USA > California > Los Angeles County > History of Los Angeles county, Volume I > Part 56
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This incorporated city of the sixth class occupies less territory perhaps than any other city in the United States-it being somewhat less than one mile square. Yet it owns its own water plant, has a Carnegie public library, a fire department and all that is usually found in cities of its class. The local secret orders include the Masonic, Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias, with their ladies' auxiliaries. The Masonic order owns its Temple-an honor to the community. The Knights of Pythias are unusually strong in Covina.
The religious denominations represented are as follows: Free Meth- odist, Methodist Episcopal, Episcopal, Baptist, Christian, Presbyterian Roman Catholic, Christian Science, Luthern and Brethren. A local Min-
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isters Association is supported and a men's Bible School, said to be the largest in the United States in a city of 2,000 population.
The Covina Chamber of Commerce is a live organization of intelligent business men who ever seek to further the interests of their city. The present officers and directors are: President, Dr. J. D. Reed; vice president, G. F. Rinehart; J. E. Calkins, secretary; directors, Dr. J. D. Reed, G. F. Rinehart, Gordon Douglas, J. D. Field, J. D. Coles, M. Leon- hart, Irven G. Reynolds, W. A. Viney, J. L. Matthews, Henry Damerel, George Aschenbrenner and Harry Webber.
Among the old-timers of this community, men well posted and reliable as to statements they make concerning their city and county, are J. M. Stanton, Dr. J. D. Reed, J. R. Hodges, J. R. Elliott, William Bowring and William B. Thorne.
The public schools of the place are second to none in the county. The group of beautiful buildings they occupy bespeak much for the citizens. The fine new grammar school building cost $165,000 and, together with the high school building, make two handsome monuments to the intelligence and liberality of the community.
The industrial interests of Covina are limited largely to the fruit grow- ing, buying and shipping business of the district. Within, and near by, are fully two dozen large packing concerns which handle a large amount of oranges and lemons annually. With the cash received by the growers and shippers of citrus fruits, no wonder the little city grows rapidly, for be it remembered that in California men and women do not hoard money but keep it in free circulation-letting all branches of trade get a chance to handle a part of the income.
San Dimas, thirty miles east of Los Angeles, at an elevation of 987 feet, with a population of near 3,000, is among the county's excellent places where, early in this century, there were 5,000 acres of orange and lemon groves in bearing, with an annual shipment amounting to 1,600 cars. Fruit journals state that the locality has the best equipped and largest curing and packing plants in the State, and that therein 265 carloads of citrus fruits may be stored at one time. Water rates are from $15 to $25 per year per acre.
The town is a bustling, enterprising mart, where all ordinary lines of business are transacted. There are banks, hotels, stores, theatres, churches, lodges and weekly newspapers.
Artesia is nineteen miles southeast of Los Angeles City and is within 61 feet of sea-level. Its present population is about 700. The chief products hereabouts are alfalfa, grapes, sugar beets, vegetables, fruits and dairy products, with a large industry in chickens; one hatchery, in 1914, had as many as 60,000 chicks.
Norwalk lies about ten miles southeast of Los Angeles city, and has an elevation of 92 feet. Its population is about 500. Walnuts, alfalfa, sugar beets, vegetables, dairy and poultry products bring wealth to the people generally.
THE SYLMAR OLIVE RANCH IN THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY Largest Olive Ranch in the World. Originally 140,000 trees in this ranch.
