Louis Roeder (1835–1915) was a member of the governing body of Los Angeles, California, in the 19th century, who rose from being a pioneer blacksmith and carriage maker to one of the wealthiest landowners in the city.
[1] Trained as a woodworker, Roeder began his vocation in Los Angeles by "placing of from twenty to thirty draw bands on the leaking wooden pipes of the city's water system.
"[3] Roeder opened his own blacksmithing and a carriage-making shop on what was then the outskirts of Los Angeles, at First and Spring Streets, where the Nadeau Hotel was later built.
"[1] He began buying land when "property in the city had scarcely any value," Los Angeles being "regarded by outsiders as a very bad town for business, even San Diego looking down upon it."
In 1874 he bought land on Spring Street, where he later built the Roeder Block, paying $5,000 to "McLaughlin, the owner of the overland stage line ... which was considered a good price at the time, the lot being so far south of the business center.