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

In 1967, amid the turmoil of the Civil Rights movement, the anti-war movement, and all the other social and cultural turbulence facing America, a battle for academic freedom was waged in Fullerton City Hall.

The conflict began when a 24-year old graduate student at Cal State Fullerton, Terry Gordon, directed and put on a play by Michael McClure called The Beard. Michael McClure, an iconic figure in the Beat Generation, wrote numerous poems, plays, and novels that dealt with the social realities and problems of 20th century America. The Beard is a about a fictional encounter in heaven between Billy the Kid and Jean Harlow, which culminates in a simulated act of oral sex (not actual oral sex). At that time, “oral copulation” was a felony in the state of California.

Although the showing of The Beard was a private performance, some members of the local press got word of it, and got in, and ran headlines like “Lewd, Smut-Ridden Play Given at Cal State Fullerton.” This issue caught the attention of conservative local politicians. Historian Lawrence de Graaf writes, “Seizing an opportunity for publicity in an upcoming election year, politicians from Orange County joined the attacks.” A “Special Senate Committee on Pornographic Plays” was created and they subpoenaed Terry Gordon, his professor Edwin Duerr, CSUF president Langsdorf, and many others.

The proceedings took place in the fall of 1967 in Fullerton City Hall. The investigating senators included John G. Schmitz, a member of the John Birch Society, a group famous for opposing civil rights legislation and for their anti-communist zeal. The entire transcript of these hearings was recorded and published by the Senate of California. I found a copy of it in a special exhibit on “Banned and Challenged Books” in the CSUF library.

I felt like I was reading the script of a brilliant legal thriller. It reminded me a little of the play “Inherit the Wind” about the Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925, which was also about academic freedom. I don’t have the time or patience to reproduce the entire transcript here (its about 200 pages), but here are some excerpts. Don’t worry, this intense story has a happy ending. I am seriously considering writing a play about this whole thing.

Anyway, it’s fall 1967 in Fullerton, CA. The sun is shining, the wind is blowing, oral copulation is a felony, and people have gathered at City Hall to determine the future of academic freedom at a public university…

The Chairman: The first witness will be Mr. William Drake, editor of the Yorba Linda Star. Would you care to tell us generally what you saw when you witnessed the production of The Beard at the Fullerton College [at that time CSUF was called California State College at Fullerton]?

Mr. Drake: We witnessed the entire play, the dirty four-letter words, and with the final conclusion of the oral sex act. And we were, of course, very disappointed that we had witnessed this thing in a tax-supported school…

Senator Kennick: Mr Drake, did you say you witnessed an abnormal sex act at the play?

Mr. Drake: I witnessed the sex act as presented in the play.

Senator Kennick: Were they not simulated?

Mr. Drake: They could be and they could not be…

Senator Richardson: [Reading] It says, “moving upward, and went absolutely as far as he could go…Her body was moving, etc, and she was making quite a bit of moaning noises,” it states here. And indicated possible sexual enjoyment and eventually the achievement of sexual climax, etc…boy, this is rough stuff to read. Is this what transpired?

Mr. Drake: Yes.

…

Chairman: I would like to call an eyewitness requested by the college, Mr. Charles Leonard Ford [Charles Leonard Ford had taught drama at Santa Ana College for 12 years]

Senator Kennick: From your point of view, what is accomplished by the production of the play? You say it has some value?

Charles Ford: Well, the play is really not much different than many other plays that are on the public market at this point.

Senator Kennick: Well can we distinguish between the public market and a tax-supported campus before we start?

Charles Ford: I don’t think there is a difference, Senator. It seems to me that the college is also part of the public. It’s part of the world.

…

[CSU Chancellor Glenn S. Dumke takes the stand]

Senator Richardson: If they [students and teachers putting on experimental theater] are a tiny minority, why can’t the intelligent majority like yourself and the other people get rid of them?

Chancellor Dumke: Well, one of the problems we face in academics, I think, is the same problem that people face out on the streets and in the cities. We do have constitutional protections. We do have academic due process.

Senator Schmitz: I would not like to take the action that I think we are being force into. [He is suggesting removing state funding from the college]

…

[Dr. Roger Dittman, professor of Civics, is called to the stand]

Chairman: Did you have a presentation to make?

Dr. Dittman: Nothing formally. I would just like to speak extemporaneously about what I saw…during the play, which I thought, first of all, was very well performed. The play gives you quite a lot to think about.

Senator Richardson: What did it give you to think about?

Dr. Dittman: I think there are several things that the play meant…I was reminded of Dante’s Divine Comedy.

Senator Richardson: What part of the play reminded you of Dante’s Divine Comedy?

Dr. Dittman: The play took place in heaven.

Senator Richardson: It did?

Senator Schmitz: Dr. Dittman, does this connote heaven to you? Did it give this impression to you?

Dr. Dittman: Well, let’s say it connotes heaven more closely than harp strumming does.

Senator Schmitz: My analogy would be to a stag party or a Tiajuana exhibition, it came a lot closer, but you and I viewed it differently. I didn’t see it, I just read the book. And I suppose you can read into those things all you want but my question was, I was just curious about the button you’re wearing there. I can’t read it.

Dr. Dittman: It says I’m registered to vote. I’m registered in the Peace and Freedom Party.

Senator Richardson: Do you believe that there are things that should not be shown on campus?

Dr. Dittman: Well, I think our greatest feelings are in the things we don’t say. As a matter of fact, I think these hearings are probably having that kind of effect.

Senator Richardson: What should’t we say on the campus?

Dr. Dittman: Well, I think we shouldn’t say things that compel people to immediate action before they can think. I think all other kinds of speech should be allowed. If people can reflect on what has been said, so they have some opportunity to evaluate and make their own decision based upon accumulation of a wide exposure of ideas and opinions, I think all these kinds of speeches which do not require immediate action should be…

Senator Richardson: In other words, doctor, you are saying that anything goes, pretty much?

Dr. Dittman: Yes, I think that’s what our Constitution means.

Senator Richardson: Might I ask, is there any type of sex act that is put into a play you would think improper to show on a college tax-supported campus?

Dr. Dittman: Well, what I consider to be obscene is not sex, but violence, killing, napalm.

Senator Richardson: Or senate investigations?

Dr. Dittman: But sex, I think, should be considered to be rather an expression of affection and a more healthy attitude toward sex.

Senator Schmitz: Are you saying in a long way that there is no possible sex act which should be excluded from a play on a college campus?

