The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon.
Edward Kellogg (or E.K.) Benchley was born 1854 in San Francisco, California. He married Emma in 1877 in Ventura. They had two sons (William and Frank) and one daughter (Helen). Helen was born in 1878, William was born in 1880, and Frank was born in 1884.
The family moved to Fullerton in 1893 and established a farm and the Benchley Fruit Company. E.K. was elected to the first Fullerton City Council in 1904 and served as the town’s second mayor. E.K. also established the Fullerton Improvement Company, which built a number of buildings in town.
William bought out his father’s interests in the company in 1911.
Frank K. Benchley became one of Fullerton’s most prominent architects, designing many significant structures in Fullerton, including the Muckenthaler Mansion, the California Hotel, the Farmers and Merchants Bank, the second Masonic Temple, his father’s Craftsman style home on Harbor Boulevard, and a well-preserved bungalow court on Pomona Avenue.
William married Belle Jennings in 1920, and they had one son. William enlisted in 1918, during World War I, and spent some time in the officers’ training camp at Camp Gordon in Georgia.
Frank married Ruby Pearl Wagy on 3 April 1906, and had one daughter. He died in 1962, in Los Angeles.
E.K. died in 1924 and is buried at Loma Vista Memorial Park in Fullerton.
William was a member of the Board of Trade of Fullerton, the Masons, the Elks, the Hacienda Country Club, the Fullerton Club and the American Legion.
William died on 5 January 1966, in San Diego at the age of 85.
Fullerton History 
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