William Chapman Ralston (January 12, 1826 – August 27, 1875) was a San Francisco businessman and financier,[1] and the founder of the Bank of California.

He built Ralston Hall in Belmont, California, as a summer home; however his wife Elizabeth "Lizzie" Fry and their four children lived there all year round.

[6] Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it became part of the campus of Notre Dame de Namur University.

John P. Gaynor was the architect and had been instructed by Ralston to study European luxury hotels for inspiration.

[citation needed] In 1875, his financial empire collapsed as a result of the combination of the expense of building the Palace Hotel, the failure of his attempt to buy and then resell the Spring Valley Water Company, the after-effects of the Panic of 1873, and a crash in the stock value of the Bank of California.

[5]: 190  About 50,000 people were said to have watched his funeral procession, and 8,000 of his friends were said by Robert Brereton to have attended the public meeting held in Union Hall on September 8, 1875 to express the community's loss.

Senator William Sharon, acquired many of his assets, including the Palace Hotel and Ralston Hall.

Ralston was portrayed by Ronald W. Reagan in a 1965 episode of Death Valley Days, "Raid on the San Francisco Mint".

The episode dramatizes an 1869 event in which Ralston gets the head of the mint drunk in order to persuade him to authorize an exchange of bullion for coins.