USA > California > Los Angeles County > Pasadena > History of Pasadena, comprising an account of the native Indian, the early Spanish, the Mexican, the American, the colony, and the incorporated city, occupancies of the Rancho San Pasqual, and its adjacent mountains, canyons, waterfalls and other objects of interest: being a complete and comprehensive histo-cyclopedia of all matters pertaining to this region > Part 79
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659
DIVISION TEN - MISCELLANEOUS.
In 1895 the Pasadena and Los Angeles Electric Railroad was built through South Pasadena, from Garvanza northeastward ; and also the South- ern Pacific Railroad branch line to Pasadena was built up across the eastern part of this city. In the same year the Santa Fe R. R. Co. straightened and re-graded their track through the city, to avoid a double curve in the old line which had always been troublesome for heavy trains on the up haul ; and the depot building was of course moved to the new short-cut track.
For account of the oil borings on South Pasadena hills, see pages 464 and 552.
For early historic events which occurred on South Pasadena soil, see pages 58, 65, 67, 71, 72, 98, etc.
DIVISION TEN - MISCELLANEOUS.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
AN AFTERMATH OF FIRST THINGS.
It is an ancient saying that "First Things are always historic." This chapter is devoted to corralling a few untethered "first things" in Pasadena history, which did not happen to be caught and linked in at other points, or else here afford some new particulars not before given. This summary of "first things" by date shows in a striking manner how few years it has. taken to build up such a goodly city as Pasadena now is.
The first child born in the colony was that of Geo. Wentworth, who resided on what is now the Joseph Wallace place, with its cannery, etc. This was in 1874. It was a girl baby, and the colonists made up a fund and bought a baby carriage for the little lady. The second birth was that of Lulu Bristol, December 1, 1875. The third, Lulu Conger, The first boy baby born was Harvey, son of Chas. H. and Millie Watts, whose marriage was the first wedding in the colony.
The first school-house was built in January, 1875, on W. T. Clapp's land, where Mrs. Ware's cottage now stands; and Jennie Clapp reopened
660
HISTORY OF PASADENA.
her school in this building on January 28, 1875. It had been closed since October, for want of room, there being twenty pupils enrolled.
The first sermon ever preached in Pasadena was in this new school- house, the very first Sunday that it was in condition to be used, February 7, 1875, by Rev. W. C. Mosher, Presbyterian. The next Sunday, February 14, Rev. Solomon Dunton, Methodist, preached there; and at this time a Union Sunday school was organized, with Daniel Pike as superintendent. Also a Union prayer meeting was established there, on this Sunday or the next, as a regular Sunday assemblage.
The first church organized in Pasadena was the First Presbyterian, on March 21, 1875, with Rev. W. C. Mosher as pastor. The first administra- tration of the Lord's Supper was on April 4, conducted by Rev. A. F. White, D. D., of Los Angeles, and Mr. Mosher ; and at this time Dr. H. G. Newton and Wm. T. Clapp were duly installed as the first ruling elders.
The first marriage in the colony was that of Charles H. Watts and Miss Millie Locke, daughter of Major Erie Locke, March 12, 1875. They now reside at or near Downey, Cal.
The first store in the colony was started in 1875, by M. Rosenbaum, in a small rough-board building which he had erected on west side of Orange Grove Avenue below Colorado street, where Dr. John W. Wood's neat cot- tage now stands. But on account of liquor being sold here, against which the colonists most vigorously protested, the store was soon given up, and the building rented for a Chinese wash-house; and so this and there was the first Chinese business started in Pasadena.
The first horticultural society in Southern California was organized by the Pasadena colonists, early in 1875. It was called " Fruit Growers' Associa- tion," and met fortnightly in the school-house, to talk over experiences, compare notes, report progress, quote authorities, and discuss all matters pertaining to their new business ; for they had started a fruit colony, al- though there was not an experienced horticulturist among them.
The first civil officer in Pasadena was I. N. Mundell, who was ap- pointed road overseer in 1875. His jurisdiction extended from the Arroyo ·Seco eastward to Santa Anita canyon, and from the north line of Los An- geles to the mountains. He first opened or worked the "adobe road " to Los Angeles, and several others within the district.
