Early Settlers: Alex Henderson (blacksmith)

The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon.

Alex Henderson was born in Scotland in 1866. When he was five years old he immigrated with his parents Peter and Margaret to Ontario, Canada. At age 19 he apprenticed to learn the blacksmith trade. 

After working for a while as a blacksmith in Canada, he decided to move to California, based on correspondence with his brother who worked in the Puente oil fields.

In 1892 he moved to Fullerton and purchased a blacksmith business on the 100 block of Spadra Street (now Harbor Blvd). According to local historian Bob Ziebell, this block “was a popular gathering place in the years before the turn of the century.”

Although the building was the first blacksmith shop in town, Henderson was not the first blacksmith in Fullerton.

C.E. Holcomb, who came to Fullerton in 1888 reported that the building was initially located on the east side of Pomona Avenue (behind the present Post Office Building) where, according to Holcomb, “It was operated by two Negroes.”

Holcomb said he, “took work to them when it was necessary and they were good workmen.”

The next owners of the blacksmith shop were Otto Stroebel and Harry Savage, who kept the building on the same site. They sold the place to Alex Henderson who moved it to Spadra.

He was a charter Mason of the Fullerton Lodge, and also served as deputy city marshal under Charles Ruddock.

Henderson’s blacksmith shop was in business for two decades. In 1912 he purchased 18 acres on East Orangethorpe Ave, which he planted with Valencia oranges, and built a home there. When he retired in 1914, he was one of the oldest blacksmiths in Orange County.

He also owned a five-acre walnut grove on South Highland Avenue, and other property in Fullerton.

He married Jessie Watt of Ontario, Canada and they had one child, James. He had two daughters from a previous marriage, Agnes and Edith.

Sources:

History of Orange County, California: with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its earliest growth and development from the early days to the present by Samuel Armor. Los Angeles Historic Record Co, 1921.

Fullerton: a Pictorial History by Bob Ziebell. Donning Company, 1994.