USA > California > Los Angeles County > Ingersoll's century history, Santa Monica Bay cities prefaced with a brief history of the state of California, a condensed history of Los Angeles County, 1542-1908 > Part 37
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A very lively real estate campaign followed. The Woman's Ballona Company was organized in May, 1888, to buy, improve and sell lands of the Palms district, the directors being Mrs. Ella L. Baxter, Miss Florence Dunham, Florence A. Barnes, Mrs. Jane Pascoe and Mrs. Isabel Cook, all of Los Angeles. They had a capital stock of $14,400, but nothing is said of the amount actually paid in. Another woman's organization which was ambitious for those days was the " Woman's Palms Syndicate," which proposed to acquire, improve and sell certain lands in Palms and which numbered among its directors some well-known Los Angeles women of the time.
Messrs. Sweetzer and Curtis were more successful in their promotion than many of the boomers of that day. They struck an abundant supply of water and the soil of the lands included in the townsite was responsive to water and labor. Mr. Curtis erected a handsome home which was soon surrounded by beautiful grounds. A school district was formed and a $10,000 school house was put up. A neat hotel, known for years as Palms Villa was built. This building is now the residence of Mr. E. M. Kimball. St. Augustin's, a pretty Catholic chapel, had been put up in 1887 to accommodate the people of Ballona ; a Congregational church was built and the United Brethren erected a neat little church. The Southern Pacific added a neat depot for the thriving little settle- ment. Although the collapse of the boom retarded the growth of Palms. it did not cease to exist, like many other communities.
In 1895 considerable improvement was made in the quiet little town by
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the erection of several new residences and an influx of new residents. About this time a rural delivery route was started out from Palms. One of the first agents was Mrs. George Lyons, who worked up a fine route. She was suc- ceeded by A. F. Bryant who extended the delivery system until it covered a route of twenty-five miles with a list of 800 patrons. The extension of Los Angeles city boundaries has materially affected the territory of the Palms postoffice, however.
The building of a branch of the Los Angeles-Pacific road through Palms in 1902 gave new life to the town. Within a short time twenty new families had moved in and since that date progress has been rapid. The Palms Light and Water Company was incorporated with W. R. Wheat, C. N. Garcy, M. R. King, A. J. Forbel, F. B. Clark, Jr., J. B. Valla, E. S. Shanks, as directors, and purchased a tract of 379 acres to furnish a water supply for domestic purposes and for irrigation. During ICO1, F. E. Schueddig had begun on a small scale the manufacture of eucalyptus oil and produced a triple distilled article which was unequalled on the market. In 1906 he put up a new building for his manufactory, which is now shipping eucalyptus products to all parts of the United States.
The year 1907 has been marked by a strong advance, a re-awakening, as it were, of the quiet village. Early in January a Chamber of Commerce was organized with C. N. Gary, president: S. C. Perrine, secretary ; Arthur J. Stinton, treasurer. January 22nd was a memorable day because of the ban- quet tendered the new organization by C. N. Gary, at the ship hotel, Cabrillo, Venice. One hundred and seventy-two men sat down to the feast and listened to stirring talk on the future development of Palms. The Palms News, a neatly printed and lively sheet, sent out its first number December 22, 1906, S. C. Perrine and W. G. Rennie, proprietors. The paper is now printed in the establishment of King, Geach & Co., which is doing a large job printing business. A neat one-story brick building has been erected for this company and is now occupied by them as a printing plant. In August a branch of the Citizens State Bank of Sawtelle was opened in Palms, located first in the office of I. C. Butler, but on the completion of a handsome two-story brick building by the Woodmen of the World, the bank moved into a corner room especially arranged for its use. The building contains a fraternal hall and two store rooms beside a number of offices upstairs. Several other business buildings and a number of residences have been erected since the beginning of 1906.
EDWIN W. DIKE.
Biographical.
