USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume III > Part 51
USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume III > Part 51
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M. L. Black was the second in a family of eight children. When he was four years of age his parents moved to Ottawa, Illinois, and he grew up in that locality, acquiring a common school education. On leaving school and the home farm he became a telegraph operator, and for twenty years was in the service of the Rock Island Railroad Company in that capacity. He finally became afflicted with operator's paralysis of the hand, and seeking new fields and new enterprises he came to California in 1889. He at once engaged in orange culture, purchasing eighteen acres on Redlands Street, which he had prepared and set out to Navel oranges, and saw the profits of his work as a developer before he sold the tract in 1902. He then bought seventy acres on Orange Street. A small part of this was planted to oranges and the remainder was divided between vineyards, deciduous fruit orchards and grain. Mr. Black owned a hundred and fifty shares of the Pioneer or Sunnyside Water System, and with these water rights he has since improved his large tract, setting it ont completely to citrus fruits, Navels and over a half in Valencias. On part of this land he erected his modern home on Orange Street. Within his personal recollection this tract exhibits in brief the complete history of transformation in Southern California. He saw the land when it was wild, while now it is entirely orchard. and electric cars pass before his door where only a few years ago jack rabbits and coyotes slunk away at the approach of the occas- sional human being.
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In 1880 Mr. Black married Miss Emma J. Dodds, a native of Massachusetts. She died at Redlands in 1893. She was the mother of four children, the first three being born in Iowa. The oldest child, Charles Henry Black, born September 22, 1884, is a Redlands orange grower and on July 11, 1909, married Hester A. Smith. The second son, Everett A. Black, born August 30, 1888, has a distinguished war record. He was educated in the Redlands High School. He enlisted and served in the American expedition and in the campaign along the Mexican border. When America declared war against Germany he again volunteered, but was refused on account of disability. He had to be examined again when his name was drawn in the draft, and this time he was passed by the Medical Board and assigned to duty with the 364th Machine Gun Squadron, noted as the Suicide Squadron. He was over- seas and has a fighting record enjoyed by few Californians. In the Argonne Forest he was exposed to fire continuously eight days and eight nights, until wounded by shrapnel in the arm, shoulder and at various points on the body. He was also gassed. For a time he was in a field hospital, then sent to a Base Hospital at Paris, and when partly recovered he rejoined his command, but was unable to keep up the duty and was again forced to go to the hospital. Again he secured his release and rejoined the command before he was able to take to the field, and was therefore assigned Y. M. C. A. work. After more than two years in the army he resumed civilian life in April, 1919, and is now attending the School of Horticulture at Ontario, California.
The third of Mr. Black's family is Beulah Mae, who was born February 18, 1891, was educated in the Redlands High School, and on June 21, 1911, was married to Richard D. Mills, of Ottawa, Illinois; a lawyer. She died January 1, 1919, being survived by one son, Robert Mills, born May 1, 1912. The youngest of the family, Clarence E. Black, was born at Redlands December 1, 1893, graduated from the Redlands High School, and on January 1, 1918, enlisted in the Aviation Corps and was in training at San Diego until honorably discharged in July, 1919. May 18, 1920, this son married Miss Eleanor Bushnell, of Redlands.
On July 11, 1912, Mr. M. L. Black married Mrs. Anna L. Prisler, of Ottawa, Illinois, but a native of Zanesville, Ohio. She was the mother of three children by her first marriage. Mrs. Black comes of a prominent family and has been a valued addition to Redlands society. She and Mr. Black have shared in many interesting experiences in travel. and have made many trips by motor, railroad and ocean vessels. They made a transcontinental tour by automobile, going from California to the Atlantic Coast, and visiting thirty-two states besides the District of Columbia and Canada. Some of their sea voyage took them to South American points, and they crossed the countinent from ocean to ocean eight times in twelve months.
Mr. and Mrs. Black and family are members of the Congregational Church. While his substantial interests and affections are permanently linked with Redlands, he and Mrs. Black now contemplate making their home at Long Beach, leaving the management of his property to his sons.
