Louis Phillips

Louis Phillips (April 22, 1830 – March 16, 1900) was a wealthy land owner and rancher in Los Angeles County, California..

Biography Phillips was born Louis Galefsky to a Jewish family in Kempen, Province of Posen, Prussia (now Kępno, Poland) and moved to California in the early 1850s, changing his name to Phillips. He moved to Spadra (now part of Pomona) in 1862 and began engaging in sheep herding and cattle raising. In 1864, Schlesinger and Tischler acquired the Rancho San Jose in a foreclosure. Phillips, who had previously been a manager on the ranch, bought out of the foreclosure.

In January 1874, the Southern Pacific Railroad completed a rail line from Los Angeles to Spadra, spurring interest in land development in the area. In 1875, Phillips built the Phillips Mansion (now operated by the Historical Society of Pomona Valley) and also sold most of his for subdivision into the Pomona Tract, thus beginning the formation of Pomona. Phillips retained surrounding his mansion, which he operated as a cattle and sheep ranch.

In 1867, Phillips married Esther Blake, with whom he had three sons (Charles, George and Louis, Jr.) and two daughters (Mrs. Frank George and adopted daughter, Kate Cecil). The Times noted that Phillips was worth "not a dollar less than $3,000,000" and stated that, in addition to his land holdings in Los Angeles, he had a ranch that produced wool, honey and wheat.

He died of pneumonia in 1900 and is interred at Spadra Cemetery, Pomona.