E DWIN W. DIKE, retired, a highly esteemed citizen of Santa Monica, is a native of Vermont, born in the town of Chittenden, Rutland County, February 10th, 1820. He is the son of Dan Dike, a native of the same town and a farmer by occupation, living there the greater portion of his life, sub- sequently removing to St. Lawrence County, N. Y., where he died at the age of about eighty-three years. The father of Dan Dike, Jonathan Alexander Dike, was a native of Tolland, Conn., and his father was a Revolutionary soldier. Mr. Dike's maternal grandfather was Thomas Mitchell, who lived at Taunton, Mass .. then a suburb but now a part of the city of Boston. Mr. Dike's maternal great grandfather was a Howard by birth, a Scotchman, but by choice and instinct an American patriot. He was an active member of the historic "Boston Tea Party" that indignantly threw overboard quantities of tea from a merchant vessel into the waters of Boston harbor in 1774 because of the arbitrary and un- just taxation of the English government.
Edwin W. Dike was reared on the home farm, received an excellent educa- tion in local public schools and finished at Burr Seminary, Manchester, Vt. From the farm he went into a general store at Brandon, Vt., where he spent four years and acquired a practical knowledge of business methods. Later he took up mechanics, became a wood and iron worker and held a responsible posi- tion in the shops of the Rutland & Burlington Ry. Co. for six years, later became assistant master mechanic of the Burlington division of the same road for four years. He then purchased an interest in the Cove Machine Company, at Provi- dence, R. I., and assumed management of the same, making a specialty of the manufacture of calico printing and bleaching machinery. By reason of failing health he disposed of his interests and in 1857 came west to Faribault, Rice County, Minn., where, with the accumulations of past years of enterprise and industry, he embarked in the money loaning business. He also acted as pur- chasing agent for a Baltimore house, extensive exporters of ginseng to China and for them did a large business. The country was then new and infested with bands of hostile and warlike Sioux Indians. During the historic Indian uprisings throughout west and northwest Minnesota, in 1863-in which upwards of seven hundred white men, women and children were massacred-Mr. Dike took an active part in the defense of the settlers and in the final punishment of the murder- ous savages. After the battle of Wood Lake, about four hundred of these Indians were taken as prisoners to Mankato and there tried by court martial. Two
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hundred of them were convicted and condemned to death. After a careful and deliberate review of the case by President Lincoln, he decided that forty of them should be hung. By reason of extenuating circumstances two of the forty were finally reprieved, and Mr. Dike was appointed one of the citizen marshals to execute these thirty-eight Sioux warriors at Mankato. This unpleasant duty was promptly performed according to law. They were all hanged until dead at one and the same time from one gallows.
Later, for a time, Mr. Dike assumed management of a flour mill, the property of a cousin, Major W. H. Dike-Major of the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. He was a pioneer mill owner of the great west, and among the first to ship flour to the eastern inarkets from the State of Minnesota. In 1873 Mr. Dike was appointed Treasurer of the State of Minnesota by Governor Horace Austin to take the place of a defaulting treasurer, and removed to St. Paul, the state capital. Upon assuming charge of the state treasury, Mr. Dike evolved and put into use an entirely new system of bookkeeping, by which he was enabled to de- termine the nominal condition of the state finances at the close of each day's business and make technically accurate balances of all his accounts at the end of every month. These reports were published in the leading newspapers of the state. He was the first state treasurer to deposit the state's funds in national banks, receiving interest on daily balances, a new source of revenue to the state which, during his administration, amounted to about $9,600.
At the time of the historic Jay Cook failure, which precipitated a financial panic throughout the country, Mr. Dike assured his bankers that the state's funds-upwards of three quarters of a million dollars-would remain with them on deposit. This declaration effectually restored confidence and safely held the impending crisis in check at St. Paul, the then financial center of the great Northwest.
During his term of one year's incumbency by appointment, Mr. Dike inaugu- rated other salutary reforms and discharged the duties of the office with such marked ability and fidelity as to demand, by the people, his election to succeed himself. At the solicitation of his friends he ran as an independent candidate on an independent reform ticket and the following editorial paragraph that ap- peared in the St. Paul Daily Pioneer Press, published prior to holding the Repub- lican convention, expresses the sentiments published in many other leading news- papers throughout the state :
"There seems to be a universal sentiment favoring Mr. E. W. Dike, the pres- ent incumbent, for treasurer. He took possession of the office when its affairs were in a most disorganized condition, and when he was hampered by newly passed, untried and seemingly contradictory laws, and in a very short time brought order out of chaos. His sole desire seems to be to do his duty as he interprets this duty in the interests of the state and not to meet the exigencies of a spec- ulative relationship. The treasury needs the guidance of (what Mr. Dike is) an honest man. He has to a wonderful degree the confidence of the people and
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we shall be greatly disappointed in the wisdom and good sense of the Convention if it fails to nominate him by acclamation. No name could add more strength to the ticket."
