View source for Leland Stanford

{{Short description|Governor of California from 1862 to 1863}}
{{Redirect|Senator Stanford}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Use American English|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name        = Leland Stanford
|image       = Leland Stanford, photographed in 1890 (cropped).jpg
|caption     = Stanford in 1890
|jr/sr       = United States Senator
|state       = [[California]]
|term_start  = March 4, 1885
|term_end    = June 21, 1893
|predecessor = [[James T. Farley]]
|successor   = [[George Clement Perkins]]
|order1      = 8th
|office1     = Governor of California
|term_start1 = January 10, 1862
|term_end1   = December 10, 1863
|lieutenant1 = [[John F. Chellis]]
|predecessor1= [[John Gately Downey]]
|successor1  = [[Frederick Ferdinand Low]]
|birth_name  = Amasa Leland Stanford
|birth_date  = {{Birth date|1824|3|9|mf=y}}
|birth_place = [[Watervliet (town), New York|Watervliet, New York]], U.S.
|death_date  = {{death date and age|1893|6|21|1824|3|9}}
|death_place = [[Palo Alto, California]], U.S.
|party       = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] (from 1856)
|otherparty  = [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] (until 1856)
|spouse      = {{marriage|[[Jane Stanford|Jane Elizabeth Lathrop]]|September 30, 1850}}
|children    = [[Leland Stanford Jr.|Leland Jr.]]
|alma_mater  = [[Cazenovia College|Cazenovia Seminary]]
|occupation  = {{hlist|Politician|Businessman}}
|signature   = Leland Stanford Signature.svg
}}

'''Amasa Leland Stanford''' (March 9, 1824{{spaced ndash}}June 21, 1893) was an American attorney, industrialist, philanthropist, and [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] politician from [[Watervliet, New York]]. He served as the eighth [[governor of California]] from 1862 to 1863 and represented the state in the [[United States Senate]] from 1885 until his death in 1893. Stanford and his wife [[Jane Stanford|Jane]] founded [[Stanford University]], named after [[Leland Stanford Jr.|their late son]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Burlingame | first=Dwight | title=Philanthropy in America: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia | publisher=ABC-CLIO | date=August 19, 2004 | page=[https://archive.org/details/philanthropyinam00sant/page/456 456] | url=https://archive.org/details/philanthropyinam00sant/page/456 | via=Internet Archive | isbn=978-1-57607-860-0}}</ref>