CHAPTER XLVII SAN FERNANDO AND VICINITY
Twenty-one miles to the north of the city of Los Angeles, along the Southern Pacific and Pacific Electric railroads, on the state highway at an elevation of 1,200 feet, is found the beautiful little city of San Fernando, which, with the surrounding township, has a population of 3,300 souls. There are many miles of handsomely paved streets, natural gas for domestic purposes, electric light and power, cheap fuel oil, and the historic old Mission mentioned at length among other Missions of the county. The best improved orange and lemon tracts hereabouts bring as high as $5,000 per acre, but usually lands are to be had at from $600 to $1,000. In the incorporated city of San Fernando one sees the best of educational and religious tendencies, good schoolhouses and beautiful churches in which to worship. In an article prepared for the 1915 Exposition the following para- graphs appeared, and they are reliable and make good history today: "There are fine educational facilities ; a $65,000 high school building with 125 pupils and twelve teachers, and two grammar school buildings costing $110,000, with 350 pupils and twelve teachers. The greatest industry of the place is fruit growing. There are four packing houses that ship 380 cars of oranges and 90 cars of lemons per year. The Sylmar olive grove of 2,000 acres, the largest in the world, has a normal season's output of 50,000 gallons of oil and 200,000 gallons of ripe olives. More than seven hundred acres of land in the vicinity are devoted to melon and vegetable growing for the winter market, the tomato bringing large returns. There are one dairy farm, several poultry farms and a number of large apiaries, while 15,000 acres of grain that yield 35,000 sacks of barley and 15,000 tons of hay, constitute an average yearly crop. The source of water supply for San Fernando is Pacoima Canyon and wells."
To acquaint the reader, in brief, with the beginnings of this part of Los Angeles County, let it be stated that Hon. Charles Maclay laid out the town of San Fernando in 1874-77, when the long railroad tunnel was com- pleted. Maclay founded the "Maclay College of Theology," in 1885, at this point. In 1894, the institution was moved to West Los Angeles. The Methodist, Presbyterian and Catholic denominations have well organized churches here. What is left of the old Mission buildings, two miles from the city, is an attraction to visitors. In 1905, a high school building was erected at a cost of $20,000.
. This city is the oldest in the San Fernando Valley-the gateway to the north on the main line of the Southern Pacific railroad-and is also well served by the Pacific Electric with its many daily trains ; besides an electric 'bus or "Stage Line," as it is called in memory of the original stages that ran over that route in early days. It is also a focal point for three great
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highways-the San Fernando road, the Chatsworth Boulevard and the Pasadena-San Fernando highways.
The municipality covers two and three-quarters square miles and is within the central portion of a large olive producing district. It is noted for its many fine school buildings. As to churches there are five Protestant and one Roman Catholic. There are Episcopal, Holiness, Methodist Episcopal (Mexican), Presbyterian, San Fernando Old Mission, Catholic, and the Seventh Day Adventist organizations. The clubs in the place include the Elective Study and the San Fernando Ebell. The secret societies represent the Masonic and Independent Order of Odd Fellows, with their ladies auxiliaries, the Eastern Star Chapter and Rebekah Degree lodge. San Fernando Mission was established in 1797, is one mile from the modern city of San Fernando, is a part of the Park system and is about to be restored, as was San Gabriel. Thousands of tourists visit this mission yearly.
The Banking and Newspaper interests are mentioned in special chap- ters on these two topics, found elsewhere in this work. The Southern Pacific railroad has its roundhouse at this point and there are eight fruit and vegetable packing-houses located in the city, showing that a vast amount of fruit and vegetables are grown and sold in San Fernando. The business interests are looked after, in part, by the Chamber of Commerce, whose president is now R. G. Miller and secretary, I. Q. Brunson. The city has a population of not far from 4,500. Nearly all products find their market in Chicago, to which city car lots only are sent.
San Fernando as a city of its present (sixth) class, was incorporated in August, 1911. It now has a bonded indebtedness of $155,000, mostly incurred for the splendid water works system recently installed. Water comes from deep wells and from the mountains and is especially clear and pure. The Board of Trustees in the summer of 1922 was: J. C. Maclay (president ) , J. M. Jenifer, M. D. Olney, Frank Fairfield and F. D. Parker. The city offices are maintained in the rooms of the First National Bank Building. Recent city officials have been: H. C. Caldwell, clerk; Mina J. Wilkinson, treasurer; H. A. Decker, attorney; E. H. Schwinger, recorder ; J. W: Thompson, marshal; S. G. Chamberlain, engineer ; H. C. Caldwell, street superintendent; J. M. Griffiths, health officer; E. L. De Remer, inspector and superintendent water department.
