858. Temple & Workman Bank (Los Angeles, CA)

Bank Information

Episode Type
Suspension → Closure
Bank Type
state
Start Date
September 1, 1875*
Location
Los Angeles, California (34.052, -118.244)

Metadata

Model
gpt-5-mini
Short Digest
72ccdf19

Response Measures

None

Description

Contemporary articles describe the 1875 collapse/failure of the Temple & Workman Bank (September 1875). Coverage emphasizes heavy speculative losses by the proprietors and a subsequent assignment/receivership; depositors reportedly received nothing. There is no clear, explicit description of a depositor run in the provided excerpts, so I classify this as a suspension that became a permanent closure/receiver assignment driven by bank-specific adverse information (speculation/bad investments). Dates are taken from article references to September 1875.

Events (3)
1. September 1, 1875* Other
Newspaper Excerpt
Of the vast sum which was deposited in the Temple & Workman Bank - one million, one hundred thousand dollars - not a depositor got a cent. (Los Angeles Daily Herald, 1889).
Source
newspapers
2. September 1, 1875* Suspension
Cause
Bank Specific Adverse Info
Cause Details
Collapse due to large speculative exposures and bad investments by F.P.F. Temple and partner William Workman; banking losses tied to real-estate and other speculative ventures (leading to failure in Sept. 1875).
Newspaper Excerpt
the failure of the Temple & Workman bank in September of 1875
Source
newspapers
3. January 29, 1876 Receivership
Newspaper Excerpt
No statement is yet ready ... as to the affairs of the Temple and Workman Bank. ... A statement of the affairs of the Bank will doubtless be made public in a few days, and we suspend all comment ... another large portion of the public have the most entire confidence in the assignment and in the assignees, the Messrs. Freeman & Spence. We, in this summary, merely reflect the rumors of the day, as they reach us. (Pioche Daily Record, 1876-01-29).The princely estate of Temple & Workman...passed into the hands of the San Francisco millionaire. (Los Angeles Daily Herald, 1889).
Source
newspapers

Newspaper Articles (6)
1. January 29, 1876 Pioche Daily Record Pioche, NV
Article from Pioche Daily Record, January 29, 1876

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SPIRIT OF THE :PRESS. Joseph Gordello, says the Sentinel of the 23d, who has been confined in County Jail, supposed to be insane, was yes, terday brought before the Lunacy Commissioners and found to be suffering from dementia, and he will be sent to : the Woodbridge Asylum in a day or two. His friends have hopes that he will be soon restored to reason under the proper medical treatment. Although of frequent occurrence in the Artic regions, says the Sentinel of the 23d, a sun dog is rarely seen in this part of the country. Yesterday morning two made their appearance a few degrees from either side of the sun, and attracted considerable attention. They are supposed to be formed by the intersection of two or more halos, or in a manner similar to that of halos. It is said that the sun dog prognosticates cold weather, and after last night no one hereabouts will be inclined to doubt the truth of the the remark. The Virginia Chronicle of the 22d says: The ice-house of the Virginia & Gold Hill Water Company, on the Divide, is now full, and the reservoir is covered with thick ice again. Upon this people will be allowed to skate if they will refrain from spitting tobacco juice upon the ice. This is rendered necessary by the fastidiousness of some people who object to frozen tobacco juice in their Summer cocktails. Meantime we may be allowed to express our gratification that Virginia's water supply dosen't come from that reservoir. The tunnel of the Virginia City and Gold Hill Water Company near Marlette Lake, in the Sierra Nevada, will, when completed, be 5,000 feet long. At present work is being done on both ends of it, and a distance of 1,200 has been excavated. The progress is at the rate of 65 feet per week. The rock is now hard, but it is easy drifting compared with that which had to be done soon after starting at the western end of the tunnel. At this point a crevice in the rock five feet in width was struck, through which quick-sand rushed with the rapidity and violence of water, completely filling the tunnel, and it took sixty-eight days to get passed this awkward little gap in the granite. At the eastern end a similar crevice was encountered. two feet and a half in width, which it took fifty days to pass. It is to be hoped that there are no more crevices. No statement is yet ready says the , Los Angeles Expresa, as to the affairs of the Temple and Workman Bank. l The field of conjecture is large, but we prefer not to enter it. The rumors are, too, legion. The most reliable opinion is that, if the affairs of / the bank and real estate of the Messrs. ) Temple & Workman is fairly adminisI tered there will be enough to pay the ) creditors and depositors dollar for dollar and leave a anrplus over for the 9 Moesrs. Temple & Workman. A por3 tion of the creditors are in favor of 9 throwing the bank into bankruptcy, t while another and larger portion are in favor of appointing a committee to ad, minister upon the estate, paying Mr. 3 Baldwin and the other mortgage and ) deposit creditors a pro rata. Another large portion of the public have the most entire confidence in the assignment t and in the assignees, the Messrs. Free9 man & Spence. We, in this summary, merely reflect the rumors of the day, as they reach us. A statement of the affairs f of the Bank will doubtless be made public in a few days, and we suspend I all comment of our own until this is done.

