USA > California > Imperial County > Calexico > A history of Calexico > Part 4
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Mrs. Steindorf was president again the third year and the library continued to grow. At first, the club women alternately took care of the books, but it soon ougtrew this method. Miss Dorothy Gleason was made the first regular librarian, serving three hours a day, three days a week. In September, 1910 Mrs. Bessie Wofford took charge. In April, 1912 the Imperial County Library was organized and the Calexico library merged with it.
On the very eve of the floods, Mr. Frank Thing expressed his confidence in the town by putting up the first two-story building. It was known as the Thing Building, and it still stands on the corner of Second and Paulin Streets. It housed the Thing Brothers' meat market.
About this time the people of Calexico felt the need of a town government. They had outgrown the method (or lack of method) formerly employed,-namely, running things by common consent. Accordingly, the people elected a Board of Trustees.
This newly elected board held its first regular meeting in the office of the Calexico Chronicle on. Imperial Avenue on the evening of April 28, 1908. The trustees were: Messrs. J. A. Morrison, G. W. Shenk, Dr. W. T. Heffernan, G. W. McCullum and F. F. Thing. Mr. O. B. Tout acted in the capacity of clerk. Mr. Morrison was elected presi- dent of the board. Mr. J. M. Eshleman was, by a unani- mous vote, selected City Attorney.
The board then set to work drawing up ordinances, the very first of which was to prohibit the sale of liquor in Cal- exico. The second regulated the placing of guy wires for the public safety. The third fixed the time and place of meeting of the board. The fourth provided for police super- vision. A total of seven ordinances was framed that night. The seventh prohibited gambling. All of them were passed. The Chronicle office was to be the regular place of meet-
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ing. Later that spring Dr. Harvey Smith was appointed Health Officer.
That summer, sidewalks were completed in the business section. In October the "Eastside Addition" was annexed to the town.
On January 22, 1909, a special election was held at which bonds were carried to the extent of $3,500 for muni- cipal buildings and other improvements. The following month, the city made arrangements with the Holton Power Company for street lights.
In the spring of 1909, the City Hall was moved into a room of its own in the rear of the Thing Building. The town then purchased its first typewriter for the use of the clerk.
On October 2, 1909, another special election was held to vote more bonds: $28,000 was voted for water works and a water system; $2,000 to buy land for reservoirs for the city water. Owing to the large amount of silt in the water, already referred to, settling basins were imperative. The sum of $2,000 was voted for fire fighting apparatus; $500 being intended for the improvement of the parks and $3,500 for a City Hall and jail. The following spring, the Fire Engine House was built on First Street.
At this time also, the crossing into Mexico was moved from Heber Avenue to Heffernan, where it remains today.
Rockwood Plaza had been set aside for park purposes and was being used as a base-ball ground. It was sur- rounded by a high board fence. It was quite a contrast to the beautiful park that is found there now. About this time, also, the Post Office was dignified with a location of its own at Third Street and Imperial Avenue.
Varney Brothers had established a general merchandise store in Imperial in 1902. It had grown and prospered. In 1910, that firm established a branch store in Calexico. There, also, their business flourished. Now they are one of the leading firms in the Valley, having six stores in as many different towns.
During this time, the Chronicle had seen several changes. Its successive editors were : Messrs. Charles A. Gardner, John Baker, now of Holtville, O. B. Tout, and Bert Perrin. Mr. Perrin was editor from 1913 to 1922.
In the fall of 1907, the ninth grade was added to the school. It met in the old Congregational Church at 6th and Paulin streets. This old church building has since been bought by the members of the colored Baptist Church, who moved it to Third Street and Eastside Avenue.
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The town was growing so rapidly that the following year a new school building was imperative. A splendid new two-story brick school was built. This school building was the pride of the town. Two years later, in 1910, the kindergarten was started in the original little school build- ing on Sixth Street, where it still meets. In the spring of 1911, the high school graduated its first class.
In 1915, construction was begun on a large and splendid new high school building. That same year, the Dool School was built to provide for the children in the east part of the town. It was a beautiful school building in Spanish style and surrounded by several acres of play-ground. The Rockwood School was also completed about this time. It is similar to the Dool School in architecture.
In order to encourage the planting of trees, the city undertook to water and care for parkings free for all prop- erty owners who would plant trees. This plan furnished a great impetus for tree planting. At the present time every street is lined with trees. The graceful pepper tree pre- dominates.
The sewer system was installed in 1911.
At this time, also, Calexico had a miniature prohibition fight. "Temperance beer" was the issue. It contained 2% of alcohol and was claimed by many not to conflict with Calexico's first ordinance. Its advocates declared it was not an intoxicating liquor. The fight was exciting. Every citizen was lined up on one side or the other of the issue. The matter was brought before the board of Super- visors and that body decided against the "temperance beer." This decision was made on the 22nd of April, 1911.