Mr. Dike's friends loyally supported him, purely by the reason of the en- viable record he had made as a faithful and able· public servant, for his strict integrity and his splendid personality. After one of the most momentous and memorable campaigns in the history of the state, he was elected over his Repub- lican opponent by a majority of four thousand votes, while the balance of the Republican ticket was elected by a majority of eight thousand. This was a great personal triumph for Mr. Dike. He served under the administration of three governors of Minnesota-Horace Austin, Cushman K. Davis and John S. Pillsbury.
During his incumbency as state treasurer, Mr. Dike married Mrs. Julia C. Smith, nce Robinson, of Woodstock, Ill., a daughter of David W. Robinson, a prominent citizen of that city. She is a lady of charming social attainments and foremost in all worthy charitable work. They resided in Woodstock from 1876 to 1899. In 1883 Mr. Dike was appointed by President Arthur one of three United States Commissioners to inspect the western one hundred and fifty miles of the Santa Fe Railroad, then terminating at Needles, California. After per- forming this duty, he traveled somewhat in the state, visiting Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and other cities. He returned to Woodstock and there remained until 1899 and in 1900 he permanently came to Santa Monica, where he has made substantial investments. He is a stockholder in the Santa Monica Investment Co., one of the strong financial institutions of the city and is (1908) its vice president.
Mr. Dike is a man of high ideals and strong personality inherited from a sturdy ancestry that dates back to the early history of this country, and rounded out by a long and eventful career of individual endeavor. He is one of Santa Monica's most substantial and loyal citizens. Hale and hearty at the age of eighty-eight, he has retired from active business and enjoys the personal confi- dence and esteem of a wide circle of friends. Mrs. Dike is active in social and club circles and lends her influence to all worthy charitable movements. Their home, Violet Cottage, is one of the many pretty residences of Santa Monica, and is located at No. 1138 Third Street.
JOSEPH H. CLARK was born in Corning, N. Y., and there grew to vigorous young manhood, forming the foundation of what was destined to be a brilliant business career. Feeling that his native town did not offer sufficient induce- ments to a young man starting out in life, Mr. Clark sought a broader field for his labors, and removed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, which place has been the scene of his active business career. Beginning with less than two hundred dollars in cash, Mr. Clark, through unremitting industry, rare good judgment and in-
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sight into affairs of a business nature, amassed a considerable fortune in a com- paratively short period of time. He became closely connected with several of the banks, also the great milling corporations of the city. He was one of the organizers of the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce and retained his mem- bership in this institution until his removal from Minneapolis.
Mr. Clark retired from active business life in 1892 and became a resident of Santa Monica in 1894 where he and his family have since resided, having built a home on the corner of Fifth Street and Nevada Avenue.
He has always taken a strong interest in the welfare of Santa Monica. It was through his, and Mrs. Clark's efforts, that the Carnegie Free Public Library was secured and located on the corner of Fifth Street and Oregon Avenue in 1903. Mr. Clark placed a fine Esty pipe organ in the First Presbyterian Church corner of Third Street and Arizona Avenue, in 1907, in memory of his son. He is one of the stockholders and directors of the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company, of Los Angeles.
ARCHIE F. JOHNSTON, late a prominent and successful merchant, Santa Monica, was a native of Pittsburg, Pa., born January 12th, 1863, a son of John M. Johnston, a farmer by occupation, now retired from active business. His mother was Mary A. Forrister, a daughter of Archibald Forrister, of Edinburgh, Scotland. He was a shipbuilder by trade in Pittsburg, Pa., with a home at Bakerstown, then a suburb, where the subject of this sketch was born. About 1873 the family moved to Peoria, Ill., and near that city owned and lived on what was known as the Hickory Grove Farm. They came to California in April, 1886 and located in Santa Monica. Here Mr. Johnston found employment as salesman for H. A. Winslow, who was then engaged in the grocery business. Later he became manager for Mrs. M. E. Chapin who was, for several years, a leading merchant of Santa Monica. He occupied this position for seven years and then, associated with Mr. George Baum, purchased the business. This business was conducted for two years under the firm name of Johnston & Baum. In 1900, Mr. Johnston became sole owner and as such built up an extensive and profitable business. In September, 1906, the concern was incorporated as the A. F. Johnston Company, of which Mr. Johnston was president, C. W. Rogers, vice president; Harry Cowles, secretary. The firm removed to the Johnston Building, Mr. Johnston's personal property, in January, 1906.
