Riverside
County
Biographies
STEPHEN LEONARD HERRICK
An able educator in his earlier
years, S. Leonard Herrick abandoned that profession due to failing health and
turned to fruit raising, finding this a congenial as well as a profitable
occupation, and is numbered among the most successful orange growers of
Riverside. He was born in Grinnell,
Iowa, September 1, 1873, and is a son of Stephen Henderson and Harriet E.
(Fellows) Herrick. The father, a large
landholder and prominent banker of Riverside, is represented elsewhere in this
work. Since 1886 the family has lived
here and for more than four and a half decades its members have been closely
identified with the citrus culture of this region.
S. Leonard Herrick acquired his
public school education in Iowa and California and in 1889 entered Pomona
College, which was opened in Claremont, California, in that year. He was graduated from its preparatory
department in 1892 and then matriculated in Iowa College, now Grinnell College,
which awarded him the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1895. His father also had attended that
institution, graduating with the same degree thirty years previously. After completing his course the son acted as
private secretary to the president of the college until afforded the
opportunity to attend the University of Chicago to study for another
degree. Twelve months later he left the
Chicago institution of learning and continued his studies abroad in company
with an instructor in sociology at Grinnell College.
Following his return to the United
States, S. Leonard Herrick received from Grinnell College the Master of Arts
degree, and then became a member of the faculty of Pomona College, teaching
there during 1898-99. He intended to
devote his life to educational work, specializing in those subjects to which he
had given so much thought and study, but the close confinement undermined his
health and he was forced to take up an occupation which would insure his being
in the open. His father’s important
holdings afforded the son ample opportunity for developing his own interests
and recovering his health and since 1900 he has looked after the outside
interests of his father, as well as his own, which have steadily expanded until
he is now classed with the leading orange growers of this part of the
state. He is secretary of the West
Riverside Water Company, treasurer and general manager of Herrick Estates,
Inc., president of the Riverside Mortgage Securities Company, and a director of
the Monte Vista Citrus Association. For
several years he served as president of the Highgrove Fruit Exchange and has
played an important part in the development of the citrus industry of southern
California since he left the educational field.
During 1918 and 1919 Mr. Herrick rendered important service to the
federal government as a real estate expert on a board of claims at Camp
Fremont, Palo Alto, California. He also appraised the ground where the March
aviation field is now situated and had the realty board make a second appraisement. From these the valuation was determined and
the purchase made by the government.
At Park Ridge, Illinois, August 24,
1899, Mr. Herrick was married to Miss Margaret Stuart, a native of Chicago and
a daughter of O. Stuart, who was an officer in the Union Army during the Civil
War. He served as colonel of the Ninetieth
Illinois Volunteer Infantry and had the unique experience of reading his own
obituary notice. At Missionary Ridge he
was shot through the abdomen and the bullet dropped into one of his boots. He was reported dead and his wife secured a
permit from General Grant to recover his body and take it home. Not only was this report fortunately untrue
but Colonel Stuart recovered and later marched with Sherman to the sea. After the war he was in the employ of the
United States government at Chicago until his death. Mrs. and Mrs. Herrick have
a son, Stuart H., who attended the Claremont School for Boys and the Riverside
high school. For a time, he was employed
in the Corn Exchange National Bank of Chicago, and is now an executive of the
Herrick Estates, Inc. He is married and
lives at 4451 Lemon Street. In 1901 S.
Leonard Herrick erected a modern home at 1437 Lemon Street, but now resides at
4451 on the same thoroughfare. He has
membership in the First Congregational Church, and is a Republican in
politics. Like his honored father, he is
broad in his views, progressive in his standards and high in his ideals—a man
whom to know is to esteem and admire.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. III, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 179-181, Clarke Publ.,
Chicago, Los Angeles,
Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
GOLDEN
NUGGET'S RIVERSIDE BIOGRAPIES