page_title: Charles T. Hinde
section_title: Southern California
hierarchical_section_title: Charles T. Hinde / Southern California
caption_attribution_description: The front of the Hotel del Coronado in Coronado, California.
context_page_description: Charles T. Hinde was an American industrialist, tycoon, riverboat captain, businessman, and entrepreneur. He managed many businesses and invested in numerous business ventures over the course of his life. Hinde served in executive leadership positions in the river navigation, shipping, railroad, and hotel businesses. By his late forties, Hinde had already amassed a great fortune from his work in the steamboat and railroad industries.
  In the late 1880s Hinde was invited to San Diego by his close friend E. S. Babcock to invest in and run several businesses, including the Hotel del Coronado and the Spreckels Brothers Commercial Company with John D. Spreckels. Hinde vastly increased his personal fortune during his time in southern California, and he helped spur the economy of the region. Towards the end of his life he donated much of his wealth to further various projects in the Californian city of Coronado and its surrounding area, some dedicated to the memory of his daughter Camilla, who died in Evansville, Indiana, at the age of 13.
context_section_description: In Evansville, Hinde had become acquainted with the Reid Brothers, who designed many notable structures there, including the Willard Library. When Hinde and Babcock left Evansville and relocated to Coronado, they took the Reid Brothers with them, and hired them to design many structures including the Hotel del Coronado. Hinde also used the Reid brothers for personal projects, such as his home in Coronado and the church and rectory he built in the town. All three structures still stand today. Hinde may have used his friendship with the Reid Brothers to get them to design the Grand Rapids Hotel, which was owned by his nephew, Frederick Hinde Zimmerman. The building burned down in 1929.
  In California, Hinde again became involved in various businesses and investments. Initially, he was the commercial agent and manager for the Santa Fe Wharf, working with Spreckels and Babcock. Later, he was one of the founders of the Spreckels Brothers Commercial Company, owning a one-third interest. The company imported coal, cement, and general merchandise. Hinde's most important and lasting investment was the Hotel del Coronado on Rancho San Diego Island, which was owned by the Coronado Beach Company, originally capitalized with US$3 million. At the time of capitalization the company directors were Babcock, Spreckels, Hinde, H .W. Mallett, and Giles Kellogg. They formed the company on April 7, 1886, and started construction on the hotel. The company also undertook numerous other investments in the Coronado area, but their plans were interrupted by the Panic of 1893, a severe recession and bank run caused by a bubble in the railroad business. The economy did not begin to recover until 1897, and after a multiple year slump the property market in southern California began to recover.  As with his original switch from the navigation to railroad business, Hinde's move from railroads to hotels dramatically increased his personal fortune. From its founding until his death in 1915, Hinde remained vice president and treasurer of the Coronado Beach Company and the Spreckels Brothers Commercial Company.
caption: Front view of the Hotel del Coronado
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