Dr. Dittman: As society’s mores change, things which are capable of being presented will change. And we are undergoing some kind of moral revolution in this country. There’s a generation gap which is probably being manifested here.

…

[Wayne Devorak, who played the role of Billy the Kid, is called to the stand.]

Senator Richardson: I think we could agree that there was a great deal of what would be referred to properly today as vulgarity…in the play itself. Does this add substantially to the mood of the play, or what was it for?

Mr. Devorak: This is one of the points of the play because playwrights don’t use language, you know, just off the top of their heads. This language was necessary to the development of the characters because it’s a part of their problem as people.

Senator Richardson: You say these characters are extremely vulgar characters?

Mr. Devorak: Yes, they are.

Senator Richardson: As an actor, were you trying to portray a very vulgar character?

Mr. Devorak: I was trying to project a human being with a definite conflict.

…

[Marion Stanek, who played the role of Jean Harlow, is called to the stand]

Senator Kennick: Do you have a feeling that you might have been misled by people much older than you are who should have portrayed much better judgement than we could expect from you?

Ms. Stanek: No.

Senator Kennick: You think that their judgement was very fine in leading you into this part?

Ms. Stanek: They didn’t lead me into the part. I willingly accepted.

Senator Kennick: They suggested that you accept?

Ms. Stanek: No.

Senator Kennick: They prepared the vehicle for you to accept?

Ms. Stanek: No, no, they didn’t. I willingly accepted to do the role.

Senator Kennick: You don’t think you were ill advised?

Ms. Stanek: No, I do not.

Senator Richardson: Miss Stanek, you stated that there were sociological and psychological things to be gained from this particular play. Could you clarify that a bit? In what manner? How?

Ms. Stanek: I can tell you how I approached the play as the character Harlow. Our society has put Harlow as a sex symbol type of thing, a woman who lives in a fantasy world. We started off, Billy the Kid and Harlow, as two equals, and he was trying to get me to go to him or that I should try to get him to come to me. It’s the same little game that is found in dating with boys and girls. The girl is trying to not do anything that the man says and she goes through all the tricks of a woman of femininity, emotion, crying, flirting, arguing, to get him to come to her, emasculating the man, in other words.

Senator Richardson: Do you think that this could be projected without the use of the language or do you feel that the language is a very important part of it?

Ms. Stanek: The language is [important] because I know for a fact that Harlow did use this language, and it’s used because when she does use it, it’s the only way, a masculine way for her to get at the man. And he, whenever he used the language, she stopped talking because he was breaking her down. He was getting on her level and she didn’t want that.

Senator Richardson: Well, do you think it could have, well, no, I’ll discontinue that line of questioning.

…

[President Langsdorf is called to the stand, and he delivers the following statement]:

President Langsdorf: The responsible conduct of higher education is not an easy thing. It requires exploration of ideas of all sorts, many very unpopular and sometimes risky for the faculty who do so. Yet our free society’s life and future depend on such continued challenging and testing. This is called academic freedom; it has constitutional protection. To limit the right to explore and challenge would soon erode all our freedoms.

[Applause from audience]

…

[Edwin Duerr, the drama teacher who approved the play, takes the stand]

Senator Schmitz: Mr. Duerr, what educational value did you feel this play was going to bring forth?

Mr. Duerr: The primary benefit from doing The Beard is to do a different kind of play, a poetic play. To do the kind of play that is in the mainstream of American drama, not a 1910 play. Those are the values.

Senator Schmitz: What is your definition of mainstream?

Mr. Duerr: Well, I would say the plays that are being done in the theater in this country and this world are mainstream.

Senator Schmitz: Would it include plays that have had the police close them up and then are being appealed in court and so forth?

Mr. Duerr: Yes.

Senator Schmitz: This would be part of the mainstream?

Mr. Duerr: Yes. These are being written today by men living today writing about today’s problems.

…

Senator Schmitz: Mr. Duerr, would you like to run a political campaign against me making this the only issue?

Mr. Duerr: I’d have to think about it.

Senator Schmitz: I’d love to have it.

Mr. Duerr: I’d have to think about it.

Senator Schmitz: I would love to have that. I would love to have this as the only issue in running for reelection. You see, you don’t have to run for reelection.

Mr. Duerr: I run for reelection in a sense every year.

…

Senator Kennick: Most of us are ordinary people. When we get in proximity to plays of this sort, it’s like getting close to fantasyland over here. We don’t quite know where we are. Would you tell me what the benefits of the play are? What would you have said to me if you wanted me to attend this play? How would you explain the value?

Mr. Duerr: I think I would say it is saying, and this is only my interpretation, that somehow, and this hearing may be a demonstration of this fact, that we have an obsession with sex. Our society has an obsession with sex. And I think some of us who are over 24 are more obsessed with it than the students. Do you follow me, sir? And this is what this man is trying to say: Let’s not make sex guilty. It is a normal, human act like eating or swimming. In other words, what hangup does America have with sex? I think, in the long run, I could do more to end dropouts, to end all these things that are happening, if people could face these things and not make them guilty. That’s what the playwright is trying to do.

Senator Kennick: If the community had knowledge that you were putting on this play, the newspaper had announced it and the newspaper had run a couple of paragraphs with the dialogue, do you think the community might have been upset?

Mr. Duerr: I’m not sure that being upset is wrong. Plays should upset people. That’s one of the prerogatives of a play, one of the rights of a play, to shake people up.

Senator Kennick: You fellows live in a world that is a strange one to me.

Mr. Duerr: We live in today’s world only.

Senator Kennick: It’s a very, very strange world.

Mr. Duerr: It’s today’s world.

Senator Kennick: I’m not sure of anything after talking to you educators.

Mr. Duerr: You said you don’t know much about drama.

Senator Kennick: I don’t.

Mr. Duerr: And yet you’re making judgements about drama.

Senator Kennick: I don’t know anything about drama, but I know a certain amount of dirt when I see it.

Mr. Duerr: Well that could be in the mind of the beholder.

Senator Kennick: Could be. Do you think your judgement in this matter was strictly good?

Mr. Duerr: I’ll rest my 40 years experience on my judgement in this case.

Senator Kennick: I’ve fought for your salary increases for 10 years. I’m not too sure I’m right.

Mr. Duerr: If we in the college have to have our plays picked for us…

Senator Kennick: No one’s saying that.

