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 80

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1184

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The land owned by the company is a tract of one and a half miles long by one and a quarter miles broad. It is surrounded by a fence five and a half miles long, composed of 40,000 wil- low poles, each of which is eight feet long, be- ing six feet above the ground. They are planted one and a half feet apart, and are strengthened by three horizontal poles, and de- fended by a ditch four feet deep, six feet wide at the top, sloping to a breadth of one foot at the bottom."

These willow poles took root and made a living wall around the colony. Across the streets were gates, which when closed shut out all in- vaders. This live fence was necessary to keep out the tens of thousands of cattle that roamed over the plains for miles on all sides of the little vineyard colony. The superintendent, George Hansen, constructed for the company a main zanja, seven and a half miles long, to bring water from the Santa Ana river to and through the colony tract, and about three hin- dred and fifty miles of lateral ditches for dis- tributing the water to the different tracts. On each twenty-acre lot, eight acres of vines were planted the first year. These were cultivated and cared for by the company. At the end of

two years the vines first planted had come into bearing, and all assessments having been paid, a division of the lands was made. Each share- holder had paid into the general fund $1,200. Each lot had a value placed on it according to situation, improvements, etc., the values rang- ing from $600 to $1,400. The division was made by lot. As each stockholder had paid in the same amount-viz., $1,200-the man who drew a $1,400 lot paid over $200 to the equalization fund, and the man who drew a $600 lot received $600 cash. In addition to his vineyard lot, each shareholder received a lot in the town plot. After the distribution, a number of the colonists came down from San Francisco, built houses on their lots and entered on the career of vine- vardist and wine-maker. Each proprietor as- stimed control of his vineyard lot December 15. 1859. The Los Angeles Star of March 29. 1860, has this notice of the Anaheim colony: "The affairs of this settlement are in a prosperous condition. The shareholders are now nearly all residents and are engaged in improvements of their respective holdings. A large and very well arranged hotel is just being finished by Mr. Langenberger, which will be of great benefit not only to the community there, but to the pub- lic at large. The other proprietors are engaged in erecting dwelling houses on their respective lots."

ANAHEIM TOWNSHIP.

Anaheim township was created December 17, 1860. The board of supervisors ordered "that the tract of land purchased by John Frohling and John Hansen of Don Pacifico Ontiveras in 1857, and also the tract of land purchased by the Los Angeles Vineyard Society from George Hansen, be set apart from Santa Ana township, to be called Anaheim township, and that the re- maining portion of Santa Ana remain and con- stitute the township of Santa Ana."

Among the original settlers there was but one man who understood the art of wine-making. The colonists were mostly mechanics. "There were several carpenters, a gunsmith, an en- graver. three watchmakers, four blacksmiths, a brewer. a teacher, a shoemaker, a miller, several merchants. a bookbinder, a poet, four or five

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musicians, a hatter, several teamsters and a hotelkeeper .***

They went to work with that patient industry characteristic of the Teuton. They had to learn the art of wine-making mostly by experimenting. The colony was thirty miles from Los Angeles, the nearest point to obtain supplies. From there they had to haul lumber for building and all other necessities, until they established a land- ing on the ocean twelve miles from the town.

It was a hard struggle for several years, but their perseverance and industry won. The property that cost them an average of about $1,080 originally, at the end of ten. years was worth from $5,000 to $10,000. The colonists during that time had supported their families and paid for their improvements from the products of their lands.

Unlike the Spanish pobladores (colonists), who always built a church first and left the building of a school house to those who came after them, the Anaheim colonists built the school house first and left the church building to those who came later.

In the town plot of forty acres, which occu- pied the center of the colony, a lot had been re- served for a school house. On this a commodious building of adobe had been erected to serve the double purpose of a school house and assembly hall, but during the great flood of 1861-62 the waters of the Santa Ana river overflowed the colony site and damaged the foundations of the school house, rendering the building unsafe. A school was maintained in the water company's building on Center street until 1869, when a new building was erected.

The original colony tract contained 1,165 acres (it was part of the rancho San Juan Cajon de Santa Ana), and was purchased from Juan Pacifico Ontiveras for $2 per acre. In 1860 the Anaheim Water Company became the pos- sessor of the ditches and water rights originally belonging to the Anaheim Vineyard Company. The stock of this company was an appurtenance of the land and could not be diverted from it. This company originally incorporated with $20,000 capital stock. In 1879 its stock was increased to $90,000. and the ditches extended

to cover what was known as the Anaheim ex- tension.