By reason of impaired health, incident to many years of close attention to business, Mr. Johnston at this time practically retired from active management of the company's affairs and indulged in a needed rest. In March, 1908, he left home to make a trip into Josephine County, Oregon, to look after some acquired mining interests. While nearing his journey's end, in crossing the rapids of the Illinois River, the boat became unmanageable, capsized and he met an untimely death by drowning. The sad intelligence of this catastrophe reached the family the following day and greatly shocked the entire community
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where he was so widely and popularly known. After a most diligent search for just a month his body was recovered, but in such a condition as to render burial at home impossible. In the death of Archie F. Johnston, Santa Monica sustianed a loss of one of her most substantial, popular and useful citizens -- a loss which, at the time, seemed irreparable.
In 1890 Mr. Johnston married Miss Katherine I., a daughter of Thomas Elliott, one of Santa Monica's best known and highly respected pioneers. Mr. Johnston assiduously devoted himself to the building up of a very substantial business and a comfortable estate. His social temperament, courteous manner, and keen sense of honor made his friends legion and extended his popularity as a merchant and citizen. For four years, from 1903 to 1907, inclusive, he served on the Santa Monica City Board of Trustees and proved a most energetic, faith- ful and progressive servant of the people, his policy and efforts meeting the unqualified and hearty endorsement of the public. Mr. Johnston was a charter member of the B. P. O. E. and of the K. of P., Santa Monica lodges. He was a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, Fraternal Brotherhood and Maccabees. He was also an active and influential member of the Santa Monica Board of Trade.
GEORGE H. HUTTON, Judge of the Superior Court of the State of California in and for Los Angeles County, elected in November, 1906, is a product of the frigid north where his childhood was spent as a ward of his uncle, Reverend George H. Bridgman, President of Hamline University, St. Paul, Minnesota, at which institution he received his academic education. At the State University of Minnesota he received his legal education and was from there admitted to practice in 1893 and the same year became the assistant attorney or general trial lawyer for the Minneapolis & St. Paul Railroad, which position he held until his removal to California in 1897, when he located and engaged in the practice of his profession at Santa Monica. He had, up to the time of his elevation to the bench, been actively engaged in his profession and had attained more than ordinary success as a lawyer, being widely known in Los Angeles County and throughout Southern California. He was for several years the general attorney for the vast and varied interests of Ex-Senator John P. Jones, and attorney and trustee under the will of the late Andrew J. W. Keating, who left a fortune which during Judge Hutton's trusteeship has increased in bulk from less than a quarter million to nearly two million dollars.
He has been an extensive traveler and knows the American continent better than most men and is at home anywhere from Alaska, where he caught trout ; to Washington, D. C., where he has appeared as attorney before the United States Supreme Court.
He believes in the great west, its present and future and has contributed to various well known western magazines and other publications-to Out West,
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The West Coast, Pacific Monthly-his favorite themes being "California Missions," "Early Religions," "Education" and "Agriculture." He is a public speaker of note and his oration at the funeral of Senator Patton, at Ocean Park, in December of 1906, was a classic in all that the word implies.
He is a prominent member of the Masonic Order, the Knights of Pythias and the Elks ; of religious and public spirit, ever ready to give his energetic support to any movement tending to the betterment of improvement of the religious, moral and municipal conditions of the community.
Judge Hutton possesses ability, dignity, firmness and courage, and is clear and direct in his statements ; his decisions are well considered and he has by these qualities and his uniform courtesy and patience earned the good will and confi- dence of the members of Los Angeles bar; while on the bench he is quiet and reserved and conducts his court with dignity. In chambers he is genial, cordial and approachable and in private life social and friendly. He will be thirty-seven years old August 5th of this year (1907).