Mr. Duerr: You’re implying that. If you don’t like it…

Senator Kennick: No one’s implying any such thing.

Mr. Duerr: I don’t know what you mean.

Senator Kennick: We all recognize green or yellow…at least we should.

Mr. Duerr: This is not that simple.

Senator Kennick: You’ve made it that unsimple, that’s an absolute cinch.

Mr. Duerr: I didn’t make it. It just isn’t simple.

Senator Richardson: Do you know that oral copulation in the state of California is a felony?

I’ll be giving a free lecture this Friday, May 5 at ModelMania during the Downtown Fullerton Art Walk. The subject of my talk will be “News Stories of Early Fullerton.” The Local History Room of the Fullerton Public Library has microfilm from the Fullerton 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. I’ll be presenting some top local stories from the years 1894-1904. My talk will begin around 8pm.

Also at ModelMania, don’t miss the latest art exhibit, “Transmutations” featuring work by Magin Jaz Magoski and Michael Magoski. There will also be live music by 10 by Two featuring Pete Colby and Bob Aul. And, of course, models, models, models. ModelMania is located at 232 W. Commonwealth Ave. in Downtown Fullerton.

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 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. Here are excerpts from some of the articles from 1904.

Click HERE to read highlights from previous years.

Incorporation

Perhaps the most significant event of 1904 was incorporation. Residents voted to establish Fullerton as a city, complete with a Board of Trustees and taxation powers. The first Board of Trustees (now called City Council) was Edward Amerige, E.K. Benchley, Charles Chapman, George Clark, and John Gardiner.

Additionally, W.A. Barnes was elected city marshal, George Ruddock was elected City Clerk, and J.E. Ford was elected city treasurer. 

Prohibition

Easily the most divisive local issue in 1904 was prohibition–whether or not to allow saloons in town. Saloons had been essentially banned since 1894 (based on an ordinance passed by the County Board of Supervisors). But now that Fullerton had its own Board of Trustees, the liquor question was re-opened. The Board of Trustees decided to put the question to a town vote as part of a larger city election.

In the newspapers leading up to the election, the Tribune printed editorials for and against prohibition, as shown below.

Ultimately, a majority of residents voted to allow saloons downtown.

New City Laws/Civic Improvements 

The newly-established Board of Trustees began to pass a series of ordinances. They established a fire protection district, a board of health, franchises with telephone, gas, and electric companies, built new sidewalks, and made street improvements.

They also passed ordinances prohibiting some things in town, most of which make sense–no fighting in the streets, etc. But some of the town prohibitions seem quite harsh, such as bans on vagrancy and cross-dressing.

There was some conflict over the appointment of a postmaster for Fullerton. This was a position appointed by local congressman Daniels. Although a petition with 500 signatures advocated the appointment of Cora Vail, Congressman Daniels appointed Vivian Tresslar (a man), allegedly at the request of Mayor Chapman.

“Captain Daniels has announced that he will absolutely refuse to recommend the appointment of any woman for the position,” the Tribune stated.

Tresslar was also the hand-picked editor of the Tribune’s rival newspaper, the Fullerton News–which was bankrolled by Mayor Chapman.

Oranges!

A major industry of early Fullerton was oranges. One unique feature of the citrus industry was the fact that growers would pool their resources to market and ship their product. There was some debate at this time over the value of a “union” of this type.

Another article in the Tribune written by “one of the laborers” urged the workers to form a union of another kind–a worker’s union.

Here is the full text of the above (right) article:

The Tribune has received a communication signed “One of the Laborers,” which advocates increased pay for ranch laborers in this section and their organization into a union to attain that object.

The communication, addressed “To Whom it May Concern,” begins by stating that the American laborers in the Placentia district have a grievance in regard to their monthly pay. The writer says that the workers want a reasonable price for their day’s work, and cites the action of the Ventura laborers who organized a union, and decided not to work for less than $30 a month. The advantage of a union is then urged, and the local workers are called upon to organize for the purpose of getting their “price.” The communication declares that they now get 95 cents a day, which is denounced as a “regular outrage.” The warning is made that the workers will not stand for this “slavery any longer than the present time.”

After commenting that the hired man is “looked down on, snarled at,” the communication states that he is often forced to sleep in the barn, and concludes as follows:

“Boys, what do you think of that? We are not permitted to sleep in the house after a hard day’s work. We are brothers in Christ Jesus, born of one flesh and blood, and we ought to have a tender feeling for all. But after all of that the cold-hearted rancher sends his hired man to the barn to sleep with the living creatures that inhabit therein.”

On the same page as the above article was another entitled “The Chapmans Entertain Their Friends and Neighbors”:

Here is the full text of that article:

Strictly the event of all social events in Placentia was the reception given by Mr. and Mrs. C.C. Chapman Thursday evening to their friends, neighbors, and strangers as well, of Placentia. The invitations were universal showing the good spirit and kindliness of the host and hostess, and the acceptance was almost universal. The guests were received by Mr. Stanley Chapman and his sister, Miss Ethel Chapman, and afterward by Mr. and Mrs. Chapman and Mrs. Hatchill, assisted by Mrs. McFadden and Mrs. Bradford. An orchestra occupied the music room and provided music throughout the evening. After cordial greetings on every hand the guests were given the opportunity to inspect the beautiful rooms on the first floor, consisting of library, reception hall, music room, dining room, breakfast room and kitchen. The rooms on the second floor were then shown. The guests were then invited to the third story which proved to be a hall strictly in keepinig with the rest of the house. Here the guests were seated and most thoroughly enjoyed an entertainment.

Dainty refreshments were served in the breakfast room and then after a littel longer social intercourse and a last lingering look the guests bade their host and hostess and family good night. 

The above contrast between the situation of the workers and the lavish mansion of Chapman, the mayor and wealthiest orange grower, speaks to the social divisions of the day.

Oil!

The other major industry in Fullerton was oil. One ongoing issue was a conflict between the local Puente Oil Company and the mega-corporation Standard Oil. Apparently, Standard was using some shady tactics to undercut their local rival.

In 1911, the U.S. Supreme Court would order the breakup of Standard Oil because it was an “illegal monopoly.” Many of today’s major oil companies are descendants of Standard, including ExxonMobil, Chevron, and BP.

Inside the Tribune Building

To commemorate its 15th anniversary, the Fullerton Tribune published a brief history of the paper, and included some photos of the inside and outside of the newspaper’s building.