Early the next year, a small frame jail was put up in the southwest corner of Rockwood Park. This proved too fragile for a jail, so two years later it was moved to its present location in the fire engine house on First Street.
It was in 1909 that cotton was first grown in marketable quantities around Calexico. Four hundred bales were sold that year. With this success, several cotton gins were built and the production of cotton steadily increased.
Calexico was never long without excitement. Huey Stanley was a radical I. W. W. leader. He was a man of courage, strength, and considerable military ability. It is a pity that a man of his talents and initiative should lead others in a wrong direction, as this man did. Berthold and Ryan Price were Stanley's co-workers. They led a band of I. W. W.'s, largely composed of bums, across the border into Mexico. They attempted to set up a socialist com-
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A HISTORY OF CALEXICO
munity according to their own ideas, directly across New River from Calexico.
Governor Kelso Vega of Lower California would not permit the settlement. Stanley and his men would not leave ; so the regular Mexican army attempted to drive them out. The result was a battle between the two forces in February, 1911. All Calexico watched the struggle, which began shorly before noon and lasted until dark. The churches cared for the wounded and buried the dead. Dr. Dana Weed was chief hero of the rescue work. At that time, he was not yet a physician, but his big heart was al- ways interested in suffering humanity. School children brought cloth from their homes for bandages to help him in the work.
The result of the day's fighting was that the Mexican army retreated to the kindly shelter of Mt. Signal, some fourteen miles away. Stanley and his men were victorious for the time.
However, on the 8th of April in the same year, the Mexi- can army returned 900 strong with General Mayol at its head. This time the fighting took place a mile or so fur- ther to the south. Stanley and his men fought bravely and killed 13 and wounded 28 of Mayol's men. Mayol's soldiers shot and killed Stanley himself. Without its leader, Stanley's army fell into disorder and soon dispersed. Thus ended the socialist settlement across New River.
Four years later, Calexico suffered a real tragedy. About eight o'clock in the evening of June 22, 1915, the vicinity was visited by an unusually severe earthquake shock. Forty minutes later, another shock came equally as bad as the first one had been. Several fires resulted. A camp of American soldiers was stationed there at the time, and the soldiers helped the fire department in extinguishing the conflagrations. Most of the fires were in residences though perhaps the largest one was the Thing Building. The building was saved, however, without irreparable dam- age having been done.
Everything of brick was leveled to the ground. Not a brick building was spared, not even a brick chimney re- mained standing. The beautiful new Rockwood School building, the pride of the town, was nothing but a pile of bricks. The new high school building was about half completed. It was so badly shaken that it had to be reconstructed.
There were no deaths from the quake in Calexico, but Mexicali was not so fortunate. It suffered many. The to- tal damage in Calexico amounted to about $300,000.
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List of Presidents of Board of Trustees or Mayors :
J. A. Morrison John C. Pace
E. H. Rockwood Edward Docl
C. H. Holmes
Casey Abbott
E. H. Rockwood
T. J. West
Ale Baskin
List of City Clerks :
O. B. Tout Edward B. Brown
J. B. Hoffman Frank P. Green
Robert L. Glasby
Paul Steindorf
City Manager : Paul Steindorf
Chapter VI. Calexico Today-1915-1923
Let us now view Calexico as it is today.
The High School was rebuilt and completed in 1915. It is a beautiful building and a credit to the town. The year 1918 saw the completion of the Hoffman School, a new grammar school on Seventh Street. The original school building is still in use as a kindergarten. Besides this, there are now three grammar schools and the high school.
The Library remained in the old adobe on Imperial Avenue until the year 1919. Andrew Carnegie's assistance was then accepted and a splendid new library building was constructed on Heber Avenue at Fifth Street. The Library moved into its new home in February of the year 1919. Mrs. Bessie Wofford is still librarian. She is doing a great work for her city in her untiring helpfulness to everyone who seeks assistance in the Library.
The Calexico Chamber of Commerce organized on the evening of January 30, 1917, as the successor to the Far- mers' and Merchants' Club. A board of directors was elected and Mr. Frank D. Hevener was made the first presi- dent. In the early years of its existence, the Chamber was unable to accomplish much due to war conditions and the financial depression which followed.
In January, 1922, the Chamber reorganized with Mr. L. M. Hutchison as president. It secured a permanent lo- cation in the Calexico Hotel Building. It has a public wel- fare room, a dining room, and a kitchen. Great interest has been shown and the membership has jumped to 400. Much is being done to advertise Calexico throughout the United States.
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A HISTORY OF CALEXICO
In November, 1922, the first annual International Cot- ton Pageant was held with a view to advertising Calexico as a cotton center. It was a complete success.
