USA > California > A history of California and an extended history of its southern coast counties, also containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present, Volume I > Part 65
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June 15 a branch of the Southern Pacific Rail- road was extended into the city. April 14, 1895, the original Raymond hotel was totally destroyed
by fire. This hotel, completed November 19, 1886, was the first tourist hotel built in South- ern California. The Annex to the Hotel Green was built in 1897, at a cost of $225,000. The Hotel Painter changed its name to La Pintoresca. During the year 1897 two hundred and sixty- three new houses were built.
May 7, 1898, Company I, numbering 102 of- ficers and men, recruited in Pasadena went to San Francisco as part of the Seventh Regiment of California Volunteers to take part in the Spanish war. The regiment after being held at San Francisco for seven months was discharged without seeing active service. The population of Pasadena according to the federal census of 1900 was 9,117. In September of the same year the addition to the public library costing $35,000 was completed; this doubled the capacity of the building. The West hall of Throop Polytechnic Institute was built at a cost of $150,- 000. The congregation of the First Methodist Church erected a new building at an expenditure of $60,000.
During the past five years Pasadena has made a rapid growth. The amount expended in build- ing during the year 1904 amounted to $1,582,- 200, in 1905 to $1,838.799. In 1904 North Pasadena was annexed to Pasadena. In munici- pal improvements the city has made great prog- ress. During the year 1905 $220,000 was ex- pended in street improvements. Colorado street was lighted with electric pendants suspended from boulevard posts. The city is one of the best lighted on the coast. The assessed valua- tion of city property in 1905-06 was $18,230,000. The postoffice receipts for 1905 were $63,000. For seventeen years Pasadena has celebrated each incoming New Year with a unique form of celebration-a rose tournament. It draws visi- tors from all the cities and towns around. Its fame has been heralded over the United States. In 1904 the Tournament of Roses Association donated Tournament Park to the city.
The Pasadena Board of Trade is a progres- sive body of 600 citizens. It has done a great work in spreading the fame of the Crown City and attracting the immigration of a desirable class of settlers. In 1905 the Madison school
390
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
building was erected at a cost of $33,000 and the Franklin at an expenditure of $22,000.
The total number of teachers employed in the schools is 144, of whom 30 are employed in the high school.
The Pasadena Public Library was estab- lished in 1882 and made free to the public in 1890. Its annual income from taxation is about $11,000. It has nine employes and the number of volumes on its shelves exceeds 26,000. It owns a lot of five and a half acres in the north- west corner of Library Park, donated by Charles F. Legge of Pasadena. The library building, built of green stone, cost over $50,000.
The pioneer newspaper of Pasadena was the Pasadena Chronicle. The first number was is- sued August 8. 1883. C. M. Daley was the ostensible proprietor, but the real owners and managers were Ben E. Ward and his brothers, Frank and Walter, then owners of a considera- ble amount of real estate in Pasadena. Daley was not a desirable manager and Ben E. Ward took full charge of it. In November, 1883, it was sold to H. W. Magee and J. W. Wood. In January, 1884, Magee sold his interest to J. E. Clarke. In February, 1884, E. N. Sullivan, a practical printer, became a partner ; a press and stock of type were bought and the printing, which heretofore had been done in Los Angeles, was now done in Pasadena. The name was
changed to the Pasadena and Valley Union and the paper enlarged to eight columns. January 10, 1885, the paper was sold to Charles A. Gard- ner, an experienced newspaper man, who greatly improved the paper and put life into it. Gardner sold out to Clarke & Bennet in 1886, and after a number of changes in ownership it was sold to the Daily Star August 3, 1889. The Union died of too many managers and too little patron- age.
The next venture in the newspaper field was made by H. J. Vail, February 9, 1887. He is- sued the Pasadena Star, an eight-column week- ly. The first issue of the Daily Star was made February 9. 1887. After the purchase of the business and good will of the Union the paper appeared with a double title The Daily Star and Union. The Star still continues to shine, but the Union part of the partnership has long since disappeared.
The following table gives the growth in pop- ulation of Pasadena for twenty-five years :
In 1880 the population was
391
1890
4,882
1900
9,117
I90I
66
11,500
1902
12,467
.6
1903
15,950
.. · 1904
66
17,280
..
1905
66
21,250
CHAPTER LVII.