The first postmaster appointed was Josiah Locke, March 15, 1875 ; but he declined to serve, and 110 office was opened until Henry T. Hollingsworth was made postmaster, September 21, 1876. [See page 234.]
The first barber chair in Pasadena was established during the winter of 1876-77, by Albert S. Hollingsworth. He was a great joker; and the colony wags made liis shop their loafing place, to spin yarns, play off jokes, or put ridiculous waggish stories in circulation "just for fun," which sometimes became a real grievance to innocent parties. It was said that Albert learned his trade practicing on his brother Henry, the young postmaster.
661
DIVISION TEN - MISCELLANEOUS.
The first death in the colony was that of Wm. Green Porter, aged 8 · years, June 13, 1876-son of A. O. Porter. The next death was a 4-year old son of James Blatenburg, January 20, 1887. The third was the son of = / 8 77 Col. Banbury, September 4, 1877. [See page 234.] The first death of an adult was that of Bartlett Cobb, July 13, 1878, step-brother-in-law to Mrs. Col. Banbury.
The first double wedding took place February 1, 1887, when J. H. Gifford and Samuel S. Page were married at the same time to daughters of John W. Wilson, by the Methodist pastor, Rev. Chas. Shelling. Gifford now lives at Los Angeles, and Page at Alhambra.
The first " house afire " was the burning down of Thomas Banbury's house, at Marengo Avenue and Glenarm corner, in 1878.
The first regular real estate office and business was opened by T. P. Lukens, in 1880; and during the first three years he sold upwards of $225,- 000 worth of Pasadena property. Now president Pasadena National Bank.
In February, 1882, the first thoroughbred poultry yard in Pasadena was started by Ed. C. Clapp, with Light Bramahs. He still sticks to his original text in chickendoxy.
The first brass band was organized in 1882, with 15 members, and was allowed the use of the central school house for evening practice, at first. In speaking of it the Union of May 1, 1885, says :
" The members now are as follows : Frank Newlan, (leader) solo cornet. Hancock Banning, Ist cornet. George Woodbury, 2d cornet. Will Clapp, solo alto, Al. Howe, Ist alto. Carl Freese, 2nd tenor. George Eaton, bass. John Lowe, baritone. Lou. Winder, bass drum. Charles Clapp, snare drum. Prof. Scovill, Los Angeles, teacher. Three years ago it was undertaken, and of its then fifteen or sixteen members the majority have fallen by the way. During that time they had met in the school house, and in a blacksmith shop, and one winter in a tent. Some had walked three or four miles to rehearse; yet in the face of these difficulties their teacher com- plimented them with assurance that only one band in Los Angeles could take up a piece of new music and play it equal with them."
The first photograph artist here was George Weingarth, in 1882. He took the Pasadena views printed in the Farnsworth pamphlet of 1883, ill- cluding the one on page 167 in this volume. In 1884 Thomas G. Norton opened a photograph gallery, but he died in '85.
The first telephone in Pasadena was put up in Williams's store in December, 1882. Wesley Bunnell was the first person who ever talked by wire from this town-and the historic first words thus spoken were " He isn't here." The workman had just got the 'phone in and stepped out to fix something about the pole wires, when the bell was rung from Los Ang- geles, and inquiry made for the said workman. Bunnell was clerk in the store, and he went to the 'phone and answered as above.
The first bicycle ever rode in Pasadena was in 1882, by Will Hisey --
662
HISTORY OF PASADENA.
a 46-inch Otto wooden wheel. But later in the same year Geo. H. Frost run the streets on a 54-inch Expert Columbia wheel. And next came Geo. W. Glover with another one like Frost's. And the first bicycle race is thus reported by the Valley Union of December 18, 1885 :
" Geo. W. Glover, Jun., made a good run on his bicycle Tuesday after- noon. Leaving Lamanda station at the same time as the train, he reached Pasadena station before the train crossed Colorado street on the way out. Distance 372 miles ; time about fifteen minutes."
The first drug store was opened in 1883 by Dr. Frederick Sheldon, in a two-story frame building which he erected at the corner of Colorado and Mills streets, and which stands there yet.
The first dentistry office was opened by John White, from Marshall- town, Iowa, in 1883. He now resides at Redlands.
