Jared Sidney Torrance (August 3, 1853 – March 29, 1921) was an American

real estate developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to others. R ...

, best known as the founder of Torrance in southwest

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Southern California

Jared Torrance was born in Gowanda,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in 1853, and moved to

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

in approximately 1887 to settle initially in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...

where he worked in real estate. Among other notable transactions, he briefly owned the

Mount Lowe Railway The Mount Lowe Railway was the third in a series of scenic mountain railroads in the United States created as a tourist attraction on Echo Mountain and Mount Lowe (California), Mount Lowe, north of Los Angeles, California. The railway, originall ...

, above Pasadena in the

San Gabriel Mountains The San Gabriel Mountains ( es, Sierra de San Gabriel) are a mountain range located in northern Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, United States. The mountain range is part of the Tr ...

, at the turn of the century.

Torrance, California

In the early 1900s Jared Torrance and other investors saw the value of creating a mixed industrial-

residential A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family residen ...

community south of Los Angeles. They purchased part of the Spanish land grant

Rancho San Pedro Rancho San Pedro was one of the first California land grants and the first to win a patent from the United States. The Spanish Crown granted the of land to soldier Juan José Domínguez in 1784, with his descendants validating their legal claim ...

and hired nationally renowned

landscape architect A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manageme ...

Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. to design a new

planned community A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...

, with the architect

Irving Gill Irving John Gill (April 26, 1870 – October 7, 1936), was an American architect. He did most of his work in Southern California, especially in San Diego and Los Angeles. He is considered a pioneer of the modern movement in architecture. Twelve ...

designing the principal buildings. The resulting city,

Torrance, California Torrance is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the m ...

, was founded in 1911 and named after Jared Torrance. In 1920 Jared Torrance formed the Torrance Hospital Association, but he died before a hospital could be constructed in the new city. His widow Helena Childs Torrance followed through on Jared Torrance's vision, and in 1925 the Jared Sidney Torrance Memorial Hospital was opened. It is now named the

Torrance Memorial Medical Center Torrance Memorial Medical Center is a private hospital located in Torrance, California. Torrance Memorial was the first hospital in the Los Angeles South Bay region and is currently one of the three burn centers in Los Angeles County. History ...

Genealogist

Torrance was also an amateur

genealogist Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinsh ...

and did extensive research on his family roots. He wrote a book entitled ''The Descendants of Lewis Hart and Anne Elliott'' which was published posthumously by his wife in 1923. Jared Sidney Torrance died in 1921.

References

*Dalton, Peggy Coleman - ''Torrance: A City For Today'', Windsor Publications, 1990
History of Torrance Memorial Medical Center
People from Erie County, New York 1852 births 1921 deaths Torrance Torrance History of Torrance, California 19th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesspeople American real estate businesspeople American city founders {{US-business-bio-1850s-stub