The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon.
The Local History Room of the Fullerton Public Library has microfilm from the Fullerton Daily News-Tribune newspaper stretching back to 1893. I am in the process of reading over the microfilm, year by year, to get a sense of what was happening in the town over the years, and creating a mini archive. Below are some news stories from 1939.
New Publisher for the News-Tribune
A new owner/publisher took over the Fullerton News-Tribune, Edgar F. Elfstrom. He was the third owner/publisher of the local paper.
International News
In international news, war had broken out in Europe as Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia and Poland, prompting England to declare war on Germany.
Fascism had taken hold in Germany (under Hitler), Italy (under Mussolini), and Spain (under Franco).
Meanwhile, here in Fullerton, German prince Kurt B. Lippe spoke at a community meeting defending Naziism and Hitler.
Prince Lippe gave a fairly succinct description of fascism:
“In Germany today the aim of national socialism is the welfare of the commonwealth and to this end all must be subordinated. Our leader is supreme and is answerable only to the German people. Our government makes no room for impeachment of our leader,” he said. “We have never believed in a rule by a majority or by a parliamentary system. We believe that nothing can replace personality; that all the great achievements are the result of the individual’s brain–the result of the man.”
And then he made two astonishingly false claims about the aims of Nazi Gemany: “It is one of the main principles of National Socialism to keep our hands out of the internal affairs of other nations,” and “The speaker prophesied that it will be Hitler and Mussolini who will finally give to the Jewish people a home of their own.”
National News
Despite what was happening in Europe, the United States government, under the leadership of Franklin D. Roosevelt, remained neutral.
Meanwhile, Jews attempting to flee Nazi terrorism were encountering difficulties entering the United States because of our restrictive immigration laws, as shown by the tragic situation of the ship MS St. Louis, carrying Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany, which was turned away from Cuba, the United States, and Canada, and forced to return to Europe. Many of the passengers later perished in the Holocaust.
California News
In California news, Democratic governor Culbert Olson finally pardoned labor leader/activist Tom Mooney, who was convicted of a bombing in 1916 that was likely based on falsified evidence and perjured testimony.
A tragic fire in Los Angeles destroyed a large part of the newly-constructed Chinatown, which had been built to replace the original Chinatown, which was torn down to build Union Station.
Voters turned down the so-called “Ham and Eggs” proposal, a state old age pension plan.
Local Politics
Businessman Hans Kohlenberger was chosen as Mayor for 1939.
Snow in Fullerton!
There was a rare snowfall in Fullerton.
Housing
Part of Roosevelt’s New Deal was the creation of the Federal Housing Administration, with the aim of providing government-insured low-cost loans to make housing more affordable to more Americans.
The process of transforming some of the former Bastanchury Ranch, the Sunny Hills ranch into housing, began.
New Deal Projects
Fullerton benefited tremendously from Roosevelt’s New Deal in the form of federally-funded projects including: flood control dams and paving of barrancas, construction of a post office, City Hall, improvements to Hillcrest Park, and more. To learn more about how the New Deal benefited Fullerton, read my article HERE.
The City Hall project was controversial, with several petitioners opposing the construction of the building, however ultimately the issue went to voters, who approved it. The original City Hall is now the Fullerton Police Station.
The Tragic Whitewashing of the Pastoral California Mural
In a tragedy of local history the high school Board of Trustees voted to paint over the 75-foot long fresco mural “Pastoral California,” a WPA-funded art project on the western wall of the high school auditorium. For more about this, read my article on the topic HERE.
Agriculture
In an effort to boost the local citrus industry, local growers sponsored a drive to get people to drink more orange juice.
Sports
In the 1930s, baseball games at Amerige Park were hugely popular local events. The Portland Beavers came down to play spring training games here.
Local baseball star Willard Hershberger came to town to play a game.
Culture and Entertainment
For culture and entertainment, locals went to see the latest movies at the Fox Theater.
Young artist Stanley Porter, of the pioneering Porter family, opened an art studio on his family’s ranch. He had studied under famous ceramicist Glen Lukens, who taught at Fullerton College.
Porter, 21, studied ceramics at the Chouinard Art school in Los Angeles and with Glen Lukens when the latter was ceramics instructor at Fullerton Junior College. Illustrations and other artwork were on display. He plans to hold classes.
In related news, Stanley’s grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. B.F. Porter celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary.
The Porters were pioneers of the Orangethorpe district, having settled in the area in 1869, 20 years before the town of Fullerton was founded. They came west from Texas on a wagon train.
Deaths
Fullerton banker Fred Krause died.
Born in Iowa, Krause became a Congregational minister and remained in the ministry until 1903. He then went into banking in Alaska and Washington state. He came to California and from 1912 to 1917 was president and cashier of the Anaheim National bank.
In 1918 he became president of the First National bank of Fullerton, originally established in 1895 as the Fruit Growers bank, and later a branch of the Security First National bank of Los Angeles, of which he became a vicе president.
He was a Mason and served as president of the Fullerton Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club.
Stay tuned for top stories from 1940!
Fullerton History 