Harris Newmark was a Prussian-American businessman, philanthropist, and historian. Born in the West Prussian city of Löbau, Newmark emigrated to the United States in 1853, sailed from Europe to New York City to San Francisco, and finally settled in Los Angeles. The Newmark clan was one of the founding families of the Los Angeles area. Newmark's memoir, Sixty Years in Southern California: 1853–1913, has been cited in dozens of academic papers and books, and is considered to be the Los Angeles equivalent of a Pepys diary.
Early years
Newmark was the son of Phillip and Esther Newmark. Phillip Newmark was born in Neumark, West Prussia, and traveled to Sweden and Denmark to sell his ink and blackening products. He made a sales trip to New York City in 1837, but became ill and returned home in 1838. His son Joseph P. Newmark, Harris's brother, emigrated to California in 1848, and beckoned Harris to follow. Many Newmark relatives already resided there. Newmark took the advice, and sailed for New York City. He then boarded a second ship for California, crossed the isthmus of Nicaragua with Leopold Harris, who would found the Harris & Frankdepartment stores, and arrived in San Francisco in October 1853. He eventually made it to Los Angeles, where he took his first American job as a clerk for his brother Joseph P. at his partnership Rich & Newmark, a dry goods emporium. '' September 21, 1854. Harris Newmark clerked for his brother Joseph P. Newmark at Rich & Newmark. Lazard & Kremer would become the "City of Paris" store. At the time, Newmark had limited English-language skills; he spoke German, Swedish, and had picked up the Spanish language while en route to and in California. In 1854, his uncle Joseph Newmark arrived in Los Angeles with his wife and six children. They provided Newmark with a home, and his aunt taught Newmark how to read, write, and spell in English. On March 24, 1858, he married his cousin Sarah in the family home; his uncle Joseph officiated, and consequently became Harris' father-in-law.
Businessman
Newmark developed several successful businesses, which employed most if not all of a near-inexhaustible list of Newmark family members. Newmark was chiefly a grocer and dry goods merchant, but he also dabbled in other fields. He even tried sheep farming, but he was preoccupied with the burgeoning real estate opportunities to be had in the Los Angeles area. Newmark bought and sold properties throughout southern California, and made a fortune in the process. Upon arrival in Los Angeles he clerked for his brother Joseph P. at Rich & Newmark. In 1854, he opened a clothing store on south side of Commercial St. and east of Main St. in what had been the Prudent Beaudry building owned by Mateo Keller. For eight years he had several partners in this venture. In 1862, he went into the commission business instead. At the end of 1885, Newmark retired from the grocery business to devote more time to his real estate and investment pursuits. In 1886, he and five well-known businessmen—Newmark, his nephew Kaspare Cohn, John D. Bicknell, Stephen M. White, and I.W. Hellman—purchased a ranch located in East Los Angeles called Rancho Repetto. The land had been owned by an Italian settler named Alessandro Repetto, who bequeathed the ranch to his brother Antonio. Newmark's group bought the inheritance for US$60,000, or about $12 per acre. In May 1899, Newmark subdivided the tract owned by himself and his nephew, after contracting with William Mulholland to design and construct a suitable water system for the new settlement. Accounts differ on the actual size of Newmark and Cohn's parcel, but it was somewhere around 1,200 to. A piece of this tract adjacent to the tracks of the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad was developed into a town site called Newmark. The remaining land was subdivided into lots suitable for small-scale agriculture. The entire settlement, including the Newmark town site, was given the name Montebello. When the town incorporated in 1920, Montebello replaced Newmark as the new city's name.
Legacy
Newmark made many contributions to the economy and culture of Los Angeles, and gave his time and his money to causes he felt were worthy. He was one of the founders of the Los Angeles Public Library, was a charter member of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, and was one of the organizers of the Board of Trade, which helped bring railroad service to California. He was the president of Congregation B'nai B'rith in 1887 and a founder of the Jewish Orphans Home of Southern California. Newmark was also instrumental in the establishment of the Southwest Museum, which is now part of the Autry National Center. He and other Newmarks were leaders of the local Odd Fellows and were Masons. Newmark's memoir, Sixty Years in Southern California, was assembled with the assistance of his sons and a Pasadena historian. It has been called "one of the great autobiographies" by an American Jewish writer, and "the single most valuable memoir" about southern California in the nineteenth century. The American Memory project of the Library of Congress has the entire memoir available online. Harris Newmark High School, a continuation high school in the Los Angeles Unified School District is named in his honor, as is the Harris Newmark Building in downtown Los Angeles. Now called the New Mart building, the edifice was the first high-rise structure in the city, and was built in 1928 by Newmark's sons. The Braly Block at Second and Springs streets was the city's first highrise, circa 1904. Between then and the late 1950s, the only higher building that was allowed constructed was city hall. The city council imposed a height limit of 150 feet at the height of the city beautiful movement Newmark was the grandfather of Los Angeles lawyer Joseph P. Loeb, who also proofread his memoir book.