Water

Because Fullerton was a growing agricultural area, obtaining a regular water supply was extremely important. At this time, much of the water supply came from the Santa Ana river and underground wells. The vastness of the underground aquifer was not well understood. The company which controlled the water of the Santa Ana river in north Orange County was the Anaheim Union Water Company.

Miscellaneous

And here are a few random/miscellaneous clippings from the 1904 Tribune:

Stay tuned for headlines from 1905!

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

In 1978, George Mickle was interviewed by Anne Riley for the Fullerton College Oral History Program. Mickle was a groundskeeper for Fullerton Union High School and Fullerton College from 1926 until 1941. Here are some highlights from the interview.

George Mickle graduated in 1926 from Anaheim High School, and attended Fullerton College from 1926-1928.

He was raised by an aunt and uncle, and his uncle was hired to take over as chief engineer of the heating department at the high school and junior college. So they moved to Fullerton. At that time the school furnished the chief engineer a house right on campus.

When Mickle was a student, Fullerton College shared a campus with the high school, where there was a single building known as the the Junior College building in the center of the high school campus.

He was vice president of the drama club, called the Night Walkers.

Fullerton College had its own school bank run by a Mr. L.O. Culp who taught banking and business courses.

Mickle remembers that a girl named Collie Bode designed the Hornet emblem in 1926 as part of a contest, and won $50.

Because he worked as a groundskeeper, Mickle was well acquainted with the tunnels running under campus.

“Underneath every building on the high school and junior college campus, at that time, were tunnels coming from the heating plant,” he said. “That was my first job to go down at five o’clock every morning and go though all the tunnels and turn on air conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter time. There were big fans, all under the whole campus. All the pipes were down there, but there was plenty of room to walk.”

He said that Fullerton has always been “very much of a baseball city [and has] turned out some big league players” such as Arky Vaughn, Willard Hershberger, and Walter Johnson.

Every year, he remembers, Fullerton used to have a Jacaranda Festival, when all the Jacaranda trees were in bloom.

He remembers the annual Thanksgiving Day football game between Fullerton and its rival Santa Ana, which always drew a huge crowd and would sometimes get rowdy.

“After every game the people, the roughnecks, would rush out on the field and start a fight and pull down the goal posts,” he remembers.

In 1933, when the college acquired its own property for a campus (a walnut and orange grove) he helped remove the stumps of walnut and orange trees to clear the land.

1933 was also the year of a major earthquake. 

During the Depression, the school Board tried to cut costs by having no junior college or high school athletics in order to cut costs. 

“The students all marched downtown in protest, and they decided to continue the athletics,” he said.

Although the Depression was hard times, it was also a period of growth for the college, thanks to the Works Progress Administration and other government programs.

It was WPA labor and funding that built the “new” stadium for the high school and college, and for the first buildings of the new college campus–the Commerce Building (1935), the Administration Building (1936), and the Trades building (1938)–all of these buildings still stand.

Mickle remembers working with those employed by the WPA, most of when were local.

“Some of them worked only two days a week, some would work three days, depending on the size of their family,” he said. “Workers were mainly from around here. Quite a few of these WPA and SERA and so forth were from out in the Placentia area and were Mexican Americans.”

He remembers when the “Pastoral California” mural was painted on the side of the high school auditorium, and when it was painted over. 

Why the mural was painted over remains a subject of debate among local historians. Some have said it was painted over because the school board thought the figures depicted were “vulgar” or “grotesque” and some have said that the mural was “too Mexican” for the all white school board.

Mickle gives his own reason: “They finally had to take that one off of the auditorium because the kids doctored it up too much!”

He doesn’t say how the students “doctored” up the mural, but I know some complained at the time that the women in the mural were too bosomy. Perhaps the students “doctored” it to emphasize, or enhance this feature. The mystery continues.

Mickle remembers when the Pacific Electric tracks came through campus.

In 1938 school was closed due to a massive flood, when the Santa Ana river went over its banks.

During World War II, Mickle went to work for a Navy shipyard. After the war, he took a job with Johnson’s Fullerton Motor Parts.

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

Charlotte “Polly” Gobar Snyder was interviewed in 1981 for the Fullerton College Oral History Program. Here are some highlights from this interview. 

She was born in Durand, Wisconsin around 1899. Her father was Dr. Frank Joseph Gobar. Her grandfather had been a doctor in the Civil War. 

In 1901, the family moved to Trask, Oregon where they lived on a farm on a timber claim and had a small hotel. 

In 1906, the family moved to Fullerton. They stayed with their friends the Blybacks while they got established.

She had seven siblings, all of whom graduated from Fullerton High School. 

At first the family lived at 224 West Amerige in a small two bedroom house (it’s now the parking lot of the police department). Her father had his doctor’s office in the front bedroom. Eventually, they moved to 361 West Commonwealth, where the public library is today.

Fullerton was young, with about 1725 people.

Her father was a surgeon for the Santa Fe railroad company in the early years. He would travel to the oil fields in Olinda and Brea Canyon before there was a town of Brea. He was one of the first ones to have an automobile in town and, according to Snyder, the first one in Fullerton to have an electric washing machine.

On her family’s property, there was “a big red barn at the Amerige end…with three large pepper trees close at hand. We had two cows for awhile and some chickens and pigeons. Part of the barn at the west end near Short Street [now Library Ln.] was converted into a garage for the new Kissel Kar. It was red, without a top, two seats in front and two in back. Formerly Papa had had a Rio and a Tourist automobile. The car was for Papa’s use to see his patients in Fullerton, Brea Canyon, Olinda, and La Habra.”

“The plateau north of downtown was owned by the Bastanchury family, Basques from Spain,” she remembers. “There were other Basque families here, and a great number of German families, as well as others. The Basques ran sheep on their thousand acres at one time…When my brother in 1927 built his home up on West Valley View on the six hundred block, across the road there were orchards that were part of the Bastanchury Ranch. We used to roam those hills and pick wild flowers and have picnics out there.”

She started second grade at the red brick grammar school—at the corner of Wilshire and Lemon, where the School of Continuing Education is today. Over on Lawrence and Wilshire (where a Fullerton College parking lot is today) was the high school, also a red brick building.

A new high school was built in 1908 on West Commonwealth (where Amerige Park is now), but it burned down in 1910. She remembers seeing the building burn: “I watched from our home across the way at 361 West Commonwealth. My three older brothers were in the fire brigade and were trying to save the building. They did save the Polytechnic Building, which was separate from the main building, and later it was moved to the present location over on East Chapman.”