Stanford became a successful merchant and wholesaler after migrating to California in 1852 during [[California gold rush|the gold rush]]; he built a [[commerce|business]] empire. Stanford was an influential executive of the [[Central Pacific Railroad]] and later of the [[Southern Pacific Railroad|Southern Pacific]] railroads from 1861 to 1890; these positions gave him tremendous power in the [[Western United States]] which left a lasting impact on California.<ref>
{{cite book | last=Tuterow | first=Norman E. | title=The governor: the life and legacy of Leland Stanford, a California colossus, Volume 2 | year=2004 | publisher=Arthur H. Clark Co. | location = Spokane, Washington| page=1146}}
</ref>{{request quotation|date=November 2024}}<ref>
{{cite book | editor-last=Carlisle | editor-first=Rodney P. | title=Handbook to Life in America, Vol. 4| date=April 2009 | publisher=Facts on File | page=8}}
</ref>{{request quotation|date=November 2024}}<ref>
{{cite book | last=Cummings | first=Bruce | title=Dominion from Sea to Sea: Pacific Ascendancy and American Power | year=2009 | publisher=Yale University Press  | location = New Haven | chapter = Manifest Destiny's Offspring: Gold, the Continental Railroad, Texas| page= 105 | isbn = 9780300154979 | quote = [...] other forty-niners parlayed their gold rush earnings into world-historical fortunes. Each has a name instantly associated with contemporary California: [...] Leland Stanford (the university) [...].}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite book | last=Lindsay | first=David | title= Madness in the Making: The Triumphant Rise and Untimely Fall of America's Show Inventors| year=2005 | isbn = 9780595347667 | publisher=iUniverse |publication-place = Lincoln, Nebraska | edition = reprint | orig-date = 1997 | chapter = Anatomical museums | page=214 | quote = The ex-governor of California, president of both the Central Pacific Railroad and the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, Stanford was a classic robber baron, who owned two hundred horses, a palatial Palo Alto estate, and his own private race course.}}
</ref>{{failed verification|date=November 2024}}<ref name="Goethals, George R. page 897">
{{cite book
 |last1                = Allison
 |first1               = Scott T. 
 |last2                = Eylon
 |first2               = Dafna
 |last3                = Markus
 |first3               = Michael J.
 | editor-last1=Goethals | editor-first1=George R. | display-authors=et al. | title=Encyclopedia of Leadership, Volume 2| date = 29 February 2004 | publisher=Sage Publications | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=v3uiCQAAQBAJ | page=897 | chapter = Legacy |isbn = 978-1-4522-6530-8 
 | quote = The Rockefeller family, the industrialist Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919), and the railroad magnate Amasa Leland Stanford (1824-1893) were other late-nineteenth-century men and women of wealth and power who left sizable philanthropic legacies, perhaps spurred into giving by the pejorative label robber baron.}}
</ref>
Stanford also played a significant role as a shareholder and executive in the early history of [[Pacific Life]] and [[Wells Fargo]]. He was the first [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] governor of California. Stanford is widely considered a [[robber baron (industrialist)|robber baron]].<ref name="Tuterow, Norman E. 2004">{{cite book| last=Tuterow| first=Norman E.| title=The governor: the life and legacy of Leland Stanford, a California colossus, Volume 2| year=2004| publisher=Arthur H. Clark Co.| page=1146}}</ref><ref name="Carlisle, Rodney P. page 8">{{cite book| editor-last=Carlisle| editor-first=Rodney P.| title=Handbook to Life in America, Vol. 4| date=April 2009| publisher=Facts on File| page=8}}</ref><ref name="Cummings, Bruce page 672">{{cite book| last=Cummings| first=Bruce| title=Dominion from Sea to Sea: Pacific Ascendancy and American Power| year=2009| publisher=Yale University Press| page=672}}</ref><ref name="Lindsay, David page 214">{{cite book| last=Lindsay| first=David| title=Madness in the Making| year=2005| publisher=Universe| page=214}}</ref><ref name="Goethals, George R. page 897"/>

==Early life and career==
Leland Stanford was born in 1824 in what was then [[Watervliet (town), New York|Watervliet]], New York (now the Town of [[Colonie (town), New York|Colonie]]). He was one of eight children of Josiah and Elizabeth Phillips Stanford. Among his siblings were New York State Senator [[Charles Stanford (politician)|Charles Stanford]] (1819–1885) and Australian businessman and spiritualist [[Thomas Welton Stanford]] (1832–1918). His ancestor, Thomas Stanford, settled in [[Charlestown, Massachusetts]], in the 17th century.<ref name="DictAmBio501">{{cite book| title=Dictionary of American Biography| volume=XVII| page=501| location=New York| publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons| year=1935}}</ref> Later ancestors settled in the eastern [[Mohawk Valley]] of central New York about 1720.

Stanford's father was a farmer of some means. Stanford was raised on family farms in the [[Lisha Kill, New York|Lisha Kill]] and [[Roessleville, New York|Roessleville]] (after 1836) areas of Watervliet. The family home in Roessleville was called Elm Grove. The Elm Grove home was razed in the 1940s. Stanford attended the common school until 1836 and was tutored at home until 1839. He attended [[Clinton Liberal Institute]], in [[Clinton, Oneida County, New York|Clinton, New York]], and studied law at [[Cazenovia College|Cazenovia Seminary]] in [[Cazenovia (village), New York|Cazenovia, New York]], in 1841 to 1845. In 1845, Stanford entered the law office of Wheaton, Doolittle, and Hadley in [[Albany, New York|Albany]].<ref name="DictAmBio501" />

After being admitted to the bar in 1848, Stanford moved with many other settlers to [[Port Washington, Wisconsin]], where he began a law practice with Wesley Pierce.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://landmarkhunter.com/185514-port-washington-downtown-historic-district/| website=LandmarkHunter.com| title=Port Washington Downtown Historic District| access-date=October 3, 2012| archive-date=March 10, 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190310150257/http://landmarkhunter.com/185514-port-washington-downtown-historic-district/| url-status=dead}}</ref> His father presented him with a law library said to be the finest north of [[Milwaukee]].<ref name="DictAmBio501" /> In 1850, Stanford was nominated by the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]] as [[Washington County, Wisconsin]], district attorney.