ARTHUR BURNETT BENTON-The distinctive architecture of Southern California has been the wonder and admiration of the world and has heen extended with modifications to many localities where it inevitably loses through lack of appropriate setting and climatic conditions. While this architecture is in a sense an almost native product, it has remained
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for the genius of such notable men as Arthur Burnett Benton to develop it as the highest form of architectural expression and provide the flexible treatment that adapts it to a wide range of structural conditions.
Undoubtedly the greatest living authority on "the Mission style" is Mr. Benton, who for thirty years has practiced architecture and has been an indefatigable student of old Mission art in Southern California. The work of Mr. Benton has been characterized by a uniformity of beauty and an admirable adaption of line, structural symmetry, interior comfort, so that every element in the building harmonizes with climate and the purpose of his buildings. The work he has done during the past thirty years is exemplified in Los Angeles and all the leading cities and communities around, not only in private dwellings but in great public buildings. Mr. Benton has studied in every detail the architecture of the old California Missions, and has been the consulting architect in nearly every occasion where restoration work has been done on these Mission buildings. His work is well known throughout California. He has for twenty-three years been architect for the famous Mission Inn of Riverside, all of which excepting the Spanish Wing and the new kitchen has been designed by him and built under his supervision. He is at this date engaged in preparing drawings for the "Giralda" tower, which is to be a replica of the famous tower of Seville in Spain and will add most notably to the architecture of America.
Mr. Benton was born at Peoria, Illinois, April 17. 1858. His father, Ira Eddy Benton, was born in Chardon, Ohio, in 1829, and lived to the advanced age of ninety, passing away in 1919. He was an apothecary in Illinois, and the last twenty years of his life were spent in Long Beach, California. He was a descendant of Andrew Benton, who came from England in 1630 and was one of the founders of Hartford, Connecticut. The mother of the Los Angeles architect was Caroline Augusta Chandler, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1831 and died in 1907. She was a descendant of William and Anna Chandler, of Rox- bury, Massachusetts, representing a family that came from England in 1639.
Arthur B. Benton graduated from the Peoria High School in 1877. He was engaged in farming in Morris County, Kansas during 1879- 1888, and was a draftsman in the chief engineer's office, architec- tural department of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad during 1888-90. While there he attended the School of Art and Design at Topeka. During 1890-91 he held a similar position in the chief engineer's office of the Union Pacific at Omaha. Mr. Benton removed to Cali- fornia in 1891, establishing his home in Los Angeles.
In Morris County, Kansas, May 17, 1883, he married Phillipina Harriet Schilling Von Constat. She was born in Johnstown, Pennsyl- vania, April 24, 1849, daughter of James Ernest Carl and Louisa (Morgan) Schilling Von Constat. Her parents were natives of England. but her grandfather, George Frederick Schilling Von Constat, was a native. of Carlsruhe, Baden, was a young officer of engineers in Germany and served as aide-de-camp to Frederick the Great. He came to America immediately after the Revolutionary war, with letters of introduction to George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, then Governor of Pennsyl- vania. Subsequently he left America and removed to London, England, where his son James was born. James and Louisa Schilling Von Constat removed to Virginia in 1849. Mr. and Mrs. Benton have one daughter, Miss Edith Mary Benton, born in Morris County, Kansas, in 1884. She is a prominent worker in the Girls Friendly Society of Los Angeles,
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captain of the Girl Scouts of that city, and a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Some of the varied interests as well as professional affiliations of Mr. Benton are represented in his membership in many learned and technical societies. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Archi- tects and a member of its committee of conservation of historic land- marks; is past president of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Institute ; is past president of the Society of Engineers and Architects of Southern California ; is past president of the Academy of Science of Southern California ; is past governor of the California Society of Colonial wars; a member of the California Society of Sons of the Revolution, is a member of the Board of Governors of the Los Angeles County Museum, and belongs to the Jonathan, Union League and Old Colony Clubs of Los Angeles. He is a member and formerly vestryman of St. Paul's Pro Cathedral of Los Angeles. He is secretary and consulting architect of the Land Marks Club of Southern California. To this organization is due the preservation of San Juan Capistrano, San Fernando and Palo Missions, while it has also given substantial aid to the San Diego and San Luis Rey Missions. Mr. Benton is now a professional advisor in the conservation work being done on the San Luis Obispo Mission, the San Juan Capistrano Mission, and the Mission San Diego de Alcala. Practically from the beginning of his California residence the early history and architecture of the state made a strong appeal to him, and most of his literary expression has found its themes in such subjects. He is author of "The Mission Inn Legend of River- side and Capistrano." of "The Princess Phillipina," the "Mexican Ro- mance of the Crusaders." and is author of a historical novel of early California known as "The Mission Builders." His writings have an individual style and charm that enhance their value as solid historical productions.
