Thomas Edwin Hughes

Thomas Edwin Hughes (1830-1919) was a nineteenth century real estate developer and investor who, through business ventures and civic involvement, contributed to the initial development of Fresno, California.

Early life Thomas Edwin Hughes was born on June 6, 1830, in Morgantown, North Carolina. His father, also named Thomas, was born in Macclesfield, England and came to the United States in 1819. The family moved from North Carolina to Arkansas when the younger Thomas was five years old. In Murphy's Camp, he attempted to grow wheat but did not turn a profit. He switched to cattle and sheep raising.

Hughes rented thousands of acres in Merced to raise the sheep and to grow grain. He and his wife also gave birth to a daughter in August 1872. However, his Merced-based enterprise met with unfavorable conditions and Hughes found himself deeply in debt. He went to Baja California to explore the potential of colonizing a Mexican land grant and came back to find his assets sold via bankruptcy as his creditors assumed he had left the country for good.

He purchased 2880 acres of barren land in 1880 at $6.50 an acre. After dividing the land into twenty and forty-acre lots irrigating them, they could be sold for $50 an acre. The colony was situated just south of the growing downtown, so close that residents of his colony could send their children the Fresno school district. Easy access to city amenities was a selling point for potential buyers.

However, Hughes also encountered business failures, such as his Fresno Fruit Packing Company, the Fresno Gas Works and the ill-fated railroad extension towards Friant led by Marcus Pollasky. It was also in a Renaissance Revival style and consisted of a four-story brick structure finished in a sandstone color. The hotel contained 200 rooms and featured a large central court, a dining room, a reading room, a billiard room and saloon and a steam laundry. At the time of its completion the Hughes was the largest hotel between San Francisco and Los Angeles. It was the first building in Fresno to have an elevator and the first Fresno hotel to have electric lights and a telephone in each room.

In 1887, Hughes invested in a horse-drawn streetcar operation, a predecessor to the Fresno Traction Company. Hughes sought to ensure the streetcar route ran past his hotel on I Street.

Crash and Mexico 1893 saw a large economic crash which forced Hughes into bankruptcy and he had to abandon many of his business interests in Fresno. He was forced into bankruptcy in January 1894 with liabilities totaling $176,520 ($ in ) and he was sued by many of his creditors in the years following the crash. The Hughes Hotel was turned over to the San Francisco Theological Seminary as a secured creditor. He moved with his family to Mexico. His headstone includes an inscription that reads "lovingly known as the Father of Fresno."

After Hughes had lost ownership, the Hughes Hotel declined. By 1917, the building had become a hub for prostitution. The building was ultimately destroyed by an arson fire in 1953. Chukchansi Park was built on the land where the Hughes Hotel once stood.

The Fresno Morning Republican wrote the following about Hughes: "Indeed, it is but voicing the general sentiment of the people of Fresno...to say that no one among them has done so much for the improvement, growth and prosperity of that place, has given so much of his time, means and personal attention to public work and enterprises as he."

His son William Marshall Hughes died at age 87 in Madera in 1945. He was Madera County treasurer from 1924 through 1938. His other son Major Joseph Edward Hughes finished his life as a real estate broker and died in his 90s. His great-grandson Joseph B. Hughes became the Madera County road commissioner.

The north-south thoroughfare Hughes Avenue in Fresno is named after Thomas E. Hughes.