Overview

The Baker and Hamilton Company sold hardware and agricultural implements in stores in Northern and Southern California during the later 1800s. They founded their Sacramento store first in 1854, and then opened an outlet in San Francisco in 1867 and later one in Los Angeles.

Building History

Livingston Low Baker (1827-1892) and Robert Muirhead Hamilton (1828-1893) came to California seeking gold in 1849 and 1847, respectively, but found a more profitable pursuit in the selling of hardware and farm equipment to fellow settlers in Sacramento, CA. They opened their first store in 1854, buying the seed stock of Colonel Warren's Store at 9 J Street in that city. They opened a warehouse in San Francisco in 1868, in which they began to produce farm implements. They later purchased the Sweepstake Plow Company, its patents and factory, in San Leandro, CA, and devoted that space to manufacturing farming equipment. A leading Sweepstake product was the Eureka Gang Plow, then a patented and productive implement. Expanding their business further, they bought the brick machine shops belonging to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company at Benicia, CA. This plant eventually covered 15 acres and became known as Baker and Hamilton's Benicia Agricultural Works. (See "Livingston Low Baker," Iron Age, 12/29/1892, p. 1280.)

Their company operated independently until 1918, when it joined with the Pacific Hardware & Steel Company to form the "Baker, Hamilton & Pacific Company."

PCAD id: 22605