Isaias W. Hellman

Hellman became Los Angeles' first banker almost by accident. As a courtesy, he stored his customers' gold and valuables in a safe. One day, Hellman got into an altercation with a drunk customer who had been coming in and out of the store, withdrawing gold each time from a pouch stored in the safe. When the man sobered up, he was angry to discover he had spent most of his funds, and lunged at Hellman. That interaction prompted Hellman to stop his informal banking operations. He obtained printed slips reading I.W. Hellman, Banker, and started buying people's funds and issuing deposit books.

On September 1, 1868, Hellman and Temple founded Hellman, Temple and Co., the fledgling city's second official bank. In 1871, Hellman and John G. Downey, a former governor of California, formed the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Los Angeles, which became Los Angeles' first successful bank.[13] Hellman lent the money that allowed Harrison Gray Otis to buy the Los Angeles Times and Edward Doheny and Charles A. Canfield to drill for oil. In 1881, Hellman was appointed a Regents of the University of California to fill the unexpired term of D.O. Mills. He was reappointed twice and served until 1918.

In 1890, Hellman moved to San Francisco to take over the Nevada Bank of San Francisco, which had been formed in 1875 by four men known as the Silver Kings: John William Mackay, James Cair Flood, William O'Brien and James Graham Fair. While the bank had once had $10 million in capitalization, it was nearly broke by the time Hellman took over. When word got out about Hellman's involvement, capitalists from around the world applied to buy stock. Hellman had $15 million in applications but only $2.5 million in stock to sell. Two of the biggest shareholders included Mayer Lehman of Lehman Brothers ($150,000) and Levi Strauss ($120,000). Other shareholders included men Hellman had grown up with in Reckendorf who had become important businessmen, including Kalman, Abraham and William Haas, and David Walter. Hellman served as president of the Nevada Bank of San Francisco from 1890 to 1898 when he nationalized the bank under the title of The Nevada National Bank of San Francisco.[14] Hellman was president of that bank from 1898 to 1905, until he bought the banking division of Wells Fargo & Co.,[lower-alpha 1] and merged it with the Nevada National Bank to form the Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank with a working capital of $9,500,000.[15] After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the bank was operated in the residence of Hellman's son-in-law at 2020 Jackson Street while the headquarters was rebuilt.[16][17] At the height of his power, Hellman reportedly served as president or director of seventeen banks along the Pacific Coast and controlled $100 million in capital. Hellman served as president of the Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank until his death in 1920 when he was succeeded by his son, who sadly died a month later, on May 10, 1920.[18]

After his death, the Union Trust Company (which Hellman had incorporated in 1893) was merged into Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank in 1923 creating Wells Fargo & Union Trust Company.[19] In 1954, Wells Fargo & Union Trust shortened its name to Wells Fargo Bank.[20]

In 1870, Hellman's cousin Isaiah M. Hellman was elected city treasurer while Isaias became a major investor in trolley lines, contributing funds in 1874 to start the Main Street and Agricultural Park Railway, which traveled from the Plaza, the heart of Los Angeles's downtown, to Agricultural Park, a horse-racing track. Hellman eventually invested in many of the city's rail lines and with Henry Huntington formed the Los Angeles Railway in 1898 and the Pacific Electric Railway in 1901.

He was a major investor in Los Angeles's water, gas and electricity companies, and helped bring Southern Pacific Railroad to Los Angeles in 1876, which ended the isolation of the region.

Hellman was a major landowner in Southern California. His holdings included numerous city lots and vast swaths of former rancho land. In 1871, he and a syndicate bought the 13,000-acre (53 km²) Rancho Cucamonga. In 1881, Hellman and members of the Bixby family purchased the 26,000-acre (110 km²) Rancho Los Alamitos (now home to Long Beach and Seal Beach). The Hellman neighborhood of Long Beach bears his name. He also purchased the Repetto Ranch (now Montebello) with Harris Newmark and Kaspare Cohn. Hellman and Downey also purchased swaths of Rancho San Pedro from the Dominguez family. Hellman owned much of Boyle Heights with William H. Workman.

In 1897, Hellman bought a large parcel of land next to Lake Tahoe where he built a mansion in 1903. He named it Pine Lodge after the sugar pines on the property. His family later sold this land to the state of California, which made the property into Sugar Pine Point State Park.

He purchased the 35,000-acre (140 km²) Nacimiento Ranch near Paso Robles and stocked it with cattle and horses.

In 1879, Judge Robert Maclay Widney established a board of trustees to create a new university. Hellman joined the businessman Ozro W. Childs and the former Governor of California John G. Downey in donating valuable land and an endowment to found the University of Southern California.[21]

At his death in 1920, Hellman was considered the leading financier of the Pacific Coast.[24] His son, Isaias Wolf Hellman, Jr. and grandson, Isaias Warren Hellman, later became presidents of Wells Fargo Bank. The Union Trust Company was merged with Wells Fargo after his death and the original Farmers and Merchants Bank of Los Angeles later merged with Security First National Bank of Los Angeles.

Biographies of Hellman include Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California, by Frances Dinkelspiel, his great-great-granddaughter. The 2008 book was on the San Francisco Chronicle bestseller list for five weeks and was reviewed favorably in the publication.[26]