Los Angeles County
Biographies
ROBERT
MARSH
MARSH, ROBERT, Real Estate, Los Angeles, California, was born in Charleston, Illinois, January 20, 1874, the son of Joseph E. Marsh and Martha J. (Atwood) Marsh. He married Cecile Lothrop at Alhambra, California, April 12, 1898, and of the union there have been two children, Florence L. and Martha J. Marsh.
The preliminaries of his education he received in the public schools of Little Rock, Arkansas, and concluded with a year in the high school of Los Angeles. Mr. Marsh’s parents moved to Little Rock when he was a child, then in 1888 journeyed to San Diego, California, remaining there for three years. In 1891 the family moved to Los Angeles, and there Mr. Marsh has remained down to date.
Leaving high school in 1892 without waiting to graduate, Mr. Marsh immediately started forth to make a career for himself. Like many other successful men, his beginning was small. He first went to work in the book store of E. T. Cook, the bookseller, and after four years left that establishment and associated himself with a men’s furnishing house in Los Angeles. He remained in this line for approximately two years more and then in 1898, moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he engaged in the wholesale and retail coal business, remaining about two years. Late in 1899 Mr. Marsh gave up his interests there and returned to Los Angeles, to embark upon one of the most active and successful careers in that continually growing community.
Mr. Marsh plunged into the swirl of real estate activity in the early part of 1900 and his name is identified intimately with the development of Los Angeles since that time. He went in for big things from the very outset, and during the eleven years that have intervened has been instrumental in opening up numerous large residenec (sic) tracts, more of which are today exclusive home districts.
This class of operations, however, has not claimed all his attention. In addition, he has dealt largely in business and suburban properties. In this latter field he has been one of the leading factors for the upbuilding of the outlying districts of Los Angeles. Southern California has had one of the most phenomenal growths in population of any section in the United States and the beautiful suburbs have attracted the larger percentage of the new people.
It is due to such men as Mr. Marsh that large stretches of country, until a few years ago ranch lands, have been transformed into beautiful, flowering residence parks, built up with handsome homes, with those modern improvements and conveniences which make life worth living.
Notable among the fine residence tracts which were laid out and improved by Mr. Marsh are Country Club Park, Western Heights, Westchester Place, County Club Terrace, Arlington Heights Terrace and Mount Washington. Each of these is now built up with handsome residences and compare favorably with many of the older fashionable sections of the United States.
Mr. Marsh’s principal business affiliation is Robert Marsh & Co., but he is interested in a number of other enterprises, the combined operations of which make him one of the conspicuous business men of the Southwest. He has large holdings in the business section of Los Angeles and at this writing is planning for the erection of a skyscraper.
By his work of developing real estate property Mr. Marsh necessarily has been thrown into the midst of all movements intended for the betterment of Los Angeles and the Southwest and his name has been linked with nearly every large proposition in the past decade having to do with the progress of that section.
In 1908 he was appointed on the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce committee having in hand the labor securing a Union Depot for Los Angeles. This is a public improvement that has long been needed in that city and for three years Mr. Marsh and his associates have been strenuously at work, trying to get the railroads to build the station. Partial success has rewarded their efforts, but they are still working on it and Mr. Marsh is one of the leaders in the fight.
In addition to this, Mr. Marsh was one of the active factors in the campaign that led to the annexation of San Pedro, California, to Los Angeles, whereby the latter city was given a municipal harbor and placed in a position of importance as an outlet to the Panama Canal.
Mr. Marsh is a valued member of the Los Angeles Realty Board, and at one time was vice president of that organization.
Despite all his business and civic enterprises, Mr. Marsh is an enthusiastic lodge member and clubman. He is a Mystic Shriner, member of the B.P.O.E., Jonathan Club, California Club, Los Angeles Athletic Club, Los Angeles Country Club, Crags County Club, San Gabriel Valley Country Club and the Bolsa Chico Gun Club.
Transcribed
2-19-11 Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: Press
Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 597, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San
Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta.
1913.
© 2011 Marilyn R. Pankey.
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