Swanton, Fred W.

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Fred Willer Swanton (1862-1940) was born in Brooklyn, New York, and came to California with his mother at age four. His father A. P. Swanton had preceded them to Pescadero, where his father had established a hotel. Fred soon came to Santa Cruz with his parents, where his father went into the livery stable business. Coming of age, Fred partnered with his father to build the Swanton House hotel. After a brief stint establishing a pharmacy business, young Fred began to show a talent for new technology, creating the first Santa Cruz telephone system in the early 1880s. In the 1890s, he created the Santa Cruz Electric Light and Power Company. The company built the county's first hydroelectric power plant on Big Creek, feeding the first electric power distribution system in the city. During the same decade, Swanton was instrumental in promoting the local electric streetcar system.

In 1904, Swanton began and tirelessly promoted the business he's most remembered for, the beachfront tourist attraction that grew into today's Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Swanton later went into politics, twice serving as Santa Cruz mayor.