In the 1800’s, if you controlled the railroads, you controlled the free world.
Hi everyone, ken here, welcome to "ThisHouse"! Today we are exploring the home of Leland
Stanford, one of the “Big Four.”
Railroad tycoons.
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In 1852, Leland Stanford moved to California during the heat of the Gold Rush with his
wife, Jane after losing his successf law practice to a devastating fire.
He teamed up with his brothers to open a small general store, but he had greater ambitions.
Leland and Jane bought a house in Sacramento where they invested their life savings teaming
up with wealthy industrialists to lay out plans for the Central Pacific Railroad.
Together they called themselves “The Associates” but would become better known by the media
as “The Big Four.”
With Leland Stanford heading the Central Pacific as its president, the rail way stretched from
the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.
He ran for Governor of California, and won.
This gave him the ability to issue land grants and utilize tax money for his business ventures.
Over the next few decades, he would see his net worth grow to 50 million dollars, or the
modern day equivalent of abut 1 point 6 billion dollars.
With so much money now pouring in, Leland and Jane began extensive renovations on their
home which was prone to flooding.
Famously, when Leland was elected Governor, he had to take a row boat to his inauguration
because his house was flooded.
The couple loved their house, so they had it lifted up 12, building a new first floor
to support the house.
They then sandwiched the original house under a new fourth floor, concealed by a mansard
roof to update the style of the home from Italian Renaissance Revival to the popular
Second Empire Style.
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After arriving at the top of the stairs, you would pass over the Vestibule’s mosaic tile
floor to enter the Stair Hall and begin exploring the 19,000 square foot mansion.
The dining room stretched above floral carpets, a display of wealth in the Victorian Era – With
3 chandeliers subsequently suspended from plaster medallions.
The west parlor, connected to the dining room, contained niches housing statues, sure to
impress any guest.
The double parlor continued with these design motifs, introducing crystal chandeliers to
illuminate the Stanford’s art collection.
In the newly added south wing, the Stanfords added a ballroom where they could entertain
100 or more people at a time.
The house continued, with heavy fabrics covering the windows and dark wooden furniture paired
with antiques and art throughout.
The couple only had one child, Leland Stanford Junior, who died from typhoid when he was
only 15 years old.
After their devastating loss, Leland and Jane turned their grief into philanthropy, founding
the Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly known as Stanford University, to honor their
son, even writing in their wills to leave the entirety of their joint estate to the
university.
They broke ground, building the university on the site of their equestrian estate, in
Palo Alto.
By 1891, Leland and Jane had donated the modern day equivalent of 1.2 billion dollars to get
the school off the ground.
Leland passed away just 2 years later from heart failure.
With no family left and a networth valued at the modern day equivalent of about 500
million dollars, Jane devoted herself to running the university.
While she sat on the board, she constantly butted heads with the school’s president,
David Starr Jordan who would play out to be a suspicious character in Jane’s demise.
Jane was poisoned once at her home in San Francisco, she was so shaken up by the events
that she abandoned that home and moved to another where she was poisoned again, this
time fatally.
When doctors analyzed her body, they found she had been poisoned, but David Jordan hired
his own doctor to contest their findings, claiming it was simply a natural case of heart
failure, just like her late husband.
David began sending letters to the University’s board of trustees offering numerous explanations
for Jane’s death.
It was later revealed that Jane had been collaborating with other members of the board to oust David
from his position at the university, but this information was unknown to investigators who
failed to establish a motive at the time, leaving David to face no charges nor formal
allegations during his lifetime.
Just as Jane’s will stipulated, the remaining portion of her fortune, worth the modern day
equivalent of 500 million dollars, went to the university, largely being spent at the
discretion of the University’s President, David Starr Jordan.
Thankfully, Jane had donated the Leland Stanford Mansion in Sacramento a few years earlier
to be used by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento.
In the late 1970s, the mansion was conveyed to the State of California which designated
it a California State Park with full historic protections.
In the 90s and early thousands, extensive restoration efforts were put into the mansion
to restore its rooms to how they once appeared based on photos, many of which we saw in this
video, which were captured in 1872.
Since the completion of the bulk of the restoration work, the Leland Stanford Mansion has been
open to the public for tours and occasionally serves as a meeting place for government functions.
If you have ever visited, I would love to hear about your experience down below in the
comments section.
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