Two "first things " of the year 1883 are thus reported in the Union of June 18, 1886 :
"Ben E. Ward commenced business in Pasadena in 1881. About the middle of February, 1883, he opened an office in R. Williams's building, then just completed, on the corner of Fair Oaks Avenue and Colorado street, and hung out the first business sign ever exhibited in Pasadena. It bore the legend-
BEN E. WARD REAL ESTATE
In August, 1893, he started the Pasadena Chronicle, with his brothers Frank and Walter as associate editors. The Valley Union is the direct continua- tion of that first newspaper ever published in Pasadena." [See page 214.]
The first lumber yard was started by Col. J. Banbury, October 20, 1883, on the north side of Colorado street, nearly where the Santa Fe Railroad runs now.
The first wagon built entirely in Pasadena was in January and February, 1884. Woodwork by Charles Ryan ; iron work by L. J. Newlan ; painting by Kline & Zoubrodth; trimming by J. H. Fleming. It was a platform spring wagon.
The first bakery was opened in February, 1884, by Fulford & Crozier. The oven was twice soaked through and caved in by excessive rains before it could be finished and housed ; and this delay and loss got the young men' so swamped with debt that they soon had to sell out. It was the same bakery that has been run by Joseph Gantzer for about ten years past.
The first billiard hall was opened on Saturday, March 1, 1884, by Jerome Beebe ; and in a few weeks he added a liquor saloon. [See page 241.]
The first brick laid in the foundation of the Raymond Hotel was on March 20, 1884. [See page 467.]
The first robbery in Pasadena was on Sunday night, April 6, 1884, when the safe in R. Williams's store and the postoffice was broken open and robbed of $800. No clue was ever found to the perpetrators.
663
DIVISION TEN - MISCELLANEOUS.
The first milk route was established in December, 1884, by L. A. Carey. The first bank was opened January 12, 1885, as the Pasadena Bank, the same that is now the First National Bank of Pasadena.
The first express office (Wells-Fargo) was opened at Williams's store, April 1, 1885, with C. A. Sawtelle, agent.
The first public observance of Memorial Day in Pasadena was held on May 30, 1885, and was planned and gotten up by Mrs. S. E. Merritt, the librarian. From the Union's report I quote a few points :
" The business places of the town were generally closed, and the prin- cipal buildings ornamented with the national colors. In the evening memo- rial exercises were held at Williams' Hall under the auspices of the Library Association.
* The Pasadena Band contributed several selections, and a choir consisting of Messrs. A. F. Mills, F. B. Wetherby, Geo. Monfort, Dr. R. K. Janes, A. F. Clarke, Miss Byram, Miss Werner and Miss Clapp, with Mrs. Nimms as directress, rendered "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean," "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, the boys are marching," and "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground." There was no decoration of graves here, and we know of no soldiers buried here."
The Union of September 18, 1885, says: "The first freight brought over the San Gabriel Valley Railroad was a carload of seed barley to James Clarke, September 15." But the same paper says in another place : "The first freight delivered in Pasadena by our new railroad was a cargo of lumber for the Pasadena Lumber Co." I think both of these shipments came by same train - hence the confusion as to "first."
The first regular railroad conductor of passenger train between Pasa- dena and Los Angeles was W. B. King, commencing about September 21, 1885. Morris Reeder was engineer and John D. Ripley was fireman on this historic train.
The first mention of mail arriving by cars is in the Union of September 25, 1885-once a day. Mail closed at 9:24 A.M .; arrived at 6:36 P.M.
The first Pullman palace car ever hauled into Pasadena was the " Fitchburg," direct from Boston, 4,000 miles without change, via Los An- geles, October 15, 1885 ; it had twenty-four passengers, headed by Alonzo Tower, who afterward built the tourist home known as " Marengo Hall." Frank E. and Walter R. Ward were then a real estate firm here, and they had arranged a reception banquet for this party at the Los Angeles House, with plates for forty persons. Several leading citizens took part, making speeches, etc. Prof. George Conant came with this party, and still resides here.