CITIES AND TOWNS OF THE SAN GABRIEL VALLEY.
POMONA.
T HE metropolis of the eastern portion of Los Angeles county is Pomona city. It is located thirty-two miles east of Los Angeles city and is accessible by the Southern Pacific, the Santa Fe and the Salt Lake Rail- roads.
It is a child of the colony era of the early '70s, when the Indiana Colony (now Pasadena), Santa Monica, San Fernando, the American Col- ony and Artesia were ushered into existence.
While she bears the name of a Grecian goddess or nymph who was the patroness of fruits, it is not probable the founders of the town delved into Greek mythology to find a name. The name was no doubt a suggestion from the Grange-a bucolic secret order very popular in the county at that time. Pomona, Ceres and Flora were the three goddesses (personated at Grange meetings by three young ladies) who were sup- posed to look after the farmers' interests in fruits, grain and flowers. As the settlement was
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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
designed for a fruit-growing colony, it was ap- propriately given the name of Pomona (the Goddess of Fruits).
Early in 1875 Louis Phillips contracted to sell to P. C. Tonner, Cyrus Burdick and Fran- cisco Palomares a tract containing about 2,700 acres of the Vejar portion of the San José rancho. This rancho, containing about 22,000 acres, was originally granted by Governor Alva- rado to Ignacio Palomares and Ricardo Vejar, April 19, 1837. Subsequently, on petition of these two grantees, together with Luis Arenas, the same rancho was regranted by Governor Al- varado March 14, 1840, with an additional league of land known as the San Jose addition and ly- ing to the westward of the original grant next to the San Gabriel mountains. The rancho was owned in common by the three grantees. Luis Arenas sold his undivided interest to Henry Dal- ton. Vejar and Dalton petitioned for a parti- tion of the rancho. The partition was decreed by Juan Gallardo, alcalde and judge of the first in- stance of Los Angeles, and was carried into ef- fect February 12, 1846. Palomares was dissat- isfied with the subdivision. Gallardo's decision was set aside by the superior court and a new partition ordered. The interest of Ricardo Vejar, one of the original grantees, April 30, 1874, was sold for $29,000 to H. Tishler and J. Schlesinger, by whom it was conveyed to Louis Phillips, who sold a portion of his interest to Tonner, Burdick and Palomares, as stated above.
Tonner and his associates sold their purchase shortly after they made it to the Los Angeles Immigration and Land Co-operative Associa- tion. This association was incorporated, De- cember 10, 1874, with a capital stock of $250,000, divided into 2,500 shares, at the par value of $100 per share. Its board of directors consisted of the following: Thomas A. Garey, president ; C. E. White, vice-president ; L. M. Holt, secretary ; Milton Thomas, manager ; R. M. Town, assistant manager ; and H. G. Crow, treasurer. The prin- cipal object of the association was the subdivision of large land holdings and the placing of these on the market in small tracts for settlement. The company surveyed and subdivided 2.500 acres of its purchase. The town of Pomona was laid off in the center ; 640 acres adjoining the town site
were subdivided into five-acre lots and the re- mainder of the 2,500 into forty-acre tracts. In November, 1875, the town had a hotel, a drug and provision store, a dry goods store, a gro- cery and meat market and eight or ten dwelling houses. On the 22, 23 and 24 of February, 1876, a great auction sale of land and town lots was held on the town site. The first day's sale realized $19,000, which was a big thing in those days. The farm land brought an average of $64 per acre. A number of artesian wells had been sunk and a reservoir holding two and a half million gallons of water constructed. The South- ern Pacific Railroad, which in conformity with the requirements of the subsidy granted by the county in 1873 had been built eastward to Spadra, was extended to Pomona, and the town and set- tlement seemed to be on the high road to pros- perity. But disaster struck it; first was the dry season of 1876-77 and next a fire on the night of July 30, 1877, that swept away nearly all of the town. These checked the growth of the town and settlement. In 1880 the population was only 130. About 1881 it began to grow again. In 1882-83 Mills and Wicks developed a new ar- tesian belt. From that time the town has grown steadily. December 31, 1887, it was incorporat- ed as a city of the fifth class. During the boom of 1887 and 1888 its growth was rapid and land values were inflated, but the reaction did not se- riously affect it. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe's main line, completed in 1887, runs about two miles north of Pomona's business center. A motor road connects this road with the city of Pomona. A town called North Pomona was laid off at the Pomona station on the Santa Fe. The pioneer newspaper of Pomona, The Pomona Times, appeared October 7, 1882. The popula- tion of the city in 1890 was 3,634; in 1900, 5.526.
