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Henry Wartenberg was a merchant and civic leader in Los Angeles, California, during the 19th century. He was the first president of the city's first volunteer fire department, in 1868–69, and a member of the Los Angeles Common Council, the governing body of the city, from 1868 to 1870.

On June 14, 1867, Wartenberg was proprietor of a shop in partnership with Wolf Kalisher, sited in a group of businesses called Bell's Row or Bell's Block, when a fire took hold and spread from building to building until the entire block was leveled. Two years later, a volunteer fire department—the city's first—finally took shape with Wartenberg as president. The organization was called the Thirty-Eights, the number of firemen that could be raised to fight a blaze.

The two partners also transformed an old barn on Alameda Street between Ducommun Street and First Street into a tanning house for curing animal hides.

In 1870, Wartenberg was the president of the Los Angeles Hebrew Benevolent Society, predecessor of today's Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles. He was a member of the Odd Fellows lodge.

References

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1. Chronological Record of Los Angeles City Officials,1850-1938, compiled under direction of Municipal Reference Library, City Hall, Los Angeles (March 1938, reprinted 1966). "Prepared ... as a report on Project No. SA 3123-5703-6077-8121-9900 conducted under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration."
2. ^ "Reva Clar, "The Jews of Los Angeles: Urban Pioneers," Jewish Historical Society of Southern California, November 2002". Archived from the original on 2018-05-29. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
3. Donald H. Harrison, Western States Jewish History
4. Bill Murphy, "1886 Firehouse Replica to Be Put in Plaza Park," Los Angeles Times, May 27, 1956, page B-1
5. Harris Newmark, Sixty Years in Southern California, 1853–1913
6. Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles
7. "History, Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles". Archived from the original on 2012-08-28. Retrieved 2012-09-24.

• Businesspeople from Los Angeles
• Los Angeles Common Council (1850–1889) members
• American fire chiefs
• 19th-century American merchants
• Hebrew Benevolent Society
• Jews from California
• Jewish American people in California politics
• 19th-century American Jews