Edward F. Spence - Vocation

Vocation

Spence gained his knowledge of business affairs through assisting his father in the management of the family's large farming tracts and herds of cattle in Ireland. He engaged in mining In Northern California and Nevada, but in San Jose he "controlled an extensive drug business" and then switched to banking. As well, he was one of the organizers of the Commercial Bank of San Diego.

In 1875 Spence was named cashier of the Commercial Bank of Los Angeles, organized by John Edward Hollenbeck and reorganized in 1880 as the Commercial State Bank, the forerunner of the First National Bank of Los Angeles, of which Spence became president in 1881. He held interest in other banks as well, and owned property in Whittier and Monrovia, California.

Spence was also responsible for building the first horse car line across the Los Angeles River and, in 1886, financing the first electric car line in Los Angeles.