Harrison Gray Otis (publisher)
Harrison Gray Otis | |
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Born | near Marietta, Ohio | February 10, 1837
Died | July 30, 1917 Los Angeles, California, U.S. | (aged 80)
Occupation | newspaper publisher |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse(s) | Eliza Ann Wetherby (m. 1859–1904, her death) |
Children | Lillian Otis McPherson Marian Otis Chandler Mabel Otis Booth |
Parent(s) | Stephen Otis Sara Otis |
Relatives | Mike Chandler (great-great grandson) Marilyn "Missy" Brant Chandler (first great-granddaughter-in-law) Bettina Whitaker Chandler (second great-granddaughter-in-law) Norman Chandler (grandson) Otis Chandler (great-grandson) Dorothy Buffum Chandler (granddaughter-in-law) Harry Chandler (son-in-law) |
Harrison Gray Otis (February 10, 1837 – July 30, 1917) was the president and general manager of the Times-Mirror Company, publisher of the Los Angeles Times.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Otis was born near Marietta, Ohio, on February 10, 1837, the son of Stephen and Sally (Dyar) Otis. His father was from Vermont and his mother, a native of Nova Scotia, Canada, came to Ohio from Boston, Massachusetts, with her family. The young Otis received schooling until he was fourteen, when he became a printer's apprentice at the Noble County Courier in Ohio.[1]
Otis and Eliza Ann Wetherby were married in Lowell, Ohio, on September 11, 1859, and they had three daughters, Lillian Otis McPherson, Marian Otis Chandler, who was secretary of Times-Mirror, and Mabel Otis Booth.[1]
He was a Kentucky delegate to the Republican National Convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln for president in 1860. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, he left his job as a compositor in the office of the Louisville Journal to volunteer as a private for the Union army. Otis fought in the 23rd Ohio Infantry. He was promoted through the ranks and was made an officer, a lieutenant, in November 1862 and left the Army in July 1865 as a captain.[1]
He was wounded twice in battle, was "twice breveted for gallant and meritorious conduct" and was promoted seven times.[2]
Journalism[]
After the war, Otis was Official Reporter of the Ohio House of Representatives, then moved to Washington, D.C., where he was a government official, correspondent and editor.[1] In 1876, he and his family moved to Santa Barbara, California, which had a population then of about 3,000, and he purchased a local newspaper, the Santa Barbara Press, from , effective March 11 of that year.[3] He gave up journalism temporarily in 1879 when he was offered the post of chief government agent or special treasury agent[4] of the Northern Seal Islands, now known as the Pribilof Islands, in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the newly acquired territory of Alaska. He left that position in 1881 to return to Santa Barbara.[1]
Otis was editing his newspaper there when he went to Los Angeles – a larger city with a population of some 12,500 – and agreed with the firm of Yarnell, Caystile & Mathes to take over editorial responsibilities at the Los Angeles Daily Times, now the Los Angeles Times. Beginning August 1, 1882, he was to "have the editorial conduct of the Daily Times and Weekly Mirror," according to an announcement in the Times.[5] Later the company was named Times-Mirror, and on April 6, 1886, it was reorganized, with Albert McFarland and W.A. Spalding as owners and Otis as president and general manager.[6] That was Otis's official title at the time of his death in 1917. The Times story about his demise noted that the Times-Mirror Company was "publishers [sic] of the Los Angeles Daily Times." The article called Otis the "principal owner" of the newspaper but never referred to him as publisher.[7][8] Eleven years earlier, however the Associated Press had called him "publisher of the Los Angeles Times."[9]
Otis was known for his conservative political views, which were reflected in the paper. His home was one of three buildings that were targeted in the 1910 Los Angeles Times bombing. During his time as publisher of the Times Otis is known for coining the phrase "You are either with me, or against me."
Later life[]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/Harrison_Gray_Otis_statue.jpg/150px-Harrison_Gray_Otis_statue.jpg)
When the Spanish–American War broke out in 1898, Otis asked President William McKinley for an appointment as Assistant Secretary of War. But Secretary of War Russell A. Alger did not want the conservative Otis serving under him. Otis thereupon again volunteered for the Army and was appointed brigadier general of volunteers. He served in the Philippines. He did not see any action against the Spanish, but commanded the 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, VIII Corps during the Philippine–American War.