After the high school burned down, the new high (and current) high school was built on Chapman Ave. Delbert Brunton was the first principal of the high school.

Before the high school was built, the land was orchards.

“There were orchards on the north side of Chapman. There were orchards east of Balcom on the east side of town. And orchards came up to Highland Avenue at Wilshire, and north of there,” she remembers. “To the south there were orchards right below Maple, which is Valencia drive now. We were surrounded by orchards, oranges, and walnuts.”

Living near downtown Fullerton, Snyder remembers the butcher, August Hiltscher, a grocery store owned by Lynn Cline, a bakery where the bus depot is now on East Commmonwealth owned by the Engmanns.

She remembers a fire in downtown Fullerton in 1908 that burned Cline’s grocery. Her brothers were in the volunteer fire department, and helped to put out the fire.

At that time, the town had a water tank west of where Villa del Sol is now, which provided water for downtown Fullerton.

For home entertainment, her brother Dave would play the piano.

Dorothy Lane, she remembers, was named for Dorothy Gage of the Gage family that lived out there when it was all orchards. Dorothy’s cousin, Ruth Dunham, married Roy Hale, “one of the Hale boys of the Placentia Hales, we called them. There were Fullerton Hales, Bill Hale’s family, and then there were Ray and Roy of the Placentia Hales.”

Other prominent families she remembers include the Knowltons (who lived at Wilshire and Acacia), the Hetebrinks, who lived in the house that still stands at the corner of Chapman and Berkeley (They had a large basement where they would host parties), the Sheppards (Carrie was the city librarian for many years), and the Dysingers.

She remembers Louis Plummer, who started as a commerce teacher and then became principal and superintendent. She babysat for Plummer’s children.

She graduated from Fullerton High School in 1918. She remembers Jessamyn West, who became a famous writer, who graduated in 1919.

She remembers the Pacific Electric “red cars” that once connected Fullerton to a vast passenger rail network.

After she graduated, she attended Fullerton Junior College, got married, and worked for the city from 1922 to 1929, for Mr. Hezmalhalch in the City Clerk’s office.

She married and had a family of three children. Her family moved for a while to Bakersfield, where her husband died in 1940. In 1942, she moved with her children back to Fullerton and worked for the water department in the newly built City Hall building, which is now the police station.

She attended the First Presbyterian Church in Fullerton. Dr. William Boyce and Dr. and Mrs. Lynn Sheller (of Fullerton College) belonged to her church.

Her children all graduated from Fullerton High School (Wilma in 1947, Fred in 1951, and Ned in 1954).

To read more summaries of oral histories click HERE.

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 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. Here are excerpts from some of the articles from 1903.

Click HERE to read highlights from previous years.

Fullerton’s Progress

Toward the end of 1903, town co-founder Edward Amerige wrote an article describing the progress Fullerton had made up to this point. Here is the text of his article, along with some historic photos.

Fullerton, the youngest town in Orange County, has made most remarkable progress and growth during the year 1903, and is rapidly approaching the position as the second town in population in Orange County. Fullerton has already the proud distinction of being the largest shipping point in Orange County and the third or fourth position as regards shipments in Southern California. The Santa Fe railroad was compelled to put in an extra siding of 2000 feet in length the past year to accommodate the rapidly growing business of the town.

Fullerton ships annually large numbers of cars of oranges, estimated to be over 850 for the coming season; also hundreds of carloads of walnuts, grain, wool, hay, cabbage, potatoes, both white and sweet, hundreds of boxes of winter asparagus to the Chicago and eastern markets; besides large quantities of dried fruit, poultry and eggs. The country surrounding Fullerton is capable of producing the greatest diversity of products of any location in the state and is far famed for the extra quality of its oranges and fruits. C.C. Chapman, owner of the Santa Isabella ranchos and Orange groves, holds the highest record for prices obtained for oranges in the United States–$15.05 per box, besides being the largest individual grower and shipper of oranges in California. The soil and climatic conditions are such that this section is particularly adapted to the growing of the Valencia orange, the crop being harvested from May until as late as November, thereby being the latest and earliest oranges on the market, and securing the best possible prices.

Notwithstanding that over 75 new houses and buildings were erected in the town in 1903, there is not an empty store or cottage to be had here. At the present time a great number of houses are in process of construction and houses are taken as fast as they are completed.

The new Fullerton Hospital, completed last August, is an up-to-date establishment and the best institution of its kind in Southern California. An efficient corps of nurses are in attendance at all times, so that patients of this hospital receive the best attention and care, which has already made the reputation of this hospital as one of the best.

Fullerton’s telephone exchange is one of the largest suburban exchanges in Southern California, outside the large cities, there being 200 subscribers, and the number is steadily increasing.

Fullerton’s mail service is as satisfactory as can be found in much larger places, there being several mails daily each way, besides the starting point of numerous rural delivery routes in northern Orange County. The salary of the postmaster has been increased twice during.

The products of the country are packed and handled in the nine large packing and warehouses adjoining the Santa Fe Railroad, which are all located in the central part of the town. Several new warehouses will have to be built to accommodate the increasing shipping business.

School facilities are of the very best, consisting of a six-room grammar school (graded) and as fine a high school as can be found anywhere. Both buildings are of brick and are large and commodious.

That Fullerton is a moral and progressive town is evidenced by the three fine church edifices here, namely, the Methodist, Baptist, and the Presbyterian, which are all liberally and largely supported.

The latest and most important move made during the year is the proposed incorporation of the town. If Fullerton succeeds in establishing a city government within the bounds already petitioned for, and on which an election will be held some time in February next, she will have placed herself on the map of Orange County as the second city in size and population and territory, and from that date whe will commence a growth that will eclipse all her former efforts. The year 1904 will see the dawn of a new era for Fullerton, eclipsing all her previous great records. Altogether the future is resplendent with roseate hues for the new city of the foothills, “Fullerton.”

Incorporation

A major local issue in 1903 was the question of incorporating the town, which would allow it to have its own government and taxation powers. Tribune editor Edgar Johnson wrote some editorials in favor of incorporation.

In the article above, Johnson writes: “A half-dozen men cannot lead a blind cow when all are pulling in different directions, and a town cannot advance when the people are divided into factions over minor questions, and are eternally at cross-purposes…The only question that seriously menaces the success of the question seems to be that of prohibition. Those estimable citizens who favor the suppression and annihilation of the saloon are fearful that the success of incorporation would abrogate the county prohibition law, and place the beast of intemperance in their very midst.”

