USA > California > Los Angeles County > History of Pomona Valley, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the valley who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 19
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One is reminded here of the story of the woman who was visiting friends in the South and who started out one Sabbath morning to find a church of the Disciples, in which she might worship with others of her own faith. She inquired the way of an old colored woman: "Auntie, can you tell me where the Christian Church is?" Quickly she replied, "Why, bless yo' soul, honey, dey's all Christian churches 'bout heah, 'cept de little ol' Cam-ellite Church round de co'nah."
To enter into the details of the life of the churches, to give in any fulness an account of their origin and growth, would be to picture vividly the outward and organized expression of the best ambitions and thought of the people. the most vital, doubtless, of all the town's activities. In such a story the generosity and sacrifice not only of a majority of its leading citizens, but also of the larger part of "the people," must needs have a place. Here especially it would be invid- ious to attempt to recognize peculiar merit, or to single out individuals for marked preeminence. Only in the simplest outlines can one sketch the beginnings and outstanding features or events in the church history of the place.
The church whose ministrations to the people of the Valley began with the earliest residents, the Mexican grantees and. their families, and has continued un-
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broken to the present time, is the Roman Catholic Church, as has been narrated somewhat fully in earlier chapters.
As stated before, when Señor Ricardo Vejar moved to Walnut, he built there a commodious chapel, where Catholic services were held, which were attended by the people of the Spanish Settlement. Padres Philipe, Amable and Heima were among the missionaries of the Church who visited this chapel ; also Bishop Diego Garcia at one time. After the beginnings of the town it was still regarded as a mission field and so was served by missionaries of the church or from the church at San Gabriel. Father Joaquin Bot, who became pastor of the San Gabriel Mis- sion in 1868, is especially remembered both by Catholics and by non-Catholics during the seventies. In 1876 the parish of San José (St. Joseph ) was established ; but it was not until the general awakening of 1883-1886 that the church had a regular pastor and building in Pomona.
The first church to be established in the Valley as an organic unit was the Baptist Church at Spadra, which was founded, as we have said in the story of this town, in 1871. The Rev. R. C. Fryer, who organized the church, was its pastor for nearly a dozen years, when he was followed by Dr. J. B. Tombes. Services were held for a dozen years in the Spadra school house, until in 1883 the church joined the Baptists in Pomona to establish a single church in this place.
To the Methodists must be given the credit of organizing the first church in Pomona. In February, 1876, the Reverend Dr. M. M. Bovard conducted a service in the railway station, and this was followed occasionally by others as a part of the Los Nietos circuit. In the summer of 1877, probably in May, an organization was effected under the direction of Dr. A. M. Hough, then presiding elder. The first trustees of the church were J. E. McComas, D. N. Burritt. G. V. D. Brand, C. W. Twiss and H. Eno, and these men, with their families, constituted its charter membership. The building which they erected in the following months was the first church building in Pomona, and cost less than $500, the land being rented at first from J. E. McComas, who afterwards gave it to the church. With the pres- tige of a new town. Pomona became the center of a new circuit including Azusa, Duarte, Cucamonga and Los Nietos, with A. B. Washburn at first in charge. Rev. J. D. Crum, the next pastor, was followed in 1882 by R. M. Kirkland, during whose pastorate the second church edifice was built, and Pomona was made "an independent charge." During the rapid growth of the town the church also in- creased rapidly under F. D. Mather and W. W. Bailey, and a third new building became necessary. This was erected in 1888-1889, while J. W. Phelps was pastor, on the same site as the first two, and has served the church well ever since, though with numerous additions and improvements. In the long line of good men who have followed in this pastorate were Dr. J. H. White, for four years president of the University of Southern California, and Dr. A. C. Williams, formerly of Bur- lington, Iowa, who had also had charge of large churches at St. Louis, Kansas City, Lincoln, Nebr., Minneapolis and the Simpson Church in Los Angeles. Out of these activities have grown the two great churches which represent the Meth- odist denomination in Pomona, the First Methodist Church at the old site on Third and Main, and the Trinity Methodist, which organized and built its new edifice at Pearl and Gibbs streets in 1908. This, however, is too recent to belong to an early history.
