Los
Angeles County
Biographies
FRANK WIGGINS
Los Angeles has been called “The
City Advertising Built.” A contributor
to Collier’s magazine used that phrase in heading an article which told of a
city that was built by a chamber of commerce, an organization that revolved
about a single dominating personality.
This personality was the late Frank Wiggins, prominently identified with
the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce from its infancy until the close of his
career, and its secretary for many years.
In the late ‘80s he was sent to southern California by his physicians as
a last resort. He was too weak to get
about alone and his attending physician, after he arrived here, gave him but a
few weeks to live. However, with his faithful
wife as a nurse, he began to recover, and with the recovery came understanding
of the possibilities of the salubrious climate of this part of the country.
Of old Quaker stock, Mr. Wiggins was
born in Richmond, Indiana, November 8, 1849, and was a son of Charles O. and
Mary Marshall (Thatcher) Wiggins. Reared
in his native city, he attended the schools of the Society of Friends, of which
his parents were members from 1858 to 1864, and the Friends Academy at Richmond
during the following year, while from 1865 to 1867 he was a student at Earlham
College in Richmond. There he worked for
a retail grocer for a time and was next a clerk in his father’s saddler
establishment. He progressed through the
various departments and in 1875 was made a member of the firm of Wiggins &
Company, dealers in hardware and manufacturers of harness and saddles.
Mr. Wiggins capably managed that
business until 1886, when failing health made a change of climate advisable and
accordingly he came to California, locating in Los Angeles. The climate here at once proved beneficial
and by February, 1889, he had regained his strength sufficiently to reenter
business, becoming connected with the Chamber of Commerce at that time. His ability was at once recognized by his
fellow members, who made him superintendent of the chamber in 1890. In those days the big work of the organization
was community exploitation. It was
realized that the climate was here, the soil was here, and other fundamentals
for sustaining a prosperous population, and that the chief need was
home-seekers of the right sort.
In the early days Mr. Wiggins
insisted on an exhibit of southern California products, so that the casual
visitor or information seeker might have practical evidence of what was
produced in the contiguous territory. In
a “one hoss shay” of ancient vintage, he personally
collected the first specimens of soil products for the exhibit and these were
placed in the windows of the chamber.
That permanent exhibit was amplified until it became the largest of its
kind in the country, covering the second floor of the Chamber of Commerce
Building at 128–30 South Broadway. Mr.
Wiggins was elected secretary of the Chamber in 1897, continuing to act of
superintendent of its exhibits, and in that field of service was a recognized
expert. He was the father of the idea of
a traveling exhibit and the “California on Wheels” train which toured the
country was the first display of its kind and the forerunner of many similar
ones, the government later taking up the idea and continuing it.
Among the exhibits handled by Mr.
Wiggins were: the Orange Carnival at
Chicago in 1891; the Southern California display at the World’s Columbian
Exposition in Chicago in 1893; the Midwinter Fair at Atlanta in 1894; the Los
Angeles exhibit at Omaha in 1896; and the Los Angeles exhibit at Buffalo in
1901. Mr. Wiggins and James A. Filcher
were California commissioners to the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904 and also to
the Alaska-Yukon Exposition in 1909. Mr.
Wiggins was state commissioner to the Lewis and Clark Exposition, and at the
Jamestown Exposition represented the Los Angeles county exhibit. He also established the permanent Southern
California exhibit at Atlantic City in 1905.
As secretary of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce he manifested
executive ability of a high order, combining splendid organizing capacity with
an enthusiasm which had its source in a sincere belief in his city. He occupied the office for thirty-five years,
outranking in length of service all commercial secretaries in the country.
On the 5th of May, 1886,
Mr. Wiggins was married in Los Angeles to Miss Amanda P. Wiggins, who died a
number of years later, and on July 9, 1921, Miss Anne Baille
became his wife. Mr. Wiggins belonged to
the San Gabriel Country Club, the Union League and the Sunset Clubs. He was a member of the Society of Friends and
a man of high moral standards. He had a
strong sense of civic duty and it was his pride and joy to aid in all that
makes for a finer and better community.
He passed away October 18, 1924, on board the steamship President
Garfield en route from Cuba, when nearly seventy-five years of age. His was a long, active and upright career of
conspicuous usefulness and many years will come and go ere his memory ceases to
be a kindly and inspiring influence in the lives of those who knew him. Because his was a life of service to others,
the Frank Wiggins School was named in his honor. Mrs. Wiggins survives her husband, residing
at 933 Thayer Avenue in Westwood, one of the attractive suburbs of Los Angeles,
where she has a wide acquaintance and many steadfast friends.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. IV, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 387-389, Clarke Publ.,
Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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