CLAUDINE BURNETT BOOKS

Rancho Los Alamitos—Part 2: Michael Reese

By Claudine Burnett

Published: August 2nd, 2024

I became fascinated with the story behind Michael Reese (1817-1878) one time owner of the Rancho Los Alamitos, when I found he had made one of his fortunes in gold mining. In researching my latest book Amador City: A Haunting History his name appeared as an investor in Amador City’s Keystone mine.

Keystone Mine. Source: Cal. State Library

     In 1866, Michael Reese was one of several stockholders who formed Gashwiler and Associates to purchase the Keystone mine in Amador City. The mine, like many others, had its ups and downs. It paid, then it didn’t, and must not have had a good reputation when purchased by the consortium. Further excavation and exploration paid off.  By 1872 the Amador City mine had paid investors $900,000 ($22.2 million in 2023), a pretty good investment for just $100,000 ($1.85 million).

            As discussed in Part 1 of this series, Reese was a financier, and in 1861 he loaned $20,000 ($714,000)  to Abel Stearns in exchange for a mortgage on the Rancho Los Alamitos.

San Francisco Public Library

             Michael Reese really wasn’t interested in being a land owner, so he rented the Rancho Los Alamitos to W. S. Lyon on a ten-year lease.  Reese’s venue was making money.  Reese, a German Jew by birth, came to America in 1836 and been a peddler and slave trader in Virginia before coming to California in 1849.  With him he brought about $45,000 ($1.85 million) which he loaned out at 10% interest per month.  One of the men he loaned money to was Abel Stearns.

            Reese was an interesting individual and the press was full of not only his business dealings, but his relationship with individuals. In 1859 the Daily National Democrat (2/27/1859) ran a story:  The Millionaire and the Poor Shoemaker.

            That year, the San Francisco millionaire took John Doe Baker, who eked out a living by repairing and shining shoes, to court. With his earnings Baker supported a wife and five children. It was his only source of income. It seemed Reese complained about Baker obstructing the sidewalk on California Street above Kearney. Reese claimed the city had him (Reese) remove awning posts on Clay and Stockton and Kearney, and other streets on which he owned property, at a cost of $100( $3,780). They were not nearly as “obstructive” as Baker’s business stand, Reese claimed.

            When questioned by the court, Reese was asked if he had filed the complaint because of a fight between the two men’s dogs. It appeared Baker’s dog had bit Reese’s five-month-old pup, and Reese was not happy. An angry Reese, told Baker he would report Baker’s illegal use of sidewalk space, though it was not near any of the property Reese owned. He did.

            The judge ruled Baker’s stand was indeed an obstruction in the eye of the law, and the defendant would be fined $10 ($378), the lowest fine permitted by the order.  However, the judge gave Baker five days to remove the stand. If he did so, the fine would be forgiven.

            So ended the war between the millionaire and the poor shoemaker.

            Reese knew where the money interests lie and when, in 1870, the Southern Pacific needed additional money to build their railroad to Southern California and beyond, it was Reese they hired to find the dough. Traveling to Germany Reese was successful in floating a bond issue sufficient to build the road.

            In 1878, ill health brought him back to Carlsbad, Germany, and the town’s curative spa.  While there he decided to visit the cemetery in Wallerstein where his father and mother were buried. There are several versions to the story, but the general gist it that the sexton told him he must pay an admission fee, a pfennig (about 7 cents), to get into the cemetery, and that the money would be used to care for the graves.  Reese walked away.  Twenty minutes later one of the gardeners caught him trying to climb over the wall of the cemetery, and told the gate keeper who chased after Mr. Reese.  Reese, close to 70 years of age, and very much overweight ran until he could run no more.  He sank down from exhaustion and was carried to his hotel where he died inside of an hour.  He left an estate worth $10 million ($315 million), though some say it was $14,000,000 ($441 million) when he died in August 1878.

            Reese, who never married, had no immediate family to mourn him. He might have had a wife and family if Caroline Clark hadn’t soured him on the entire female sex. In 1867 Reese had been sued for $100,000 ($1.12 million) for breach of promise by Ms. Clark. (NY Times “Breach of promise case in San Francisco” 3/30/1867). Reese denied that he had ever promised to marry her, and refused to give her a cent. When the trial came, Reese was called to the stand by the woman’s attorney. He again denied having given any promise of marriage. He admitted he had known the woman, and when asked if he had ever kissed her, the honest man showed his remarkable memory by testifying their lips had come together thirty-five times. The judge assessed the damages at $5,000 ($106,000) or about $150 ($3,190) for each kiss. Reese thought this was very high, even though it was much less than the $100,000 Ms. Clark had sued for. He paid anyway but after this case he never saw a woman alone in his office. The moment one entered the room (which was only 8 by 12 feet in size) a clerk had directions to come in and remain as witness during her stay. (Carpenter, Frank G. California in Korea, May 12, 1895, p.25).  Reese had been wise to do so, even after his death women were after his money.  Shortly after his demise, on August 22, 1878, Isabella Ancona, a native of Panama, and her son, Richard Remesia, staked a claim on Reese’s estate. Ancona claimed that Reese was the father of her son. But all agreed, Reese, an honest man, would have acknowledged or adopted the boy.  The claim was dismissed.

            Making money had been Reese’s extreme passion, money had been his closest companion, to the exclusion of all else. With all his millions he could not bear to spend any on himself.  He had been a very economical man all his life, living in a modest apartment in one of his own buildings in San Francisco, frequenting the free lunch counters where you pay for your coffee and eat all the bread you want with it. He always declared he was building up a fund that someday would be turned to the public good. In his will he bequeathed $650,000 ($20.5 million) to the University of California; and $25,000 ($78,000) each to the Ladies’ Protection and Relief Society, and the Protestant, Hebrew and Catholic Orphan Asylums. The remainder went to relatives, mainly his five sisters in Chicago and their offspring. In their brother’s honor they donated $200,000 to create the Michael Reese Hospital of Chicago.

            The Hebrew Relief Association of Chicago, whose project for a three-story, 60-bed Jewish hospital had long been a priority for the city’s Jewish community. The gift — a little more than $6.3 million in today’s dollars —came with just two conditions: that the hospital be named after Michael Reese and that it welcome everyone, regardless of creed or nationality.

Wikipedia

           On October 23, 1881, the new Michael Reese Hospital opened its doors. It had been built to relieve suffering — to meet the basic human need for care in times of illness or injury. Yet almost from the start, it would also help revolutionize the practice of medicine in the U. S. In 1890, the hospital established a training school for nurses and in 1899 it became famous as the first U. S. institution to implement a motorized ambulance service. The hospital officially closed August 31, 2009, because of financial difficulties.

Part 3 of this series will discuss how selling land (which would become Long Beach) to William Willmore in 1881, secured enough money for the Bixby’s and I. W. Hellman to take over  ownership of the Rancho Los Alamitos.

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