Free transportation of school children from remote settled districts of the county gives all an even chance in the race for a good education. Pupils attending the elementary and high schools of San Fernando are transported in automobiles and the system employed has been maintained at a minimum of expense. Pupils are either transported by private par- ties, under contract with the School Board, or in school auto-busses, owned and operated by the school districts. The larger schools require a fleet of high-powered trucks.
It is often asked "How much does irrigation cost in this beautiful agri- cultural and horticultural valley ?" This table will inform the reader as to what it cost about a year ago: Alfalfa, $2.93 per acre; apricots, $1:34; asparagus, $1.72; barley hay, $2.13; beans, $1.40 ; beets, $2.66; cabbages, $1.35; citrus fruits, $1.41; corn, $1.75; flooding, $2.94; lettuce, $1.24; melons, $1.02; nursery stock, 99 cents; peaches, $1.59; potatoes, $1.46;
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pumpkins, $1.33; squash, 94 cents; tomatoes, $1.59; truck, $2.34, and walnuts, $1.01.
Statistics are on file with the San Fernando Chamber of Commerce showing that in 1921, 204 new buildings and thirty-six business houses were erected, and that so far this year the building is even greater. The seven packing houses and one large cannery care for the products of the territory immediately adjacent to the city. The last mentioned plant packed in 1921 thousands of cases of spinach, asparagus and deciduous fruits. Sixty new business houses were licensed in 1921. Think of eighty-two carloads of lettuce being shipped monthly, by rail to eastern markets from San Fernando alone. Again the shippers books of the place show that during the year there are being exported from San Fernando Valley over 1,500,000 boxes of oranges, lemons, and grape fruit, 1,000 tons of ripe olives, 1,500 tons of olive oil, 150 cars of vegetables, and 2,000,000 jars of citrus marmalade. During the packing season there are employed in that locality over 3,000 people, while the annual pay-roll is in excess of $1,500,- 000. Among the large concerns engaged in packing and shipping in this city "so full of good things" should not be overlooked the McGaffey Canning Company, San Fernando Lemon Association, Fruit Growers Association, Sylmar Packing 'Corporation, San Fernando Heights Lemon Associa- tion, the Stewart Fruit Company, L. K. Small Company, the A. J. Wilson plant, H. H. Schwinger, a preserver of fruits; Salisbury Brothers, Fowler & Myers, and a score of lesser firms doing a prosperous business in their special lines of industry.
Again in the dairy business this section has the largest Guernsey herd in the world today, as well as one of the finest modern dairies. These statements refer to the "Adohr Stock Farm's Dairy."
All, in all, San Fernando, the gem set in the famous Valley, surpasses most other sections of the country in her fruit, vegetable and dairy products.
AIRPLANE VIEW OF SIERRA MADRE AND SIERRA MADRE MOUNTAINS, LOOKING WEST OF NORTH
CHAPTER XLVIII SIERRA MADRE, GLENDORA AND ARCADIA
These are among the handsome towns of the county, and each bears poetic names, with much of interesting history woven into their several communities.