Besides the Mission Inn Mr. Benton was emploved as the architect for the Christian Science Church. the Y. M. C. A. Building, the Water Company's offices. the Fairmont Park music pavilion. the Porter mansion. the parish hall of All Saints Church in Riverside. He was architect for the Arrowhead Hot Springs Hotel. and the New Arlington Hotel in Santa Barbara. the Woman's Club Building and the Unity Church in Redlands. All Saints Church in Covina. Some of his biggest work has naturally heen in Los Angeles. where he was architect of the Y. W. C. A. and the Y. M. C. A. buildings. the latter heino now the Union Teague Club Building : the Friday Morning Club Building. the first large public building of pronounced Mission tvne. the dormitorv of the Young Woman's Building huilt bv Senator W. A. Clark in memorv of his mother : and he is architect for John Steven MeGroorty's Mic- sion Play House at San Gabriel. the permanent home of the Mission Play. This is to be an historical museum and a great monument to California Colonial architecture as well as a play house. The main facade and porch is a replica of the Franciscan Mission of San An- tonio de Padua. founded bv Frev Serra, and one of the most beauti- ful of ancient Missions. For the present purpose this replica is twice the size of the original. The work is largely of adobe, performed by Mexican and Indian workmen. A great number of other residences, churches and public buildings in California have been constructed from the plans and under the direction of Mr. Benton. For twenty- three years he has been engaged in the development of the ambitious plans and ideals of Frank A. Miller in the creation of the Mission Inn and the improvement of Mount Rubidoux, and is now engaged
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on the beautiful home at Arch Beach, named for Mrs. Miller, "Mari- ona."
Mr. Benton is a republican. As a young man on a Kansas ranch he took considerable interest in local politics, serving as chairman of his precinct Central Committee, as clerk of the School Board, and was nominated for clerk of the Morris County Superior Court, but about that time left home to begin his architectural career.
RUDOLPH H. BOETTGER is one of the younger men engaged in the orange growing industry of the Redlands district. He has made a close study of orange culture, and the condition of his orchard de- notes ability and knowledge superior to many older growers.
Mr. Boettger, whose home and grove is on Texas Street, his home number being 1554, was born at Denison, Iowa, March 14, 1895. His parents, Martin F. and Watje Boettger, were born in Germany, came to America, and their thrift and energy achieved success in this coun- try. They moved to Southern California when Rudolph Boettger was a child, and the latter was reared and educated at Redlands. While with his father he worked in the Imperial Valley, where they im- proved a hundred acres of land near Holtville. Rudolph Boettger re- turned to Redlands June 6, 1915, and has since been actively identified with orange growing. He has the energy and pluck required for suc- cess in this business. In January, 1919, he purchased a splendid ten- acre grove on Texas Street, extending from San Bernardino Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue. Half of this is in Valencias and half in Washington Navels. Mr. Boettger negotiated this purchase on terms and he provides his living expenses by caring for other groves, devot- ing all his crop receipts to paying out on his place, and when this pro- gram is completed he will have a valuable property, one that will insure substantial returns for many years.
Mr. Boettger married Miss Blanche C. Dalbey, who was born at Millsboro, Pennsylvania, June 12, 1900, daughter of Charles F. and Julia E. Dalbey, who are residents of Redlands.
HUGH L. DICKSON-While Hugh L. Dickson, attorney of San Bernardino, has not practiced continuously in the city, he has been here a number of years and has built up a satisfying practice, at first alone but in later years with a partner. The firm name is Allison & Dickson, doing a general law practice, but in the main largely civil, and they handle many personal injury cases, in which specialization they have been more than ordinarily successful.
