• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Features
  • Campus News
  • CSUDH.edu
  • Contact
  • People
    • Staff Spotlight
    • Faculty Highlights
    • Alumni
  • Magazine
  • For Journalists
    • CSUDH In The News
    • Press Releases
    • Facts and Figures
    • Find Media Experts
    • Gallery
    • News Reporting on Campus

CSUDH News

The primary source of news and information about California State University, Dominguez Hills, its students, faculty, and staff.

You are here: Home / Archive / Features / William Huston (1927-2011): Urged Sale of Family’s Land for South Bay College

William Huston (1927-2011): Urged Sale of Family’s Land for South Bay College

March 23, 2011

William “Bill” Huston, who served at the helm of the Watson Land Company for more than 40 years, died on March 9 at the age of 83. Widely recognized throughout California as a leader in economic and industrial development, Huston was responsible for convincing the Dominguez Estate Company to sell its land to the state of California for a new public college in the South Bay region of Los Angeles. The site became the campus of California State College, Dominguez Hills and finally, California State University, Dominguez Hills.

As chairman of Watson Land Company, William Huston raised the first flag on the campus of California State College, Dominguez Hills with CSC Chancellor Glenn Dumke, first CSC Dominguez Hills president Leo Cain, and Lt. Governor Robert Finch. Courtesy of Tom Philo, University Archives
As chairman of Watson Land Company, William Huston raised the first flag on the campus of California State College, Dominguez Hills with CSC Chancellor Glenn Dumke, first CSC Dominguez Hills president Leo Cain, and Lt. Governor Robert Finch. Courtesy of Tom Philo, University Archives

“CSU Dominguez Hills would not exist were it not for Bill Huston,” says Judson Grenier, emeritus professor of history and author of  “California Legacy: The Watson Family.” “He convinced the Dominguez Estate Company to sell its land to the state for the site of [the college]. Many of the stockholders were opposed, but he pushed it through, and then, further convinced Gov. Pat Brown and his financial adviser, Hale Champion, to present to the California State College Board of Trustees the option of purchasing the land.”

Huston worked with Grenier and other members of the Watson and Carson families, heirs of the original landowners, to bring the majority of the collection of the Dominguez family papers to the University Library, where they have resided since 1971.

“[The Dominguez papers remain] the first and one of the most important special collections in our library,” says Grenier. “Later in that decade, he asked me to undertake the history of the Watson-Dominguez family, with an important segment on the creation and history of the Watson Land Company. After each chapter was completed, he read through it, and we met in his … office for hours to correct errors of fact or interpretation. He joined me in working with the artists and book designers to put out the final product, and for a time, and for a time, he gave me a desk in his office to read proof and make editorial changes.”

Alison Bruesehoff, executive director of the Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum, oversees the original site of the adobe home that Californio rancher and statesman Manuel Dominguez built on the Rancho San Pedro, the first Spanish land grant in California. She says that the legacy of Manuel Dominguez continues with the use of his family’s land for the urban university of the South Bay that bears his family’s name.

William Huston (at far right) celebrated the dedication of the Watson Industrial Center on March 24, 1966 with (L-R) Burton Chace, Los Angeles County Supervisor; Eduardo Toda, Consul General of Spain; and Mrs. Virginia Benziger, granddaughter of Dolores Watson.

“As Dominguez family descendants, the Watson/Huston family embraced the same ideals as Manuel Dominguez to keep the land and use it to further the local economy,” she says. “Bill Huston’s support of using Dominguez land to build a college for the South Bay that would educate its workforce continues that tradition.”

Huston was born July 8, 1927, to Ralph and Helen Huston in Omaha, Neb. The family would later move to Akron, Ohio, where Huston went on to attend the University of Akron; he also attended John Carroll University in Cleveland. After serving in the Navy during World War II, Huston earned a law degree from the University of Notre Dame School of Law and subsequently moved to San Francisco where he worked for the FBI. After joining the law firm of Riley and Hall in Los Angeles, he completed post-graduate work in tax law at the University of Southern California.

Huston served the Los Angeles community as president of the California Chamber of Commerce and director of the National Association of Industrial and Office Parks, as well as the California Statewide Economic and Job Development Committee.

Huston married Susana Dolores Watson, a descendant of Dolores Dominguez and James Watson, in 1954. He is survived by Mrs. Huston and their eight children and their spouses: Catherine Huston and Jerry Hurtubise, Ann Huston and Ron Hallagan, Helen and Bob Zieman, Thomas and Kathy Huston, Mary and A.J. Coulter, Robert and Beth Huston, Jean and Todd Walker, and Elizabeth Huston. He is also survived by 18 grandchildren.

For more information on the history of the Dominguez family at CSU Dominguez Hills, click here.

Filed Under: Features Tagged With: Academic Affairs, Administration, Business, Entrepreneurship, Faculty, Staff, Students

Recent Features

Ricardo Martinez with fellow youth commissioners at an outreach event in 2022.

Toro Makes an Impact as Youth Commissioner

January 12, 2023

At 23, CSUDH junior Ricardo Ortega Martinez Jr. is already a veteran in California politics. “My advocacy and community organizing started at the age of 17,” says Martinez, a political science major whose early experience with foster care growing up in Huntington Park helped shape the focus of his current advocacy ... Read More

Ken Seligson with The Maya and Climate Change book in foreground

New Book Explores the Resilience of the Ancient Maya

December 2, 2022

Throughout human history, civilizations have had to adapt to ever-shifting environments in order to survive—whether sudden, catastrophic climate events, or gradual changes that span centuries. These human-environmental relationships are at the center of The Maya and Climate Change (Oxford University Press, Nov. 2022), ... Read More

Helping Student Vets Chart a Path to Success

November 10, 2022

Tucked away on the third floor of Leo F. Cain Library, the Veterans Resource Center (VRC) may be small, but it exerts an outsized influence on the lives of students making the challenging transition from military service to academic life. “The Veterans Resource Center is the reason I’m here today and about to ... Read More

... see all Featured Stories

Footer

California State University, Dominguez Hills Logo

1000 E. Victoria Street, Carson, CA 90747
1-310-243-2001 • Send Email

Related Sites

  • csudh.edu
  • magazine.csudh.edu
  • gotoros.com

EMAIL NEWSLETTER

Get CSUDH News directly in your inbox

Copyright © 2023 · California State University, Dominguez Hills