Prudent Beaudry

Prudent Beaudry (1818 – 1893) served as mayor of Los Angeles, California from 1874 to 1876. A native of Quebec, he was the second French American mayor of Los Angeles, after Damien Marchessault.

A street in downtown Los Angeles is named after him.

Biography

Prudent Beaudry was born in a wealthy French Canadian family [http://www.calarchives4u.com/biographies/losangeles/la-beau.htm] . After studying in Montreal, he went to New York City to pursue graduate studies in business school. In the aftermath of the Rebellions of 1837 that shook the province of Quebec, he travelled in the United States and promoted the idea of annexing Canada to the United States. Around 1840, he settled to New Orleans where he gained additional experience in commercial activities. In 1842, he returned to Montreal and created with his brothers an import-export business. Because he was responsible of buying stocks, Prudent Beaudry frequently needed to travel in Europe.

His younger brother, Victor, left to San Francisco in the core of the California Gold Rush, and compelled Prudent to join him in order to take advantage of the growing economic activities. After selling his parts in the Montreal business to his older brothers, Prudent Beaudry moved to San Franscisco and invested all $26.000 of the deal in various enterprises oriented to fulfill the needs of the Gold Rush minors, including retail store, transportation, and funeral company. This was the oldest funeral firm in the California State and still operates today under the name of McAvoy O’Hara & Evergreen Mortuary [http://www.mcavoyohara.com/] .

Two successful fires and insufficient insurance left the retail enterprise with only $1000 left of stock. In 1853, Prudent moved alone to Los Angeles, and succeeded in creating back a respectful floating capital. In 1854, Prudent decided to invest in capital assets in addition to his retail store. He bought different parts of land and constituted the "Beaudry Blocks". The rents of his assets will yield him $1000 per month.

In 1855, after Victor joined him back again, Prudent Beaudry left to Europe in order to consult a Parisian oculist for health problems. He rested in Montreal for five years, limiting his activity. In 1861, Victor received a lucrative offer to furnish the Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War. This offer forced Prudent to get back to Los Angeles and take charge again of his business. His profits by that time amounted to a few thousand dollars per year, a considerable amount for the time. Prudent Beaudry decided to invest in silver mine, but this investment failed after it burnt completely when the Californian Natives retaliated from European massacres.

Prudent Beaudry then decided to take all of his savings to buy vast lands in the cheap, desert lots uphill of Los Angeles, which had the quality of offering outstanding sight of the ocean. He further bought lands near the Sierra Nevada, and built a self-made aqueduct in order to redirect several streams flowing from the mountain to his new lands. He owned a great deal of real estate in downtown Los Angeles mainly around Temple Street, Arcadia region, and on Bellevue road. Moreover, Beaudry got interested in architecture and urbanism, and so decided to get involved in town and country planning, notably by planting many new trees and making plans of luxurious mansions as well as humble homes. The quality of his work is rapidly recognized, and the upgraded lands are sold with very large profit.

His success brought him the recognition of his peers. In 1873, he became the first president of the Board of Trades of Los Angeles. In 1874, he became mayor of Los Angeles, during which times, coincidentally his brother Jean-Louis Beaudry was also the mayor of Montreal.

Later in his life, Beaudry decided to get involved in exporting water, but a bankruptcy of the partner bank ruined the project. Beaudry also invested in "cable cars" (tramways) for the people moving up and down around the surrounding hills of Los Angeles. But most of his free time was dedicated to architecture. He died in 1893, at Los Angeles. The L.A. Times praised him as one of the most visionary men of Los Angeles. Following his will, his body was brought back and buried in Montreal.

The Los Angeles County made the following praise of Prudent Beaudry: [http://www.calarchives4u.com/biographies/losangeles/la-beau.htm]

Prudent Beaudry has the record of having made in different lines five large fortunes, four of which, through the act of God, or by the duplicity of man, in whom he had trusted, have been lost; but even then he was not discouraged, but faced the world, even at an advanced age, like a lion at bay, and his reward he now enjoys in the shape of a large and assured fortune. Of such stuff are the men who fill great places, and who develop and make a country. To such men we of this later day owe much of the beauty and comfort that surround us, and to such we should look with admiration as models upon which to form rules of action in trying times.

References

*Antoine Bernard, "Nos pionniers de l’Ouest", Presses de la survivance française de l’Université Laval, 1992.
*Joseph Tassé, "Des Canadiens de l’Ouest", Compagnie d’imprimerie canadienne, 1878.
*Collective, History of Los Angeles County, retrieved on 01-29-2008, http://www.calarchives4u.com/biographies/losangeles/la-beau.htm