Episcopal services were held in the Valley as early as 1874, at the home of Rev. C. F. Loop, shortly after his purchase in the Loop and Meserve Tract. Be- ginning in 1876, services were conducted by Rev. P. S. Ruth, whom we have also
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mentioned before as an influential pioneer, meeting first in an old building at the corner of Third and Main streets, and then in Mr. Ruth's house, till the first church building was put up, early in January, 1879. In May of the next year the rite of confirmation was first administered by Bishop Kip. The work of both Mr. Loop and Mr. Ruth was largely a labor of love, Mr. Loop having a larger field of missionary work, and horticultural interests of his own, and Mr. Ruth being en- gaged in various other pursuits in the town, especially in business and farming. At seventy-two years of age, after having ministered to the little group for eight years, he gave over the work to a younger man. When Rev. J. D. H. Browne took charge of the Mission in 1884, during the boom days, the membership rapidly increased, and a new building became necessary. At the laying of the corner-stone in February, 1885, both Mr. Loop and Mr. Ruth took part, as well as Mr. Browne. Opened in September of this year, it has served, with the material improvements added from time to time, as the home of St. Paul's Episcopal Church almost thirty-five years.
The period from 1883 to 1886 and a little later was one of much activity in church affairs as well as in everything else. Real estate was booming ; newcomers were arriving every day ; new houses were going up and business blocks as well. With all this material prosperity, the increasing population demanded new churches as well as better quarters for the old.
The Baptists in Pomona by this time outnumbered those in the little church at Spadra, and the Baptist Association urged that they unite in a single church in Pomona. This was accomplished in October, 1883, and Rev. Mr. Latourette, missionary of the Association, acted as the pastor until Rev. J. F. Moody became pastor, in August, 1884. In September they dedicated the new church building at Fourth and Ellen streets, having met till then in an old house on Fourth Street. Here the church worshipped until it moved into its large, modern edifice at the corner of Holt and Garey avenues, in 1911. After forty years two of the charter members of the church at Spadra, Mr. James M. Fryer and Senator Currier, are still active members of the church.
The early life of the Catholic Church in the Valley came to maturity and found at last a home of its own in 1885, when, under the direction of Father Bot and Father P. J. Fisher, an organization was effected and money raised for a building. This church, completed before the end of the same year, has been the parish home and center for the Catholics not only of Pomona, but of the whole Valley. The present church was built in 1909 by Father Nunan, who came in 1902.
Late in 1882 a Holiness Band was formed, which in 1884 was organized as a church, its first leaders being L. Parker and G. V. D. Brand, who had been one of the organizers of the Methodist Church.
In 1883 the Presbyterian Church began, and in 1884 the Christian and Uni- versalist Churches. The latter church was organized by G. H. Deere of Riverside, who also dedicated its building in 1886, its first preacher being Rev. C. A. Miles.
The Christian Church, which had been meeting with Dr. Kendricks as preacher, was fairly launched in April, 1884, by Prof. W. T. Tibbs (whose arrival in Pomona with Colonel Firey has been mentioned), and before the end of the year they were worshiping in their first building, on the corner of Gordon and Center streets. After the five-year pastorate of Mr. Tibbs, the one which made the greatest impression upon the church and town in the earlier days was that of Dr. F. M. Dowling, who served the church for eight years. It was during his
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pastorate in 1892 that the second building was erected, which was used until the large new church was built.
Both Presbyterians and Congregationalists were anxious in 1883 to have, a church of their own. Together they had numbers and means to establish a church, but neither group thought it advisable to organize a separate church by themselves. The Congregationalists had the larger numbers, and the Presbyterians the larger means. It was therefore agreed between them that they should work together to build a Presbyterian Church first in Pomona and a Congregational Church in Ontario, until in either town another church should be required. Rev. Oliver C. Weller was pastor during the first year, from its organization in May, and was followed by L. P. Crawford, Dr. J. Rice Bowman and Dr. J. A. Gordon, who was later a professor in Occidental College. Rev. Dr. B. B. Bonham was a member of the church from its founding until his death, and Rev. C. T. Mills, already mentioned at some length in connection with the Pomona Land and Water Company, gave the church the lot for its building, which was erected in 1885. Among the other charter members, Elders Elias Finck, Henry Curtis and Cassius C. Johnson will be especially remembered. From the first fourteen its membership grew to about 400 in 1900.
