USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > Historical and biographical record of Los Angeles and vicinity : containing a history of the city from its earliest settlement as a Spanish pueblo to the closing year of the nineteenth century ; also containing biographies of well known citizens of the past and present > Part 35
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COVINA is a town of recent growth, having been built within the past four years. It is lo- cated on the Southern Pacific Railroad, 24 miles east of Los Angeles. It has a commodious school building that cost $14,000. Seven teachers are employed in the grammar and high school. The leading product of the country tributary to Covina is the orange. The shipment of oranges for the season of 1899-1900 is estimated at 925 car loads.
DUARTE is a settlement located on the south- ern 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 extended to that point. For several months it was the eastern terminus of that road.
IRWINDALE, on the Covina branch of the Southern 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 new town, founded in 1895. It is in the citrus belt and is a fruit shipping point of considerable importance.
MONROVIA. The first town lots in Monrovia were sold in May, 1886. So rapid was the in- crease 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. 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 1200 feet. It has a bank, a fine school house and a good hotel. It was named after its foun- der, Wm. N. Monroe. It is located on the Santa Fe Railroad, 19 miles east of Los Angeles. The Southern Pacific has also built a branch through it, thus affording it excellent shipping facilities. Monrovia owns its own water system. In 1895 some $30,000 were expended in developing the supply from Sawpit Cañon. It recently voted to issue bonds to enlarge and perfect its water sup- ply. Oranges and lemons are the prime sources of wealth here as they are in the other towns of the San Gabriel Valley.
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 came, most of whom were from the southern and southwestern states. El Monte is in the midst of a rich agricultural district.
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.
ALHAMBRA, a suburban city, seven miles east of Los Angeles on the Southern Pacific Railway, has in its vicinity some of the finest orange groves.in the state. The town itself is a delight-
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ful residence suburb of Los Angeles. It has a good hotel, a bank, several churches and a high school.
SOUTH PASADENA. The territory included in the limits of the city of South Pasadena is a part of the San Pasqual Rancho. 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 object being to get rid of a number of saloons that had started up on the outskirts of the city's territory. Sev- eral fine business blocks were erected during the boom. The city has four churches, Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist and Episcopal. It has a good school, employing four teachers; also a news- paper-the South Pasadenan-a public library and reading room.
TROPICO is located six miles north from the center of the city of Los Angeles, on the Southern Pacific Railroad. The town was laid out in 1887. The adjoining lands are divided into small tracts and devoted to fruit raising. The Los Angeles Terminal road passes along the borders of the town, affording easy access to the city. Tropico has a postoffice and a store. It has a school of three departments, with an attendance of about one hundred and fifty pupils. An extensive tile factory is now in course of construction.
GLENDALE is a suburban village about four miles from the northern limits of Los Angeles, a branch of the Terminal Railroad connecting it with the city. It is in the midst of a fruit district and is surrounded by deciduous and orange orchards. A large hotel costing about $70,000 was built here during the boom. It has been utilized since as a young ladies' college. The Methodists, Presbyterians and Dunkers have church buildings in the town.
BURBANK, on the Southern Pacific Railroad, 9 miles north of Los Angeles, is one of the many towns of Southern California that was started in 1887. It was a town of magnificent promise in its early days. A large furniture factory was built in 1888, a street car line was projected through the town and a dummy line connected
Burbank with Los Angeles. None of these en- terprises are in operation now. The town has a good agricultural territory tributary to it and is prospering. It has two stores, four churches, a school with four teachers and an attendance of about two hundred children.
SAN FERNANDO is located on the Southern Pa- cific Railroad twenty-two miles north of Los An- geles. Hon. Charles Maclay laid out the town in 1874. It was the terminus of the railroad go- ing north, from 18744to 1877, when the long tun- nel was completed. The Maclay College of The- ology was founded here by Hon. Charles Maclay in 1885, who gave it an endowment of lands and erected a building for its occupancy. The school was removed to the University at West Los An- geles in 1894. The Methodists, Presbyterians and Catholics have churches in the town. The old buildings of the San Fernando Mission, two miles distant from the town, are an attraction to visitors.
NEWHALL, thirty miles from Los Angeles, is the most northerly town in the county. Near it the first oil strikes in Southern California were made in 1862, by a Pennsylvania company head- ed by Tom Scott. Illuminating oil then was worth from $2.50 to $3.00 a gallon in Los An- geles. At 800 feet they secured a well of black oil which they could not refine and the business was abandoned. I11 1876 operations were begun again and since then the business of oil produc- ing and refining has been carried on to a limited extent in the vicinity of Newhall.