In 1897 he was united in marriage to Dolores Egleston, a daughter of S. J. Egleston, one of the founders of the City of Spencer, Clay County, Iowa. They have one son, George Robert Egleston Hutton, eight years old, the pride of his parents and the central attraction of a home that Judge Hutton finds to be the brightest spot on earth and where he spends his leisure hours to the exclusion of society or politics. He is a man of stern and strict habits whose life is dominated by two leading desires-first, to enjoy his home and family and second, to succeed in his profession. He is possessed of a most unusual memory and rarely forgets the doctrine of any case he has once studied. Since his elevation to the bench he has impressed the bar and the public with his persistent and untiring diligence, with his keen analysis of facts, his clear perception of the truth and his tireless search for every possible legal principle that might aid him in reaching a correct and accurate conclusion
REV. PATRICK HAWE, parish priest of Santa Monica, was born at the home farm of John and Bridget (Feehan) Hawe, County Kilkenny, Ireland, in the year 1847, one of seven children. At sixteen years of age he was sent to the Classical Academy of the Carmelites, from which he graduated three years later. He then took a five years' course of study in All Hallows College, Dublin, Ireland, and graduated from the Department of Philosophy and Theology in the year 1872. The ordination service consecrating him to the priesthood took place June 24th, 1872, at All Hallows and was presided over by Bishop Whalen, Bishop of Bombay, India. He came at once to California and was appointed to the diocese of Monterey and Los Angeles. For two months he assisted in the San Bernardino parish and for a year following was stationed at San Buena Ventura, followed by one year in the parish of San Luis Obispo. Subsequently, he spent nine years under the late lamented Father Joaquin Adam, V. G., at the Church
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of the Holy Cross, Santa Cruz. After a year as assistant to Father Villa, at Santa Barbara, he returned to San Bernardino for a similar period. From there he was stationed at St. Boniface parish, Anaheim, and while here erected the parochial residence. In May, 1886, he was appointed rector at Santa Monica church. Santa Monica was, at that time, a small town of about nine hundred people and the church had never had a resident priest, the work having been sustained by itinerant priests. Under Father Hawe's ministrations the parish has become one of thrift and importance. He has made material improvements in the church edifice, and he built the present parochial residence. The splendid Academy of the Holy Names was built in 1900 and dedicated February 22nd, 1901. In 1886, the parish at the Palms was organized and the present church edifice was erected by Father Hawe. He attended to the needs of the con- gregation until 1904, when it was made a mission church of the new parish of Ocean Park, of which Rev. M. L. Hennesy is rector. Father Hawe also held services at the Soldiers' Home in the early days of that institution, meeting in the old Assembly Hall. Later he effected a church organization there and erected a church edifice with funds supplied by the government. In the summer of 1902, Father Hawe held the first Catholic services at Ocean Park. Having no church edifice his people convened in the then Kinney Hall. In 1904 he built the present spacious and imposing church, and upon its completion placed it under the control of Rev. M. L. Hennesy, who organized the parish. Thus Father Hawe has devoted the best thirty-six years of his life to the spiritual uplifting and well being of his people in and about Santa Monica where he has drawn about himself a wide circle of friends.
CHARLES E. TOWNER, one of the active, well known and successful pioneers of Santa Monica, is a native of Michigan, born at Homer, December 2nd, 1849. His father was John M. Towner, a native of North Adams, Berkshire County, Mass., and his mother was Emily D. Robinson, born and reared in the Green Mountains of Vermont. Mr. and Mrs. Towner raised a family of five children- Henry C., born at Ballston Spa, Saratoga County, N. Y., May 2nd, 1842 ; entered United States army in 1862 from Manhattan, Kansas, served in Trans-Mississippi Department, came to California in 1883 and is now a resident of Towner Heights. William E., born at Ballston Spa, N. Y., November 28th, 1843, entered U. S. Army in 1862, served in Trans-Mississippi Department: died in Kansas City in 1897. Mary E., born at Homer, Michigan, January 19th, 1846, died, single, at Santa Monica, in 1898. H. D., born at Batavia, Kane County, Ill., August 8th, 1852, now residing in Oklahoma.
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