Renaissance man E.S. Lippitt

March 15, 2006

Edward Spalding Lippitt (1824-1912) was Petaluma's Renaissance Man. Local historian Lee Torliatt writes that Lippitt was "a man of many faces -- educator, orator, lawyer, newsman, gardener, community leader, book collector, thinker, jack-of-all-trades." Lippitt's first position here, in 1863, was taking charge of local schools and preaching at the Congregational Church while its pastor was absent. He was pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church for two years as well, and was often called upon to deliver addresses and speeches at civic events.

He built a private school at 625 D St. in 1867, offering the classics, sciences and music, but when it failed, he returned to the legal field, both practicing law and acting as city attorney. Later, his academy became the high school and Lippitt its principal.

In addition, he was an editor of the Courier, in the days when the papers were separate, a driving force for a city library, and acted as director of the Mutual Relief Association. The Mutual Relief Building, on the southeast corner of Kentucky and Western, housed his offices on the top floor: he had the largest law library north of San Francisco and west of Sacramento.

Lippitt's large, ornate home, at Sixth and D streets, was a showplace of the city, in part due to the lush, landscaped grounds, for he was also a dedicated gardener. He purchased the property in 1864, he wrote, "and my friends said, 'Why did you buy out in the country?'"

And it was due to Lippitt that Petaluma had its only visit from a seated president: Rutherford B. Hayes, with whom he had been partners in Cincinnati before the Civil War, visited the city with General William Tecumseh Sherman.

To honor that visit, Petaluma named a street after the president: Hayes Lane. There is, however, no street named for Lippitt.

-- Katie Watts