They were known as The German Syndicate. And in 1860s they placed a big bet on the land that would become Fresno. But just like today, sometimes big gambles pay off, and sometimes, those same empires collapse. The story of the investors who gave birth to Fresno, today on KVPR’s Central Valley Roots.
The so-called German Syndicate was officially known as the San Joaquin Valley Land Association. It was organized by land speculator William S. Chapman, and its biggest investor was the German immigrant wheat king, Isaac Friedlander. Other partners included Anthony Easterby, Frederick Roeding and other German immigrants. Friedlander was backed by the credit of William Ralston’s Bank of California and connections with Leland Stanford.
In 1868, the syndicate used the land grant university law to purchase scrip for government land in the Valley. They wound up with 80,000 acres in the area known today as Fresno. The land sales helped fund the creation of the University of California, and got a Friedlander an honorary spot on the University’s board of Regents.
In 1871, the Central Pacific purchased land from the company for the new townsite of Fresno. By 1873, the partners dissolved the association, with each claiming their own parcels. Chapman would become California’s largest landowner and his daughter married the son of President Ulysses S. Grant.
But just as Fresno began to grow and thrive, the syndicate’s largest players went broke. Ralston’s banking empire collapsed amid allegations of fraud, a run on the bank, and lavish spending on building San Francisco's Palace Hotel. He was found dead floating in San Francisco Bay in 1875. Chapman too lost much of his fortune in the 1870s. And a failed wheat crop in 1877 led to Friedlander’s financial collapse. He died the following year.