==Businesses==
In 1852, having lost his law library and other property to a fire, Stanford followed his five brothers to California during the [[California gold rush]]. His wife, Jane, returned (temporarily) to Albany and her family. Stanford went into business with his brothers and became the keeper of a general store for [[miners]] in [[Michigan City, California]], later the name changed to Michigan Bluff in [[Placer County, California|Placer County]]; later, he had a wholesale house. Stanford served as a [[justice of the peace]] and helped organize the [[Sacramento]] Library Association, which later became the Sacramento Public Library. In 1855, he returned to Albany to join his wife, but found the pace too slow after the excitement of developing California.

=== Central Pacific and Southern Pacific railroads ===
[[File:San Francisco Pacific Railroad Bond WPRR 1865.jpg|thumb|left|Pacific Railroad Bond, City, and County of San Francisco, 1865]] In 1856, Stanford and his wife moved to [[Sacramento]], where he engaged in mercantile pursuits on a large scale. Stanford was one of the four merchants known popularly as "[[The Big Four (Central Pacific Railroad)|The Big Four]]" (or among themselves as "'''''the Associates'''''"), who were the key investors in Chief Engineer [[Theodore Dehone Judah]]'s plan for the [[Central Pacific Railroad]]. The five of them incorporated it on June 28, 1861, and Stanford was elected as its president. The other three associates were [[Charles Crocker]], [[Mark Hopkins (railroad)|Mark Hopkins]], and [[Collis Potter Huntington|Collis P. Huntington]]. 
The Central Pacific's first locomotive, named ''[[Gov. Stanford]]'' in his honor, is preserved on static display at the [[California State Railroad Museum]], in Sacramento.<ref name="DictAmBio502">{{cite journal |last1=Powers |first1=William H. |year=1929 |title=Dictionary of American Biography |journal=Science |volume=XVII |issue=1805 |pages=121–2 |bibcode=1929Sci....70..121P |doi=10.1126/science.70.1805.121 |pmid=17813847}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| first=Keith| last=Wheeler| title=The Railroaders| url=https://archive.org/details/railroaders00time| url-access=registration| pages=[https://archive.org/details/railroaders00time/page/60 60–61]| location=New York| publisher=Time-Life Books| year=1973}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| first1=Timothy S.| last1=Dieberg| first2=Joseph A.| last2=Strapac| title=Southern Pacific Company Steam Locomotive Compendium| year=1987| publisher=Shade Tree Books| location=Huntington Beach, CA| isbn=0-930742-12-5| pages=25, 33}}</ref>

Stanford ran unsuccessfully for governor of California in 1859. He was nominated again in 1861 and won the election. Due to the [[Great Flood of 1862]], Stanford had to row to his inauguration in a rowboat.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Zhong |first=Raymond |date=2022-08-15 |title=Why the 'Big One' Could Be Something Other Than an Earthquake |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/15/us/california-superstorm.html |access-date=2022-09-18 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> He served one term, then limited to two years.

While the Central Pacific was under construction, Stanford and his associates in 1868 acquired control of the [[Southern Pacific Railroad]]. Stanford was elected president of the Southern Pacific, a post he held until 1890 (except for a brief period in 1869–1870 when Tevis was acting president) when Stanford was ousted by [[Collis Huntington]].

[[File:Leland Stanford and CPRR Officers 1870.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Leland Stanford and the officers of the CPRR in 1870]]As head of the railroad company that built the western portion of the "[[First Transcontinental Railroad (North America)|First Transcontinental Railroad]]" from [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]] eastward over the [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada mountains]] in California to Nevada and Utah, Stanford presided at the ceremonial driving of "[[golden spike|Last Spike]]" in [[Promontory, Utah]], on May 10, 1869. The grade of the CPRR met that of the [[Union Pacific Railroad]], which had been built westward from its eastern terminus at [[Council Bluffs, Iowa]]/[[Omaha, Nebraska]]. He was even given the honor of driving the final spike.