In the meantime the Congregationalists, who were worshiping with the Pres- byterians, had so increased in number as to justify the forming of a church of their own, according to the previous agreement. So, in May, 1887, they organized a church with thirty-six members, called the Pilgrim Congregational Church. This also grew to have a membership of over 400, when, in 1902, Dr. Lucien H. Frary closed his long pastorate of nearly fifteen years.
Perhaps the most important fact in the early history of Pilgrim Church is that it was the alma mater of two other institutions-the Claremont Church and Pomona College. This was due very largely to the influence of Dr. C. B. Sumner, the "father of the college," who was also the first pastor of Pilgrim Church. As a home missionary for the church in Southern California, Doctor Sumner had only consented to the organization of the church at Pomona after he had hecome con- vinced of its imperative need, and also, almost at the same time, of the ideal character of the location for a college of high standard, both intellectually and spiritually. Under his leadership the church became self-supporting within four months, and the people were making heroic efforts to start the college. Before the end of the first year they surrendered Doctor Sumner to the more important and more strenuous labor of launching the college. Though now serving a con- stituency which includes the whole Southwest and is unlimited by denomination, yet Pomona College was born of Pilgrim Church. From the day when Doctor Sumner first presented the subject in one of his first sermons to the church ( meet- ing then in the Opera House before its own building was finished), this body was most helpful, in great loyalty and sacrifice. After the organization of the board of trustees of Pomona College, and before its formal opening at the beginning of the academic year 1888-1889, it became important to carry on classes for a group of students completing their preparation for college, and Prof. F. P. Brackett was asked to take charge of this work. These classes met during the first half of the year, 1888, in the chapel of Pilgrim Church, and some of these students formed the nucleus of the first graduating class. The beginnings of the college are sketched more fully in the story of Claremont, told in the last chapter.
The old Opera House at the corner of Third and Thomas streets was used for meetings by the Unitarians after the Congregationalists moved into their
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chapel, diagonally across the road. Rev. O. Clute was their minister from the organization in 1888 until he became president of the State Agricultural College of Michigan, in the summer of 1889. Then for a time funds and membership fell off and the services were discontinued. They were resumed, however, in 1890, with the Rev. E. C. L. Brown as preacher, and still in the Opera House. In 1893 a new building was erected and dedicated in May, under the pastorate of Ulysses G. B. Pierce, later chaplain in the United States Senate.
In the years since the period covered by this sketch, the church life of the community has developed with the growth of the city. New churches have been formed, notably the Christian Science Church, whose earnest following has been drawn largely from the older churches of the city. But this development of church life appears not so much in a larger number of churches as in greatly in- creased membership, in a larger range of usefulness, and in beautiful church build- ings, more worthy of the forms of worship and more adequate to the increased activity of the modern church. These more stately edifices, like the higher type of homes in which the people live, reflect the larger life and the better circum- stances which prosperity has brought.
Throughout the history of the town the relations between the various churches have been unusually harmonious. By union services, by joint campaigns, by mu- tual understandings, tacit and expressed, a cordial fellowship has been maintained between leaders and people as well.
FRATERNITIES
A writer having affiliation with one or more of the great fraternities might very properly devote much attention to the history of these orders, which fill so large a place in the life of their members and of the city. It must suffice, how- ever, in the present circumstances to refer very briefly to the beginnings of the older fraternities as recorded in other histories. Thus it is stated : that the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows was organized May 30. 1876, with H. Eno, J. E. McComas, George C. Egan and Louis Phillips as officers, meeting in the new Cen- tral School House ; this following an earlier organization in Spadra, in which Cyrus Burdick was also an officer ; that a lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons was formed January 25, 1878, W. T. Martin, L. D. Conner, J. H. Egan, T. Mercer, J. B. Parker, Charles Weile. J. Schlesinger, J. J. Jester and John White being installed as officers, the ceremony of installation conducted by R. C. Fryer, past master of the Lexington Lodge at El Monte; and that the Aetna Lodge of the Knights of Pythias was organized August 30, 1884, with twenty-five charter mem- bers, including the officers, E. A. de Camp, R. N. Loucks and F. C. Schumacher.
