Adolph Bernard Spreckels (January 5, 1857 – June 28, 1924) was a

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

businessman who ran the

Spreckels Sugar Company The Spreckels Sugar Company is an American sugar beet refiner that for many years was the largest beet sugar producer in the western United States. The company was incorporated and originally headquartered in San Francisco, with its largest operati ...

and who donated the

California Palace of the Legion of Honor The Legion of Honor, formally known as the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, is an art museum located in San Francisco, on the West Side of the city. Located in Lincoln Park, the Legion of Honor is a component of the Fine Arts Museum ...

art museum to the city of

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

in 1924. His wife,

Alma Alma or ALMA may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Alma'' (film), a 2009 Spanish short animated film * ''Alma'', an upcoming film by Sally Potter * ''Alma'' (Oswald de Andrade novel), 1922 * ''Alma'' (Le Clézio novel), 2017 * ''Alma'' ( ...

, was called the "great grandmother of San Francisco". His 1912 mansion is in

Pacific Heights Pacific Heights (often referred to as Pac Heights) is a wealthy neighborhood in San Francisco, California, United States. It has panoramic views of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Bay, the Palace of Fine Arts, Alcatraz, Presidio of San Fr ...

and is San Francisco Landmark #197.

Life and career

Spreckels was born in San Francisco, California. His parents were Anna Christina Mangels and

Claus Spreckels Claus Spreckels (July 9, 1828 – December 26, 1908) was a German-born American industrialist in California and Hawaii, during the Kingdom of Hawaii, kingdom and Republic of Hawaii, republican periods of the islands' history. He founded or was i ...

, founder of the

. At the age of 12, Adolph studied abroad in Hanover, Germany, for two years, returning to San Francisco to finish his studies. When the company was founded in 1881, he was named a vice-president. Spreckels succeeded his father as company president upon the latter's death in 1908. In 1884, he shot Michael de Young, the editor of the ''San Francisco Chronicle'', over negative coverage of his family’s business. This act made people aware of the unchecked privilege of the wealthy elite in the late 19th century. Spreckels pleaded

temporary insanity The insanity defense, also known as the mental disorder defense, is an affirmative defense by excuse in a criminal case, arguing that the defendant is not responsible for their actions due to a psychiatric disease at the time of the criminal act ...

to the charge of

attempted murder Attempted murder is a crime of attempt in various jurisdictions. Canada Section 239 of the ''Criminal Code'' makes attempted murder punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment. If a gun is used, the minimum sentence is four, five or seve ...

and was acquitted. The California Palace of the Legion of Honor was championed by his wife, and paid for from the Spreckels fortune. It was merged with the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in 1972 and became the

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. FAMSF's combined attendance was 1,1 ...

. Spreckels was president of the San Francisco and San Mateo Electric Railway, vice-president of the Western Sugar Company and the

Oceanic Steamship Company John Diedrich Spreckels (August 16, 1853 – June 7, 1926) was an American businessman who founded a transportation and real estate empire in San Diego, California, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was the son of German-American indu ...

, and was a director of the Sunset Monarch Company. He served as a San Francisco Park Commissioner and was involved in the development of Golden Gate Park. Spreckels Lake is named after him.

Spreckels Organ Pavilion The Spreckels Organ Pavilion is an outdoor venue that houses the open-air Spreckels Organ in Balboa Park (San Diego), Balboa Park in San Diego, California. With more than 5,000 pipes, the Spreckels Organ is the world's largest pipe organ in a ful ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

's Balboa Park, housing the largest outdoor pipe organ in the world, was built by Spreckels and his brother,

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

. John commissioned Spreckels Organ in the Palace of the Legion of Honor in tribute to Adolph, who died before it was completed.

Thoroughbred racing

Spreckels owned and bred

race horses Race Horses were a Welsh band based in Cardiff, Wales and originally from Aberystwyth. Formed in 2005 as Radio Luxembourg, they changed their name in 2009 due to possible legal problems with the radio station of the same name. Initially the m ...

, including

Morvich Morvich (April 23, 1919 – January 26, 1946) was an American Thoroughbred who was the first California, California-bred horse racing, racehorse to win the Kentucky Derby. Bred by sugar magnate Adolph B. Spreckels at his Napa, California, Napa ...

, the first California-bred horse to win the

Kentucky Derby The Kentucky Derby () is an American Graded stakes race, Grade I stakes Thoroughbred racing, race run at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. The race is run by three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of . Colt (horse), Colts and geldin ...

in 1922, in a time of 2:04.60.

Family

He and Alma de Bretteville were married on May 11, 1908, after a five-year courtship. They had three children, daughter, Alma Emma, son, Adolph Bernard, Jr., and daughter, Dorothy Constance. His grandson, Adolph Bernard Spreckels III, better known as Bunker Spreckels, would become a well-known surfer in the 1960s and 1970s. After the birth of his last daughter, Spreckels' health began to deteriorate due to

syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms depend on the stage it presents: primary, secondary, latent syphilis, latent or tertiary. The prim ...

he had contracted before his marriage. He had kept the disease secret from his wife, but during most of their marriage it had been in a latent, non-contagious state. Spreckels died in 1924 from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

Spreckels Mansion

The family's mansion, located at 2080 Washington Street in the

neighborhood of San Francisco, was designed by George A. Applegarth and Kenneth A. MacDonald Jr. in the French Baroque style. The chateau was designated as San Francisco Landmark #197 on June 9, 1990.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spreckels, Adolph B. Adolph B. Spreckels Businesspeople from San Francisco 19th-century American businesspeople American sugar industry businesspeople American racehorse owners and breeders Philanthropists from California 1857 births 1924 deaths Deaths from pneumonia in California People acquitted by reason of insanity