Frank Hubbard Powers

Frank Hubbard Powers (September 25, 1864 – November 15, 1920), served in the California State Assembly for the 41st district from 1895 to 1897.[1] He was a San Francisco attorney for Heller & Powers. He and real estate developer James Franklin Devendorf (1856-1934), founded the Carmel Development Company in 1902. They established an art colony that became Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, which included the Carmel Highlands, California.[2]

Frank Powers
Frank H. Powers, ca. 1910.
26th
Member of the California State Assembly
from the 41st district
In office
January 7, 1895 - January 4, 1897
Preceded byJohn M. Curtis
Succeeded byHenry C. Dibble
Personal details
Born
Frank Hubbard Powers

(1864-09-25)September 25, 1864
Campo Seco, California, US
DiedNovember 15, 1920(1920-11-15) (aged 56)
San Francisco, California, US
Political party
SpouseJane Maria Gallatin
Children4
Profession

Early life
Frank Powers and family (1905).

Powers was born in Campo Seco, Calaveras County, California, on September 25, 1864. He was the son of Aaron Huubard Powers (1829-1907) and Emma Louisa Sweasey (1883-1902), pioneers of the 1849 gold rush. He was educated at the public schools in Sacramento, California and the University of California, Berkeley.[3][4]

On May 29, 1884, at the University of California, Berkeley, Colonel, Frank H. Powers was in the National Guard of California (N.G.C.) military commission as a member of the graduating class.[5]

On October 15, 1891, Powers married Jane Maria Gallatin (1869-1944) in Manhattan, New York City. She was the daughter of a Sacramento financier, Albert Gallatin (1835-1905). The Victorian house where she grew up in Sacramento was later owned by the father of journalist Lincoln Steffens, and it became the California Governor's Mansion in 1903.[6]

They were at the Thorndike Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts before they returned to San Francisco by way of Cuba and the Southern Pacific railroad.[3][7][8] He was brother-in-law of novelist and explorer Ernest Thompson Seton.[9]

In 1891, Powers was the author of the novel I Swear, a story of a Stockton, California girl in Boston, published by "Vires Publishing Company."[10]

Professional background

Attorney

While he was a law student he held the rank of Colonel in the N.G.C through his commission as a student of the University of California.[11] In 1886, he was admitted to the bar in Sacramento. After practicing law in Sacramento and Stockton, California for several years he went to San Francisco and formed a law partnership with J. H. Young called Young & Powers. He then went into the law firm of Heller & Powers in 1896. When Sidney M. Ehrman, joined the firm in 1905, the firm changed to Heller Powers & Ehrman.[12][3]

Politician

Powers was a member of the California State Assembly for the 41st district from January 7, 1895, to January 4, 1897. He ran on the Republican ticket and was a Republican for most of his life.[3][1] He was nominated by Republicans who wanted to secure the adoption of some needed amendments to the Mechanic's lien law.[13]

Carmel Development Company
Main article: Carmel Development Company
Carmel's Ocean Avenue (1908).

In 1899, Powers and his wife, Jane, acquired a piece of land in Carmel in lieu of cash for legal fees. He also purchased an 80 acres (32 ha) from Honoré Escolle, a Monterey businessman, in ca. 1900.[14][15][16]

In 1902, real estate developer James Franklin Devendorf (1856-1934) purchased land in Carmel from developer and real estate agent Santiago J. Duckworth, who in 1889, wanted to build a Catholic summer resort.[17] On November 25, 1902, Powers became partners with Devendorf and formed the Carmel Development Company to operate at the Carmel Development Company Building in the town of Carmel-by-the-Sea. Powers provided the capital and did the legal work of the corporation. Devendorf was the general manager on the lots.[18] Powers and Devendorf held title to over 1,600 lots in Carmel.[19][3][14][20][4]: p100 

In September 1903, Powers traveled to Washington D.C., to make Carmel the official post office for the area. On October 5, 1905, Frank and Jane helped form the first free library in Carmel called the Carmel Free Library Association (now the Harrison Memorial Library). Carmelites donated one dollar a year for library use.[20]: p66 [4]: p108  Frank would come down from San Francisco on weekends to be with his wife and family. After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, she encouraged her art friends to move to Carmel.[20]: p89 [14][21]

Powers and Devendorf donated the site that would become the Carmel Forest Theater. They were often found there involved in a production of a play.[20]: p9 

Powers was interested in the preservation of the California missions and made efforts to the conservation of the Carmel Mission by repreenting the US government at the centenary celebration of Padre Junípero Serra on the Island of Mallorca, Spain in 1913.[18][3][20]: p9  In April 1903, Powers wrote a letter to the editor of the San Francisco Examiner saying that he, along with William Randolph Hearst, was willing to contribute to the Fund for the Preservation of California's Landmarks. He said: "I think that all the old missions and other buildings should be restored and preserved as monuments to the founders. I am ready to furnish the adobe and the tiling for restoration of that mission in proper form, and for $3,000 (equivalent to $97,711 in 2022), I believe that all the adobe and all the tiling for the mission buildings coul be furnished. I am going to do my little towards preserving a relic of early days in this State by preserving an old style farm house in Monterey."[22]