Stanford moved with his family from Sacramento to San Francisco in 1874, where he assumed presidency of the [[Occidental and Oriental Steamship Company]], the steamship line to Japan and China associated with the Central Pacific.<ref name=NatCycofAmBio>{{cite book| title=The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography| volume=II| page=129| location=New York| publisher=James T. White & Company| year=1899| edition=reprint| orig-year=1891}}</ref>

The [[Southern Pacific Company]] was organized in 1884 as a holding company for the Central Pacific-Southern Pacific system. Stanford was president of the Southern Pacific Company from 1885 until 1890 when he was forced out of that post (as well as the presidency of the Southern Pacific Railroad) by Collis Huntington, the company's ranking vice president and the corporate directorate. That was thought to be retaliation for Stanford's election to the [[US Senate]] in 1885 over Huntington's friend, [[Aaron A. Sargent]].<ref name="DictAm"/>

Stanford was elected chairman of the Southern Pacific Railroad's executive committee in 1890, and he held this post and the presidency of the Central Pacific Railroad until his death.<ref name="DictAm">{{cite journal| title=Dictionary of American Biography| journal=Science| volume=XVII| issue=1805| pages=121–122| bibcode=1929Sci....70..121P| last1=Powers| first1=William H.| year=1929| doi=10.1126/science.70.1805.121| pmid=17813847}}</ref>

=== Other interests ===
In May 1868, Stanford joined [[Lloyd Tevis]], [[Darius Ogden Mills]], H.D. Bacon, Hopkins, and Crocker in forming the Pacific Union Express Company. It merged in 1870 with [[Wells Fargo and Company]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Loomis |first=Noel M. |title=Wells Fargo |publisher=Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. |year=1968 |location=New York |pages=199–200 |author-link=Noel Loomis}}</ref> Stanford was a director of Wells Fargo and Company from 1870 to January 1884. After a brief retirement from the board, he served again from February 1884 to his death in June 1893.{{sfn|Loomis|1968|pp=215, 255, 270}} Also in May 1868, Stanford started the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company (now [[Pacific Life]]) and served as its first president from 1868 to 1876.

Stanford owned two wineries, the [[Leland Stanford Winery]] in [[Alameda County, California|Alameda County]] founded in 1869, and run and later inherited by his brother Josiah, and the {{convert|55000|acre|km2|0}} [[Rancho Bosquejo|Great Vina Ranch]] in [[Tehama County, California|Tehama County]], containing what was then the largest vineyard in the world at {{convert|3575|acre|km2|0}} and given to Stanford University.<ref>{{cite book| first=Thomas| last=Pinney| year=1989| title=A History of Wine in America from the Beginnings to Prohibition| volume=1| publisher=University of California Press| isbn=978-0-520-06224-5}}</ref>{{page needed|date=August 2019}}
[[Image:The_Horse_in_Motion_high_res.jpg|left|thumb|Muybridge's ''[[The Horse in Motion]],'' 1878]]

Stanford was also interested in horses and owned the [[Rancho Esquon|Gridley tract]] of {{convert|17800|acre|km2|0}} in [[Butte County, California|Butte County]]. In [[Santa Clara County, California|Santa Clara County]], he founded his [[Palo Alto Stock Farm]].<ref name=NatCycofAmBio /><ref>{{cite journal| title=Dictionary of American Biography| journal=Science| volume=XVII| issue=1805| bibcode=1929Sci....70..121P| last1=Powers| first1=William H.| pages=121–2| year=1929| doi=10.1126/science.70.1805.121| pmid=17813847}}</ref> Stanford bred [[Standardbred]] horses to be raced as trotters, including his chief sire, Electioneer (sired by [[Hambletonian 10|Hambletonian]])<ref name="electioneer">{{cite web |title=ELECTIONEER |url=https://harnessmuseum.com/content/electioneer |website=Harness Museum |access-date=July 6, 2018 }}</ref> and his winning offspring: Arion,<ref name="arion">{{cite web |title=ARION |url=https://harnessmuseum.com/content/arion |website=Harness Museum |access-date=July 6, 2018 }}</ref> Sunol,<ref name="sunol">{{cite web |title=SUNOL |url=https://harnessmuseum.com/content/sunol |website=Harness Museum |access-date=July 6, 2018}}</ref> Palo Alto, and Chimes<ref name="chimes">{{cite web |title=CHIMES |url=https://harnessmuseum.com/content/chimes |website=Harness Museum |access-date=July 6, 2018}}</ref> (out of Stanford's best known dam Beautiful Bells<ref name="bells">{{cite web |title=BEAUTIFUL BELLS |url=https://harnessmuseum.com/content/beautiful-bells |website=Harness Museum |access-date=July 6, 2018}}</ref>); and [[Thoroughbreds]] for flat racing. In 1872, Stanford commissioned the photographer [[Eadweard Muybridge]] to undertake scientific studies of the gaits of horses at a trot and gallop at the Agricultural Park racetrack in Sacramento. Images of the horses' feet were captured there, later moving to his Palo Alto Stock Farm. Stanford wanted to determine if the horses ever had all four feet off the ground at the same time. The result was the proto-film ''[[Sallie Gardner at a Gallop]]'' (1878). As the [[Palo Alto]] breeding farm was later developed into the [[Stanford University]], the university was nicknamed "The Farm."