His support for his adopted city was instrumental in the growth of the city. He was a member of a group of investors who bought land in the San Fernando Valley based on inside knowledge that the Los Angeles Aqueduct would soon irrigate it.[10]
Otis and his son-in-law Harry Chandler and others formed the Colorado River Land Company, which bought land in the Mexicali Valley of Baja California at the turn of the twentieth century when Mexico's President Porfirio Díaz encouraged foreign investment to develop the country. The company weathered the Mexican Revolution (1910–20), but the rich agricultural land held in foreign hands was expropriated by the Mexican government during its postrevolutionary land reform.[11]
On December 23, 1916, General Harrison Gray Otis, donated his spacious Wilshire Boulevard home across the street from MacArthur Park, known as the Bivouac, to Los Angeles County to be used “continuously and perpetually for the Arts and advancement of the Arts.” The Otis Art Institute of the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science, and Art eventually became Otis College of Art and Design. The home was torn down in the 1950s, but the school built new buildings and occupied the space until 1997. It is now the site of a public elementary school.[12]
He died on July 30, 1917 at the home of his son-in-law, Harry Chandler.[13]
See also[]
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Hamersly, Lewis Randolph (July 29, 1905). "Biographical sketches of distingushed officers of the army and navy". New York, L.R. Hamersly – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "Eliza A Otis." Magazine of Poetry: A Quarterly Review. October 1892: 375. Print. Vol. IV No. 4.
- ^ Ed Ainsworth, "Pair Honored by Press Had Interwoven Careers," Los Angeles Times, December 3, 1961, p. J-1 A library card is required to access this link.
- ^ "Bering Sea Controversy," Los Angeles Times, April 25, 1892, p. 6 A library card is required to access this link.
- ^ "Business Announcement," Los Angeles Times, July 28, 1882, p. 2 A library card is required to access this link.
- ^ "Fourteen Years of Progress," Los Angeles Times, December 4, 1895, p. 9 A library card is required to access this link.
- ^ "Gen. Otis Presents Candid Statement," Los Angeles Times, September 9, 1914, p. II-1A library card is required to access this link.
- ^ "Gen. Harrison Gray Otis Is Suddenly Called by Death," Los Angeles Times, July 31, 1917, p. II-1A library card is required to access this link.
- ^ "The Memorial," Los Angeles Times, February 18, 1896, p. 1 A library card is required to access this link.
- ^ Mulholland, Catherine. The Owensmouth Baby – The Making of the San Fernando Valley Santa Susana Press, California, 1987; pp. 18–20.
- ^ Dwyer, John J. The Agrarian Dispute: The Expropriation of American-Owned Rural Land in Postrevolutionary Mexico. Duham: Duke University Press 2008.
- ^ "A Glimpse of the Past". Otis College of Art and Design. Otis College of Art and Design. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
- ^ "Sudden Death Strikes Harrison Gray Otis. Owner of Los Angeles Times Noted for Hostility to Union Labor". The New York Times. July 1, 1917. Retrieved 2010-08-05.
General Harrison Gray Otis, president and general manager of The Los Angeles Times, died today at the home of his son-in-law, Harry Chandler.
External links[]
- PBS biography
- Otis biography in the Bancroft Library
- Harrison Gray Otis Album of California Scenes, around 1890–1910, in the Bancroft Library
- Historic Los Angeles – Wilshire Blvd. When It Was Residential (for pictures of his home)
- 1837 births
- 1917 deaths
- 19th-century American newspaper publishers (people)
- American military personnel of the Spanish–American War
- American newspaper publishers (people)
- Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery
- California Republicans
- History of Los Angeles
- Los Angeles Times people
- Otis family
- Businesspeople from Los Angeles
- People from Medina County, Ohio
- Union Army soldiers
- Kentucky Republicans
- People from Marietta, Ohio