Santa Anita Ranchos famously ambitious and colorful owner, Elias Jackson Lucky Baldwin, had established a popular tourist attraction on his productive working ranch by the late 1800s. Baldwin planned to incorporate the section of his ranch known as Arcadia, but opponents feared that he would turn such a city into a gambling hell and booze pleasure park. However, the vote for city-hood was virtually unanimous, and Baldwin took over as mayor on July 27, 1903. Arcadia flourished as alcohol sales were approved, saloons and gambling halls remained open 24 hours a day, and Baldwins ranch, racetrack, and Oakwood Hotel became popular with societys elite. After Baldwins death in 1909, Arcadias new leaders prohibited the sale of alcohol and steered the city in a less controversial direction. Agriculture, poultry farms, dairies, and land development became staples of the economy, and Arcadia gradually lost its rural simplicity, growing into a sophisticated, bustling city.
