William Henry Workman (1839-1918) was mayor of L.A. in the late 1880s and city treasurer in the early 1900s. The Missouri native was the nephew of an important figure in early Los Angeles: an Englishman also named William Workman (see Workman Avenue). The younger Workman came to Rancho La Puente in 1854 with his family. After his father David died in a fall, the surviving Workmans relocated to L.A. in 1855 and William pursued a series of jobs, most notably in saddlery. His fortunes changed in 1867 when he married Maria Elizabeth Boyle (1847-1933), the only child of the wealthy widower Andrew Boyle. After his father-in-law died in 1871, Workman began developing the land that Maria had inherited into a new, upscale neighborhood that he called Boyle Heights. Workman Street was named in 1875 while William H. Workman was serving on City Council. He was elected mayor in 1886.
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