• Otto Evans: Candy Store Owner

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. On December 22, 1977, a little more than three months before he died, Otto Evans, who owned a candy store in downtown Fullerton for nearly 40 years, was interviewed by C. Dean McComber. In a…

  • The Spencer Family: Citrus Ranchers

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. Clarence S. Spencer was born in Chariton, Iowa, in 1881 to Thomas and Mary A. Spencer. His father was both a physician and a druggist. In 1888, the family moved out west to the town of…

  • Fullerton College in 1925

    Fullerton College in 1925

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. Lately, I’ve been going through the digital archives of Fullerton College’s student newspaper, the Torch. The Fullerton College library web site contains digital issues of the Torch going back to 1923. So far I’ve included…

  • The Jaysee Torch: 1924

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. The Fullerton College web site contains digital archives of the Weekly Torch [also called the Jaysee Torch], Fullerton College’s newspaper, stretching all the way back to 1923–when the college shared grounds with Fullerton High School.…

  • Oral Histories: Margaret O’Hanlon

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. The following is an excerpt from an interview for the Fullerton Community History Project with former Fullerton resident Margaret O’Hanlon. The interview was conducted and recorded by Anne Riley in 1971. Margaret’s husband, Dan O’Hanlon,…

  • Ernest S. Gregory: Homebuilder/Developer

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. Ernest Gregory was born in 1881 in Chesterfield County, Virginia and raised on a  farm. At age 19 he moved to Fullerton, where he learned carpentry with contractor C.H. Smith. He also studied at Throop Polytechnic…

  • FJC Weekly Torch: 1923

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. The Fullerton College web site contains digital archives of the Weekly Torch, Fullerton College’s newspaper, stretching all the way back to 1923–when the college shared grounds with Fullerton High School. As part of my research…

  • Tom Pappas: World War I Veteran and Confectionary Store Owner

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. “If the details of the life of Tom Pappas, proprietor of the Chateau Thierry cafe and confectionery, at 116 N. Spadra Street [now Harbor Blvd.], Fullerton, were written, it would make as interesting reading as a tale…

  • Richard Nixon’s Years at Fullerton High School

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. When I attended Fullerton Union High School, I remember hearing that former president Richard Nixon had attended my school. I never thought about it much since then, but as I’ve been researching the history of…

  • Fullerton Tribune: 1893

    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…