2. May 14, 1878 Daily Los Angeles Herald Los Angeles, CA
Article from Daily Los Angeles Herald, May 14, 1878

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A Secure Position. For quite two years Los Angeles city and county have been in what may fairly be called almost a comatose condition. Four years ago a great movement was witnessed here. It was suddenly discovered that, in a superficial area which embraces upwards of three millions two hundred thousand acres, were included at least eight hundred thousand acres of the finest garden lands on the footstool. It was supposed, prior to that time, that there were a few scattered orange groves and vineyards in this county, and that countless herds of cattle and horses and flocks of sheep depastured our rich, spontaneous grasses. We were looked upon principally as a "cow" county, although our oranges and grapes and occasional invoices of wines compelled recognition. Four years ago the true facts about Los Angeles county came to be generally known; and, as we have said, the old, non-progressive, sleepy characteristics of this town and county disappeared as if by magic. The revolution was thorough and complete. Every form of transportation was taxed to bring people here. The accommodations of our hotels were insufficient for the thronging thousands. People slept in the dining cabins of the steamers and on beds made up in the parlors of the hotels. The utmost energies of our builders were taxed to put up houses fast enough for the enormous immigration. The vote of Los Angeles county doubled in three years, Such beautiful and prosperous settlements as the Indiana Colony, Westminster, Santa Ana, and a dozen others, sprang up, as though in response to the wave of a magician's wand. This process went on for two years. It was a too rapid and over stimulated growth. The county really needed a breathing space, and it may be doubted whether the disasters which supervened were unmixed evils. The suspension of the Temple & Workman Bank, the small-pox and the drouth of last year, came in quick succession to give us the needed pause. Had the old style of thing continued, values would have been expanded to impracticable figures, and we should all have lost our heads. As the case stands to-day, we have encountered our drawbacks and are now independent of them. Lightning is said never to strike twice in the same place, and the small-pox and the drouth will be years in troubling us again. A drouth in seven years is the usual allotment of Los Angeles county. By the time the next dry season comes round we shall be independent of the rainfall through the perfection to which we shall have brought our system of irrigation. Small-pox visits Los Angeles once in ten or eleven years; and, long before the recurrence of the period of its regular visitation we shall have so modified our sanitary conditions and vaccination will have become so universal that we shall be able to bid defiance to the courge. Los Angeles is specially attractive to intelligent investors because our probation of two years has depressed the value of real estate to such a degree that money put in land now is certain to increase handsomely. It is the same with city property. In addition to encountering the positive drawbacks which we have enumerated, we have also had to adjust ourselves to the changed conditions of trade and travel brought about by the opening of railway communication between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Our case has not proved to be an exception to the rule that the first effects of completed railways do not realize the sanguine expectations of the people affected. San Francisco went through that experience before us. We are already nearly through the ordeal, and we may reasonably hope for beneficial effects from the extension of a railway system which ramifies through the length and breadth of Los Angeles county to New York and all the Eastern interior cities, on the one hand, and to Yuma on the other. The city and county of Los Angeles are certain to benefit largely by the extension of railway communication through Arizona and New Mexico to the Rio Grande, and thence by the Denver and Rio Grande and the Texas Pacific Railways to the Mississippi valley and the East. Whoever builds the road, there will be a connection between