The San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Rail- road was completed to Pomona early in 1902. This gave it three competing roads to Los An- geles and greatly stimulated its growth.
The year 1904 was a record breaking year for improvement in the City of Pomona. A high school building, built in accordance with most improved modern school architecture, was com- pleted at a cost of $55,000. Primary and gram- mar grade buildings costing $30,000 were
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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
erected. West Second Street Park was laid out and $15,000 expended on it, A large reservoir was constructed on the summit of the highest hill in Ganesha Park. A mission style armory building for Company D, National Guards, cost- ing $8,000 was built. During the year 1905 the Pomona Valley Hospital, an up-to-date and well- equipped institution, was opened. The Califor- nia Produce Company built a large orange pack- ing house. Main street was paved at a cost of $7,000. Carnegie gave the city a donation of $20,000, with which was constructed a beautiful library building.
The Pomona library was founded in 1887. A membership fee was charged at first, but in 1902 it was made a free public library. It is sup- ported by a municipal tax. The amount received by taxation in 1905 was $7,364. There are six salaried employes. The total number of volumes in the library in October, 1906, was 12,068. The library is well patronized, there being over four thousand registered card holders. A marble statue of Pomona graces the library.
The year 1906 has been one of general pros- perity. The citrus fruit crop was more profitable than any previous year. The amount realized from its sale exceeded $2,000,000. Building has been active. The Pomona Valley Ice Company has expended $100,000 in an ice-making plant. A large amount has been expended in dwellings and business blocks.
CLAREMONT.
Claremont, the beautiful, as it was named by its enthusiastic founder, is a child of the boom. Its magnificent tourist hotel failed to attract the tourist. For a time it stood idle, then it was. utilized for a college. Claremont is a thriving college town, the seat of Pomona College, a Con- gregational educational institution. The Pearson Hall of Science, costing $25,000, a gift to the college, was erected during the year 1899. The greater part of the population is made up of col- lege professors, students and the families of those who have located in the town to educate their children. The town is thirty-six miles east of Los Angeles on the Santa Fe Railroad.
During the year extensive road improvements were made and fire protection provided by the
town trustees. Claremont has one of the most modern and finest equipped packing houses in California. It is owned by the Claremont Citrus Union. During the orange season the company employs from fifty to seventy-five men. In 1906 buildings to the amount of $120,000 were erected. Among these were a church costing $25,000 and The Cleremont Inn, costing $30,000. work is in progress on a Carnegie College library which will cost about $50,000.
LORDSBURG.
Lordsburg was laid out during the boom by I. W. Lord. An expensive hotel was built, which, after it had stood idle for some time, was sold to the Dunkers, or German Baptists, for a college. A Dunker settlement has grown up around Lordsburg. The country tributary is devoted to orange growing. The town is thirty-three miles east of Los Angeles, on the Santa Fe Railroad.
SAN DIMAS.
San Dimas is one of the many towns which owes its existence to the boom. It was laid off early in 1887 by the San José Land Company. It was designed by its founders to be the metropolis of the acreage possessions in the San Jose ranch. Lots sold readily for a time at fancy prices. The reaction came and prices fell. The town, how- ever, recovered from its depression and has gone steadily forward. It is surrounded by good fruit lands. It has excellent railroad facilities. It is on the main trunk line of the Santa Fe system and on the Covina branch of the Southern Pa- cific Railroad, twenty-nine miles by the latter and thirty-one by the former, east of Los An- geles.
GLENDORA.
Glendora, twenty-seven miles east of Los Angeles on the main transcontinental line of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, was founded in 1887 by George Whitcomb. The name Glendora is a combination of glen and the last syllables of Mrs. Whitcomb's name, Ledora. About 300 acres were subdivided into town lots and put on sale the latter part of March, 1887. Three hundred were disposed of on the first day of the sale. The town has made a steady growth. It has a beautiful location. Located on the upper
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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
mesa, its altitude places it in the frostless belt and renders it comparatively free from fog. The country contiguous to it is devoted to orange growing. The town is a shipping point for a large amount of citrus fruits.