The Chamber is now agitating the erection of a Federal Building and a first-class hotel. It has hopes of obtaining both in the near future.
Calexico now has three railroads. The Southern Pa- cific has already been mentioned. The Inter-California, it will be remembered, was begun in 1905, destroyed by the flood the following year, and was rebuilt and completed in 1908. It is a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific Company, but is operated entirely separately on a concession of the Mexican government. It begins at Calexico, crosses the border there and runs through Mexican territory to Yuma. The railroad was the idea of the late E. H. Harriman. The purpose was to provide a direct outlet for produce from the Southern end of the Valley. 1 More than this, it serves the purpose of a "double track" between Niland and Yuma. Trains going one direction can be routed one way, and trains going the opposite direction can be routed the other way. This results in a material saving of time, for both passenger and freight service.
Mr. William F. Herrin is president of the Inter-Cali- fornia Railroad and Mr. Paul Shoup is vice-president. Both are also officials of the Southern Pacific. Mr. E. G. Bur- dick is general manager of the railroad with headquarters at Calexico.
Two of the trans-continental passenger trains of the Southern Pacific are now routed through Calexico over the Inter-California tracks.
The San Diego and Arizona Railroad of which Mr. John D. Spreckles of San Diego is president and principal owner, started construction east from San Diego in 1916. It was not completed, however, until 1920. The cost was $18,000- 000. The road cuts directly through the mountains, and has 17 tunnels and countless bridges in its course. From El Centro to Calexico, it operates over the Southern Pacific tracks and from there to Yuma over the Inter-California tracks.
The year 1922 saw the transfer of the Calexico Chronicle from Mr. Bert Perrin, in whose hands it had been for nine years, to Messrs. Randall Henderson and Myron Watson.
At present, all the water used in the Valley comes through one heading. This is situated about one and a quarter miles north of the international boundary and is officially called Rockwood Gate, but commonly known as
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Hanlon Heading, after the man on whose property it was built. The water then flows through Mexican territory via the Alamo canal. A few miles east of Calexico, it again enters our country and branches into several main canals. These branch off again and again, so that every foot of the Irrigation District's soil is watered by gravity.
The East Side main canal and the West Side main canal are also known as the "high line" canals. They follow the highest line along which the water will flow naturally. Outside of these two canals, the land cannot be irrigated by gravity. It is, therefore, still the natural desert.
The United States Government has never granted the Valley permission to use the waters of the Colorado since its refusal to do so in 1904. Water is being used, however, by virtue of an old filing made by Mr. C. N. Perry in 1895 under the laws of California.
The California Development Company went into the hands of a receiver in 1909 and was operated by him until 1916. In April of that year, it was sold at sheriff's sale. By arrangement, the property was bought by the Southern Pacific Company and then sold again to the Imperial Irri- gation District. Thus the old California Development Com- pany went out of existence.
The water companies were from their beginnings in- dependent of the California Development Company. They were mutual companies. At the present time, they are in the process of merging with the Irrigation District.
The old Imperial Land Company went out of existence soon after the first rush of settlers was over.
After all the noble work, sacrifice, and fortunes that have been poured into the reclamation of this Colorado Desert, it is a grave reflection on the business methods in operation in our country that hundreds of acres of this re- claimed land are now idle because the farmers can not pro- fitably sell what they have raised. Acres and acres of food crops are plowed under every year because it does not pay the farmer to market his crop. The natural re- sult is that much of the land has been abandoned for no other reason than the market conditions. After men and women have sacrificed so much to make this land produce food for humanity, it would seem that other men and women should make it their duty to regulate market conditions so that the original great and worthy motives may be ful- filled.
Mr. W. A. Brazie is the Inspector in charge of the United States Immigration Service. That Service at present employs nine men. Approximately 1,500 persons are ad-
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A HISTORY OF CALEXICO
mitted to the United States through the port of Calexico each year. About 300 depart. Calexico is a port of entry for exempt Chinese.
Under ordinary circumstances, there are no passport regulations, and people from the two towns pass freely over the border. During the war, however, very strict passport regulations were in force. Complete identification, includ- ing photograph and signature, was necessary. During that time, the office employed 29 men.
Armed guards from the Immigration Service are al- ways stationed at the border to see that no one crosses who has no right to do so. They are continually on the watch for escaping criminals.
The Customs Service at the port of Calexico, is headed by Mr. C. R. Brown, who has himself contributed a brief but comprehensive survey of his department. It follows, in part:
On July 1st, 1910, Heffernan Avenue having been made the official crossing, the Custom House was moved to a brick building on the northwest corner of Heffernan Avenue and First Street and, on July 5, 1915, was moved south to the present location in the substantial brick building on Heffernan Avenue near the Mexican boundary.