3. April 19, 1883 Daily Los Angeles Herald Los Angeles, CA
Article from Daily Los Angeles Herald, April 19, 1883

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A rell-Mell Progress. was often remarked, by a great It friends of Los Angeles, months, many three or during judicious the season past this year four would prove renthat dry blessing in diaguise. They bear to be a from the past to the present, of soned in mind the remarkable boom of ing and 1874-75, the collapse 1873-74 and the melancholy procession the 1875-76, down to May, 1881, when during of years for the better took place, devoted change which the people of this then following were treated to the panic Califor city the failure of the Bank of Temple upon San Francisco, and that of drouth nia, Workman in in this city, with the epidemic & 1876-77 and the small-pox that superadded; of and they assumed steam had too powerful a head of thoroughly these persons, who are prefriendly With to Los Angeles, the idea thing vailed that it would be should good be rung "down brakes' that year or so. We we out the for signal in confess which been moments there have yielded to this idea, but ourselves been have compelled to reconsider reawe our have position, and for the following sons: Los Angeles county is not only various des be the seat of the most known tined remunerative to productions and Pacific Coast, but, in addition, climate. the charm attaches to her zones subtle who have traversed all the adPeople earth are unhesitating in their of terriof the that the narrow strip mission lies between Point Conceptory which and the San Diego line manifesta- contains eion the most exquisite climatic footstool. Amongst recorded on the unanimous tions persons there is too of any traveled that purport to admit voice to on our part in proclaiming of hesitation California the sanitarium great Southern the world. This, of itself, is a thing. in sooth, no region of the which globe But, independent of the aid to a is more however rich, can addition give invalids, place, than Los Angeles. treasure In region the center of a specially being has been shown to be Angeles which gold and silver, Los brea rich in is the depository of beds absolutely of county petroleum which are outside and without rival in the world, in Pennsylvania, and of Pennsylvania oil wells palmy days, at that. Our in her already yielding crude petroleum to supare abundance sufficient not only furnish rean the Pacific Coast, but to States of ply illuminating oil to the and fined the Islands of the Pacific, the Mexico, the State of Texas, where been even Standard Oil Company has of famous met and vanquished by the producers this Coast curious matter that this tre It is a development has passed to com- our paratively mendous without notice. As one sources of wealth, every have knows other the prodigious strides which and made in the growth of oranges half been of vineyards, in the past alfalfa the spread In addition, the interdozen and years. the consequent dairy which fields, advanced in a ratio ests, have make the milkman of Orange county, would New York, grow pale with envy had To supplement all, we have of the phenomenal development or six simply A county which, five exclusively cereals. was regarded as which, years semi-tropical ago, in its products, and years ago, was looked appearance upon ten has put in an and "cow county, formidable producer of wheat people barley. as a At all times intelligent county known that Los Angeles rest of produced have more corn than all the the State put together. unstinted With a reputation for the and oil of the corn, wine somewhat production commerce of all ages it is An the that, for years, Los singular county, with her three million geles of soilof unexampled fe Ifertility have acres been there comparatively is nothing astonishing neglected. con the To universal us interest which is now centrated on this section. addition to the pre-eminent advan the In hinted at, Los Angeles is now tages of railway system absolutely conticenter a rival on the American Our merchants and dozen the choice of a without nent. have half orchardists the East really by which they can reach route routes own special and peculiar Their "Sunset" -affords them unexampled railadvantages. the Our geographical and attractions are so great that anything way on the Pacific Coast offers settler point the inducements to the new which like we can truthfully chronicle Los Angeles. in view of these innumerable draws It is points--every one of which strong the, attraction of the magnet- proved with think dry year might have It would we be a blessing in disguise. and the to both our own people have given within our gates a breathing much strangers If there has been too of some space. it would have admitted is nothing steam it being blown off. There intervals, of stopping place, at may like a one, like the mariner, which his every bearings. For good or orange ill, take years to come, our fair A plunge some will know no such halt an city pell-mell, and perhaps will considerate forward, plunge, is all that coming perthe investor to figure in our to mit He will be obliged We have plainly in which the developments it blind. career enhancement started be phe of on a property values will simply future nomenal, and in that respect our past. will simply be in unison with our ANY one who has at heart the in tri the of the Democratic party umph next Presidential election in our opinion,