The first gaslighting in Pasadena was of J. W. Wood's drug store, and the Masonic hall then over it, in Williams's block, October 22, 1885. Mr. Williams had put a private gas machine in a vault under ground at the rear of the Williams Hall block, to serve the entire building ; but when regular city gas works were started, this private generator was taken out.
664
HISTORY OF PASADENA.
The first telescope observation ever made from the summit of Mount Lowe was an eclipse of the moon, March 10, 1895, by Prof. Edward Swift and L. G. Abbey.
CHAPTER XXXV.
MISCELLANEOUS .- The Orange Boom .- The Roller Skating Rink .- The Whitesiders. - The Iowans .- The Prize Baby .- Local Poetry .- The Shorb Water Scare .- Wil- liams Hall .- Etc., etc.
Emendations, and sundry belated matters.
MISCELLANEOUS.
This chapter is devoted to such odds and ends of historic memoranda, in- cidents or statistics as seemed worth preserving for future reference, yet did not seem to exactly fit in anywhere else among the more systematized groupings of the many matters dealt with; and also some additional cor- rections, and belated matters for last chance of insertion.
THE ORANGE BOOM.
From a table of statistics gathered in 1879 for the whole San Gabriel Valley, I have compiled the following items of historic interest for Pasadena, from Hist. Los A. Co., p. 131 :
NAME OF PLACE.
NAME OF OWNER.
NO. ORANGE TREES.
NO. BOXES SHIPPED.
Pasadena
Colonists
25,000
Mutual Orchard
Mutual Orchard Co
13,650
Oak Knoll ..
B. D. Wilson & Co
7,750
10,498
San Marino
J. De Barth Shorb
1,700
Lake Vineyard
Mrs. B. D. Wilson
1,100
10,002
Winston Heights
W. H. Winston
2,500.
3,323
El Molino
E. J. C. Kewen.
1,200
803
Los Robles
Gen. Geo. Stoneman
1,500
579
Fair Oaks
J. F. Crank
3,000
210
Fair Oaks.
A. Brigden
1,300
Marengo Ranch
F. P. Bacon
1,400.
204
Total number of orange trees
60, 100 25,619
In culling from the mass of reports I took nothing east of Santa Anita Avenue or the Winston place, but only the orchards within Pasadenaland. The boxes of oranges reported were the shipments from San Gabriel station in 1879. Another report for 1893-94 said :
"Last season there were shipped from · Pasadena eighty carloads of oranges, or 24,000 boxes. In this city and vicinity it is estimated that there were dried last season1 4,000 tons of green fruit, principally apricots, peaches and prunes."
In the Pasadena Star of December 24, 1891, I found a table of orange shipments from Los Angeles county, from which I gathered this list from Pasadena and its near vicinity :
665
DIVISION TEN - MISCELLANEOUS.
STATION.
NO. BOXES ORANGES SHIPPED.
STATION.
NO. BOXES ORANGES
SHIPPED.
Alhambra
43,443
Monrovia
1,998
Azusa
13,469
Pasadena
43,712
Chapman
4,168
Raymond
1,346
Duarte
32,267
San Gabriel
22,416
Lamanda Park
.16,500
South Pasadena 2,708
Total for season of 1890-92-182,025 boxes. The shipments from Los Angeles city in same time were 22,826 boxes.
ROLLER SKATING RINK.
The Valley Union of October 11, 1884, said :
"The Pasadena Skating Rink will provide us with a long-felt want in the way of a public building that will accomodate as large an audience as will turn out on any occasion for the next five years, probably. The two young men who enter into this enterprise, Messrs. Brinker and Lockhart, have displayed commendable enterprise, and deserve to make it pay. The building is 30 x 90 feet in dimensions, with a gallery over the entrance, while a large stage, with dressing rooms on either side fills up the other end. The seating capacity is about 600. The opening took place last Saturday with a grand ball, which many young ladies and gentlemen attended."
The roller skating fever was then running its course through the land, and Pasadena was well flushed with it. For several months the rumble of the rollers could be heard for five or six squares all around, every evening, as the devotees of that exhilarating pastime kept the skating floor in lively use. The building stood on the corner of Fair Oaks Avenue and Dayton street, where the Doty block is now. [See Second Citrus Fair, p. 319.]
