Henricus Wallace Westlake

Henricus Wallace Westlake (ca. 1857–1905) was a Canadian physician who moved to Los Angeles, California, around 1888, settled in the rolling hills west of the city and gave his name to both a municipal park and a neighborhood in the city.[1][2]

Westlake Park around 1900

Westlake was born in Canada around 1857. He was a graduate of the medical department of McGill University in Montreal and also earned diplomas in Edinburgh and Vienna. He moved to Los Angeles in 1888, where he pioneered in building a large home on Burlington Avenue in the empty, rolling hills west of the city. He developed a large medical practice and was also president of the California-Corsica Citron Company and the Westlake-Rommel Oil Company, besides owning mining interests in Arizona.[2] He was also the inventor of at least one medical device.[3]

He was known as a generous philanthropist who gave large sums to charities.[2] He donated to the city an "unsightly gully" which in the winter filled with storm water and became stagnant, and the land was later developed into Westlake Park,[1] now known as MacArthur Park.

In 1885[2] or 1889[1] he was married to Fannie Farquhar of Canada, who was his only survivor when he died on May 12, 1905.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Dr. Westlake Is No More," Los Angeles Times, page II-1
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Death Ends Career of Able Physician," Los Angeles Herald, May 14, 1905
  3. ↑ U.S. Patent 693,358
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