Mayor of Long Beach, California, from 1908 to 1912, and City Manager of Long Beach from 1922 to 1926, remembered as the "Father of the Long Beach Harbor." The son of James and Frances (Hopkins) Windham of Tennessee, as a young man he worked for the railroad in California and Oregon. He then went to Costa Rica where he worked for the railroad, later operating a coffee and sugar plantation for seven years. While in Central America, he met his wife, Angelica Bonilla y Guarda, and three of their five children were born in Costa Rica. Coming to Long Beach in 1904, he became a director of the Los Angeles Dock and Terminal Company which sought to make Long Beach a port of call that could rival the Port of Los Angeles in neighboring San Pedro. As mayor, he presided at the dedication of the Port of Long Beach in 1910 and he then ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1912. He was the president of the Western Dredging and Marine Construction Company that dredged the harbor, and a dredging vessel and fire boat were later named in his honor. He was the president of the Long Beach Steamship Company and a local real estate developer, while also serving as a Los Angeles County Civil Service Commissioner in 1915 and the Postmaster of Long Beach in 1922. In 1925, he started work on the Long Beach breakwater, which he had envisioned and promoted, and which was completed after his death in the 1940s, allowing the Port of Long Beach to become the second busiest container seaport in the United States. His home at 435 Cedar Avenue, now a historic landmark, was turned into the Lord Mayor's Bed and Breakfast in the 1980s, reverting to a private home in the late 1990s.
Mayor of Long Beach, California, from 1908 to 1912, and City Manager of Long Beach from 1922 to 1926, remembered as the "Father of the Long Beach Harbor." The son of James and Frances (Hopkins) Windham of Tennessee, as a young man he worked for the railroad in California and Oregon. He then went to Costa Rica where he worked for the railroad, later operating a coffee and sugar plantation for seven years. While in Central America, he met his wife, Angelica Bonilla y Guarda, and three of their five children were born in Costa Rica. Coming to Long Beach in 1904, he became a director of the Los Angeles Dock and Terminal Company which sought to make Long Beach a port of call that could rival the Port of Los Angeles in neighboring San Pedro. As mayor, he presided at the dedication of the Port of Long Beach in 1910 and he then ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1912. He was the president of the Western Dredging and Marine Construction Company that dredged the harbor, and a dredging vessel and fire boat were later named in his honor. He was the president of the Long Beach Steamship Company and a local real estate developer, while also serving as a Los Angeles County Civil Service Commissioner in 1915 and the Postmaster of Long Beach in 1922. In 1925, he started work on the Long Beach breakwater, which he had envisioned and promoted, and which was completed after his death in the 1940s, allowing the Port of Long Beach to become the second busiest container seaport in the United States. His home at 435 Cedar Avenue, now a historic landmark, was turned into the Lord Mayor's Bed and Breakfast in the 1980s, reverting to a private home in the late 1990s.
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