Toward the end of 1903, town leaders began to hold meetings in favor of incorporation. Those in favor included E.K. Benchley (“he believed such a move would be a success; it would give us good roads, increased values, clean streets and sidewalks”), Charles C. Chapman, and Edward Amerige. There was opposition from Orangethorpe residents like B.F. Skinner, who were opposed to increased taxation).

On December 31, a meeting was held to officially propose an election for incorporation. The following nominations were made:

For trustees, P.A. Scumacher, C.C. Chapman, John Gardiner, E.R. Amerige, G.C. Clark, E.K. Benchley, A. McDermont, T.W. Cline, A.V. Smith, Jacob Stern. The five receiving the highest vote will be elected trustees.

For city marshal, C.E. Ruddock, W.A. Barnes; for city clerk, G.A. Ruddock; for treasurer, J.E. Ford.

No nominations were made for assessor or tax collector as they county officials will act in that capacity.

Fullerton would vote to officially incorporate in 1904. Stay tuned for my highlights from 1904 Tribune headlines.

Temperance

An equally pressing issue in 1903 was the question of whether Fullerton would allow saloons in town. Saloons had been banned in Fullerton by county ordinance. One result of incorporation was that the newly elected city trustees could either allow or ban saloons. Those opposed to saloons included members of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), some local pastors, and the Anti-Saloon League.

Famous prohibitionist Carrie Nation passed through Fullerton and was interviewed by Tribune editor Edgar Johnson.

There was a highly publicized trial against a J.A. Kellerman who was accused of serving liquor in Fullerton as part of a Nationalist Club meeting. He was ultimately not convicted, as there was a hung jury.

Some local citizens petitioned the county supervisors to pass an ordinance outlawing drunkenness in town.

Oranges

Fullerton’s orange industry continued to grow.

By the early 20th century, the orange industry was not functioning by the ordinary rules of capitalism and competition. Instead, the growers, shippers, and marketers were pooling their resources through Fruit Exchanges to eliminate the lower prices caused by competition.

Here is the full text of the above article:

Shippers and growers of citrus fruits in Southern California are arranging details for an amalgamation of their interests which when effected, will be of far-reaching consequences and will mean a combination involving several million dollars, all subscribed. It has become apparent that the fierce competitive marketing methods of the fruit exchanges and the independent shippers can no longer be borne by the producing community, and plans are under way for an amalgamation of shipping interests to handle the orange crop on the same basis that the deciduous fruits are handled by the distributor organization at Sacramento and the raisin crop at Fresno.

In this amalgamation the fruit exchanges and the independent shippers are to participate, irrespective of past differences, and the fierce competitive battle for supremacy in selling markets is likely to be replaced by a well-organized central sales agency, through which all independent and all exchange fruit will be marketed by a single board of control. Details of this organization are nearly completed. The general groundwork of the amalgamation has been the subject of a score of special conferences held in Los Angeles during the last three weeks.

President A.H. Naftzger of the Southern California Fruit Exchange, acting by authority of these organized interests, has been in consultation several weeks with prominent independent shippers, and a working basis upon which all of these competitive factions will be amalgamated is the probably outcome. 

Scope of work to be undertaken by the new organization, if it reaches final accomplishment, assumes to control marketing from the packing house to the jobber, eliminates various organization expenses, and stops the ruinous cutting of prices by competitive selling…Names of all the leading fruit shipping houses as well as the fruit exchanges collectively and separately have been definitely connected with the deal and its consummation may be looked for in the next few days.

Since the above was put in type the agreement between all parties has been made and provides that the Southern California Fruit Exchange shall permanently control 50 percent of the stock of the California Fruit Agency, that local exchanges shall be represented on the Board of Directors, in like matter as they are now represented on the directorate of the Southern California Fruit Exchange, and that the independent shippers shall be represented according their interests. These shippers include the Earl Fruit Company, the Fay Fruit Company, Ruddock, French & Co., Gregory Co., Spruance Fruit Co., Moulton & Greene, West American, Patte & Lett and three smaller concerns, and the fruit exchanges.

Oil!

Fullerton’s other big and growing business in 1903 was oil. An article below by Johnson gives a history of oil production in the Fullerton district:

Some seventeen years ago the first oil well ever drilled in Southern California was put down in Fullerton by the Puente Oil company on its own lease–today one of the best producers of high gravity oil in the state. For many years work on this lease went on quietly until 1893 a contract was made with the China Beet Sugar company for 80,000 barrels of oil the first year.

Since then output from this field has greatly increased. A 4-inch pipe line was at once laid from the wells to Chino, a distance of 15 miles. Oil was then worth from 75 cents to $1 a barrel but the same gravity oil from the Puente company’s lease now is worth $1.75 a barrel, as it runs up to as high as 37 degrees, gravity and most all of it is now sold for refining purposes.

The cost of drilling and equipping a well here or anywhere in California, while greater that in the eastern fields, is about uniform in all the California territory. It is estimated at from $2500 up for an average well of from 800 to 1200 feet. The wages here vary slightly, but as a tule they are about 20 percent higher than in the east.

The next oil field, which proved to be a heavy producer, was opened in the Fullerton field in the Santa Fe railroad company on its own territory, an extensive tract northeast of town, and about five miles east of the Puente company’s wells.

The Santa Fe had a large production within a year or tow after it became development work here, and for many years consumed all the oil from its Fullerton fields, and more, too, but the past two years it has been selling a good portion of its immense output for refining purposes at $1.75 a barrel, and purchasing a lot of cheap oil in Bakersfield for its engines, as low gravity oil from that field, mixed with some of the Fullerton oil, gives just as good satisfaction as oil of a much higher gravity. The Santa Fe has new over 30 wells, all good producers, on the pump here.

Soon after the Santa Fe had its work well under way, the Graham & Loftus company entered the field on an adjoining lease, and that company has since cleaned up something like $300,000 in profits during the past few years. This company opened up some of the best spouters in the Fullerton field, some of them going as high as 3,000 barrels a day. This company is now pumping a large number of wells, getting high gravity oil from all of them.

Then followed the Columbia oil company, the Fullerton Consolidated company, the Fullerton Oil Company, the Olinda Oil company all of which are in successful operation–and a number of smaller companies near the Santa Fe wells.

