William Mulholland
William Mulholland (
1855-
1935) was born in
Belfast, Ireland and immigrated to
New York City in the 1870s, traveled to
San Francisco in 1877, worked as a miner in
Arizona and finally moved to the city that would build his reputation,
Los Angeles. A self-taught engineer, he took work with the
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and eventually became head of that agency. Few positions in local government have had such an effect on the fate of a metropolis--Los Angeles is a chapparal-covered desert that was transformed by sprinklers, pipes and Mulholland's public waterworks. He initiated the
Los Angeles Aqueduct, which was completed in 1913, and was the godfather of the infamous
St. Francis Dam. The legendary Los Angeles road,
Mulholland Drive--perhaps second only in L.A. street fame to
Sunset Boulevard--is named in his honor. Mulholland died in 1935 and is buried at
Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in
Glendale, California.
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