Mr. Dickson has been quite a vital factor in political circles, hold- ing office in the line of his profession and administering the dutes of such offices in an earnest, able and industrious manner. That he is one of the city's loyal citizens is evidenced by his returning to it when larger opportunities and greater emoluments had been given to him in the East, successes which would have been a stepping stone to still higher positions. San Bernardino has no warmer booster than Mr. Dickson.
He was born in Water Valley, Mississippi, August 12, 1871, the son of William R. Dickson, a loyal son of the South, who wore the gray and yet served the wearers of the blue as a surgeon, an action which, while it seems strange, is in itself a tribute of the highest order to Dr. Dickson. It was the time when the war feeling ran highest, and yet, when Dr. Dickson was captured by the northern men he was placed in a position in which he could have done great harm to the Union forces. He was surgeon in the Confederate Army, of great
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reputation, and at once the general in command asked him to assist in caring for the wounded Federal soldiers. He at once went to work, performing surgical operations and in many ways caring for the wounded, intent only on his work of mercy. Many surgeons, both of the Northern and Southern hosts, would have been sorely tempted, many would have succumbed to the temptation to neglect the wounded men. But he worked among them just as though they were Confed- erate soldiers. When Dr. Dickson was offered pay for his inestim- able services he refused it, but he asked that he be given some chloro- form to take back to his command so that the, of necessity crude sur- gery, could be done without the terrible suffering attendant without it. He was given ten pounds of the precious drug and sent back to his command. He died in 1888, after practicing most of his life in Arkansas and Mississippi. The mother of Hugh L. Dickson was Ella P. McConnico, a native of Mississippi, who died at the age of twenty-nine.
Mr. Dickson was educated in the public schools of his native state and then for two years was a student in the literary course of the University of Mississippi. In 1890 he took the senior course in the law school, then entered a law office and in 1896 he was admitted to the bar. He practiced first in Mississippi, remaining there two years, then locating in Kingman, Arizona, where he practiced for seven years. At the end of that period he moved to San Bernardino and practiced until 1909. At that time he went to Peoria, Illinois, as gen- eral counsel for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen. He re- mained in that position until 1913, when he returned to San Bernard- ino and has since been in continuous practice in this city.
He married in 1904 Ola M. McConnico. They have three children, Margaret, Dorothy and Floreine.
Mr. Dickson is a member of San Bernardino Lodge No. 836, B. P. O. E., and was its exalted ruler in 1908. He is also a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen. In his first residence in San Bernardino he was district attorney, 1907-8, and he held the same po- sition in Kingman, Arizona, for two terms, 1900-4. He was a candi- date for Congress in 1920, but he was defeated in the general republi- can landslide. The family is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church.
JAMES G. HAM., M. D., a physician and surgeon of San Bernar- dino, who has established a truly; enviable reputation in that city for his skill in diagnosing and treatment of disease, is almost a native son not only of California but of San Bernardino. He is in education and loyalty a genuine son of the Golden State, and San Bernardino is practically his birthplace, for he was only a year old when his parents brought him here.
He was born in Pettis County, Missouri, the son of Alexander M. and Leonora (Parazette) Ham, both being natives of Missouri. They came to San Bernardino from Missouri in 1882, and Mr. Ham at once opened a grocery store, which he still conducts, and for which he has built up a large and lucrative patronage. With his wife he is enjoy- ing a happy and prosperous life far from the frozen East, and they are ranked among the honored pioneers of the city.
Dr. Ham was educated in the public and high school of San Bern- ardino, and he commenced the study of medicine in the Medical De- partment of the University of Southern California. From there he was graduated with the class of 1907. He at once opened an office in San Bernardino, and has been in constant practice ever since. He
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also maintains an office in the Title Insurance Building in Los An- geles, and has developed a large and ever growing practice in both communities. His is a general practice of both medicine and surgery and he has gained an enviable standing both with the profession and with the public.
Dr. Ham married in December, 1917, Irene E. King of San Ber- nardino. They have one child, Phyllis I. Ham.