==Politics==
Stanford was politically active and became a leading member of the [[United States Republican Party|Republican Party]]. In 1856, he met with other Whig politicians in Sacramento on April 30 to organize the [[California Republican Party]] at its first state convention. Stanford was chosen as a delegate to the Republican Party convention that selected US presidential electors in both 1856 and 1860. He was defeated in his 1857 bid for California state treasurer, and his 1859 bid for the office of governor of California. In 1860, Stanford was named a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Chicago, but did not attend. He was elected governor in a second campaign in 1861.<ref name="DictAmBio502" />

===Governor of California===
[[File:Portrait of Leland Stanford Trim.jpg|thumb|right|Stanford {{circa}} 1860s]]
Stanford was elected the eighth [[List of California Governors|Governor of California]], serving from January 1862 to December 1863, and the first Republican governor. Due to the [[Great Flood of 1862]], the governor was said to have needed to row in a boat to his own inauguration. A large, slow-speaking man who always read from a prepared text, he impressed his listeners as being more sincere than a glib, extemporaneous speaker.<ref>{{cite book| first=Cleveland| last=Amory| title=Who Killed Society?| page=430| location=New York| publisher=Harper & Brothers| year=1960}}</ref>{{sfn|Wheeler|1973|p=56}}

During his gubernatorial tenure, Stanford cut the state's debt in half and advocated for the conservation of forests. He also oversaw the establishment of California's first state [[normal school]] in San Jose, later to become [[San Jose State University]]. Following Stanford's governorship, the term of office changed from two years to four years, in line with legislation passed during his time in office.

====Native Americans====
The ongoing [[California genocide|eradication of the Native Americans living in California]] continued under Stanford's administration.<ref name="madley">{{cite book |last1=Madley |first1=Benjamin |title=An American genocide : the United States and the California Indian catastrophe, 1846-1873 |date=2016 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |isbn=9780300230697}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.history.com/news/californias-little-known-genocide| title=California's little known genocide| date=July 11, 2023}}</ref> He did sign into law an act reversing part of the 1850 [[Act for the Government and Protection of Indians]] that allowed the enslavement of Native Americans.<ref name="magliari">{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1525/phr.2012.81.2.155| volume = 81| issue = 2| pages = 155–192| last = Magliari| first = Michael F.| title = Free State Slavery: Bound Indian Labor and Slave Trafficking in California's Sacramento Valley, 1850–1864| journal = Pacific Historical Review| accessdate = 2022-02-08| date = 2012-05-01| url = https://online.ucpress.edu/phr/article/81/2/155/66851/Free-State-Slavery-Bound-Indian-Labor-and-Slave| url-access = subscription}}</ref>  However, Stanford also continued the prosecution of the [[Bald Hills War]] in Northern California.