The Cajon Irrigation Company's ditch was completed in November, 1878, at a cost of $50,- 000. It tapped the Santa Ana river at Bed Rock cañon, and was, at the time of its completion, fifteen miles long. It has since been extended. In 1879 the Anaheim Water Company bought a half interest in this ditch. All the water in- terests on the north side of the Santa Ana river have been consolidated into the Anaheim Union Water Company. Anaheim was incorporated as a city February 10, 1870, but a city government was too great a burthen for the people to carry. The legislature of 1872, on petition of the tax- burthened inhabitants, disincorporated it. It was incorporated as a town by act of the legis- lature March 18. 1878. Thompson & West's History of Los Angeles County, published in 1880, says of the schools of Anaheim: "The town of Anaheim boasts of the handsomest school building and the largest school in the county outside of Los Angeles city."

For several years the school buildings had been inadequate for the school population. In 1877, Prof. J. M. Guinn, who had been prin- cipal of the Anaheim school for eight years, drafted a bill authorizing the district to issue bonds to the amount of $10,000. He was in- strumental in securing its passage by the legis- lature. It became a law March 12, 1878. The bonds were sold at par and the school building, costing over $10,000, was built out of the pro- ceeds. This was one of the first, if not the first, instance in the state of incorporating and bond- ing a school district to secure funds to build a school house -- a method that since has become quite common and has given to California the best district school houses of any state in the Union. Anaheim school district was extended to take in what was formerly Fairview district and a four-room school house erected in West Ana- heim. A new high school was established in 1900. A new primary school building was erected in 1905 at a cost of $10,000.

NEWSPAPERS.

The pioneer newspaper of Anaheim and also

*Nordhoff.

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

of Orange county is the Anaheim Gasette. The first number was issued October 29, 1870.

It was established by George W. Barter, who obtained a subsidy from a number of public- spirited citizens to found a newspaper in Ana- heim. He bought the plant of the defunct Wil- mington Journal. The old press that he ob- tained had come around the "Horn," and in 1851 had been used in printing the Los Angeles Star, the pioneer paper of Southern California. Bar- ter, after a short and inglorious career, sold the paper to Charles A. Gardner in 1871. Gardner sold it to Melrose & Knox in 1872. Knox re- tired in 1876. Fred W. Atheran was connected with the paper for a time in 1876-77, after which Richard Melrose became sole proprietor and continued so until it was sold to its present pro- prietor, Henry Kuchel. The Orange County Plain Dealer was established at Fullerton in March, 1898, and afterwards removed to Ana- heim. It is an eight-column, four-page weekly; size of page, 20x25 inches.

For a quarter of a century Anaheim was the greatest wine-producing district in California. About 1885 a mysterious disease attacked the vines. Within five years from its first appear- ance two million vines that made up the vine- yards of Anaheim and vicinity were dead. After the destruction of the grapevines, the vineyard lots were planted with orange trees and English walnuts. These have come into bearing and have transformed the appearance of the old vine- yard colony. The living wall of willows that surrounded it and the four gates on the four sides that shut out the great armies of cattle that once roamed over the plains beyond disappeared long ago. There is little in the present appear- ance of Anaheim to remind the old-timer of the "Campo Aleman" (German camp), as the native Californians named it fifty years ago.

CHURCHES.

The pioneer church of Anaheim is the Pres- byterian. It was organized by Rev. L. P. Weber (the founder of the Westminster colony) in 1869.

The church building was erected in 1872, at a cost of $3,500. The Episcopal Church of Ana- heim was organized April 27, 1875. The

church building was completed in the fall of 1876, at a total cost of $3,600. The Roman Catholic Society was organized in 1876. A church, costing about $1,000, was built in 1879. These are the pioneer churches. In addition to these, the Methodist Episcopal North and the Christian denominations have church buildings.

IMPROVEMENTS.

In January, 1875, the Southern Pacific Rail- road completed a branch to Anaheim. For nearly two years that town was the terminus; then the road was extended to Santa Ana, where it ended. In 1887 the San Diego line of the Southern California or Santa Fé system was built through the city. The same year a num- ber of vineyards in the eastern part of the town were divided into buildings lots. The Hotel del Campo, a $40,000 tourist caravansary, was built, but it did not pay and came very near bank- rupting its progenitors. The city has steadily progressed through all vicissitudes. It has banks, a number of stores, several manufacturing estab- lishments, and is the center of a large trade. Its growth has always been solid and substantial.