It has become an extensive shipping point for berries and vegetables. During the year 1904, 450,000 boxes of strawberries and blackberries were shipped, and twelve carloads of watermel- ons were sent to various points from San Fran- cisco to Arizona. Sixty-five acres of tomatoes were grown for the winter market.
During the year 1905 a grammar school, cost- ing $7,000, was erected. The Athena Club, a woman's organization, has established a public library.
AZUSA CITY.
Azusa City is one of the cities of the boom. The town plat was surveyed in April, 1887, and the lots put on sale. So great was the demand for lots that purchasers stood in line in front of the office all night, and it is said $500 was paid for the second place in the line. The town built up rapidly for a time, then came to a halt. For the past few years its growth has been steady. It is a shipping point for the orange crop of a considerable district.
In 1904 Azusa completed a city hall at a cost of $10,000. Azusa is the metropolis of San Gabriel cañon. This cañon is increasing each year as a pleasure resort. There are a number of hotels and camping places. It is estimated that 10,000 people last summer visited the various resorts along the river. Azusa is the stage sta- tion for the cañon. Considerable capital has been invested in working the mines in the cañon.
Azusa maintains a public library of about 1,100 volumes. The yearly income from taxation is $700.
COVINA.
Covina is a town of recent growth, having been built within the last eight or ten years. It is located on the Southern Pacific Railroad, twen- ty-four miles east of Los Angeles. It has a commodious school building that cost $14,000. The leading product of the country tributary to Covina is the orange. The shipment of oranges for the season of 1899-1900 was estimated at 925
carloads. The shipments since then have nearly doubled. The completion of the Covina Electric road has increased the population of the town about one-third. Covina has a free public library founded in 1897. It has a collection of 2,500 volumes and receives $900 income from taxation. It owns a building which cost $8,000. The building fund was donated by Andrew Car- negie.
DUARTE.
Duarte is a settlement located on the southern foot-hill slope of the Sierra Madre mountains, of which West Duarte, twenty-one miles east of Los Angeles, on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, is the railroad outlet. Duarte is one of the oldest and best known orange growing districts in Los Angeles county. Duarte oranges rank among the best in quality of the citrus fruits of Southern California. The settlement in early times was famous for its water wars, contests over the right to the waters of the San Gabriel river. The open ditch for conveying water for irrigation has given place to miles of iron and cement pipes. The old-time water wars are things of the past. Economic methods in the use of water have afforded a supply to a large area formerly outside of the irrigating district. The town of West Duarte was founded in 1886, when the San Gabriel Valley Railroad was ex- tended to that point. For several months it was the eastern terminus of that road.
IRWINDALE.
Irwindale, on the Covina branch of the South- ern Pacific Railroad, twenty-one miles east of Los Angeles, is one of the towns of the San Gabriel valley that was not born during the boom. It is a comparatively new town, having been founded in 1895. It is in the citrus belt and is a fruit-shipping point of considerable im- portance.
MONROVIA.
The first town lots in Monrovia were sold in May, 1886. So rapid was the increase in values that in less than one year lots on the business street of the city were selling at $100 a front foot. The town built up rapidly for a time, then it came to a stand-still, as it had been overbuilt.
394
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
Of late years it has been growing steadily. It has a fine location, and is regarded as a healthy place. It lies close to the base of the Sierra Madre mountains and has an elevation of 1,200 feet. It has four banks, a high school and sev- eral hotels. It was named after its founder, William N. Monroe. It is located on the Santa Fe Railroad, nineteen miles east of Los Angeles. The Southern Pacific has also built a branch through it, thuis affording it excellent shipping fa- cilities. Monrovia owns its own water system. In 1895 some $30,000 were expended in developing the supply from Sawpit cañon. It voted to issue bonds to enlarge and perfect its water supply. Oranges and lemons are the prime sources of wealth here as they are in the other towns of the San Gabriel valley.
Monrovia's development as a suburban resi- dence town began with the completion of the electric line from Los Angeles in March, 1903. Since then the population has increased from about 1,000 to 3,000. In 1904 a public school building costing $24,000 was erected and a woman's' club house costing $5,500 was built. The assessed valuation of property increased fifty per cent in a year. In 1905 bonds to the amount of $35,000 were voted for public im- provements, of these $18,000 were for the pur- chasing of a public park site ; $8,000 for a city hall; $2,000 for the site of a Carnegie library, for which a donation of $10,000 is promised ; $5,000 for enlarging the city water system, and $2,000 for a fire fighting apparatus.
