Silsby Spalding

Silsby Morse Spalding was born on May 29, 1886, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[2][3][4] His father was Salathiel Martin Spalding and his mother, Sarah Eglantine Camp.[2] He studied at the Pomona College Preparatory School in Claremont, California,[3][4] and later at Stanford University.[1]

Spalding was a sporting goods magnate.[5][6] He also served as one of the earliest Presidents of the Aero Club of Southern California, and was an executive at the Mexican Eagle Petroleum Company and the Pan-American Petroleum and Transport Co.[7]

Spalding served as the first Mayor of Beverly Hills, California from 1926 to 1928.[3][4][5][6][7][8] During his tenure, he appointed Will Rogers as honorary mayor, garnering worldwide publicity for Beverly Hills.[7]

Spalding married Caroline Canfield (1890-1970), daughter of oilman Charles A. Canfield (1848-1913) in 1911.[6][9][10] They had a daughter, Deborah C. Spalding (1921-2011).[2]

In 1912, after Canfield's death, they moved into Grayhall, an estate located at 1100 Carolyn Way, formerly built by Carole Lombard's father as a hunting lodge and later owned by George Hamilton and Bernard Cornfeld.[5][9][10][11][12] From 1918 to 1921, they lived in the Frank Flint Estate, a Colonial Revival-style mansion resembling a Southern plantation located at 1006 North Crescent Drive.[9] He later purchased the Tecolote Ranch in Goleta, California, where he raised purebred cattle and horses, and grew walnut and citrus trees.[7]

Spalding died on May 5, 1949, at his main residence at 1019 Laurel Way in Beverly Hills, California.[7]

Street sign of Spalding Dr on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California.

Spalding Drive in Beverly Hills is named in his honor.[8][13]