HOLLYWOOD, near the entrance to the Ca- huenga Pass, was laid out in 1887, but made slow growth. A dummy railroad from the end of the Temple street cable line connected it with the city. The road failed for want of patronage. When the Los Angeles and Pacific electric line was built to Santa Monica, the road being acces- sible to the town, Hollywood took on new life. It has grown rapidly in the past four years. It has three stores, two churches, a newspaper and a school with an attendance of 125 children. It is in the great lemon producing district and in what is called the frostless belt.
SHERMAN is a railroad town eight miles from Los Angeles. It is the headquarters of the Los Angeles and Pacific Railroad Company, which owns the electric line between the city and Santa Monica. The power house and the shops of the electric road are located here. The town has a population of about two hundred. It has one store, a postoffice and a Congregational Church. There are some handsome residences in its imme- diate neighborhood.
THE SOLDIERS' HOME cannot be ranked among the towns of Los Angeles County, though its
Dr. H. A. Reid.
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population makes it a very important commercial factor by supplying a market for a large amount of agricultural products. In 1887 the board of managers of the National Soldiers Homes of the United States visited California to locate a Sol- diers' Home for the Pacific Coast. They were inet at Los Angeles by a committee of the Board of Trade and one from the G. A. R. (the author representing Stanton Post). Several sites were offered. A tract of 600 acres, four miles easterly from Santa Monica, was finally selected. Bar- racks have been built capable of accommodating 2,000 men, a chapel, hospital and other buildings necessary have been erected, water works and reservoirs constructed, and about fifty acres planted to orange, lemon, walnut, fig, peach, pear and apple trees. These are coming into bearing. A large part of the 738 acres that now belong to the home is devoted to pasturage and raising hay for the dairy cows. The population of the home varies from 1, 500 to 2,000.
SAN PEDRO AND WILMINGTON.
SAN PEDRO is one of the oldest shipping points in California. Cabrillo's ships entered its bay two hundred and twenty-seven years before the Bay of San Francisco was discovered. During the early mission days it was known as the em- barcadero of San Gabriel. About 1810 the mis- sion fathers of San Gabriel built a small ware- house on the bluff for the storage of hides for shipping and for the protection of goods received by the mission supply ships until these supplies could be hauled to the mission.
This was probably the building described by Dana in his "Two Years Before the Mast," when he was at San Pedro in 1835, as "a small, low building with one room, containing a fireplace, cooking apparatus, etc., and the rest of it unfin- ished and used as a place to store hides and goods. This they told us was built by some traders in the pueblo and used by them as a store house and also as a lodging place when they came down to trade with the vessels."
After the secularization of the mission, Don Abel Stearns bought the warehouse and pro- ceeded to make some improvements. He en- countered opposition from the captain of the port and some of the rancheros, who feared the build- ings at the port would encourage smuggling and the buying of stolen hides.
Even with but one house in it San Pedro was an important shipping point. Dana, writing in 1835, says: "I learned to my surprise that the desolate-looking place we were in furnished more hides than any other port on the coast. It was the only port for a distance of eighty miles, and about thirty miles in the interior was a fine coun-
try, filled with herds of cattle, in the center of which was the Pueblo de Los Angeles-the larg- est town in California-and several of the wealth- iest missions, to all of which San Pedro was the seaport." All traffic was conducted on ship- board. At the time of the American conquest there was but one honse at San Pedro. Freight passed from ship to shore and vice versa by means of the ship's boats. As the hide droghers kept their department stores on board ship, and lay at anchor until all their customers were supplied, or until they had spent all their money, there was ample time to bring from the ranchos the hides and tallow which were the medium of exchange in those days, consequently there was but little need of warehouses at the embarcadero in those days.
After the conquest a few small buildings were erected on the bluff and at Timms' Point, but San Pedro had not yet attained the dignity of a town or village.
In 1858, partly in consequence of a severe storm that damaged the wharfand partly through the desire of Banning to gain an advantage over his rival, Tomlinson, old San Pedro was aban- doned and a wharf and warehouses built at the head of the slough, six miles north of the old shipping point and that much nearer Los An- geles. The new town was named New San Pedro, but later on the name was changed to Wilming- ton. The first cargo of goods was landed at this place October 1st, 1858. During the Civil war quite an extensive business was done at Wil- mington. All the government supplies for the troops in Southern California, Arizona and New Mexico were received here. A number of troops were stationed at Drum Barracks, on the govern- ment reserve in the town. Wilmington was then the second town in Los Angeles County. Before the completion of the Southern Pacific Railroad to San Francisco nearly all the commerce of the county passed through the port of Wilmington. In October, 1869, the Los Angeles and San Pedro Railroad was completed to Wilmington. In 1871 the government began improving the inner harbor, and the work was continued for a num- ber of years. A breakwater was built between Rattlesnake Island and Deadman's Island. By closing the gap between the two islands the full current was forced through the narrow channel between Deadman's Island and the main land. When the work was begun the depth of water in the channel was but two feet, while now it has been increased to eighteen. In 1880 the railroad was extended down to the old shipping point known at Timins' Landing. The new town of San Pedro was located partly on the bluff and partly on the low land bordering the bay.
