The Marina Green
Near the end of Fillmore Street
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Memorial to William C. Ralston by Haig Patigian 1941
William C. Ralston made his fortune in Nevada’s Silver Comstock Lode. He was one of the richest and most powerful men in California, founding the Bank of California and building the Palace Hotel. In 1875, after a combination of the expense of building the Hotel, his attempt to buy and resell the Spring Valley Water Company and the effects of the Panic of 1873, which crashed the stock value of his Bank, his body was found in the Bay. Whether due to a stroke during his regular swim, or from suicide it will never be known. It is said nearly 50,000 people watched his funeral procession.
This statue to Ralston was commissioned and paid for by Edward Bowes(14 June 1874, San Francisco – 13 June 1946, Rumson, New Jersey) Bowes made his fortune in real estate in San Francisco. The 1906 earthquake made him reevaluate his life, he moved to New York and became involved in the entertainment industry. Major ( a rank he obtained in WWI, and insisted on being addressed this way for the rest of his life) Bowes’ Amateur Hour was the best-known amateur talent show in radio during its eighteen-year run (1934-1952) on NBC Radio and CBS Radio.
I have no idea what linked the two gentlemen’s lives.
The Woman is holding an eagle on one hand and a weapon in the other. On the east and west sides, were ornamental fish, they are no longer there. The sculptor, Haig Patigian has been in this site many times before.