The next territory opened in the Fullerton field was in the Brea canyon hills, directly north of Fullerton, and about half way between the Puente Oil company and Santa Fe company leases, by the Brea Oil company and the Union Oil company. The Brea Canyon oil company opened up the biggest gusher ever tapped in any Fullerton territory, one of its gushers for a short time spouting at the rate of 24,000 barrels a day. One of the gushers on this company’s lease has paid net $142,000 during the past ten months, and it is believed this is the most wonderful well ever opened in any California field.

The Union Oil company has also been very successful with its wells in this canyon, and, like the Brea canyon company, has a large number of wells on the pump. The Union company has just installed a rotary drill which has a capacity of 3000 feet in depth, and the company is now going after very high gravity oil with the new rotary drill which is operated by two experts from the Pennsylvania fields.

A goodly part of the Fullerton oil is conveyed to San Pedro by the Union Oil company’s 4-inch pipe line, a distance of 30 miles, and from that point the Union company ships to San Francisco for refining an other purposes. The Union is the heaviest purchaser of oil in the Fullerton field, though the Santa Fe is still buying large quantities of oil here, in addition to its own output, on account of its ten-year contract with one of two companies not having expired, and which will yet run about three years. The Santa Fe moves its oil out, also the product of other companies, by a branch railroad built direct to the wells from its main line.

On account of so much of the Fullerton oil being refined and of the increasing output on the railroads and for oiling public highways there is a very strong demand here for every barrel of oil that can be produced, and the market price is now higher than ever before in the history of the Fullerton field.

There is much development work going on in the entire Fullerton field 24 hours every day, and there are…

The Fullerton field is now producing monthly nearly 125,000 barrels of oil, almost all of which is high gravity and it is believed the output will run up to between 175,000 and 200,000 barrels monthly within the next year.

At this time, as noted above, a number of oil companies, large and small, were drilling in the Fullerton fields. Over time, these would be consolidated or merged into larger companies.

There was, in the minds of some Californians at this time, a distrust of large corporations and trusts, as shown by the avertisement below:

Town Amenities

As the town grew, so did town amenities, like a free Reading Room (a library would be built in 1907), a new telegraph office (in the office of Tribune editor Johnson), and a new hospital.

Homelessness

Edgar Johnson’s attitude toward the homeless was particularly harsh, and not that different from the attitudes of some today. Below are a couple article headlines followed by the full text of the articles.

Orange County Constables are having considerable trouble with hobos who infest its towns. Constable Llewellyn of Anaheim has been particularly active of late in making arrests.

Nearly every day from one to a dozen of these vagrants stop in that town, but they are promptly warned to get out of the limits, under penalty of arrest. Most of them take heed and disappear, but some of the more persistent remain in the face of a threatened arrest. Several of these have been given sentences of from 30 to 90 days on the Santa Ana chain gang. A few of the sentenced ones have proved to be ex-convicts or fugitives who were waned to answer criminal charges in other California towns.

One tramp arrested at Anaheim had served all but one day of his sentence when he was identified as a burglar wanted in Ventura county. After a trial there, he was sentenced to seven years imprisonment at San Quentin.

Anaheim is not alone in being bothered by these wanderers. They abound in Fullerton and vicinity in almost as great an extent as in Anaheim. The experience with some of those arrested in the town down the road is evidence that these tramps are not only an obnoxious but in some cases a dangerous element in the country.

Tramps are coming into Los Angeles and Orange counties in squads of forty and fifty. Every freight and passenger is loaded down with hobos and the trainmen are kept busy at every stopping point in vain endeavors to keep the brake beam artists off the cars.

Friday and Saturday exactly thirty eight tramps were ditched at Newhall. 

Twelve were arrested and the other twenty-six were ordered to move on, which they refused to do until they got ready. Railroad men running on the Coast and San Juaquin divisions of the Southern Pacific railroad report that tramps have been coming into Los Angeles in increasing numbers since the rainy season began north of San Jose and Fresno. A number of these Weary Willies have floated into Fullerton the past two weeks but they have been floated our or sent to jail by the local officers. They should be watched and given to understand that they must hove on as the “City of Fullerton” can struggle along without them. In the meantime keep your back doors locked.

Water

The main local water entity in 1903 was the Anaheim Union Water Company (AUWC). They had water rights to (some of) the Santa Ana River, and shared these rights with other companies like the Santa Ana Valley Irrigation Company. These were private companies whose Board of Directors tended to be owners of large, local ranches. Water rights (also called riparian rights) were a really big deal—water is life, and profits for farmers. Around 1901, these two water companies met together to bring legal action against a Mr. Fuller, “the Riverside county land-grabber” to prevent his taking water from the Santa Ana River. This would be one of many ongoing legal battles over local water rights.

In the meetings of the AUWC, there was discussion of purchasing the water rights of James Irvine, the man whose descendants founded the Irvine Company, which now owns the city of Irvine.  In those early days, “maintaining an accurate division of the water [was] difficult if not impossible to devise.”

Like any political entity vested with power, the AUWC was occasionally hostile to journalists who were critical of its policies.  In 1903, the Board of Directors passed a resolution excluding reporters from their meetings.  Shortly thereafter, the Tribune got word that an important report had been suppressed, to which Tribune editor Johnson replied:  “The best way would be to permit the reporters to attend the meetings, then the reports and proceedings would not be suppressed.”

Meanwhile, the Anaheim Union Water Company and the Santa Ana Valley Irrigation Company cut a deal to share water rights. Mr. Sherwood, a sometimes Board Member who liked to write lengthy articles in the Tribune criticizing the AUWC, took issue with the deal. To which Samuel Armor of the Santa Ana Valley Irrigation Company replied: “G.W. Sherwood seems to be afflicted with a diarrhea of words accompanied by a costiveness of ideas.  For two years or more he has been filling the papers west of the river with misrepresentations and insinuations against the S.A.V.I. Co. until his followers have come to believe the the people on this side are equipped with hoofs and horns and forked tails.”  To which Sherwood replied: “I have always taken pleasure in setting Armor right, when he gets tangled up in the mazes of his own alleged erudition…With regard to the proposed division of water, Armor’s premises are false and his conclusions are wrong.”