Dr. Ham is affiliated with the San Bernardino Lodge No. 348, A F. and A. M., and with the San Bernardino Lodge No. 836, B. P. O. E. In politics he is a supporter of the republican party.
LEON ARNOLD ATWOOD is a son of George A. Atwood, whose achievements as a developer of the famous Yucaipa Valley have been described on other pages of this publication. L. A. Atwood was born in the Yucaipa Valley and since early manhood has been actively as- sociated with the productive interests of that section, and is one of San Bernardino's prominent men of business and a civic leader as well.
He was born at Yucaipa, November 19, 1886, son of George A. and Alice R. Atwood. As a boy he attended the city schools of San Bern- ardino, and had planned a university career at the University of Michi- gan. A few days before he was to enter college he married, and with the responsibility of a family he turned at once to the serious business of life and, moving to Yucaipa, took up apple growing and farming. Mr. Atwood put out the first .packed apples in the Yucaipa Valley. The first year he packed about five hundred boxes, and since then the output has increased to fifteen thousand boxes. With his father, G. A. Atwood, he owns the largest holdings in that fruitful valley. Be- sides apple orchards he has a twenty-acre orange grove in the Rialto District and San Bernardino city property.
At the outbreak of the World War L. A. Atwood was appointed chief of the American Protective League for San Bernardino County. This League did the secret service work for the Government, and over the country at large it was one of the most effective instruments of the Department of Justice. Later Mr. Atwood was appointed spe- cial agent for the Department of Justice in charge of Riverside, Inyo and San Bernardino counties, with office at San Bernardino. In this work his duties took him to many western states, as far south and east as Texas.
Mr. Atwood is president of the Better City Club of San Bernardino, and in that capacity conducted the last city campaign resulting in the election of McNabb for mayor. He is a republican in national politics, is a member of the Native Sons of the Golden West, the Elks, the Y. M. C. A., is a charter member and director of the Newport Harbor Yacht Club, and is president of the Delta Duck Club, which owns ex- tensive holdings and a club house near Salton Sea in the Imperial Valley. Mr. Atwood is a member of the Presbyterian Church.
November 11, 1908, at San Bernardino, he married Miss Frances Alma Hooper, who was born at Colton, California, one of the four children of W. S. Hooper. Her father for many years, until his death, was well known as cashier of the San Bernardino National Bank. Her brother, Stanford C. Hooper, is now a commander in the United States Navy, attached to the Navy Board at Washington, D. C. Mr. and Mrs. Atwood have three children: Leon Arnold, Jr., Frances Mary and Stanford William.
MORTON EVEREL POST-has been in the most significant sense a founder and builder, and the splendid achievement that has been his
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in connection with the development and civic and material progress of Southern California marks him as a courageous and sagacious leader in thought and action. In offering a review, necessarily brief, of his career in California no better conception of his work can be given than by offering quotations from an appreciative article that appeared in the Los Angeles Daily Times of January 1, 1915. In this reproduction minor paraphrase and no little elimination must be in- dulged to bring the matter within the compass of a publication of this nature :
"Among the untiring, strenuous men whose fertile minds have blazed pathways to success and supplemented the tales of the Arabian Nights with real performances, none can show a brighter record than Morton Everel Post, a giant factor in the Southland's growth. His ad- mirable achievements here are identical with the progress of the Mis- sion Vineyard, a veritable garden of green, yielding vines planted on the level, rich ground where the patient padres began grape culture many a year ago. Mr. Post came to Cucamonga (San Bernardio County) in 1895, and his keen perception and foresight soon grasped the unequaled advantages that obtained here, and his energy, business ability and faith in the undertaking to which he set his head and hands are responsible for the existence of the vast vineyard and model winery. More than 1,000 acres of grape-producing soil are embraced in the enterprise, and the winery contains the most economical and sanitary equipment the world affords. More than $150,000 annually is added to the wealth of California by this establishment, and its scope of activity is constantly widening. Last year approximately $100,000 was paid out for labor and materials by the Mission Vineyard, all of this money going into the local marts of trade and enriching the peo- ple of this state alone, and, in bearing a heavy portion of taxes, con- tributed to the support of the State and Federal governments.
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