The value of imports at the port for the year 1903 was $13,776; the value for the banner year of 1919 was $12,471,551; the value for 1921 was $6,753,380. In 1902, the principal im- ports were cattle; during the past few years, imports have varied but consist principally of cotton. The falling off in value for the year 1921 is not so much on account of any lessened volume of business as because of the drop in prices, especially on cotton.
The Port of Calexico was established, and is now, under the district of San Diego. The port was placed under the dis- trict of Los Angeles in 1913 but in 1920 was put back into the district of San Diego. Honorable C. D. Sprigg, the present col- lector of customs at San Diego and in charge of this district, was chief clerk or special deputy collector in the San Diego office at the time the Calexico office was opened in 1902.
The first customs officer stationed at the Port of Calexico was Customs Inspector Charles Sandborn. The first deputy col- lector in charge was Deputy Collector Ralph Conklin, who took charge on May 1st, 1905. The present officer in charge is Deputy Collector E. R. Brown, who has been stationed here since 1915 and has been in charge since 1917.
On the 4th of March, 1922, flags throughout the Valley were lowered to half mast as an expression of grief at the passing of Mr. C. R. Rockwood. He had moved to Los Angeles some time previously but had not severed his busi- ness connections in the Valley. His last visit in Calexico occurred only a month before his death. About a year be- fore his passing, he had a severe attack of pneumonia, from
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which he never fully recovered. However, the immediate cause of his death was heart failure. His wife, a sister and two brothers survive him and the whole Valley mourns his loss.
Calexico has achieved much in recent years. Besides the two original parks, it has acquired 17 acres, which it is holding for park purposes in the future. It now has $500,000 worth of paving and 28 miles of sidewalks valued at $545,000. It has six miles of sewers. It has planted over 5,000 trees in its parkings.
It has recently added a new pumping plant to its water works, tripling its capacity. It has increased its settling basin capacity six-fold and added a chlorine plant and a filter system for purifying the drinking water.
It has installed a modern fire alarm system. Calexico is proud of its total assessed valuation of well over $6,000,- 000.
Building has progressed rapidly. Imperial Avenue, where only a few years ago the cowboys raced their ponies, is now a paved highway, the main road out of Calexico to El Centro and all points north. Stores line both sides of the street from Second to Seventh Street.
Second Street is the principal business street. It is lined with two-story business blocks from Imperial Avenue to one-half block east of Heffernan Avenue.
Heffernan Avenue is the only street that crosses the border. It is on this street that the Immigration and Cus- toms offices are located. Between Second Street and the border, Heffernan is lined with foreign stores. First Street, parallel to the border, is also foreign. The very air has a foreign scent. Here are Oriental stores, with Oriental signs on their windows, where dried fish in great variety hang, where also many wares, unfamiliar to the American trader, are exhibited for sale.
Then there are the Mexican stores with their gaudy, over-crowded window displays and their narrow aisleways. The Mexican restaurant is also present with its tortillas and its strong odor of chili. Neither must we overlook the fish market with its varied odors. It is almost like being in a foreign country to walk in this section of the town, except that one feels the protection offered by the flag that floats above the Custom House. The Mexican flag floats from its Custom House only a few feet from ours.
All of the close-in section of Calexico is paved and the city is rapidly extending its sidewalks to the outlying sec- tions.
MAP OF THE IMPERIAL IRRIGATION DISTRICT AND
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A HISTORY OF CALEXICO
The city Hall has recently moved into its new building on Heber Avenue at Fourth Street. The Library and City Hall occupy two separate buildings set on an entire square block of lawn. Rockwood Park occupies the next two consecutive blocks on Heber Avenue and the high school adjoins the park on the north. The large expanse of park with lawn and trees thus formed serves as a community center and meeting place for the people in civic and general social affairs.
Again, the citizens of Calexico began to feel that they had outgrown their system of government. Accordingly, they investigated other methods, and finally, on February 19, 1918, they adopted the Commission Plan. The people elected five commissioners to be the heads of the five de- partments. These departments were: Street Department; Public Health; Safety and Welfare; Light and Water; Fire, Police and Law; and Finance and Accounting. The five commissioners elected the Mayor, City Clerk, and other important officials and had general control and supervision over city affairs.
On the First of November, 1922, the City again changed its form of government. This time the City Manager Plan was adopted. Honorable Paul Steindorf, former City Clerk, is the first and present City Manager. He appoints all city officers except the Mayor. The commissioners are retained as heads of their respective departments. The chairman of the Board of Commissioners acts in the formal capacity of Mayor. The actual business, however, is in the hands of the Manager.
In the brief space of twenty-two years, Calexico has grown from a mere grading camp on the desert to a thriving city of some 7,000 souls.
It would seem that Fate had been against it from the beginning. Yet in spite of almost every conceivable diffi- culty, the people have at last succeeded. The "Spirit of the Valley" has prevailed.
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