Sierra Madre, a charming city of Pasadena Township, has about 2,000 population. It is nestled among the foot-hills twelve miles northeast of Los Angeles City. Its level above the sea is from 800 to 1,400 feet, and its neighborhood has an annual rainfall of twenty-five inches. Sierra Madre is a scion of the world-famed Santa Anita Rancho, belonged to the no less famous E. J. Baldwin ("Lucky"), one of the numerous multi-millionaires of the Golden State. N. C. Carter was the god-father and important factor in the original settlement of the locality. It was he who in February, 1881, purchased 1,100 acres of the choicest portion of the beautiful Santa Anita Rancho, then in its original wild state. It was as if just coming from the hand of the Creator, covered by gigantic oak trees and backed by numerous springs and running streams of the purest water pouring from the near-by mountains. It was at once surveyed into twenty, forty and eighty-acre tracts and disposed of to those who come to be styled the "model colony." The purest of soft snowwater was brought in pipes from the mountains and conveyed to the highest portions of every lot on the entire survey. At that early period in the history of the place, land sold at from $50 to $75 per acre and the water rights went with the title perpetu- ally. The first purchases of land were made by A. D. Trussell, A. Gregory, Miss Fannie H. Hawks, and Messrs. Murlingame, Cook, Hosmer, Pierce, White, Rowland, Clements, Seaman and Spalding. In 1882, Mr. Carter, the founder, erected the public schoolhouse and donated it to the new town. The Valley View Hotel was built and opened the same year by J. E. Rich- ardson. The postoffice was established that year, with E. T. Pierce as postmaster. In 1885 a fine public library was donated to the place by Mrs. R. E. Ross. A Town Hall was erected and in 1886 the Santa Fe Railroad was completed to Sierra Madre. From time to time there have been numerous beautiful and costly residences erected in the city. Today one finds the ordinary stocks of goods, the shops, excellent schools, well attended churches, lodges, clubs, and a grand panoramic scenic view "ever a feast to the eye.
Glendora is located twenty-five miles east of Los Angeles, on the line of the Santa Fe and Pacific Electric railroads and Foothill boulevard, at an elevation of 900 feet. It has a population of about 2,000. The locality has upon an average of twenty-three inches of rainfall yearly. Among the several towns which skirt the foot-hills of the San Gabriel Valley, "the gem of Los Angeles County," Glendora is certainly one of the most beautifully situated. It lies on a gentle slope of the Sierra Madre range,
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and near the head of the wonderful valley. It was founded by George Whitcomb, of Chicago, a manufacturer of unlimited means who was pleased with the climate, as well as the beauty of the picturesque Valley. He bought 200 acres of land and associated with himself Merrick Reynolds, John W. Cook, and his two sons, Carroll S. and William C. Whitcomb, as the Glendora Land Company, and they soon added much more acreage to their possession. There they laid out the town of Glendora, which derived its pretty name from a happy combination of the word glen and the last part of Mrs. Whitcomb's name-Ledora. Three hundred acres were platted into town lots, some two hundred of which were sold on the first day of the sale, March 31, 1887, the deeds being given April 1st of that year. Water was brought from the Big Dalton Canyon and the project was developed into the Glendora Water Company, whose opera- tions were immense with the passage of a few years. In 1890 Glendora had its good public school buildings, its fine churches of the Christian and Methodist Episcopal denominations, and a storage capacity of 2,000,000 gallons of pure water which was conveyed from the mountains two and a half miles distant. Within more recent years every modern improvement has been made in the place, including the establishment of banks, news- papers, club-houses, a board of trade, a $50,000 school building for the higher grades and one costing $6,000 for the 400 pupils of the elementary department.
Tributary to Glendora there are more than four thousand acres of bearing orange and lemon groves that furnished shipment, as long ago as 1914, of 2,200 cars. These orchards, a dozen years ago, were selling at from $2,000 to $3,000 per acre. Practically every religious faith finds its own denomination represented in Glendora by a good church organization. The principal industry is founded on the culture of citrus fruits; four large packing houses are devoted to it. During 1921 the industry returned to the growers over $2,500,000 for over 800,000 boxes of fruit shipped in 2,000 freight cars. No one will wonder at the people calling the place "The Pride of the Foothills" when once its beauties and wealth have been witnessed.