====Chinese immigrants====
The gold strike in California had brought a large influx of newcomers into the territory, including Chinese immigrants, who faced persecution.<ref>{{cite book| last=Asbury| first=Herbert| title=The Barbary Coast| publisher=Basic Books| year=2008| page=143}}</ref> Anti-Chinese sentiment became a political issue over time. In a message to the legislature in January 1862, Governor Stanford said:

{{blockquote|text=To my mind it is clear, that the settlement among us of an inferior race is to be discouraged by every legitimate means. Asia, with her numberless millions, sends to our shores the dregs of her population. Large numbers of this class are already here; and, unless we do something early to check their immigration, the question, which of the two tides of immigration, meeting upon the shores of the Pacific, shall be turned back, will be forced upon our consideration, when far more difficult than now of disposal. There can be no doubt but that the presence among us of numbers of degraded and distinct people must exercise a deleterious influence upon the superior race, and to a certain extent, repel desirable immigration.<ref>{{cite book| first=Elmer Clarence| last=Sandmeyer| title=The Anti-Chinese Movement in California| publisher=University of Illinois Press| isbn=978-0252062261| year=1991| pages=[https://archive.org/details/antichinesemovem00sand/page/43 43]–44| url=https://archive.org/details/antichinesemovem00sand| url-access=registration| quote=The presence of numbers of that degraded and distinct people would exercise a deleterious effect upon the superior race.| via=Internet Archive}}</ref>}}

Stanford was initially acclaimed for such statements, but lost support when it was revealed that his Central Pacific Railroad was also importing Chinese workers to construct the railroad.{{sfn|Asbury|2008|p=145}}

===United States Senator===
[[File:LelandStanford1890.JPG|thumb|right|180px|Stanford in 1890]]
Later, Stanford served in the [[United States Senate]] from 1885 until his death in 1893. Stanford served for four years as chairman of the [[U.S. Senate Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds]] and on the Naval Committee. He was president and director of the Central Pacific Railroad the entire time he sat in the Senate. Stanford authored several Senate bills that advanced ideas advocated by the [[People's Party (United States)|People's Party]]: a bill to foster the creation of [[worker cooperative|worker-owned cooperatives]],<ref>{{cite news| last=Stanford| first=Leland| title=Co-operation of Labor| newspaper=[[New York Tribune]]| date=May 4, 1887}} Special Collection 33a, Box 7, Folder 74, [[Stanford University]] Archives. [http://dynamics.org/Altenberg/PAPERS/BCLSFV/REFS/Stanford_Cooperation_of_labor.1887.pdf PDF]</ref><ref>Congressional Record, 49 Congress, 2 Sess.: 1804–1805; 51 Congress, 1 Sess.: 2068–2069, 5169–5170, 2 Sess.: 667–668; 52 Congress, 1 Sess.: 468–479, 2684–2686.</ref> and a bill to allow the issuance of currency backed by land value instead of only the [[gold standard]].<ref>{{cite news| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F01E3DD1438E233A25752C3A9659C94639ED7CF| title=The Land Loan Project: Senator Stanford Explains His New Money Scheme| newspaper=The New York Times| date=March 31, 1892}} {{subscription required|date=August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| title=The great question: an interview with Senator Leland Stanford on money| via=worldcat.org|oclc = 7456711}}</ref> Neither bill made it out of committee. In Washington, D.C., he had a residence on Farragut Square near the home of Baron [[Karl de Struve|Karl von Struve]], Russian minister to the United States.

==Stanford University==
{{main|Stanford University}}
With his wife Jane, Stanford founded [[Stanford University|Leland Stanford Junior University]] as a memorial for their only child, [[Leland Stanford Jr.]], who died at age 15 of [[typhoid fever]] in [[Florence]], Italy, in 1884 while on a trip to Europe. The university was established by the Endowment Act of the California Assembly and Senate of March 9, 1885, and the Grant of Endowment from Leland and Jane Stanford signed at the first meeting of the board of trustees on November 14, 1885.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://archive.org/details/lelandstanfordju00stanrich| title=The Leland Stanford, Junior, University| website=Internet Archive| year=1885}} The Act of the Legislature of California. The Grant of Endowment. Address of Leland Stanford to the Trustees. Minutes of the First Meeting of Board of Trustees.</ref>

The Stanfords donated approximately $40 million<ref>{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UhhKAAAAIBAJ&pg=1757%2C3477578| title=Stanford Estate Worth Seven Millions| newspaper=The Evening News| date=April 5, 1905 |via=Google News Archive Search |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230731085331/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UhhKAAAAIBAJ&pg=1757%2C3477578 |archive-date= Jul 31, 2023 }}</ref> (equivalent to approximately ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|40000000|1905|r=-6}}}} today) to develop the university, which held its opening exercises on October 1, 1891, and was intended for agricultural studies. Its first student, admitted to Encina Hall that day, was [[Herbert Hoover]], who went on to become the 31st US president. The wealth of the Stanford family during the late 19th century is estimated at $50&nbsp;million (equivalent to approximately ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|50000000|1900|r=-6}}}} today).

