LOUIS J. WILDE

Los Angeles County

Biographies

LOUIS J. WILDE

WILDE, LOUIS J., Banker, San Diego, California, was born in Iowa City, Iowa, July 16, 1865, the son of John and Lucina Wilde. He married Frances E. O’Brien, daughter of James O’Brien, former county auditor of St. Paul, Minn., in that city, and to them there have been born four children; Donald E., Richard E., Jack D., and Lucille B. Wilde.

Mr. Wilde was educated at Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa, and at Hyatts Academy, Iowa City, Iowa.

He left his native city in 1884 and went to Los Angeles, Cal., and for the succeeding years was a resident of that city, where he worked at various occupations from elevator boy up. He was in the real estate and insurance business about the time of the boom, 1893, after which he moved to St. Paul, where he was in the brokerage business for nine years more. At the end of that time, or in 1903, he moved to San Diego, Cal., there to make his permanent home and, as event have proved, to become one of the principal factors in the growth of that splendid city. A man of large, progressive ideas, possessed of an unusual faculty for organization and enterprise, his career in San Diego has been a succession of big projects, all of which he has carried to successful issue, with the city the gainer in each instance.

Among some of his worthy endeavors was his instrumentality in bringing into San Diego the first three hundred and fifty thousand dollars of outside money for the establishment of the San Diego Home Telephone Co. He also built the beautiful Pickwick Theater; purchased and reorganized the Citizens’ Savings Bank and organized the American National Bank. He is president of the latter institution and is now assisting in the building of a magnificent home for it. In addition, he rebuilt the old Richelieu Building for banking rooms; organized the First National Bank, and led in other works of a practical nature. Mr. Wilde’s latest and perhaps greatest accomplishment was the refinancing and completion of the U. S. Grant Hotel in San Diego. This is one of the most beautiful modern hotel structures in the Southwest, and Mr. Wilde is credited with being the factor most actively engaged in its building. He not only financed the proposition, but drafted a set of plans by which the hotel was built. The plans of the original architect were practically ignored, and in the interior arrangements Mr. Wilde showed a practical as well as artistic ability that astonished, his friends.

In addition to building the hotel, Mr. Wilde designed and caused to be built, on the Plaza, in front of the U. S. Grant Hotel, a magnificent marble fountain, which cost $14,000 and which he gave to the city.

The people of San Diego are indebted to Mr. Wilde for much of the city’s present prosperity and many of the great enterprises that have been established there. Although conservative in a measure, he has always been foremost in siding and fostering every worthy project of importance to the city, lending thereto his influence and extensive financial support. In this connection, it may be mentioned that he is one of the leading spirits in the San Diego California-Panama Exposition, which will celebrate the final opening of the Panama Canal.

Mr. Wilde has never sought nor held public office, although he takes a strong interest in political affairs on the side of progress and popular government.

Socially he is one of the most prominent men in the city, and belongs to a number of the leading clubs.

He is a life member of the San Diego Yacht Club and the Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Masons (Scottish and York Rites), the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks, the Cuyamaca and the San Diego Country Clubs.

Transcribed by Bill Simpkins.

Source: Press Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 801, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta. 1913.

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