Anita May Baldwin

Anita May Baldwin. , Anita May Baldwin was the only daughter born to Arcadia's founder and owner of Rancho Santa Anita, Elias J. "Lucky" Baldwin and his third wife, Jane Virginia (Jennie) Dexter. Known for her generosity and compassion, Anita Baldwin was a businesswoman, composer, cookbook author, mother, patriot, philanthropist, poet, animal advocate, and more. She was truly a Renaissance woman. , She composed more than 50 published songs. Anita's works graced the stage for major musical productions in the United States, including playwright Richard Walton Tully's "His Blossom Bride" and "Omar the Tentmaker." , She wrote a cookbook titled The Pantophagist, published in 1933. Anita not only loved tasting fine cuisines from her world travels, she was a fantastic cook. She would regularly cook for her guests at Anoakia and in her private train car, also named Anoakia. The name Anoakia was created from two words, Anita and Oak, from the oak tree of the family crest. , Anita Baldwin was an honorary colonel in World War I. Her tremendous work in support of the war included being Chairwoman of the Red Star Society, an aid organization similar to the American Red Cross, that cared for wounded horses, mules, and dogs. She was the only woman to sit on the War Board of the Liberty Fair. , In 1920, she founded the Anita M. Baldwin Hospital for Babies in Los Angeles. It later became the California Babies' and Children's Hospital and is now Eisner Health, partner of today's California Hospital Medical Center in downtown Los Angeles. , She served as President of the L.A. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Her efforts helped pave the way for how animals were treated in films and on set. This is a passion that she inherited from her father. The Baldwins were animal advocates and tree conservationists. Specifically, the Baldwin family helped to conserve the forests in Lake Tahoe and many of the oak trees in our region. The Baldwin family crest features a squirrel holding a single oak leaf. , She had an older half-sister named Clara Baldwin Stocker and a younger half-sister named Rozella, daughter of Lucky Baldwin and Martha Fowler. She had twin sons that died in infancy from her first marriage, to her second cousin George W. Baldwin. She had two children, Baldwin M. Baldwin and Dextra Baldwin McGonagle, from her second marriage, to Hull McClaughry. Anita Baldwin inherited assets of $10-12 million, half of her father's estate. E.J. "Lucky" Baldwin's ranch estate was reorganized after his passing in 1909, and Anita's business interest became known as the Anoakia Breeding Farm where she raised livestock, horses and various dog breeds for show. , Anita's beautiful estate, also known as Anoakia, was built on the northern end of Rancho Santa Anita. The 50-room lavishly furnished mansion, designed by architect Arthur B. Benton (Mission Inn Riverside, San Gabriel Mission Playhouse), had an oversized swimming pool, stables, aviaries, gym, tennis courts, bowling alley, comfortable quarters for all employees, and harmonious landscaping. In 1942 Anoakia was converted to Anoakia School, a girls' college preparatory. Only its original gatehouse still remains at West Foothill Boulevard and North Baldwin Avenue, just north of the 210 Freeway entrance. A large portion of her former Rancho Santa Anita land holdings later became the L.A. County Arboretum and Botanic Garden and Santa Anita Park racetrack.