Anthony, Elihu

Elihu Anthony (1818-1905) came to Santa Cruz in late 1847, becoming a leading early Santa Cruz churchman, businessman, entrepreneur, and developer; and an outspoken leader of anti-Chinese sentiment. He described his earliest memories of Santa Cruz in an 1885 interview.

• "Thirty Seven Years Ago." Santa Cruz Sentinel, Jan. 9, 1885, 3:3-4.

In 1849, Anthony and a man named Penfield built a short, steep "chute" from the bluff at what is now the end of Bay Street, to facilitate loading sacks of potatoes and other goods into small boats below. Joseph Roberts described the structure in a Dec. 13, 1884 Sentinel interview (3:4).

He was shown as a property owner on the 1866 Santa Cruz map, in "Block No. 1" (Mission Hill) of the core downtown area; and as owner of another residence in "Block No. 3" (Union Street). The narrow street connecting Union and Locust Streets next to Anthony's lot is labeled on the map as "Anthony's Alley". In 1866, Anthony built a new house "on the hill near the water works reservoir" (on the bluff at the end of today's School Street). Anthony, in partnership with F. A. Hihn, had built the reservoir and a distribution pipeline system for the downtown area (see [[.

• "The Official Survey of Santa Cruz", Santa Cruz Sentinel, June 23, 1866, 2:4.
• History Pages: 9 - The Territory
• [1] "ELIHU ANTHONY (1818 – 1905): A Biography by His Brother", transcribed and annotated by Stanley D. Stevens, MAH Online History Journal.
• John L. Chase, The Sidewalk Companion to Santa Cruz Architecture (4th ed. 2023), Chapter Three, introduction, page 53 [one of a number of entries].
• Riptide CE40, photo
• Another bio: Memorial and Biographical History of the Coast Counties of Central California (1893), page 298.
• Elihu's father Asa Anthony (1793-1869) followed Elihu to Santa Cruz in 1855 (see Soc-of-Pioneers Elihu bio in HJ4), and is buried at Evergreen Cemetery
• Nephew Asa Anthony died from disease while serving as an army volunteer during the Civil War, and is buried in the war veterans section of Evergreen Cemetery.

Riptide Centennial includes a brief profile of A. B. Bennett (CE11), said to have married Anthony's daughter Louisa (1846-1922). Her grave marker, however, shows her married surname as Huntington, wife of Wilbur Huntington (second husband?). Also profiled in Riptide are Anthony's wife Sarah Van Anda Anthony CE32), and sister-in-law Jane Van Anda (CE27).