The U.S. Senator from North Reading

Did you know that North Reading produced a United States Senator? Even if you don’t know who he is, his name will sound familiar: Frank Putnam Flint. In this article, Matthew T. Page tells us all about him.

Born in North Reading in 1862 to Francis Eaton Flint and Althea Louise Flint (née Hewes), the future senator spent the early years of his life in our town. When he was seven years old, his parents moved their family to to California in search of economic opportunity. After attending public school in San Francisco, Flint moved to Los Angeles where he briefly worked for his great-uncle David Hewes (profiled in our April 2024 newsletter) before becoming a deputy for the U.S. Marshal Service. In 1892, he started his legal career as a clerk in the local district attorney’s office and joined the California Bar.

Senator Frank Putnam Flint (R-CA).

Flint’s career quickly took off. He was soon promoted to Assistant District Attorney and then appointed to be a Superior Court Judge in Los Angeles County in 1895.

An active member of the California Republican Party, Flint’s political connections continued to propel his career even further.

In 1897, he received his first federal appointment—that of U.S. District Attorney for the Southern District of California. Just 35 years old, he had been practicing law for only five years.

By 1904, Flint’s stature in California had grown to the point where he held great sway over the Los Angeles County Republican Party. That year, he flexed his political muscle by mounting a primary challenge against Senator Thomas Bard. Bard’s opposition to granting statehood to the Arizona and New Mexico territories (map below) had rankled Los Angeles powerful Republican-friendly business community. Eager to boost economic ties between southern California and the territories, Los Angeles’ merchants felt statehood would speed up their settlement and development. Flint took advantage of their disillusionment with Bard, and his opposition to statehood. Flint won the internal party battle handily.

Flint’s ascendancy to the U.S. Senate was assured because—prior to the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913—senators were appointed their state’s legislature. And the California legislature was firmly Republican. It voted to send to Washington where he served a full term from 1905 to 1911.

While in Washington, Flint served on two committees (Geological Survey and Interoceanic Canals) which were prestigious assignments at the time, given the importance of the Panama Canal and the allocation of mining concessions on public lands.

Flint also befriended President Teddy Roosevelt, becoming one of his key allies in Congress. In a 1909 letter, Roosevelt thanks Flint for for his "courage, wisdom and patriotism,” and notes that he has grown to rely on Flint for "fighting for decent and efficient government."

Flint nevertheless wanted to return to southern California and declined to run for reelection in 1911. Shortly after leaving Congress, he began purchasing undeveloped land in the hills around Pasadena. He named the 1,700 acre tract “Flintridge”.

It is said that the former senator personally laid out what became the modern-day town of Flintridge on horseback. With its large lots, winding streets, and bridle trails, the development was meant to appeal to affluent gentlemen seeking beautiful views and room to keep horses. And they settled their in droves, causing Flintridge to boom throughout the late 1910s and 1920s.

Flint himself chose one of the prime plots to build a 12,000-square-foot Colonial that was an exact replica of a Southern governor’s mansion (pictured below).

There was, however, a darker side to Flintridge. Keen to attract the wealthiest buyers, Flint promulgated “protective restrictions” (noted on the billboard pictured below) that prevented people of color from purchasing or occupying residences in the town. Flintridge—with its beautiful mansions, verdant country club, and luxury hotel—was designed to be a bastion of white privilege in an otherwise multiracial state.

Flint continued to practice law and strike business deals throughout the 1920s. Yet in 1929, Flint (age 67) died of a heart attack on board a luxurious steam ship on a round-the-world cruise.

Its location? Off the coast of The Philippines—all the way on the other side of globe from his modest home town of North Reading, Massachusetts.

Senator Frank Putnam Flint in 1925.

Back in southern California, Flint was widely mourned. The City of Los Angeles erected a marble fountain in his honor outside city hall. Still standing nearly a century later, the fountain (pictured below) has seen better days and needs to be restored.

There is, however, more to the story of the U.S. Senator from North Reading. Someday soon, we’ll share how Frank Flint’s legacy was tarnished by his role in the so-called Julian Oil Scandal—a corruption-fueled drama which caused the sudden downfall, criminal conviction, and dramatic courtroom assassination of his tycoon brother Motley Flint. Stay tuned!