Daniel Desmond
Daniel Desmond (b. Oct. 9, 1833, Cork, Ireland – d. January 23, 1903, Los Angeles)[1][2] was an Irish-American retail store owner, the founder of Desmond's, a Los Angeles–based department store, during most of its existence the oldest major retailer in the city, which Mr. Desmond founded as a hat shop in 1862.
Desmond emigrated from Ireland to the U.S. at age 18, settling at Lawrence, Massachusetts. He began hatmaking.
In the second year of the American Civil War and only the 16th year that the United States ruled California, 1862, Daniel Desmond arrived in the state via clipper ship via Cape Horn, Chile, as there was no transcontinental railroad yet. His brother Cornelius[3] was a hatter in San Francisco from at least c.1864[4][5] through 1879, for a time working with their other brother Jeremiah.[6] The shop was variously located at Bush and Sansome (1860s), under the Cosmopolitan Hotel (1869) and under the Grand Hotel (1870s) and/or at new Montgomery at Market streets.[6]
In the 1860s, Los Angeles had a population of less than 4,500, and at some point in that decade, Desmond opened a hat shop on the Los Angeles Plaza. It measured only a few square feet and he was the only employee. Desmond was also a member of the volunteer fire department. The store changed location several times during Daniel Desmond's lifetime.[7] In 1927, the chain, after 65 years in business, started opening branch stores, and would grow to become a major Southern California department store chain, with 19 stores across Greater Los Angeles at its peak, until it finally went out of business in 1981.
Desmond retired due to failing health a few years before his death in 1903, survived by a widow and eight children. His son Cornelius C. Desmond would take over management of the Desmond's store,[8] and another son, J. D. Desmond, also became well-known Los Angeles retailers.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Los Angeles Herald, Volume XXX, Number 113, 25 January 1903
- ^ "13 Mar 1953, 29 - The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved on 16 April 2019.
- ^ Desmond, William (2016). "Some Desmond Families of Old San Francisco, 1849 to 1906" (PDF). Retrieved 29 November 2024.
- ^ Langley, Henry G. (1864). The San Francisco directory for the year . (1864 ed.). San Francisco : Commercial Steam Presses, S.D. Valentine & Sons. p. 43. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
- ^ "1866 Spring and Summer Style of Silk and Fenian Hats introduced by Desmond (advertisement)". The San Francisco Examiner. 5 March 1866. p. 2. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
- ^ a b "Death summons another pioneer". The San Francisco Call and Post. 20 April 1899. p. 12. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
- ^ "Desmond's in Seventy-Sixth Year", Los Angeles Times, 21 Oct 1937, Page 8
- ^ Los Angeles Herald, Volume XLI, Number 312, 30 October 1915