John Edward Hollenbeck
John Edward Hollenbeck (June 5, 1829 – September 2, 1885) was an American businessman and investor who was involved in the 19th-century development of Nicaragua and the city of Los Angeles, California.
After doing day labor for traveling funds, he returned to Ohio and apprenticed himself to learn the machinist's trade with Bell and Chamberlain in Cuyahoga Falls.
This transportation network carried thousands of travelers each month from the Atlantic to the Pacific side of Central America on their way to the gold rush in San Francisco.
Then, mules, horses, or stagecoaches carried them over the small isthmus between the lake and San Juan del Sur, Rivas on the Pacific where they would embark on ships traveling the coast between Panama and Nicaragua and California.
At Castillo Rapids, he established a general merchandise store, and won a contract with the Transit Company cutting wood for fuel for the San Juan River steamers.
At the time of the purchase, the hotel was managed by Elizabeth Hatsfeldt, originally from Mainz, Germany, who had recently immigrated to Nicaragua from New Orleans.
However, the community's economic base was damaged when, on 13 July 1854, the United States Navy sloop USS Cyane bombarded and burned Greytown in retaliation for reported local actions against American citizens.
However, in 1855, the American filibuster William Walker installed himself as President of Nicaragua and revoked the charter of the Accessory Transit Company and then assumed its assets.
Hollenbeck and his wife were evacuated with other families from El Castillo the day before the filibuster attack on February 15, 1857, which destroyed the hamlet by fire.
In May 1857, Hollenbeck was rewarded for his loyalty by the Costa Ricans by receiving a government contract and having the former Accessory Transit Company house given to him in replacement of the destroyed American Hotel.
[2] Walker and his followers attempted to retake Nicaragua in November 1857, when they entered Greytown harbor and camped at nearby Puntas Arenas.
In the San Gabriel Valley, he owned orchards of oranges, lemons, and grapes; and invested in 3,500 acres (1,400 ha) of Rancho La Puente — a grain and stock ranch.
On June 18, 1880, Hollenbeck was listed in the Federal census as a capitalist, he and his wife were raising a Nicaraguan mulatto teenage ward, and they had four servants, including two Chinese and a Mexican.
On July 2, 1883, Hollenbeck received an American passport to travel abroad, which described him as being 5 feet 8+1⁄2 inches (1.74 m) tall, having blue eyes and a light complexion.