Glendora was incorporated on November 16, 1911, and had for its first officers : Trustees, R. W. Hamlin, W. R. McNair, L. W. Spalding, C. H. Wood and J. S. Brubaker (president) ; T. E. Wallace, clerk. The sub- joined is a list of the presidents of the board to date: A. E. Englehardt, 1912-15; J. J. West, 1916; J. D. Dyer, 1918; Charles Ragan, 1919-22. The present city clerk is Fred C. Neet. In 1921-22 the municipality con- structed its present' City Hall at a cost of $69,500, including park and furniture of the buildings. The city's indebtedness is now $184,000. It has two fine public parks and numerous school buildings, the last of which cost $365,000 and a grammar school valued at $28,000. The city is now adding a 2,000,000 gallon water reservoir costing $28,000. The wells are in the Dalton Canyon district and are never failing in supply. In Glendora one finds a lively Chamber of Commerce. There are Christian, Methodist Episcopal, Episcopal, Brethren, Nazarene, Seventh Day Adventists, Bap- tist and Christian Science churches. The newspaper, mentioned elsewhere, is the Gleaner. The lodges include the Masonic bodies and Odd Fellows order, with their ladies auxiliaries. The present season (1922) the Chris-
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CITRUS
UXION
HIGH SCHOOL
AZUSA
GLENDORA
CALIFORNIA
JOHN C AUSTal OM B POLICE
NEW AZUSA-GLENDORA CITRUS UNION HIGH SCHOOL
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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY
tian Church is building a fine edifice costing $60,000, and the Christian Science Society has commenced the erection of an $18,000 church building. The American Legion has been donated the old City Hall building and the city also gave the Boy Scouts another building; so both are well provided for.
The latest building improvement of great magnitude is the Union High School being now finished. This is the joint property of Glendora and Azusa and is among the largest and best schools within the county.
The first mention of Arcadia, in the histories of this county, was made in 1889 in these words: "Arcadia is a new town that was platted and sold by Mr. Unruh. It is in the center of Mr. Baldwin's possessions, and is already the scene of considerable activity. Much of the land contiguous to the village has been sold for small fruit farms. Santa Anita is two miles west."
It lies four miles east of Alhambra, is at an elevation of 488 feet above sea-level and has a population of about 1,000 people. There are modern business houses, good stocks of certain goods, churches and excellent schools, and the town is largely backed by the alfalfa and fruits grown near by.
HIGH SCHOOL, MONROVIA
CHAPTER XLIX
MONROVIA AND DUARTE
At an elevation of between 700 and 1,000 feet above sea-level, and twenty miles east of the city of Los Angeles, stands the enterprising and well built little city of Monrovia with its more than 5,000 population. It is situated two miles east of Arcadia, and was founded by W. N. Monroe. It is close to the base of the Sierra Madre mountains. As early as the late '80s it had its two lines of street cars connecting it with Los Angeles City. The first town lots were sold in Monrovia during the month of May, 1886, and within less than one year town lots were being sold freely at $100 a front foot in the business sections. In fact this city was overbuilt and sustained a financial loss by its early booming days. It is now looked upon as among the desirable places on account of its altitude and health- giving atmosphere. It has good business houses, including four banking institutions, and a full line of general retail stores. The name "Monrovia was made from the letters in the founder's name. The railways of the place are the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific. At Monrovia, as elsewhere in San Gabriel Valley, oranges and lemons afford the chief sources of wealth. The electric line was finished through the town in March, 1903, since which time it has come to be noted as a residential section for many doing business in Los Angeles. In 1905, bonds were issued for public improvements to the extent of $35,000, $18,000 of which went for the purchase of site for a public park; $8,000 for a city hall; $2,000 for a Carnegie Library ; $5,000 for enlarging the water system, and $2,000 for fire apparatus. The city is also noted for its Pottenger Sanatorium, a tuberculosis institution.