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Wharves were built, where all but the largest vessels unload their cargoes. During the boom the city of San Pedro spread over a large area. The securing of the appropriation of $3,900,000 for the free harbor gave the town a fresh start on the road to prosperity.
The larger portion of the lumber trade from the northwest passing through Los Angeles and into Southern California and Arizona goes by way of San Pedro. The lumber vessels discharge their cargoes at the wharves of the inner harbor. About one hundred million feet are landed at the port during the year. The fishing industry is quite important. About 1,500,000 pounds of fresh fish are shipped from the port. Fifty car loads of sardines were canned at the East San Pedro cannery last year. The Free Harbor Jubilee, celebrated at San Pedro on the 27th of April, 1899, was one of the memorable events in the history of the town. Work on the harbor was inaugurated on that day by the dumping of a load of rock from the Catalina quarries on the site of the breakwater. President Mckinley, in his library at Washington, touched the electric button connected with the wires that were to start the machinery for tilting the barge load of rock into the bay. The tilt was not a complete suc- cess, and part of the barge load of rock had to be unloaded by hand, but this did not at all dampen the enthusiasm of the thirty thousand spectators nor spoil their appetites for the viands of the barbecue. The celebration was completed at Los Angeles next day with procession, speeches and fireworks.
Misfortune overtook the contractors, Heldmaier & Neu, who undertook the building of the break- waters that were to form the harbor. Neu was killed in a runaway at Los Angeles before the work was begun. Heldmaier failing to push the work, his contract was cancelled by the govern- ment. His bid was $1, 303, 198.54. Bids were advertised for and the contract awarded, May 14, 1900, to the California Construction Company of San Francisco for $2,375,546.05, over a million above the bid of the former contractors.
On the 27th of April, 1863, a terrible catastrophe occurred in the Wilmington slough. The tng and passenger boat, Ada Hancock, used for con- veying passengers between Wilmington and the ocean steamers, blew up. The explosion was one of the most fatal on record. Of the forty-two persons on board only seven escaped unhurt. Twenty-seven men were killed outright and eight wounded. As the vessel was rounding a sharp point in the channel, a sudden gust of wind careened her so far that the water rushed over her port guards onto her boilers and the explos- ion followed. Among the killed was the captain
of the Senator, the vessel to which the passengers were bound, W. T. B. Sanford, Thomas H. Work- man, Dr. Myles, Captain W. F. Nye and Albert Sidney Johnston, son of the famous Confederate general.
SANTA MONICA. Early in 1875, Senator J. P. Jones and Col. R. S. Baker subdivided a por- tion of the rancho San Vicente lying on the inesa, adjoining the bay of Santa Monica. The town was named after the bay and was of mag- nificent proportions on paper. On the 16th of July, 1875, a great sale of lots was held. An excursion steamer came down from San Francisco loaded with lot buyers and the people of Los Angeles and neighboring towns rallied in great numbers to the site of the prospective maritime metropolis of the south. Tom Fitch, the silver tongued orator of the Pacific Slope, inaugurated the sale by one of his most brilliant orations. He drew a fascinating picture of the "Zenith City by the Sunset Sea," as he named it, when at a day not far distant, the white sails of com- merce should fill its harbor, the products of the Occident and the Orient load its wharves and the smoke from its factory chimneys darken the lieavens. Lots on the barren mesa sold at prices ranging from $125 to $500. The sale was a grand success.
The town's growth was rapid. In less than nine months after its founding it had one hundred and sixty houses and a thousand inhabitants. A wharf was built by Senator Jones; and the Los Angeles and Independence Railroad, which he was pushing eastward, was supposed to be the western terminus of a great transcontinental railway system. The railroad reached Los Angeles and there it stopped. A financial blight had fallen ou Senator Jones' projects, and the town shared in the misfortunes of its progenitor. After a time the railroad fell into the hands of the Southern Pacific Company. That company condemned the wharf, took down the warehouse and transferred the shipping and trade that had grown up at Santa Monica back to Wilmington.
In 1880 the town and its suburb, South Santa Monica, had only 350 inhabitants. Its attractions as a seaside resort began to be recognized and it took on new life. The boom sent property values away up. The magnificent Arcadia Hotel was built in 1887 and the location of the Soldiers' Home, three miles eastward, stimulated the town's growth. The Los Angeles & Pacific Railroad was built from Los Angeles in 1888 along the foothills to Santa Monica. It was not a success and eventually went into the hands of a receiver and was numbered with the enterprises that have been and are not. The Los Angeles & Pacific
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Railroad, an electric road, secured its right of way and has become a valuable line of travel. The road was opened in 1896. In 1891-92 the long wharf at Port Los Angeles was built and shipping again returned to the bay of Santa Monica. The Santa Fe Railroad System built a branch line into Santa Monica in 1892. The Santa Monica Outlook, founded in 1876, is one of the oldest newspapers in the county. The popu- lation of Santa Monica in 1890 was 1,580, and in 1900, 3,057.
