Oscar Eugene Farish (1868–1917) was an oil man and businessman in Los Angeles, California, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. He was a member of the

Los Angeles City Council The Los Angeles City Council is the legislative body of the Los Angeles, City of Los Angeles in California. The council is composed of 15 members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The President of the Los Angeles City Counc ...

Personal

Farish was born on July 20, 1868, near

Pittsboro, North Carolina Pittsboro is a town in Chatham County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 3,743 at the 2010 census and 4,537 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Chatham County. The town was established in the late 18th century, shortly a ...

, in Chatham County, the son of John W. and Mary Farish. The family moved to Arkansas when Oscar was young. He was married on December 4, 1895, in

Pasadena, California 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. I ...

, to Alice Aspinall Grinrod of

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

, and they had two daughters, Muriel Estelle (Mrs. Frank Boswell) and Gwendolyn. The family moved to California in 1895, and they lived on West Adams Boulevard in Jefferson Park.Clare Wallace, Los Angeles Public Library reference file, January 7, 1936, with sources as cited there
/ref>"Club Woman Dies," ''Los Angeles Times,'' August 31, 1914, page II-2
/ref>"Noted Realty Man Expires," ''Los Angeles Times,'' December 17, 1917, page II-10
/ref> He was a member of the City Club, the

California Club Based in Los Angeles, California, the California Club is an by-invitation-only private club established in 1888. According to Los Angeles Times, "The people who ''run'' Los Angeles belong to the Jonathan Club; the people who ''own'' Los Angel ...

, Federation Club,

Knights of Pythias The Knights of Pythias is a fraternal organization and secret society founded in Washington, D.C., on . The Knights of Pythias is the first fraternal organization to receive a charter under an act of the United States Congress. It was founded ...

Independent Order of Foresters The Independent Order of Foresters, operating as Foresters Financial, is a fraternal benefit society headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that provides life insurance and other financial solutions in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United ...

and the

Masonic Lodge A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered ...

. He was a Protestant and a Democrat. Farish's wife died in 1913. Farish died on December 17, 1917, in Los Angeles after six months' of failing health. He was survived by two daughters, Mrs. Frank Boswell of San Francisco, and Gwendolyn, age 14, who lived with her father at 730 Westlake Avenue. Interment was in Inglewood Cemetery.

Avocation

At the age of nineteen he began work for the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

. After moving to Los Angeles, he was employed by the Blake, Moffitt & Towne wholesale paper company and then was cashier for the Los Angeles Electric Company. In 1897 he entered the oil and real-estate business with W.W. Mines as his partner. In April 1912 he organized the California Realty Corporation.

Politics

Farish was elected to the

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

in 1903 and served for two years. He introduced the idea of the

municipal consolidation A merger, consolidation or amalgamation, in a political or administrative sense, is the combination of two or more political or administrative entities, such as municipalities (in other words cities, towns, etc.), counties, districts, etc., int ...

of the cities of Wilmington and San Pedro with the city of Los Angeles a way to form a harbor for L.A. He also supported the digging of the Broadway Tunnel and was in favor of a

railroad terminal A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing such ...

at the

Los Angeles Plaza Los Angeles Plaza or Plaza de Los Ángeles is located in Los Angeles, California. It is the central point of the Los Angeles Plaza Historic District. When Governor Felipe de Neve founded the Pueblo de Los Ángeles, his first act was to locate a pl ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farish, Oscar Eugene Los Angeles City Council members 1868 births 1917 deaths Businesspeople from Los Angeles Burials at Inglewood Park Cemetery California Democrats 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American businesspeople