In March, 1885, Mrs. Helen Hunt Jackson, author of the famous Southern California story entitled "Ramona," was in Pasadena a few days, stopping at Marengo Hall, then kept by Mrs. Alonzo Tower.
In April, 1885, at the Flower Festival in Los Angeles, Mrs. Rosenbaum [since deceased] exhibited 150 different varieties of roses grown by her in Pasadena. At the same time Thomas Nelmes's two children, Tommy and Jeannie, exhibited 102 different varieties of wild flowers gathered by them hereabouts ; and on this matter the Pasadena Union of May Ist, said :
".The following record of the varieties of wild flowers gathered each month for the year 1884 by the children of Mr. Thomas Nelmes, is of interest as a matter of curiosity, as well as for its botanical value: In January, sixty-five varieties were gathered ; in February, sixty-eight ; March, seventy ; April, seventy-three ; May, eighty-seven ; June, seventy ; July, sixty ; August, fifty-four ; September, fifty ; October, forty-five ; November, forty-eight ; December, fifty-six."
About the same time the same paper gave this arborial item :
"A. M. Byram has in his door-yard a white oak tree that measures seventy-six feet from edge to edge of the circle covered by its spreading branches. The tree is thirty-five feet high. and the trunk is four feet in diameter. He calls his place 'Nine Oaks.'"
48
666
HISTORY OF PASADENA.
THE WHITESIDERS.
The Pasadena Union of November 27, 1886, contained this report :
"On Thanksgiving Day a company of our residents who came from Whiteside county, Illinois, enjoyed a picnic at the Wilson Grove. After assembling at the grove T. A. Smith called the meeting to order, and acted as temporary chairman on the temporary organization of an Association of the Whitesiders. T. P. Lukens was chosen chairman of a committee to effect such an organization, with C. G. Jones as secretary. Those present from Whiteside county were : Dr. Utley, John Snavely, T. P. Lukens and family, Frank Smith and wife, John Galt and daughter, Mr. Bressler and wife, George Jones, W. H. Griffin and wife, S. H. Kingery and wife, I. N. Van Horn and family, T. A. Smith and wife, C. W. Roberts and wife, Geo. Dunmore and family, C. C. Bunnell and wife, Wesley Bunnell and wife, Seraphina DeGroff and son, F. M. Smith and wife, Charles Worrell and wife, J. E. Church and wife, Mrs. Greer and son, A. E. Cochrane and wife, Mrs. Kate Brooks, James J. Daily and family, John Daily, James Daily, Jr., Wm. Burdick, Miss Carrie Roberts, Miss Aggie Smith, Clarence Bunnell, C. G. Jones, I. B. Worrell, Mrs. E. R. Worrell, Albert Phelps and wife, Mrs. Worth and Ed. Doty. From sixty to seventy-five in the group were photographed by E. S. Frost & Son."
PASADENIANS FROM IOWA.
January 1, 1887, the Iowans held a picnic at Live Oak Park [now called Lincoln Park] and formed a sort of organization by choosing Hon. Delos Arnold, president; B. F. Ball, vice-president, H. J. Vail, secretary ; C. C. Thompson, treasurer. A total of 408 Iowans were reported as now residents of Pasadena and immediate vicinity, being in numbers from different counties as follows :
From Bremer County 25
From Mahaska County 15
Cedar
45
Marshall יו
6I
66 Hardin
3I
Mills 66
16
Iowa
I2
Muscatine 66 20
66
Polk
46
66
Johnson 16
13
Powesheik
6
Keokuk
I3
66
Scott
3
Linn 7
27 other counties 65
Total, 408.
Jasper
30
TRIPLETS BORN.
The Star of November 7, 1892, reported: "A lady of Pasadena, Mrs. E. R. Braley, wife of the well-known fruit dealer of Raymond avenue, gave birth yesterday to two girls and a boy, and today she is reported to be doing well. Each of the children weighs about six pounds."
BRIDGES AT DEVIL'S GATE.
November 11, 1891, the Deputy County Surveyor, W. A. Burr, reported : "That at the Arroyo Seco is 14812 feet long and 83 feet high ; that over the Canyada ravine is 106.8 feet long and 59 feet high."
667
DIVISION TEN - MISCELLANEOUS.