The municipal water plant furnishes 350 miners inches of mountain water. A gas plant has been completed at a cost of $20,000. The streets are lighted by electricity.
The Monrovia Public Library was established 11 1893. The annual income received from taxa- tion is $700 ; the number of volumes about 4,000. The library was moved in August, 1906, from its old quarters in the Spence block, which had been its quarters since its establishment, to new temporary quarters in the city hall. The Car- negie Library building will be completed during the present year ( 1906). It is built in the public park. The Pottenger Sanatorium, for the cure of lung diseases, is located on the upper mesa at the base of the mountains, about one mile north
of Monrovia. It has a wide reputation and is considered the most successful institution of its kind in the United States.
EL MONTE.
El Monte, twelve miles east of Los Angeles on the San Gabriel river, is the oldest American settlement in the county. The first immigrants from the States located there in 1851. Among these were Ira W. Thompson, Samuel M. Heath and Dr. Obed Macy, with their families. In 1852 and 1853 over fifty families cante, most of whom were from the southern and southwestern states. El Monte is in the midst of a rich agri- cultural district. El Monte has become cele- brated for the production of English walnuts. It has an excellent high school.
SAN GABRIEL.
San Gabriel is the oldest settlement in Los Angeles county. One of its principal attractions to the tourist is the old mission church, built a century ago and still in a good state of preserva- tion. The Mexican population of the town clus- ters around the old mission, while the American residences are located a mile and a half to the south.
SOUTH PASADENA.
The territory included in the limits of the city of South Pasadena is a part of the San Pasqual raneho. The first house built on that rancho was erected within what is now South Pasadena ; and most of the historic events of the Spanish and Mexican eras of which that rancho was the scene occurred within the district included in the city's area.
South Pasadena began with the boom and its first business house was a real-estate office. The first subdivision into town lots was made by O. R. Dougherty in 1885. The city of South Pasadena was incorporated in February, 1888. Its limits extended from Columbia street south to the north line of Los Angeles City, and from the Arroyo Seco east to the west line of the Stoneman ranch. In 1889 the city limits were reduced by a vote of the people-the ob- ject being to get rid of a number of saloons that had started up on the outskirts of the city's ter-
395
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
ritory. Several fine business blocks were erected during the boom. The city has four churches, Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist and Episcopal. It has a good high school, employing four teach- ers ; also a newspaper-the South Pasadenan.
South Pasadena in 1905 was organized as a city of the sixth class, and bonds were voted for a new high school. The aggregate cost of buildings erected during the year of 1905 amount- ed to $300,000. The estimated population at the close of the year 1905 was 2,400 and the as- sessed valuation of property within the city limits for the years '1905-06 was $2,400,000, or $1,000 per capita.
A free public library was established in 1895. It now contains 4,200 volumes.
TROPICO.
Tropico is located six miles north from the center of the city of Los Angeles, on the South- ern Pacific Railroad. The town was laid out in 1887. The adjoining lands are divided into small tracts and devoted to fruit raising. The San Pedro & Salt Lake road passes along the borders of the town, affording easy access to the city. Tropico has a postoffice and stores.
In 1905 the Presbyterian Church was built costing $3,500. The Los Angeles, Tropico & Glendale trolley line has been completed, giving a twenty minute service to the business center of Los Angeles. Three hundred acres of straw- berries are cultivated in the neighborhood of Tropico. The Western Art Tile works were es- tablished at Tropico in 1902. They now employ ninety men and manufacture hollow building tile, fireproof roofing and terra vita.
GLENDALE.
Glendale was laid out as a town in 1886. Dur- ing the boom of 1887 the village grew rapidly. A large hotel was built, costing about $70,000. A narrow gauge railroad was built connecting it with Los Angeles. This has since been changed to a standard gauge and is now a branch of the Salt Lake road. The town for some time after the boom remained stationary, but with the awaken- ing that came to all Southern California in the first years of the present century it began to grow.
In 1903 Glendale was incorporated as a city of the sixth class. The Pacific Electric Rail- way completed its line to Glendale in 1904. Its connection with Los Angeles by electric rail- way gave the town a boom. Acreage has been passing into town lots and the growth of the city in the past two years has been quite rapid.
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