Monrovia's banking institutions are presented in the special chapter on Banks and Banking. Lodges, churches, clubs and theatres are all well represented in this city of homes and contented people. Its directories, in 1915, showed that it had a $1,000,000 municipal water plant, parks, one daily and two weekly newspapers, an active Board of Trade and a well stocked public library. Its educational affairs are fully up to the California standard. A decade ago it had its $50,000 high school building, with 350 pupils and seventeen teachers, and five grammar school buildings, with 800 pupils and twenty-five instructors. About a dozen years ago, the place had a large acreage of fancy fruits, two packing plants and shipped 2,200 cars of oranges and lemons.
The Santa Fe railroad was completed through to the city in the autumn of 1886. In the '90s the Pacific Electric Railway line was pushed through to Monrovia and now sixty trains run daily to Los Angeles. A number of these trains run seventeen miles in forty-five minutes, including stops. In 1921 the road carried 1,054,277 passengers on its Monrovia-Glendora line.
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The Chamber of Commerce at Monrovia is a "live wire" in the upbuild- ing of the community. It was formed more than thirty years ago as the Board of Trade. The present officers are: Charles J. O'Connor, presi- dent; Thomas R. Hayes, vice president ; H. J. Evans, treasurer, and Mrs. Harriet H. Barry, secretary of the Board of Trustees.
The recent directory gives the churches of the city as the Christian, Baptist, Presbyterian, St. Luke's Episcopal and the Christian Science soci- ety ; also the Adventist, Methodist Episcopal and Roman Catholic. In all, there are fourteen congregations. Of newspapers there are three-the Messenger, a weekly, the Monrovia Daily News, and the Pacific Poultry-
CARNEGIE LIBRARY AND CENTRAL PARK, MONROVIA
craft, a monthly magazine. (See Banking Chapter for banks.) The public school system includes the high school group, and the four grade schools, with more than $500,000 invested in their buildings. Then there is the Catholic institution, the Immaculate Conception Parish School, and the Markham School for Boys. Concerning the parks of this beautiful little city it can be said there are three of unusual character-Sawpit Canyon Park, a mile from the city; City Park, a full block in the city's center, and the Recreation Center, of thirty-two acres. The Government park near by covers 2,000 acres of rough mountain land. The present estimate of population is 8,500. The number of homes erected in 1921 was 410. The average rainfall is fifteen inches, but during the last year the record shows thirty inches. The thermometer seldom falls lower than fifty degrees. Flowers, including roses, bloom throughout the year.
The fraternal organizations include the various branches of Masonry, Odd Fellowship, Knights of Pythias, etc.
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The Public Utilities obtain here to a large extent-water is plentiful and pure. The city owns its modern sewage system. As to fruit packing, it should be said that no less than eight packing houses are found at Monrovia, handling lemons, oranges and grapes.
Monrovia was incorporated in December, 1887, but there is no record of the first officers elected. It was then, as now, a city of the sixth class. Since 1890 the presidents of the Board of Trustees have been: J. F. Banning, 1890; C. O. Monroe, 1894; U. Zimmerman, 1897; Charles G. Rogers, 1898; John H. Bartle, 1900; A. H. Johnson, 1903; W. A. Walker, 1904; J. B. Holloway, 1907; W. B. Scarborough, 1909; C. P. Dorland, 1912; Herbert J. Evans, 1914; F. H. Sandefur, 1916; Walter Dunn, since 1918. The city officials (elective and appointive) at the present date are : City clerk, Lewis P. Black ; city treasurer, W. H. Evans; city marshal, E. A. Bovee ; city attorney, John P. Dunn ; health officer, Charles D. Gaylord, M. D .; city engineer, H. S. Gierlich; water superintendent, C. W. Given; street superintendent, C. A. Sargeant ; purchasing agent, R. L. Wathey ; building inspector, M. L. Hutchinson; city recorder, Clyde R. Burr; fire chief, H. A. Stevens ; Board of Trustees, W. F. Dunn (chairman) ; A. J. Everest, finance ; J. P. Daniel, police and ordinance ; C. O. Banks, streets ; E. F. Spence, water.
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