The Anaheim free public library was estab- lished in 1902. It has now on its shelves 1,250 volumes. Its annual income from taxation in 1905 was $453.

CITY OF SANTA ANA.

Santa Ana, the capital of Orange county, was founded in October, 1869, by William H. Spur- geon. He purchased the allotment of Zenobia Yorba de Rowland, one of the heirs to the rancho Santiago de Santa Ana. The tract pur- chased contained seventy-six acres. This, with the exception of ten acres reserved for a public square, Mr. Spurgeon platted in town lots and placed on the market for sale. He built a store- room, 18x36 feet, on the northeast corner of Fourth and West streets, of rough redwood boards battened. This was the first building erected in the town. In this building he opened a general merchandise store. At first the only patronage he received from the citizens of the town was his own, for the reason that he con- stituted the town's entire population. But he did not long remain "monarch of all he sur- veyed." Others joined him, and in December

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there was a population enough to organize a school district. The district was named Spring. In January a public school was opened; Miss Annie Casad was the first teacher. The school house was a rough board structure, with long, backless benches for seats, and no desks or blackboards. It stood on Sycamore street near Third.

Santa Ana was about two miles south of the old stage road that led from Los Angeles to San Diego. This road was the camino viejo, or old road, that had been traveled for a century. There were no bridges across the Santa Ana river at that time. In winter, when the waters were high, on account of the quicksands fording the river was a hazardous undertaking. The Rod- riguez crossing, just north of Orange, on the old stage road, was the only safe crossing in times of high water. Mr. Spurgeon built a road at his own expense from the stage road to his town, and subsidized the stage company to diverge its route through Santa Ana. He se- cured a postoffice for the town and was appointed postmaster. His salary was the munificent sum of $I a month. He held the office until 1879, when the yearly compensation had increased to $800. Then several public-spirited citizens were not only willing, but anxious, to relieve him of his burden. At first the town grew slowly. Much of the country around it was held in large tracts and was sparsely settled. In 1877 the Anaheim branch of the Southern Pacific Rail- road was completed to Santa Ana. This gave the town an impetus that sent it away ahead of its competitors, Orange and Tustin. It became the business center of a large area of country.

The first newspaper established in the town was the Santa Ana News, founded by Nap. Don- ovan, May 15, 1876. It was not a paying ven- ture, and after running it about a year he sold it to Spurgeon, Fruit and James McFadden, who experimented with it for a time and then discontinued its publication.

PIONEER CHURCHES.

The first church organized at Santa Ana was the Methodist Episcopal South. The organiza- tion was effected at a meeting held in the resi- dence of W. H. Tichenal in December, 1869.

Services were held in a private residence at first, and later on in the school house. A church building was erected in 1876. The Methodist Episcopal Church North was organized in 1874. The Baptist Church was organized in March, 1871. Its building was completed and dedicated in September, 1878. The United' Presbyterian Church was organized June 22, 1876. Its edi- fice was completed August, 1877. These are the pioneer church organizations, all of which were organized over thirty years ago. Now almost every religious denomination is represented in the city.

PIONEER BANKS.

The pioneer bank of Santa Ana is the Com- mercial, incorporated in April, 1882. It trans- acts a general banking business.

The First National Bank was organized in May, 1886. It has a paid-up capital of $150,000. It pays interest on deposits, as well as doing a general banking business.

Orange County Bank of Savings was organ- ized in 1889. It pays interest on deposits.

THE PRESS.

Santa Ana is well supplied with newspapers. The pioneer paper of Santa Ana, as has been previously stated, was the Santa Ana Weekly Nezes, established May 15, 1876, by Nap. Don- ovan. It was short lived. The next paper was the Santa Ana Herald, established in October, 1877, by Nap. Donovan. In 1880 it was sold to Jacob Ross. November 13, 1881, A. Waite be- came the publisher. He continued in charge to 1886. As the Orange County Herald, weekly and semi-weekly, its publication was continued by Hon. Linn Shaw.