In the summer of 1886 a military company was organized, with about sixty men. P. S. Dorney first, and then A. T. Palmer was elected Captain, and H. E. Stoddard and C. I. Lorbeer, Lieutenants. In October, 1887, they were mustered in as members of the State Militia. The old Opera House, where the Investment Building now stands, was the company's headquarters until it burned, in December, 1895, when they began to plan for an armory, which was later erected with the aid of the Mutual Building and Loan Association. Much of the money for equipment, and then for building the armory, was raised by dramatic performances, which were always notable events. In promoting these, as in other affairs related to the company, Frank W. Balfour was especially active. A large number of the able- bodied young men of Pomona have served in its Company D, Seventh Regiment,
1
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N. G. C., and a good many of its officers have been promoted to higher positions. Among these are Maj. J. A. Driffil, Col. W. G. Schreiber, Col. W. O. Welch and Col. H. L. Duffy.
During the captaincy of Terrel B. Thomas many of the company volunteered for service in the Spanish-American War. Again, at the time of the earthquake at San Francisco, the company did valiant service under Capt. W. E. Stevens.
The scope of this history does not include the noble service and sacrifice of Pomona's sons in the recent World War.
NEWSPAPERS
Of the six or seven newspapers now published in the Valley, the Pomona Progress has the longest unbroken record, dating from January, 1885, but the Bulletin is the true successor of the Pomona Times, which was first published in October, 1882.
It is said* that a paper called The New Era was published before this, but its description as a paper gotten out by the Pomona Land Company and edited by its secretary, L. M. Holt, also applies to the New Italy, which has been described at some length in the chapter on the "Beginnings of Pomona." Failure to find any copies of The New Era has raised the question whether they were not one and the same paper. At any rate, such a paper, issued for a brief time by a real estate corporation and published in Los Angeles, can hardly be regarded as a real newspaper of the Valley.
Hence it is probably true that "the newspaper history of Pomona begins in 1882, when W. D. Morton and H. N. Short moved a small and very crude printing plant from Santa Ana into this settlement and began publication of the Pomona Times, October 7, 1882."
The paper has had a checkered career from the first. A year and a half later, April 5, 1884, it combined with the Pomona Courier, which had been established by John H. Lee in December, 1883. It was then called the Times-Courier, and was edited jointly by Morton and Lee, Mr. Short having withdrawn. The first editorial of the joint publication says: "The Pomona Times and the Pomona Courier have clasped hands across the bloody chasm, and this week appear as one journal." In November, 1885, W. D. Morton retired and Charles E. Sumner bought out his interest, the paper continuing with Lee and Sumner, publishers, and C. E. Sumner, editor. This arrangement continued until 1888, when Mr. Sumner sold his half in the paper to William E. Ward. In the meantime both the Times- Courier and the Progress had undertaken the publication of a daily edition. The former intended to surprise its rival in the publication of the first daily paper, but the Progress heard of it in time to get out one also the very same day. The Times-Courier claimed to have won the contest, however, by appearing two hours earlier than the Progress! The next important change in its career is described in the article referred to above, as follows: "Pomona was at this time in the throes of a revolution over the banishment of the saloon. The temperance people wanted a newspaper advocate of their cause. Neither the Times-Courier nor the Progress up to this date had come out in opposition to the liquor traffic, notwith- standing the city had voted 'dry.' After consultation with Mr. Lee, the senior member of the Times-Courier firm, and gaining his consent to their plans. the
* In an "Outline of the Newspaper History of Pomona" which forms part of the booklet "Early Days in Pomona," on file in the Pomona Library.
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anti-saloon people finally induced Gen. John Wasson, at that time editor of the Chino Champion, to buy Mr. Ward's interest in the Times-Courier. At this time the saloon and the anti-saloon elements were about evenly divided. It was a haz- ardous undertaking to endeavor to change public opinion in favor of the complete banishment of the saloon; and while success finally crowned the efforts of the temperance people, the result was a death blow to the Times. A boycott was started and the Times lost half of its subscribers and fully a third of its advertis- ing patronage in three months. It was never afterward able to recover its old- time financial prestige." General Wasson continued as editor for some years, but Mr. Lee sold out, and his interest was held in turn by Willard Goodwin, C. B. Messenger, C. B. Roberts and H. H. Kinney. Then, after the death of General Wasson, the paper returned to the weekly form. Since its recent purchase by the brothers, E. E. and W. M. King, the name has been changed to the Bulletin; it has again become a daily paper and is infused with new life.