Meanwhile, Fuller, the “Riverside land-grabber” lost in court.  An article gleefully proclaiming FULLER IS NON-SUITED! stated: “The decision sends a thrill of joy through the hearts of the stockholders, as it again establishes their absolute right to the waters flowing in the [Santa Ana] River for lo! these many years.  Encroachers, who may in the future attempt to divert the water from its natural course, will please take warning.  The decision further cements our rights to the life-giving fluid.”

Other News

Edward R. Amerige, who was Fullerton’s representative on the California State Assembly, was advocating for splitting northern and southern California into two states. This, or course, did not happen.

Long time rancher Theo Staley passed away at age 63.

The Bastanchurys built a new home for themselves.

Stay tuned for headlines from 1904!

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

Orla Jencks was interviewed in 1971 by Anne Riley for the Fullerton College Oral History Program. Here are some highlights from this interview, along with some historic photos of things he mentions.

He was born in South Dakota around 1895. In 1913 he moved with his parents to Fullerton, and was enrolled in Fullerton High School. He was one of the first to attend high school in its third (and current) location.

The population of the town was about 2,500 people.

He lived on the 700 block of West Commonwealth, on a small orange ranch.

He remembers the first high school principal, Delbert Brunton as well as the principals that followed–Louis Plummer and Mr. Redfern.

Jencks became good friends with Plummer and the manual training teacher R.A. Mardsen–he remembers playing tennis and fishing with them.

He describes a one-handed African-American pitcher on the high school team.

“Of course, we had no such thing as race relations and we had a one-armed colored boy and he could pitch the baseball like nobody’s business,” he said. “He could really throw. He wasn’t a large fellow…Some fellow would think ‘A one-handed pitcher, he can’t do anything.’ He’d just smile at them, you know, and fire one through and he’d fan them like nobody’s business.”

As a young man Jencks worked on the Chapman ranch, which was on the east side of Fullerton and stretched into Placentia. Chapman’s ranch was adjacent to Edward Atherton’s ostrich farm, and Jencks remembers:

“On real hot afternoons I’d have to stop and let the team rest just a little bit. So I’d grab a few oranges off and throw them over in the pasture, and the ostriches would come trotting over and they’d pick them up and have about three of them in their throat, one here and one going down. You could see them gliding down.”

The Chapman Ranch house was near the corner of State College Blvd and Commonwealth.

After graduation, he attended Fullerton Junior College when it was still in its infancy and shared a campus with the high school. His class of 1917 had 54 students.

“And as soon as I graduated from high school, World War I was waiting for me,” he remembers. “it was conscription then, and I just didn’t want to go in the Army. I didn’t like the Army. So, I tried for the Navy and finally got in. I was over in the European area during the war.”

Eventually, after the war, he went to work for Standard Oil and stayed with them for 32 years. Later he served as a director and chairman of the board for the Fullerton Savings and Loan.

He remembers how, when drilling for oil, they would find clam shells and other sea fossils because millions of years ago “all of this country at one time was sea bed. The bottom of the sea.”

He remembers the Santa Ana River before it was channelized.

“From Anaheim to Santa Ana was nothing but a sand road, no bridges,” he remembers. “You had to have a team of horses to get you across the river down there. You couldn’t go across when there was water in it because the quick sand might get you, so we’d go down there when it was dry.”

The Anaheim Union Water Company would allocate water from the Santa Ana river for farm irrigation and domestic uses. Further up the river, the water went to the Santa Ana Valley Irrigation Company.

“They’d let the water out in ditches all through and clear down on…[to] West Commonwealth about a mile or two,” he said.

Jencks discusses automobile races that would pass through Fullerton.

“They used to have cross-country races, automobile races from Los Angeles to Phoenix. And that was in the days when Barney Oldfield was a race driver, and he used to come through Fullerton, to go down to Blythe to get across the Colorado River to go across the sane hills to get to Phoenix. And he’d come through Fullerton and he had, now we’d call it, a pretty crude car, but it made a lot of noise,” he said. “He’d come down the Bastanchury Hill, and of course, he had a little steam coming down the hill, and he’d have it wide open going through Fullerton and nobody could be on the streets. And when he’d hit the Santa Fe tracks his car would just lift off the ground, and finally it’d come back down and it was very spectacular watching him! We’d never seen anything like that, because everything we had was about like Model T Ford.”

In addition to the Bastanchurys, he remembers another Basque family, the Arroues, who had about 400 acres of land between here and Brea.

He remembers Stern and Goodman, who ran the general store in town.

“The ranchers would bring in their grain to them and they would buy it from them and if they didn’t have enough grain to pay for this year’s expenses, Stern or Goodman would give them the money. Just word of mouth–and when the year came around, they’d bring their hay and grain in,” he said. “That’s the way life went with them. They didn’t have to really use money. Just a little paper work, that was the way it was. Of course, that helped the country build here because the banks were so small that they couldn’t finance all of these ranchers around there that had to have help.”

Jencks also gives extensive information about the Bordurf family.

Henry A. Burdorf left Germany in 1868 for America. When he arrived in New York he heard that work was plentiful in California and arranged to make the trip. He traveled by boat to the Isthmus of Panama and then by mule across the Isthmus...After working in San Francisco for a year or two, he heard of a German settlement in Anaheim. He decided to come south to see the area. After working for two or three years he decided to buy some land. With two friends for neighbors, he bought one hundred acres of land on East Orangethorpe Avenue...

It was hard to make a living at dry farming, and Mr. Burdorf was instrumental in bringing water from the Santa Ana River. It was later known as the Anaheim Union Water Company.

After the families began to grow it was necessary to build a school. Mr. Burdorf was a member of the first school board, and they built the first school house at the corner of Wilshire and Harvard, known as the Old Red Brick School.

As time went on the family grew until there were nine children in the family and their names were Henry, Marie, Sophia, Dorotny, Anne, Diedrich, Rebecca, Augusta, and Eleanor. All of the children went to school in the grade and high schools of Fullerton.

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

For this series of posts, I will find a historic photo of Fullerton and then juxtapose it with a photo of the same subject matter today, from approximately the same angle.

For this first post, I begin with one of the first photos taken of Fullerton, the corner of Spadra (now Harbor) and Commonwealth Avenue, taken in 1889 (below). Left to right, the buildings are: The Chadbourne Building (a social hall with some businesses), The St. George Hotel (which no longer exists), and Stern and Goodman’s (a general store).

Below is the corner today. Left to right, the buildings are: Salon Technique, Mickey’s Irish Pub, and Cha2O, a Vietnamese restaurant that is now closed.