HARRIS NEWMARK

Los Angeles County

Biographies

HARRIS NEWMARK

NEWMARK, HARRIS, Retired merchant, Los Angeles, California, was born in Loebau, Germany, July 5, 1834, the son of Philip Newmark and Esther (Cohn) Newmark. He married Sarah Newmark at Los Angeles, March 24, 1858, and to them were born eleven children, five of whom are living. They are Maurice H., Estelle (Mrs. L. Loeb), Emily (Mrs. J. Loew), Ella (Mrs. C. Seligman), and Marco R. Newmark. The deceased children were an infant daughter, Philip H., Edward J., Edith and Josephine Rose.

Mr. Newmark is descended of a family known and respected in the religious and commercial world of his community. His ancestors on both sides were Rabbis and his father, who was born in 1795, was a merchant in Germany and Sweden in the early part of the nineteenth century.

Mr. Newmark attended school in Germany, terminating his studies when he sailed for Los Angeles, whither his elder brother, Mr. J. P. Newmark, had preceded him. Arriving there Oct. 25, 1853, he joined his brother, who was engaged in business, and ten months later, after acquiring a working knowledge of English and Spanish, started for himself. His first venture was in 1854, when he associated himself with Newmark, Kremer & Co. In the fall of 1861 he re-organized the firm as Newmark & Kremer, and, after conducting it in this form for some time he withdrew and organized the house of H. Newmark & Company—one of the earliest and then the only important commission establishment in Los Angeles. In 1865, he opened the wholesale grocery house of H. Newmark & Co., under which name it operated until 1886, when he sold out his interests and the well known institution of M. A. Newmark & Company developed.

Mr. Newmark founded the firm when Los Angeles was young; in the days when desert wagons would come once or twice a year from as far East as Salt Lake City to get supplies. In the beginning the late General Phineas Banning, another California pioneer, was associated with him.

Upon relinquishing the management of this business in 1886, Mr. Newmark became active in the affairs of K. Cohn & Company, hide and wool merchants. At the end of ten years the firm was dissolved, he continuing the hide branch and Mr. Cohn the wool business. In 1906 he retired, after fifty-three years of commercial activity, and this business now continues under the name of A. Brownstein & Company.

What Mr. Newmark did for the commercial upbuilding of Los Angeles he equaled in other ways which have had an important part in the general development of the city and its environs. He was a pioneer real estate investor and in 1875 sold to E. J. (“Lucky”) Baldwin, 8030 acres of the celebrated Baldwin Ranch, outside of Los Angeles, receiving $200,000 for it. Two years later he bought the Temple Block site (recently sold to Los Angeles for a City Hall site) and organized the Temple Block Co., of which he was President. In 1875, he purchased Vejar Vineyard, in Los Angeles, and the next day the fruit was ruined by frost. The vines recovered, however, and several years later he sold it at a handsome profit. In 1886, he purchased Repetta Ranch, consisting of 5000 acres, and after sub-dividing part of it into five-acre lots, built the towns of Montebello and Newmark.

These are typical of the work of Mr. Newmark and show him to have been one of the powerful factors for progress in Los Angeles. He has been an upbuilder at all times, in business and in civic development, and his influence is apparent to-day in the business code of the city, for he inspired confidence and won trade for Los Angeles, and any enterprise with which his name was connected always had the confidence of the public.

Mr. Newmark was one of the charter members of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and one of the organizers of the Los Angeles Board of Trade, serving as a member of its first Board of Directors. He was also one of the organizers of the L. A. Public Library and was President of the L. A. Congregation, B’nai B’rith for many years.

Mr. Newmark is a man of many philanthropies and in times of disaster has been among the first to aid the sufferers. At the time of the Johnstown flood, he raised a substantial purse for the victims within twenty-four hours, it being the first money contribution received by the Governor of Pennsylvania. He also contributed $20,000 towards the Los Angeles Hebrew Orphans’ Home, and has been one of the chief supporters of it since its inception.

Mr. Newmark was a charter member of the California Club, and has been a member of Los Angeles Lodge No. 42, F. and A. M., since 1858. He is also a member of the Concordia Club, Southwest Museum, National Geographical Society, National Farm School Association, American Archaeological Society and many philanthropic organizations. His chief pleasure has been obtained through travel, he having made several trips to Europe—in 1867, 1887, and 1900.

Transcribed 6-1-08 Marilyn R. Pankey.

Source: Press Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 48, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta. 1913.

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