Adolph Sutro

Adolph Sutro (April 29 1830 - 1898) was the 24th mayor and 1st Jewish mayor of San Francisco, California, serving in that office from 1894 until 1896. He is today perhaps best remembered for the various landmarks that still bear his name. Born in Prussia, Sutro arrived in the United States in 1850 and built a considerable fortune through hard work during the next 30 years. Despite his hard-earned wealth, he successfully campaigned on an anti-big business platform and, more particularly, against the tight grip that the Southern Pacific Railroad had over local businesses. A philanthropist, Sutro opened his own estate to the public and, at the time of his death, he owned a considerable portion of San Francisco, some of which he donated and which became the location for the University of California, San Francisco.

Although, many of Sutro's gifts to the city of San Francisco still exist and bear his name, such as Mount Sutro (the location of Sutro Tower), and Sutro Heights , his last and most ambitious creation, the Sutro Baths, was destroyed by a fire in 1966 and today exists only as ruins just below the Cliff House .

External links

• Adolph Sutro's story (written about the time of his death)
• Adolph Sutro bio @ Western Neighborhoods Project
• Farms, Fire and Forest: Adolph Sutro and Development "West of Twin Peaks
• Sutro-related discussions on greenspun.com