Silsby Spalding

Silsby Morse Spalding was born on May 29, 1886, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.^[2][3][4] His father was Salathiel Martin Spalding and his mother, Sarah Eglantine Camp.^[2] He studied at the Pomona College Preparatory School in Claremont, California,^[3][4] and later at Stanford University.^[1]

Spalding was a sporting goods magnate.^[5][6] He also served as one of the earliest Presidents of the Aero Club of Southern California, and was an executive at the Mexican Eagle Petroleum Company and the Pan-American Petroleum and Transport Co.^[7]

Spalding served as the first Mayor of Beverly Hills, California from 1926 to 1928.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]} During his tenure, he appointed Will Rogers as honorary mayor, garnering worldwide publicity for Beverly Hills.^[7]

Spalding married Caroline Canfield (1890-1970), daughter of oilman Charles A. Canfield (1848-1913) in 1911.^[6][9][10] They had a daughter, Deborah C. Spalding (1921-2011).^[2]

In 1912, after Canfield's death, they moved into Grayhall, an estate located at 1100 Carolyn Way, formerly built by Carole Lombard's father as a hunting lodge and later owned by George Hamilton and Bernard Cornfeld.^{[5][9][10][11][12]} From 1918 to 1921, they lived in the Frank Flint Estate, a Colonial Revival-style mansion resembling a Southern plantation located at 1006 North Crescent Drive.^[9] He later purchased the Tecolote Ranch in Goleta, California, where he raised purebred cattle and horses, and grew walnut and citrus trees.^[7]

Spalding died on May 5, 1949, at his main residence at 1019 Laurel Way in Beverly Hills, California.^[7]

Spalding Drive in Beverly Hills is named in his honor.^[8][13]