William George Kerckhoff | |
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Born | March 30, 1856 Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S. |
Died | 1929 |
Residence | 734 West Adams Boulevard, West Adams, Los Angeles, California |
Occupation | Businessman |
Spouse(s) | Louisa Eshman Kerckhoff |
William G. Kerckhoff (1856–1929) was an American businessman.
William G. Kerckhoff was born on March 30, 1856 in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Kerckoff moved to Los Angeles County, California from Indiana in 1878-1879 and worked for the Jackson Lumber Company. In 1887, along with James Cuzner of the Kerckhoff-Cuzner Lumber Company, built the"Pasadena". It was the first ocean-going vessel to use oil for fuel. In the 1890s, he founded the San Gabriel Power Company, a hydroelectric power company in Los Angeles. By the turn of the century, together with A.C. Balch, he owned half the stock of Henry E. Huntington Pacific Light & Power Company used to provide electricity to Pacific Electric, and he served as its President. In 1902, they purchased the San Joaquin Electric Company. They also founded Southern California Gas Corporation in 1910, and built a 120-mile pipeline from the San Joaquin Valley to Los Angeles.
In 1900, together with Burton E. Green (1868-1965), Charles A. Canfield (1848-1913), Max Whittier (1867–1928), Frank H. Buck (1887-1942), Henry E. Huntington (1850-1927), William F. Herrin (1854-1927), W.S. Porter and Frank H. Balch, known as the Amalgated Oil Company, he purchased Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas from Henry Hammel and Andrew H. Denker and renamed it Morocco Junction. After drilling for oil and only finding water, they reorganized their business into the Rodeo Land and Water Company to develop a new residential town later known as Beverly Hills, California.