PASADENA PRIZE BABY.
In June, 1889, a photographer named Downing offered a prize for the finest baby born within a year; and he would take a picture, free, of all babies entered for the prize. When seventy-five different babies had been thus entered, their pictures were all put into one great partition frame. Then a committee was selected of three bachelors, who did not know whose baby a single one of the pictures represented. This committee never dared to permit their names to be made public; but they labored three days with the difficult task of deciding which one of the seventy-five should receive the prize, as the "prettiest and finest baby in Pasadena." The Pasadena Standard of July 26, 1889, thus reports on the matter :
"This prize was awarded last Tuesday to FREDDIE CLARENCE HAW- LEY, baby son of Salma W. and Sarah S. Hawley. Baby Hawley was born in Pasadena, June 13, 1888; was baptized in the Universalist church July 22, 1888; was photographed in competition for the prize, June 25, 1889. The prize is a greatly enlarged picture of the child, finished in oil or crayon, as the parents may prefer, and handsomely framed. When baby's grand- mother was informed of the award she wiped her spectacles and said com- placently : "Well ! well ! well ! I knew he was a nice baby-but I never expected that !" And her silver hairs took on a shinier shine. Mrs. Hawley is one of the devoted and faithful teachers in the Band of Hope ; and her bright little boys, Milton and Frank, are often in demand to 'speak a piece ' in the Band, or in Sunday School."
LOCAL POETRY.
From its earliest settlement Pasadena has been a paradise for poets, and I could fill a book with apothegms in verse, born of the land itself and its local environments; yet comparatively few of them are worth reprinting. The following excerpt was written by Charles A. Gardner, in 1887-and was published some years later by the Art Loan Association as one of its choice souvenirs of Pasadena. It has thus gained a certain historic prestige, and hence I quote it, adding some footnotes of explanation which will better enable the reader to understand the subtle symbolism of its local allusions. The poet is coming up from Los Angeles to Pasadena on the Santa Fe rail- road, and from that outlook and uplook he sings this song :
Steaming up from out the lowlands at the closing of the day, When the sun has furled his banners by the trail of Santa Fe, When the drowsy god has nestled in the bosom of the west, And the purple of his glory fills the valley of the blest,
G'eams the City of the Highlands in its beauty and its pride, With the laurel of the victor and the orange of the bride, Flashing out upon the vision like the bright and morning star That the pilgrims of the Orient have followed from afar.
Above the noise of battle, in its beauty and its peace, Its portals catch the earliest "Good Morning " from the east,
668
HISTORY OF PASADENA.
And latest benedictions and the tenderest caress Are pressed upon its temples by the purple of the west.
Ships sail by that Highland City* in the offing of the sky
With the pennants and the orders of the Admiral on high,
Bearing nightly courses westward in a heavenly patrol,
While the thunders of their cannon by the Mother Mountains roll.
Steaming upwards from the lowlands at the closing of the day, By the ever-shining spirals of the trail of Santa Fe, Circling upward, ever upward, like an eagle in its flight,
From the region of the shadow to the region of the light,
Gleam the portals of the city that can never more be hid,
Flashing out upon the vision as the Roman inistress did -t Alba Longa of the moderns in its beauty and its pride,
With the laurel of the victor and the orange of the bride.
THE SHORB WATER SCARE.
In 1890 there was a good deal of scare-talk in the Pasadena press about J. DeBarth Shorb's grand project for making an artificial lake in Sycamore canyon, a branch of the Eagle Rock Valley just over west of the Linda Vista hills, and storing it with the surplus waters of the Arroyo Seco, then piping it from the said reservoir lake down to Los Angeles. The plan was, to take water from the Arroyo at some point higher up than any of the Pasadena companies had filed their claims; and it was feared that under pretense of "surplus waters " this Shorb syndicate scheme would really tap and train off Pasadena's water supply. Among the curiosities to be seen in driving along the roadway of the upper Arroyo to the foot of Switzer's trail are some tunnels through rocky spurs of the canyon wall; and there are also tunnels in the Linda Vista hills leading through to Sycamore canyon. This was work done by the Shorb syndicate ; and the Star of November 19, 1890, in deprecating this prospective raid on Pasadena's water resources, said :
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