The Pacific Weekly Blade was founded in 1886 by W. F. X. Parker and J. Waterhouse. Later Waterhouse purchased Parker's interest in the paper and founded the Daily Blade in 1887. In 1889 the paper passed into the hands of a syndicate composed of Victor Montgomery, WV. H. Spurgeon. J. M. Lacy and C. W. Hum- phreys. The. syndicate conducted the paper until May, 1895, when McPhee & Co. purchased the property. The daily is an evening paper.

The Santa Ana Weekly Bulletin was founded

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

June 16, 1899, by D. M. Baker and J. W. Rouse. It is Democratic in politics. The semi-weekly Standard is published by Belmont Perry.

RECENT IMPROVEMENTS.

Santa Ana, like all the cities of Southern California, took on a new growth with the be- ginning of the new century. Its population, ac- cording to the federal census of 1900, was 4.933- In 1904 its estimated population, according to the school census and election registration, was 7,100; a year later it was estimated at 8,000. In 1904, according to the building inspector's report, permits had been issued for residence and business blocks aggregating $250,000; in 1905 the total amount expended in building ex- ceeded $300,000. During the year 1904 a new city hall was erected at a cost of $20,000. A new fire engine house was built at an expense of $4,000, and a new alarm system and a fire wagon and apparatus installed at a cost of $7,000. In the fourth ward a school house costing $14,000 was completed and occupied at the beginning of the school year of 1904-05. Among the new buildings erected in 1905 were the First Pres- byterian Church at a cost of $18,000 and the Methodist South at an expenditure of $10,000. In 1905 $100,000 was devoted to the extension and improvement of the water system, putting in new machinery at the pumping plant and al- most entirely rebuilding the distributing system so that all parts of the city are amply supplied.

THE PARADE OF PRODUCTS.

Santa Ana has inaugurated one of the unique exhibitions for which the counties of Southern California are famous. The "Parade of Products" is an autumn display of the wealth of the products of Orange county. It is to Orange county what La Fiesta is to Los An- geles, the Tournament of Roses to Pasadena and the Street Fair to San Bernardino. The parade of 1906 was held in December, and consisted of a number of tastefully decorated floats, display- ing samples of the products and telling the value and the amount of each produced. "The story of the floats told that Orange county shipped 600 tons of honey during the year 1906, that her egg crop was worth more than her orange crop."

There was a float of strawberries-fresh strawberries in December. The banner over the float bore the inscription $250,000, telling in briefest phrase the wealth from a single seem- ingly insignificant product. From the county's orange crop half a million dollars had been realized the previous season. Twenty-carloads of peanuts had been shipped during the year from the three-hundred-acre ranch of the "Pea- nut King of Tustin." Leading all the rest and greatest of all came the celery float, telling the story of the development in the production of this crisp delicacy within the last two decades. Three thousand carloads sent to eastern markets from 5,700 acres of peat land devoted to its cultivation and $750,000 received by the pro- ducers. The parade displayed a comparatively new industry for Orange county-bean rais- ing-175,000 sacks grown on 1,200 acres of the San Joaquin rancho. A procession of thirty-six automobiles brought up the rear of the parade.

PUBLIC LIBRARY.

The Santa Ana public library was established in 1891. It contains about 7,000 volumes. The library owns a lot 100x125 feet-a donation to the city by its founder, William H. Spurgeon. The library building was built from funds do- nated by Andrew Carnegie. The building is two stories high and is built of brick and cement. It was completed in 1903 at a cost of $16,000. The annual income received from taxation amounts to about $2.300.

ORANGE.

The territory of Orange originally bore the name of Richland. In 1870, A. B. Chapman and Andrew Glassell bought the allotments of several of the Yorba heirs in the Santiago de Santa Ana rancho, comprising several thousand acres. This tract was subdivided into ten, twenty and forty acre lots. Eighty acres were divided into town lots.

A ditch from the Santa Ana river was con- structed to the tract in the winter of 1871-72. Several vineyards of muscat grapes were planted in the spring of 1872, and a few orange trees. Early in 1873 a postoffice was established and named Orange. The agitation for the forma-

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

tion of a new county to be named Orange was quite active about this time. The town of Orange had hopes of becoming the seat of gov- ernment of the new county. The former name of the district, Richland, fell into disuse and Orange took its place both for the town and school district. A school house was built in 1873. In 1874 the first church was built. It be- longed to the Methodist denomination, but was also used by others. A hotel was erected, but as the patronage was not sufficient to support it, it was used as a sanitarium. Three stores, the hotel and a saloon constituted the business houses of the town in 1875. In the winter of 1878-79 a new ditch was constructed at a cost of $60,000. This gave an abundant water sup- ply and the settlement flourished.

