Print friendly
E-mail story
Tip Us Off
iPod friendly
Comments
Bookmark This
del.icio.us.
Digg!
furl
google
newsvine
reddit
technorati
Facebook
Yahoo!Robert Bates Canfield came to Santa Barbara in the early 1870s. Although he opened a highly successful law practice here, his impact on his adopted community came from much more than his legal expertise.
He was born in New Jersey in 1843 and grew up in New York City. He was only 18 when he graduated at the top of his class in mathematics at Columbia University, a proud member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. Bucking his family’s expectations that he would become a minister, he went on to study law, with time taken out for extensive travels in Europe. Often sickly as a child, this “grand tour” was meant to strengthen his frail constitution.
Upon his return to the U.S., his father sent him to run one of his investments—the Belmont silver mine in Nevada’s San Antonio Mountains. The young man demonstrated a keen business sense and went on operate a string of mines in Nevada and Arizona until the late 1860s. In 1870, he married a widow, Louise Davison, and became a loving second father to her two daughters. A short time after the marriage, the new family moved to Santa Barbara.
Canfield immediately plunged into a number of enterprises. In 1872, he helped form the Mission Water Company, which purchased the entire water works of Mission Santa Barbara. The company then laid pipes from this system into town. It was the first significant attempt by a private company to tackle the serious municipal water supply problem. During this same year, Canfield was instrumental in bringing gas lights to the city, illuminating the downtown area.
In 1892, he engaged architect Thomas Nixon to build a home for him at 1617 State Street at a cost of $22,000. The redwood home boasted a sumptuous interior of beamed ceilings, parquet floors, a Tiffany chandelier in the sitting room, and a large Philippine mahogany table in the dining room. It was a home befitting one of Santa Barbara’s leading citizens. The house was torn down to make way for a hotel in 1959.
In 1903, Canfield joined forces with investor and entrepreneur, Joseph Howard, to finance the construction of the Howard-Canfield Building at 829-833 State Street. Howard had also come to Santa Barbara in the early 1870s and was associated with Canfield for many years on the board of the First National Bank. The building became home to a number of well-known Santa Barbara businesses including Diehl’s Grocery and Trenwith’s clothing store. Trenwith’s called the Howard-Canfield Building home from 1904 until it closed in 1981.
Canfield was continually on the lookout for new business opportunities. He owned a number of ranch properties including Corral de Quati and La Zaca north of Los Olivos. He was also a founding member of the California Cattlemen’s Association. He was an officer of the Arlington Hotel Company and for a time owned the Santa Barbara Morning Press. In 1886, he served on the board of the Santa Barbara Electric Light Company which brought electric lights to the city in 1887. Interestingly, Canfield continued to use gas lights in his own home well into the 1900s. In 1886, Canfield was appointed to fill a superior court judgeship for a few months and from then on was known around town as Judge Canfield.
The man never slowed down. In 1918, at the age of 75, he joined the volunteer constabulary, formed to ensure public order, as a show of patriotism during World War I and drilled with the “troops.” At 82, he donned overalls to oversee the restoration of the Howard-Canfield building in the aftermath of the 1925 earthquake.
Robert Canfield died in April 1929. His portrait hangs above the entrance to the Santa Barbara County Courthouse law library and his books still form part of the library’s collection. He was truly an architect of Santa Barbara’s development.
Related Links
Michael Redmon, director of research at the Santa Barbara Historical Society, will answer your questions about Santa Barbara’s history. Write him c/o The Independent, 122 W. Figueroa St., Santa Barbara, CA 93101.
Previous Month
Comments
Discussion Guidelines
Post a comment