Rollin B. Lane

Class of 1872: Founder of Hollywood

Rollin Benjamin Lane was a successful banker, real estate investor and philanthropist who helped establish the young communities of Redlands and Hollywood, California. He donated large sums of money for parks, libraries and orphanages.

He was born May 28, 1854, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and brought up in Pickett, seven miles from Ripon, where his maternal grandparents had a farm. He left Ripon College before graduation to study law “in the east.” By 1876, he had returned to Ripon and was a junior partner in the law firm of Runnals and Lane.

He served as an associate editor of the Daily Evening Wisconsin in Milwaukee for five years before moving to California in the winter of 1886.

With other investors, he established the Union Bank of Redlands, and was its cashier for five years. In 1890, he organized the Multnomah County Bank in Portland, Oregon, and was its president for three years before moving to Hollywood. He invested in real estate in the San Joaquin and San Fernando valleys.

Lane and his wife, Katherine, also from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, were pillars of early Hollywood society. Their touch is still evident for the naming of Hollywood’s Lanewood Avenue — named for Lane’s twice-married mother, Olive Pickett Lane-Wood — on land the Lanes owned. Katherine Lane also was responsible for the large pine trees that still line that street, the cherry trees from Japan around Griffith Park and the landmark palm trees along Wilshire Boulevard.

Their 17-room mansion, Holly Chateau, was built in 1909 at 7001 Franklin Ave. in the heart of old Hollywood. It is one of the oldest-standing homes in Hollywood. In 1963, it was renovated to become the landmark Magic Castle, a club for magicians, which has been declared a Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument.

Lane didn’t forget his Ripon College roots. In May 1929, he donated $100,000 for the construction of Lane Library and laid the cornerstone in June 1930. He said this was done “In grateful memory of my school days at Ripon, and in appreciation of the splendid corps of instructors who have been the inspiration in my life. …”

Lane Library, a Beaux-Arts classical building, was designed by noted architect Roger A. Sutherland, Class of 1919.

Ripon College President Silas Evans shared of Lane: “He spoke affectionately of his early days at Ripon College, and of the teachers whose personalities and examples and instructions had been often the inspiration and the comfort of a busy life. He mentioned in discriminating terms of esteem President William E. Merriman, Professor E. H. Merrell, J. M. Geery, and very especially Mrs. Clarissa Tracy.

“The final paragraph of this letter graciously suggested a thought of placing his love and loyalty for his Alma Mater into some form of tangible expression.

“Before we saw Mr. Lane, we loved him for his intrinsic worth, and his life philosophy as revealed in his many letters. He was ever taking the lead in shaping for me a dream and a prayer of many years, a beautiful library for Ripon College.”

Lane also left the College a generous estate gift after his death in 1940.

He died Aug. 23, 1940, at age 86.