los Angeles, California, was born at Tulip, Dallas County, Arkansas, April 3, 1858, the son of George W. Hughes and Martha Wyche (Butler) Hughes. He married Cora Jarvis at Louisville, Kentucky, June 8, 1892.
In his youth, Dr. Hughes had splendid educational advantages. He attended private schools in his native town until he was sixteen years of age, then went to the University of Virginia, whence he was graduated in the class of 1879 with the degree of Master of Arts. He then determined to go abroad and while in Europe took up the study of medicine. He spent about three years on the Continent, studying in schools of Vienna, Paris, Berlin and other cities and during that period traveled extensively in the different countries, making a special study of the language and people of each.
Returning to the United States in the fall of 1882, he entered the Medical School of Harvard University, remained there one year, and then enrolled in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York City. He was graduated with the degree of Doctor of medicine in 1885, and then, by competitive examination, obtained a position on the surgical staff of the New York Hospital, the oldest in America, it having been founded by King George III in 1771. His stay of a year and a half in this institution afforded him opportunities for gaining the practical experience which stood him in fine stead during the years of his subsequent practice.
In addition to this Dr. Hughes spent a year in clinical work in a special hospital for diseases of the throat and nose, and in the Eye and Ear Infirmary on diseases of those organs. Upon leaving the latter institution, Dr. Hughes became connected with the medical examiners’ staff of a large life insurance company in New York and remained in that work for about eight months, at the same time keeping up a constant study in the medical field.
On January 1, 1888, Dr. Hughes left New York for California, making the trip by way of the Isthmus of Panama. At that time the Isthmus was in the control of the French syndicate which first essayed the building of the Panama Canal an in the course of his tedious journey across the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific side Dr. Hughes noted millions of dollars’ worth of expensive machinery lying on the ground exposed to the elements, much of this machinery never having been used. This wastefulness greatly impressed Dr. Hughes at the time and has always served to him as a partial explanation of the failure on the part of the French to accomplish the work of building the Canal, it being left to the United States to complete this, the greatest engineering project in the history of the world.
Dr. Hughes landed in San Francisco, California, thirty days after sailing from New York, but went immediately to Los Angeles, where he has made his home since. Shortly after he settled at Los Angeles, a serious epidemic of smallpox ensued at San Fernando, a short distance from the city, and Dr. Hughes, volunteering his services, was placed in charge of the work of eradicating the disease. To the exclusion of all other interests, he devoted himself to checking the plague and after many weeks of labor, during which he was on duty night and day the efforts of himself and his assistants were rewarded with success, they having stamped out an epidemic which at the outset threatened the lives of hundreds of persons.
Returning to Los Angeles when the epidemic was at an end, Dr. Hughes opened offices at No. 175 North Spring street, then in the center of the city’s business district, and for fourteen years following was prominently identified with the advancement of medical practice in Los Angeles and Southern California. He maintained practice of a general character, but made a specialty of surgery and the treatment of diseases of the nose and throat. In 1900 his father died and two years later Dr. Hughes retired from practice, finding it impossible otherwise to take care of his business interests and those of his father’s estate properly.
Since that time (1902) Dr. Hughes has been one of the leading business men of Los Angeles and has had an active part in the growth of the city and Southern California in general. He deals extensively in real estate and also is interested as officer or stockholder, in numerous substantial corporations. These include, beside the Union Trust Company, a strong financial institution, the Associated Bank Corporation, of which he is Treasurer, and the Los Angeles Pressed Brick Company, in which he holds the office of Secretary.
As one of the progressive men of the city, Dr. Hughes has been identified with various civic movements of importance and is credited with having been one of the most valuable aids in the general upbuilding of Los Angeles.
Aside from his business and public interests, Dr. Hughes devotes a great part of his time and money to collecting oil paintings and in this is ably assisted by his charming wife. It is their ambition to found an art gallery, with the intention of ultimately presenting it to the city of Los Angeles. They have already made a magnificent beginning, their collection containing the works of various masters, being among the best private collections in the West. The Barbizon school is represented by a beautiful Corot, a striking Jules Dupre, and an exquisite Daubigny. Other artists represented in the collection are H. W. Mesdag, Robert Schleich of Munich, Wierusz Kowalski, and the great Henner, as well as most of the leading artists of Southern California. The most highly prized of all their collection, however, are eight masterpieces by that greatest of all California artists, William Keith, with whom Dr. and Mrs. Hughes were intimately acquainted.
Dr. and Mrs. Hughes are enthusiastists (sic), and in their artistic home, at 500 West Twenty-third street, Los Angeles, the true lover of art, even though a stranger, is a welcome visitor; for they generously believe that the best thing about the possession of beautiful works of art is the pleasure they may give to others.
Dr. Hughes, in addition to his devotion to art, is an enthusiastic golfer, hunter and fisherman, and seeks recreation in each field. He is a Thirty-second degree Mason, life member of the Mystic Shrine, and holds membership in the University Club of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Country Club, and the Annandale Country Club.
Transcribed 3-14-10
Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: Press
Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 385, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San
Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta.
1913.
© 2010 Marilyn R. Pankey.
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