Stanford had ideas of Stanford University employee ownership for more than 30 years before giving them expression in his plans for the university, proposals as a senator, and in interviews with the news media.<ref>{{cite magazine| last=Altenberg| first=Lee| title=Beyond Capitalism: Leland Stanford's Forgotten Vision| magazine=Sandstone and Tile| volume=14| issue=1| pages=8–20| date=Winter 1990| publisher=Stanford Historical Society| location=Stanford, California| url=http://dynamics.org/Altenberg/PAPERS/BCLSFV/| access-date=June 9, 2016}}</ref>

==Personal life and death==
[[File:Stanford's Shoes, Wasp Caricature of Henry Markham, 1893.jpg|thumb|right|Stanford left big shoes to fill according to this caricature of Governor [[Henry Markham]] (charged with appointing his successor) published in ''[[The Wasp (magazine)|The Wasp]]'', July 29, 1893]]
On September 30, 1850, Stanford married [[Jane Stanford|Jane Elizabeth Lathrop]] in Albany, New York. She was the daughter of Dyer Lathrop, a merchant of that city, and Jane Anne (Shields) Lathrop.<ref name="DictAmBio502" /> The couple did not have any children for 18 years, until their only child, a son, [[Leland Stanford Jr.|Leland DeWitt Stanford]], was born in 1868 when his father was 44.<ref name="stanford-jane">{{cite web |title=Jane Stanford: The woman behind Stanford University |url=http://janestanford.stanford.edu/biography.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160521025646/http://janestanford.stanford.edu/biography.html |archive-date=May 21, 2016 |access-date=June 14, 2016 |publisher=Stanford University}}</ref>

Stanford was an active [[Freemason]] from 1850 to 1855, joining the Prometheus Lodge No. 17 in [[Port Washington, Wisconsin]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Famous men members of Masonic Lodges |url=https://pub.acgl.eu/index.php/freemasonry/information |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117142833/https://pub.acgl.eu/index.php/freemasonry/information |archive-date=November 17, 2018 |website=American Canadian Grand Lodge ACGL}}</ref> After moving west, he became a member of the Michigan City Lodge No. 47 in [[Michigan City, California|Michigan Bluff, California]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Denslow |first1=William |title=10,000 Famous Freemasons |volume=IV |date=June 15, 2007 |orig-year=1957 |publisher=Cornerstone Book Publishers |location=New Orleans |isbn=978-1-887560-06-1 |page=390}}</ref> Stanford was also a member of the [[Independent Order of Odd Fellows|Independent Order of Odd Fellows in California]].[[File:Residence of Governor Stanford, Palo Alto, California, 1888 (LAROCHE 12).jpeg|thumb|The Stanford residence in Palo Alto, 1888|left]]
The Stanfords retained ownership of their mansion in Sacramento, where their only son was born in 1868. Now the [[Leland Stanford Mansion State Historic Park]], the house museum is also used for California state social occasions. The Stanfords' home in San Francisco's [[Nob Hill]] district was destroyed in the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake]]; the site is now occupied by the [[Stanford Court Hotel]]. The Stanford residence at the Palo Alto Stock Farm became a convalescent home for children in 1919 (the forerunner of the [[Lucille Packard Children's Hospital]]) and was torn down in 1965.<ref>{{cite web |title=History, Mission and Values |url=https://www.lpch.org/aboutus/HistoryAndMission/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130801171153/https://www.lpch.org/aboutus/HistoryAndMission/index.html |archive-date=August 1, 2013 |website=Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Jane L. Stanford: Timeline |url=http://janestanford.stanford.edu/timeline.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141004020713/http://janestanford.stanford.edu/timeline.html |archive-date=October 4, 2014 |publisher=Stanford University}}</ref>