OCEAN PARK, adjoining Santa Monica on the south, can hardly be classed as a suburb of that city. Five years ago the site was a sandy waste. Now there are about 200 cottages at this seaside resort. It has a postoffice, to which a money order department has recently been added. South of the town a race track has been laid out at a cost of about $4,000. The experiment of cultivating carnations here has been quite success- ful. A single acre at the floral garden produced 35,000 of these flowers.
REDONDO is comparatively a new seaport. The site was surveyed and plotted in 1887. An immense tourist hotel was built and the town was advertised as a seaside resort. One of the most attractive features of the place is its carna- tion garden, containing twelve acres. Redondo carnations have a reputation all over the west. They are shipped to different points in Southern California and as far away as Denver, Dallas, Omaha and Chicago. The floral business is growing. During the past year about 5,000 carnations per day and large quantities of violets, smilax, sweet peas, chrysanthemums and ferns were shipped from the floral gardens.
Redondo is an important shipping point for lumber and fish. Over fifteen million feet of lumber were landed on its wharves last year and more than half a million pounds of fish were shipped away. It has a fine system of electric lights and good sewers. Two railroads connect it with Los Angeles-a branch of the Santa Fe System and the Redondo Railway, a narrow gauge road. Redondo is seventeen miles from Los Angeles.
LONG BEACH bore a different name in its early childhood. Its primitive cognomen was Will- more City. It is a part of one of those coloniza- tion schemes so numerous in this county twenty to twenty-five years ago. It was begun as a business center of the American Colony. The intention was to found a colony of teachers, but the teachers did not flock to the colony in large numbers. The town was founded in 1882, and was named after the projector of the colony scheme, W. E. Willmore. In the spring of 1884, the Long Beach Land and Water Company be-
came owners of Willmore's interests and the name of the town was changed to Long Beach City. Its limits were extended. A commodious hotel was built on the bluff between Pacific Park and the beach. The old horse car that connected the town with the Southern Pacific Line to San Pe- dro, three miles away, was replaced by a spur or Y of the Southern Pacific Railroad. The Termi- nal Railroad was built through the town and its increased railroad facilities gave it a boom as a summer seaside resort. It was incorporated as a city of the sixth class in 1888; a few years later disincorporated and recently reincorporated. It is a temperance town. The first Chautauqua As- sembly was held in Long Beach in 1884 and As- semblies have been held there annually ever since. These Assemblies attract a number of intellectual people to the city. The city maintains a public library and free reading room. It has excellent educational facilities. Its tasty and commodious high school building was erected in 1898. Seven religious denominations, viz .: Methodist, Bap- tist, Friends, Christian, Presbyterian, Congrega tional and Episcopal have each church buildings in the city, and good congregations. The fra- ternal societies are well represented. The Ma- sons, Knights of Pythias, Fraternal Aid, United Moderns, Independent Order of Foresters, Knights of the Maccabees, Ladies of the Macca- bees, the Grand Army of the Republic, Women's Relief Corps and Sons of Veterans each have or- ganizations in the city. It the past year the city has built a new city hall at a cost of $9,000 and a public pavilion adjoining the pleasure pier at a cost of $3,400. The population of Long Beach in 1890 was 564, and in 1900, 2,262.
COMPTON is the third oldest town in the coun- ty of Los Angeles. It was laid out in 1869 by the Rev. G. D. Compton, after whom it was named. The tract on which it is located is known as the Temple and Gibson tract. Temple and Gibson bought four thousand acres of the San Pedro Rancho from Dominguez in 1865 for thirty-six cents per acre. In 1867 Mr. Compton bought a portion of this tract, for which he paid five dollars per acre.
The town was organized especially under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal denomina- tion and a frame church was erected by the so- ciety in 1871 at a cost of three thousand dollars. It was also designed for a temperance colony, but has had to fight the saloon element a number of times. The country around is devoted to dairy farms. It is well supplied with artesian water. One of the first artesian wells bored in the county is near Compton.
WHITTIER is known as a Quaker town. It was settled by a colony of Quakers from Indiana, Illi-
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nois and Iowa in 1887. The population is not all of the Quaker persuasion. The state reform school is located here. A branch of the Southern Pacific Railroad runs into the town. The Quaker Colony Canning Company of Whittier is one of the largest fruit canneries in the state. It is capitalized for half a million dollars. There are a number of productive oil wells in its immediate neighborhood.
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