Having just returned from San Diego, I am still a little beach bleary. In between catching up on my e-mail and voice mail messages, I find myself thinking about one of my favorite places there. When I visit Coronado Island, I love to visit the Hotel Del Coronado. A big, old wooden hotel built like no other. All white frame and red roof, it was intended to be the world’s largest beach hotel. “Too good to be true” was how it was described at the time and almost exactly how I would describe lunch at the “Del” followed by a trip to the candy shop. In reading the history of this amazing place, I became intrigued by the name of one of its founders, Elisha Babcock. I have heard this name connected with business in Indiana and so, being the curious type, I dug a little deeper. Along with Babcock, who was from Evansville, there were a few other founding investors in Coronado Island. Among the names listed on the original documents of the Coronado Beach Company was a fellow Hoosier and Wabash man – Josephus Collett [W1857].
Josephus Collett, along with his brothers, John and Stephen, attended Wabash in the 1850’s. Josephus made his money in real estate and railroads. In a biographical piece it is noted that he had real estate interests in New York City, the Adirondacks, Chicago, Minnesota, Florida, Indianapolis, Texas and San Diego, California – and lived in Terre Haute.
Three investors bought all of Coronado for $110,000 in 1885. Further capitalization was needed to attain the lofty goals of these three investors so Babcock brought in his brother-in-law and Josephus Collett, described as “a railroad stockholder.” These men put together a million dollars and founded the “Coronado Beach Company” April 7, 1886.
This excellent bird’s eye view map is from the collections of the Library of Congress and shows their venture in its earliest days. To the right and below the image of the island is a listing of the officers of the company which includes Josephus Collett of Terre Haute, Indiana. The architects of the Hotel del Coronado were also from Evansville. Equipped with all of the modern conveniences of the era, the “Del” was the first hotel to be wired for electricity while under construction. Thomas Edison was a consultant on the project.
Those who are familiar with the history of Wabash know the name of Collett – there are the Collett tennis courts, a Collett Chair of Rhetoric and – as the Phi Gams know, or should know – the owls on the front of their new house were purchased by John Parrett Collett [W1924] and brought home from Europe for the old house. This same John Collett, President of the Board of Trustees of Wabash College for 10 years from 1965-1975, was the great-nephew of Josephus Collett.
Josephus died in 1893, at the age of sixty-two, having served Rose Polytechnic as President of their Board following the death of his friend Chauncey Rose, the founder of the school we know as Rose-Hulman. Josephus’s will endowed the Josephus Collett Chair of Mechanical Engineering at Rose.
If you have the chance to head to San Diego, stop into the Hotel Del Coronado and admire the fruits of Josephus Collett’s investment. It really is a place like no other!
If you enjoyed this article, you might like to read more of the fascinating history of this college we love so well at my blog, “Dear Old Wabash” here is a link: http://blogs.wabash.edu/dear-old-wabash/