Long-suffering from [[locomotor ataxia]], Stanford died of heart failure at home in [[Palo Alto, California]], on June 21, 1893; he was 69 years old.<ref>{{cite magazine| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Q0-AQAAMAAJ&q=leland+stanford+locomotor+ataxia&pg=PA403| title=Leland Stanford| magazine=Kate Field's Washington| volume=7| issue=26| date=June 28, 1893| page=403}}</ref> Stanford was buried in the [[Stanford Mausoleum|family mausoleum]] on the Stanford campus. [[Jane Stanford]] died in 1905 after being [[Strychnine poisoning|poisoned with strychnine]].<ref name=NatCycofAmBio /><ref name="DictAm"/>

==Legacy and honors==
In 1862, California volunteer troops re-building a military post at the confluence of the San Pedro River and Aravaipa Creek in Arizona Territory named the post [[Camp Grant, Arizona (formerly Fort Breckinridge, Arizona)|Fort Stanford]] after the governor. However, the post later reverted to its former name, Fort Breckenridge, and in 1866 became [[Camp Grant, Arizona (formerly Fort Breckinridge, Arizona)|Camp Grant]]. In 2008, Stanford was inducted into [[The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts]], [[California Hall of Fame]]. A relative, Tom Stanford, accepted the honors on his behalf.<ref>{{cite news |last=Dancis |first=Bruce |date=May 28, 2008 |title=New California Hall of Fame class includes Fonda, Nicholson |newspaper=Sacramento Bee}}</ref>

The [[Stanford Memorial Church]] on the university campus is dedicated to Stanford's memory. [[Mount Stanford (Fresno and Mono counties, California)|Mount Stanford]], located in California's Sierra Nevada, is named in his honor.<ref>Erwin G. Gudde, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ibMwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA373 California Place Names]'', University of California Press, 2010, {{ISBN|9780520266193}}, page 373.</ref> Central Pacific locomotives named for Stanford were:<ref>{{cite book| first=Stephen E.| last=Ambrose| title=Nothing Like It in the World. The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863–1869| url=https://archive.org/details/nothinglikeitinw00ambr| url-access=registration| pages=[https://archive.org/details/nothinglikeitinw00ambr/page/115 115], 117| location=New York| publisher=Simon & Schuster| year=2000}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| first=Brian| last=Hollingsworth| title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of North American Locomotives| pages=40–41| location=New York| publisher=Crescent Books| year=1984}}</ref>

* ''[[Gov. Stanford]]'', a [[4-4-0]] locomotive built in 1863 by the [[Norris Locomotive Works]] in [[Philadelphia]] and brought to San Francisco by sailing vessel. This engine is preserved at the [[California State Railroad Museum]] in [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]]
* ''[[El Gobernador]]'', a [[4-10-0]] locomotive built in the Central Pacific shops in Sacramento in 1884. Found to be disappointing in its performance as a freight hauler, it was scrapped in July 1894.

[[Mount Stanford (Fresno and Mono counties, California)|Mount Stanford]] in California's [[John Muir Wilderness]] is named for Stanford. This mountain, found in Pioneer Basin, is located near other mountains named for [[Robber baron (industrialist)|robber barons]], including [[Mount Huntington (California)|Mount Huntington]], [[Mount Hopkins (California)|Mount Hopkins]], and [[Mount Crocker]].

==See also==
*[[List of members of the United States Congress who died in office (1790–1899)]]
*[[List of governors of California]]

==Further reading==

* George T. Clark. 1931. ''Leland Stanford, War Governor of California, Railroad Builder, and Founder of Stanford University.'' Stanford University Press.

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Stanford, Leland|year=1900}}
*{{cite book| author-link=Richard White (historian)| last=White| first=Richard| title=Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America| publisher=W. W. Norton & Company| date=2011| isbn=978-0-393-06126-0| url=https://archive.org/details/railroadedtransc00whit_0}}

==External links==
{{commons|Leland Stanford}}
* [http://governors.library.ca.gov/08-Stanford.html Governor Leland Stanford biography] at the [[California State Library]]
* {{CongBio|S000793}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070619190713/http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ca/placer/postcards/stnfrd.jpg Penny Postcards: Leland Stanford's store: Michigan Bluff, California]

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| title= Executive Committee Chairmen<br />[[Southern Pacific Railroad]]
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