4. February 3, 1884 Daily Los Angeles Herald Los Angeles, CA
Article from Daily Los Angeles Herald, February 3, 1884

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that Home Ought in the two circum There in of Los things present this article. which impel is atten The extended in the the tion, both Pacific Coast, is and East upon focused Europeand more particuCalifornia, Southern Los second larly upon of full and are our city that county our who within gates, persons, strangers this about little know perporatively We what would written section. if had we we now before writing de not often have known, to be was the that clared, present the and appearance in the editorial HERALD an as been would attempt to to our part strongly hedge On and declared opinions. had the the that present we dry year, should proved very little have Steabouts to We "cow county be have very and trifling ty, status. matter advanced the even The and the with sheep, of In good verdict riddance general in stead produce rejoice diversified in tion, irrigating splendidly amplified in an and system intelligent wystem we have that, than More farming a food, which much county has indebtedness dur cent. fully the ing popu past wealthy of an and tide immigra of the tion most character, to the has which studied situation on which and spot nicety is the American Continent on half dozen to Los separate counts. unof of our and course Many people, been have well, Instructed strangers a. retro by and dazed paralyzed partial and of of the spect 1875.76 disaster or the here Whether strangers, to who people themselves an murrendered such have analogy in Just the logical lacking faculty of of Los the the heels upon transition an cow agri from county Angeles a was "boom county cultural premature in far the this city legit pressed load could point. imate Every a with mortreal estate diate that imme man. had half than that time We the which have. of and in and crude brandies, for and that them, there We ton. drug hero grapes really raised nothing hams, bacon, Batter, cheese, of all life, the and flour, here were brought New many even and Mexico, Arizona, of our were own portions the for little market sell. of state the such lament & of of the bank Work Temple the man following the of of with dead Bank California, of of loss and dollars million quarter an local financial appalling visitation. the Then most in our The known drouth history of in bank failed Temple Workman of Oa fall the that the 1875. theory the seacome singly of on son the record, dryest of only during falling in which nota differs tion An small-pox due largely followed, the that fact had population ways resisted obstinately a of As these things followed. misfortune The (1.) were foreclose speculators to and closed right years this this dead weight, but now righted. Our in (2.) tical people OR of ly the road wholesome production is for so which county pro-eminent ly adapted. As of stand being now. instead San our from flour, hams, Francisco, con, and cheese, butter are the eggs found from ocean Pacific and ap line, Texas highly preciated clear to the at all points. and are known in and, ntinent, demand all over and, indeed, Our wines all over world. We of worth dollars million couple as now. verdict bushels Instead this county of two them the old popular of raising 30, as 000 in 1876, that bushels wheat in millions and of will raise And four raised last year, this year. as to In are addition, a 000 crude worth cereal millions of the bushels products of producing the farm. $2 year, 000, petroleum of count this from narrow single the and ty, will be product indefinitely extended. are with money plethoric availa immediately ble the assets cash continent American and Our have banks the largest of any banks on of the some salient reasons were conclusive the fact that, what dry known year, which, These to our even mind, if we had should had still have been very happy, in As Los people Angeles. prosperous it the is, most volant "hoom" known since city kansas tention, in the away back the and for city county board in this years to come. is river than fuller THE Los and Angeles years past, and it will take