The ravages of the yellow scale in the early '8os retarded citrus tree culture, and the vine disease materially injured the raisin industry. The energy and perseverance of the people over- came all obstacles, and the district has become a large producer of oranges and lemons. Orange supports six churches, each owning its own house of worship.

Orange was incorporated as a city of the sixth class in 1888; its area was three square miles and it claimed then a population of about 2,000 in- habitants. Orange was among the earliest of the smaller towns of the south to establish a public library. Its library was founded in 1885 and made free in January, 1894. It contains 3.860 volumes, and receives an annual income from taxation of about $700.

Orange is located at the junction of the kite- shaped tract and the surf line of the Santa Fé Railroad. It is connected with Santa Ana by an electric line. During the year of 1905 Orange had a building boom. One hundred and eighty houses were erected at a cost of $230,000.

TUSTIN.

In 1867 Columbus Tustin and N. O. Stafford bought of Bacon & Johnson a tract of land containing 5,000 acres. This they divided equally between them. Mr. Tustin, on his por- tion. subdivided about 100 acres into town and suburban lots and named the place Tustin City. On the town site, at his own expense, in 1872,

he built a school house. The same year a post- office was established in the town or city. In 1887 the Tustin branch of the Southern Pacific Railroad was built to the town, which ever since has remained the terminus of that road. The town has a bank, hotel, stores and other busi- ness facilities. It has an excellent school, em- ploying several teachers.

FULLERTON.

Fullerton, while one of the youngest towns of the county, is one of the most thriving. It is a child of the boom and was founded in 1887. It is located on the Santa Fé Railroad, twenty- three miles southeast from Los Angeles and ten miles northerly from the county seat. It is sur- rounded by an excellent fruit country and does a heavy shipping business in oranges and lemons. The oil from a number of wells in the oil dis- trict is piped to Fullerton for shipment. The town' has several hotels and a number of mercan- tile establishments. The pioneer newspaper, the Fullerton Tribune, was established in 1898. The union high school building, a brick struc- ture, costing about $10,000, was completed and dedicated in 1898.

Fullerton was incorporated in 1904 as a city of the sixth class. It recently voted bonds to build a city high school. Fullerton is the center of the English walnut district ; nearly 3,000,000 pounds were shipped from there in 1905.

HUNTINGTON BEACH.

Pacific City, the predecessor of Huntington Beach, was founded in 1902. A large acreage lying north and west of the original plat was purchased by a syndicate of which H. E. Hunt- ington was a member. The name of the town was changed to Huntington Beach. A number of new blocks were platted; extensive improve- ments were made. The streets were graded and oiled. Four blocks were donated to the Meth- odists, who completed in 1906, an auditorium capable of seating three thousand people. The annual camp meetings of that denomination in Southern California will be held in it. The Chautauqua Assembly has selected Huntington Beach as the site for its meetings. A canning factory was built in 1906 for the canning of

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

vegetables. The most considerable product put up at this factory is celery. The famous celery fields lie but a short distance north of the town limits. The factory for preparing peat for fuel was built in 1906 and put into operation. The original wharf of Pacific City has been extended 200 feet further into the ocean. In addition to its advantages as a beach resort, it has tributary to it a rich agricultural district.

WESTMINSTER COLONY.

In the autumn of 1871 Rev. L. P. Webber secured from the Los Angeles and San Ber- nardino Land Company a tract of 8,000 acres lying between Anaheim and the ocean on which to locate a colony. It was intended to be a tem- perance colony. The settlers pledged themselves not to grow grapes for the production of wine and brandy. The founder endeavored, as far as lie was able, to secure settlers of his own church and the colony was known as a Presbyterian settlement. The first church erected in the col- ony was Presbyterian. A tract of 160 acres in the center of the colony lands was subdivided into town lots. A hotel, a school house, three churches, a blacksmith shop, two store buildings, a doctor's office and drug store were built on the town site; then, the town stopped growing and has remained nearly stationary ever since. Of late years dairying has become the principal industry and two creameries are located near the town. Near Westminster are the celebrated peat lands, where trainloads of celery are grown and shipped to the eastern states.

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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 80

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company Number of Pages: 1184

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1184