Frederick H. Rindge

Frederick Hastings Rindge (1857 – 1905) was an American businessman, philanthropist, and writer, of Los Angeles, California. He was a major benefactor to his home town of Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Rindge was born in Cambridge, the only surviving son of the six children of Samuel B. Rindge and Clarissa Harrington. He grew up in the "Rindge mansion," still standing at the corner of Dana and Harvard Streets in Cambridge, entered Harvard College in 1875 and graduated in 1880, then spent several years traveling through Europe and America, including a brief period as a Colorado sheep rancher. In 1883 he inherited his father's estate, then worth nearly $3 million.

In 1887, Mayor William Russell of Cambridge, a Harvard friend, requested Rindge's help in funding a new public library. Rindge responded in July 1887 with an offer of land and full funding for Cambridge's public library. Later that year he enlarged his offer to the three additional buildings: a new city hall (now the Cambridge City Hall), a Manual Training School (now Cambridge Rindge and Latin School), and a proposed high school (not built). He also paid the bulk of the costs for the Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church. Today Rindge is commemorated in Cambridge through the high school, Rindge Avenue, Rindgefield Street, and Rindge Towers, a public housing project.

Also in 1887 Rindge married 22 year old Rhoda May Knight of Michigan, and they moved to 1941 W. 25th Street and then 2263 Harvard Boulevard in Los Angeles, California; both are now historic monuments. There they had three children: Samuel Knight Rindge, Frederick Hastings Rindge, Jr., and Rhoda Agatha Rindge. In 1892 Rindge purchased the 13,330 acre (54 km²) Spanish Land Grant named "Rancho Topanga Malibu Simi Sequit" or "Malibu Rancho", in Malibu, California, for the reputed figure of $300,000. He later expanded it to 17,000 acres (69 km²) as Rindge Ranch. It is currently named the Adamson House [ [http://www.adamsonhouse.org/ Welcome to the Adamson House ] at www.adamsonhouse.org] and is on the National Registry of Historic Places. The Rindges also had a vacation home in Marblehead, Massachusetts.

Rindge founded the Conservative Life Insurance Company (now Pacific Life), and was a vice-president of Union Oil Company, a director of the Los Angeles Edison Electric Company (later Southern California Edison Company), and President of the Harvard Club of Los Angeles. His investments included land near Stockton, California and real estate holdings in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, and the state of Sinaloa, Mexico.

Frederick H. Rindge is interred in Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery, Los Angeles.

Selected works

*"Happy Days in Southern California" (1898) [ [http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupid?key=olbp27148 The Online Books Page: Happy Days in Southern California, by Frederick Hastings Rindge ] at onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu]

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