5. August 9, 1889 Los Angeles Daily Herald Los Angeles, CA
Article from Los Angeles Daily Herald, August 9, 1889

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A Marked Contrast. It ie a notable circumstance that there has been no failure of a bank in Los Angeles county since the great crash of the Temple & Workman bank in September of 1875 until that of the Bank of Pomona the other day. It is a question as to whether the failure of the Bank of California in the fall of 1875 was in any sense caused by the panic of 1873. Mr. Ralston, the President of this San Francisco institution, had engaged in colossal speculations, whose end was not fortunate. He had given Lucky Baldwin $5,400,000 for his stock in the Ophir mine, which proved to be valueless as a yielder of coin. He invested nearly six millions of dollars in the Palace Hotel, of San Francisco, which also turned out to be a "dead horse." That great structure cost $1,800,000 to bring it to a level with the sidewalk, so solid and prodigious was its plan, calculated to resist earthquakes. Outside of the Bonanza mines, in which he was not interested, everything was excessively dull in California in that year, and speculation had been pushed everywhere to undue lengths. There had been a boom in Los Angeles county, and everybody was loaded up with real estate. This was particularly the case with the bank of Temple & Workman. Mr. F. P. F. Temple, who was the head of that institution, had gone into sawmills on the San Bernardino mountains, into mines everywhere, and into about everything, including politics, that was unsubstantial and unremunerative. He and his partner, William Workman, owned millions of dollars' worth of real estate. The Bank of California failed, coincidently with the suicide of Ralston, and the failure of the bank of Temple & Workman followed fast upon its heels. This failure was for the enormous amount of $1,100,000. The princely estate of Temple & Workman, as a result of the second failure-Lucky Baldwin having advanced money to re-open the bank-passed into the hands of the San Francisco millionaire. It is now worth $15,000,000 on a very conservative estimate. The failure of the Bank of Pomona is a mere flea-bite compared to the celebrated Temple & Workman fiasco. Mr.H. A. Palmer, the virtual owner of the Pomona concern, has been a very enterprising citizen of Southern California -what was known in the boom as a "plunger." He appears to have overreached himself, but, according to the most reliable advices, every depositor will be protected. Of the vast sum which was depoeited in the Temple & Workman Bank-one million, one hundred thousand dollars--not a depositor got a cent. Today our financial institutions are on a splendid financial basis, and kiteflying is at a discount. It is a fact highly honorable to Los Angeles county, and contains volumes as to the stability of this section, that since the collapse of the "paper town" craze sixteen months ago there have been only two considerable failures, that of Mr. Webster, of Pasadena, and that of the Pomona Bank.

6. August 9, 1889 Los Angeles Daily Herald Los Angeles, CA
Article from Los Angeles Daily Herald, August 9, 1889

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A Marked Contrast. It ie a notable circumstance that there has been no failure of a bank in Los Angeles county since the great crash of the Temple & Workman bank in September of 1875 until that of the Bank of Pomona the other day. It is a question as to whether the failure of the Bank of California in the fall of 1875 was in any sense caused by the panic of 1873. Mr. Ralston, the President of this San Francisco institution, had engaged in colossal speculations, whose end was not fortunate. He had given Lucky Baldwin $5,400,000 for his stock in the Ophir mine, which proved to be valueless as a yielder of coin. He invested nearly six millions of dollars in the Palace Hotel, of San Francisco, which also turned out to be a "dead horse." That great etructure cost $1,800,000 to bring it to a level with the sidewalk, so solid and prodigious was its plan, calculated to resist earthquakes. Outside of the Bonanza mines, in which he was not interested, everything was excessively dull in California in that year, and speculation had been pushed everywhere to undue lengths. There had been a boom in Los Angeles county, and everybody was loaded up with real estate. This was particularly the case with the bank of Temple & Workman. Mr. F. P. F. Temple, who was the head of that institution, had gone into sawmills on the San Bernardino mountains, into mines everywhere, and into about everything, including politics, that was unsubstantial and unremunerative. He and his partner, William Workman, owned millions of dollars' worth of real estate. The Bank of California failed, coincidently with the suicide of Ralston, and the failure of the bank of Temple & Workman followed fast upon its heels. This failure was for the enormous amount of $1,100,000. The princely estate of Temple & Workman, as a result of the second failure-Lucky Baldwin having advanced money to re-open the bank-passed into the hands of the San Francisco millionaire. It is now worth $15,000,000 on a very conservative estimate. The failure of the Bank of Pomona is a mere flea-bite compared to the celebrated Temple & Workman fiasco. Mr. H. A. Palmer, the virtual owner of the Pomona concern, has been a very enterprising citizen of Southern California -what was known in the boom as a "plunger." He appears to have overreached himself, but, according to the most reliable advices, every depositor will be protected. Of the vast sum which was deposited in the Temple & Workman Bank-one million, one hundred thousand dollars-not a depositor got a cent. Today our financial institutions are on a splendid financial basis, and kiteflying is at a discount. It is a fact highly honorable to Los Angeles county, and contains volumes as to the stability of this section, that since the collapse of the "paper town" craze eixteen months ago there have been only two considerable failures, that of Mr. Webster, of Pasadena, and that of the Pomona Bank.