He also acquired shares in mines, grazing lands and cattle and, as Prescott and Arizona grew rapidly, he made a good deal of money from his enterprises.

During his time in Arizona, Sherman had made many trips to Los Angeles and had become convinced that it had a great future.

Sherman and Clark incorporated the Los Angeles Consolidated Electric Railway Company (LACE) in November, 1890.

[10] They intended to acquire and construct a large number of electric railway lines connecting important parts of Los Angeles.

The new company, now controlled by the bondholders, was renamed the Los Angeles Railway, and was sold to Henry Huntington and his associates in September, 1898, ultimately becoming the "Yellow Car" system.

After acquiring five existing railroads, they reconstructed an older steam line to reach from downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica via Colegrove.

Sherman was soon vindicated, as the failures were actually the result of poor bank investments during the boom of the late 1880s, and of possible losses associated with the bonds of Los Angeles’ cable railway system.

Santa Monica property owners Senator John P. Jones and Robert Symington Baker provided 225 acres of land near what would become Sawtelle.

[17] In March, 1906, Sherman and Clark sold a controlling interest in the railway to E. H. Harriman, of the Southern Pacific for a reported $6 million.

[18] A new Los Angeles Pacific Railroad Company was incorporated on April 4, 1907, with ambitious plans to standard gauge the system, add new lines, create a subway from downtown to Vineyard and more.

This list of men included Harrison Gray Otis, Harry Chandler, Otto F. Brant, Hobart J. Whitley, Robert C. Gillis and others.

The company built curbs and sidewalks, planted shrubbery, and donated land for a bank and for the future Hollywood Hotel.

Sherman and Clark's Los Angeles, Redondo Beach and Hermosa Railway Company built a line to the area by, which was later merged into the LAP.

[27] The line opened December 1902, extending from downtown at 4th & Broadway to the new resort,[28] and was soon added to the famous “Balloon Route” excursion.

[32] With Los Angeles’ rapid growth in the early 1920s, especially in the film industry, they partnered with Harry Chandler and developer S.H.

[36] Sherman was appointed to the Board of Water Commissioners February 5, 1903 by mayor Meredith P. Snyder,[38] where he worked on the Owens River project and became embroiled in controversy.

The syndicate included Porter, railroad builders Henry E. Huntington and E. H. Harriman, newspaper publishers Harrison Gray Otis, Harry Chandler, and Edwin T. Earl, banker Joseph Francis Sartori and others.

William Randolph Hearst’s paper, the Examiner, alleged that Sherman, after hearing the news of the aqueduct through his position on the water board, informed his business friends, who then completed their purchase of the ranch.

This group of men purchased the 47,500-acre (192 km2) parcel from the Los Angeles Farming and Milling Company, owned by Isaac Newton Van Nuys and son-in-law Issac Lankershim for $2,500,000, or just under $53 an acre.

[43] The 30-person syndicate was led by a five-member Board of Control which included Sherman[40] and partners Hobart Johnstone Whitley,[44] General Harrison Gray Otis,[45] Otto F. Brant,[46] and Harry Chandler,[47] manager of the Los Angeles Times, The land, also known as Tract 1000, comprised nearly the entire southern half of the San Fernando Valley south of present-day Roscoe Blvd.

[49] By 1912, after the syndicate paid a $150,000 bonus to help with construction,[50] the Pacific Electric Railway completed the new San Fernando Valley Line, a 20-mile-long (32-kilometer) extension of the PE, which ran from Hollywood to the developments of the Los Angeles Suburban Homes Company.

[52] By 1912, 45-minute streetcar service from Van Nuys to downtown and the "no speed limit" paved road were key selling points.

[50] Sherman was removed from the Water Board in January, 1910, by mayor George Alexander, ostensibly because a department related to the aqueduct leased space in a building he held stock in, violating a municipal ordinance.

[53] He was a director in the Farmers & Merchants National Bank, the Yosemite Park and Curry Company and a number of other corporations.

They married in 1885 and had two daughters, Hazeltine and Lucy; Sherman also adopted Harriet's son Robert Pierce from a previous marriage.

For many years he lived and worked in the Westminster Hotel until the late 1920s, after which he moved into an apartment suite on Rampart Boulevard near 6th.

The Foundation has contributed to hospitals, youth groups, scientific research, the Los Angeles Music Center and more.

The name remains on the westernmost original segment from Canoga Park and West Hills to Sherman Circle at Van Nuys Boulevard, and now also extends to Burbank.

The easternmost original segment, with its electric railway right of way now a landscaped median/Orange Line route, survives as present-day Chandler Boulevard.