The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon.
Herbert A. Ford was born in Wright, Michigan in 1859. In 1884 he moved to Orange County, eventually settling in Fullerton in 1887, the year the town was founded, where he opened the first store with a Mr. Howell–called Howell & Ford (located inside the Wilshire Building at the corner of Harbor and Commonwealth–one of the first buildings in town). Fullerton’s first postal service began in his store in 1889.
In 1889 Herbert married Carrie E. McFadden, daughter of local pioneer William M. McFadden. They had three sons: Alvin, Herbert, and Maurice.
Ford sold his store in 1890 to focus on ranching. He and his wife purchased 20 acres of property that included the site of present day City Hall and built a home on the site of their ranch, where they grew walnuts, peaches, and oranges.
Herbert died young, in 1894 at the age of 35 from tuberculosis, leaving Carrie in control of business affairs.
In an article entitled “Carrie E. Ford: Fullerton Pioneer, Historian, and Philanthropist” published in the May 2011 issue of Fullerton Heritage Newsletter, local historian Debora Richey gives a lengthy portrait of Carrie Ford.
“Widowed at the young age of twenty-seven, Mrs. Ford quickly took control of the ranch and her extensive land holdings, establishing herself as a powerful business figure in her own right. During this era, she was the only woman running a ranch in the Area,” Richey writes.
Mrs. Ford was a woman ahead of her time, and very active in local civic affairs and philanthropic activities.
“In 1912, shortly after the State of California granted women the right to vote, Mrs. Ford, along with Mrs. Joan Hale, ran for the Board of Trustees (now the City Council), becoming the first women to run for public office in Fullerton (a woman was not elected to the Fullerton City Council until 1970),” Richey writes.
A staunch prohibitionist, Mrs. Ford was a charter member of the Fullerton Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).
“In 1906, she worked with Mrs. Clara Chapman and other prominent women in the WCTU to pass an ordinance banning the issuance of saloon and liquor licenses, which remained in effect until the end of Prohibition,” according to Richey.
She was also an original and/or founding member of many local organizations, including the Woman’s Club of Fullerton, the Women’s Missionary Society of the Fullerton Presbyterian Church, the Fullerton Ebell Club, the Order of the Eastern Star, the Mojave Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Native Daughters of the Golden West.
Starting in 1917, Carrie began to subdivide and develop the Fullerton property, which was known as the Orchard Subdivision, which “quickly became the choice residential district of Fullerton.”
Carrie Ford died in 1961.
Fullerton History 