Murphey's barn/studio
Murphey farmhouse, Carmle's first art studio

By 1904, Powers purchased the Murphy's Barn and farmhouse at the Carmel beachfront, off San Antonio Avenue, between 2nd and 4th Avenues, which still exists today. The land was originally purchased by Irish pioneer Matthew M. Murphey, a sea captain from Boston. Mathew's nephew John Monroe Murphy and his wife, Ann Murphy, built a farmhouse on the land ca. 1870.[14][23]

In 1903, the farmhouse was used as the first art studio in Carmel for his artist-wife, Jane Powers, who helped found the Carmel Arts and Crafts Club in 1905. She is credited with bringing other artists to Carmel and developing it into an art colony. Powers called it "The Dunes" and completely restored it in 1907.[4]

Powers was a member of the Zeta Psi fraternity, the San Francisco Bohemian Club, University Club, Commonwealth Club of California, the Society of California, and the Masonic fraternity.[3] Powers and Devendorf spent time in San Francisco to recruit the Bohemian artists and writers.[4]: p134 

Death

Powers died on November 15, 1920, at the age of 56, at his home in San Francisco. He was still a member of the Heller & Powers at the time of his death.[3] Funeral service were held in N. Gray and Company funeral home. Cremation was at the Cypress Lawn Memorial Park in Colma, California.[9]

See also

References
  1. "Join California - Frank H. Powers". joincalifornia.com. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
  2. Dramov, Alissandra (2019). Historic Buildings of Downtown Carmel-by-the-Sea. p. 24. ISBN 9781467103039. Retrieved 2022-03-03. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  3. "Frank H. Powers, A Former Stockton Attorney, Is Dead". Stockton Daily Evening Record. Stockton, California. 19 Nov 1920. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
  4. Dramov, Alissandra (2013). Carmel-by-the-Sea, the Early Years (1903-1913). pp. 98–100, 208, 221. ISBN 9781491824146. Retrieved 2022-01-19. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. "The University. Commencement Exercises at Berkeley Yesterday". The San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, California. 29 May 1884. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
  6. Steffens, Lincoln (1931). The Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens. Heyday Books. ISBN 9781597140164.
  7. "Local Lines". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 18 Oct 1891. p. 6. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
  8. Powers, Frank H (1891). I Swear. OCLC 9244709. Retrieved 2022-03-07. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  9. "Frank Powers, Lawyer, Dies". The San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, California. 16 Nov 1920. p. 13. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
  10. "A Stockton Writer". Stockton Daily Republican. Stockton, California. 11 Jun 1891. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
  11. "New Military Tactics. Colonel F. H. Powers of this City Engaged in a Work on Fancy Drills". The Mail. Stockton, California. 16 Aug 1887. p. 3. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
  12. Hicke, Carole (1991). Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe: A Century of Service to Clients and Community. Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe.
  13. "Frank Powers' Ambition". The Record-Union. Sacramento, California. 20 Oct 1894. p. 3. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
  14. Hudson, Monica (2006). Carmel-by-the-Sea. ISBN 9781439614570. Retrieved 2022-03-07. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  15. "James Franklin Devendorf". Adventures Of A Home Town Tourist. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
  16. Fink, Augusta (2000). Monterey County: The Dramatic Story of its Past. Valley Publishers. p. 202. ISBN 9780913548622. Retrieved 2020-07-19.
  17. "Carmel City. Great Enterprise of a Montereyan". Monterey Cypress. Monterey, California. 14 Dec 1889. p. 7. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
  18. Gilliam, Harold; Gilliam, Ann (1992). Creating Carmel: The Enduring Vision. Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith Books. pp. 62–63. Retrieved 2022-03-10.
  19. Seavey, Kent (2007). Carmel, A History in Architecture. pp. 7, 34–39, 45. ISBN 9780738547053. Retrieved 2022-01-16. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  20. Hale, Sharron Lee (1941). A Tribute to Yesterday: The history of Carmel, Carmel Valley, Big Sur, Point Lobos, Carmelite Monastery, and Los Burros. Santa Cruz, Calif.: Valley Publishers. p. 8. ISBN 9780913548738. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
  21. Grimes, Teresa; Heumann, Leslie. "Historic Context Statement Carmel-by-the-Sea" (PDF). Leslie Heumann and Associates1994. p. 16. Retrieved 2022-01-18.
  22. "Place Your Name on The Subscription Roll". The San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, California. 29 Apr 1903. p. 3. Retrieved 2022-05-19.
  23. Neal Hotelling (2 Aug 2019). "God may have been on one side, but the courts were on the other" (PDF). Carmel Pine Cone. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. p. 22. Retrieved 2022-05-19.
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