The record of the Pomona Progress is not so varied. Its essential character, like its name-conservative-progressive-has been unchanged from the first, and its publication has been uninterrupted, while its proprietors and editors have been at times succeeded by others. Mr. Edward E. Stowell was its first editor and publisher, and then, after his death, from March, 1888, Messrs. H. G. Tinsley and C. I. Lorbeer. About the first of August, 1891, when General Wasson entered upon his campaign as editor of the Times-Courier, Mr. S. M. Haskell came on the staff of the Progress, being for two or three years associated with Mr. Tinsley, and then buying out his interest.
Mr. Haskell's direction of the Progress was the longest of any until the present management, and his character and ideals were firmly impressed upon the paper. During his administration in 1898, the Daily Progress was perma- nently established, the former daily, like that of the Times, having been discon- tinued with the depression following the boom. In February, 1905, Captain Stevens and Almon T. Richardson, the present owners, bought the paper and plant of Mr. Haskell, and have edited it together ever since. Already their control of almost fifteen years has outrun that of any others. Of the steady growth of the Progress during their control, and of its present character and influence, it would be superfluous to write.
Mr. H. G. Tinsley may well be called "the veteran newspaper man" in the Valley, for of those who are still in "the harness" here, Mr. Tinsley's work in the Valley began first. Stowell and Lorbeer and Wasson have passed on, but Lee and Sumner and Haskell are engaged in other work, the last two in Los Angeles. Mr. Tinsley, after retiring from the Progress, was engaged in other work till 1904, when he purchased the Pomona Reviews, which he has edited since that time. The Review was the successor, under A. M. Dunn, in 1900, of the Saturday Beacon, which Ben Havner started in 1895.
Other papers there have been in Pomona, but usually short-lived or merged in older publications. The Pomona Rustler, published in 1884 by Charles Buck, and the Pomona Register, begun in 1888 by John Symes, also the Pomona Tele- gram, in 1886, were all bought and absorbed by the Progress.
Of the local papers of Claremont, La Verne and San Dimas, mention is made in the story of these towns.
One can hardly rate too highly the value of Pomona's papers to the people of the Valley. In their primary function as purveyors of news they have been diligent and faithful; as vehicles of expression for the people they have usually
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been open to all reasonable requests; as leaders in radical movements for the advancement of the community their policies have differed, ranging from indif- ference or studied non-committal at times, to a strong and persuasive campaign for shaping and guiding public opinion, or even to the most vigorous and fearless espousal of an unpopular cause.
But whatever their confessed policy, and whether designedly or not, the newspapers also serve another and most desirable end. They furnish a detailed history of the region, or at least a mass of data, with much of color and prejudice, to be sure, invaluable to any writer of history. The almost unbroken file of the Progress, which that paper has had the wisdom to preserve, is of priceless worth to the town. Annual numbers, like the Pictorial Annual for 1886 of the Pomona Times-Courier, for instance, with their carefully prepared reviews, should be pre- served with especial care.
The "Pomona Valley Historical Collection," in the Pomona Library, which has been formed for the preservation of all such material, deserves the interest and support of all people and institutions in the Valley.
POMONA PUBLIC LIBRARY
The Pomona Public Library, as a municipal institution, dates from June, 1890, when a board of trustees appointed by the city council officially organized and took possession of a collection of books and other property which had been acquired with great pains by a group of interested individuals. The real begin- ning of the library was the organization of the Pomona Public Library and Floral Association, in May, 1887. Its first officers were Mrs. E. P. Bartlett, president ; Mrs. U. E. Strong and Mrs. M. Kirkland, vice-presidents; Mrs. R. N. Loucks, secretary, and Mrs. H. J. St. John, treasurer. They opened rooms in the Ruth Block, and Mrs Bartlett, who was the untiring leader and inspiration of the whole movement, was appointed librarian. Money was raised by contributions and mem- bership fees, but especially by flower festivals, which usually provided $400 or $500 annually for the purchase of books.
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