1927 Street Name and Building Number Changes

In December 1926 two City Ordinances were proposed to the La Verne City Board of Trustees (the governing body that preceded the City Council) regarding street name changes (No. 106) and building numbering (No. 107). These ordinances were approved and adopted at the Board’s meeting of January 3, 1927, and published in the La Verne Leader on January 6, 1927.

Ordinance No. 106 called for the changing of South 1^st Street to Walnut Street and South 2^nd Street to Orange Street. Here is the Leader article from January 6, 1927:

Ordinance No. 106 affected the people in only a few blocks, but No. 107 affected those people as well as every other building owner in the city. It called for a new numbering system throughout the city. The previous numbering system was similar to what San Dimas had and still has, a three (in a few areas, four) digit number with an east-west or north-south designation. Now, all numbers would be four digits. Here is the Leader article regarding Ordinance No. 107, published on January 6, 1927:

This article from the Leader, published on February 24, 1927, gives more details about the numbering system and how to determine the number of a building. There are a couple of errors in the sixth paragraph. It should read “Numbers on the north and west sides of the street will be odd, and those on the east and south will be even.”:

To help in my own research, as well what others may be doing, I have created a document that indicates La Verne building numbers before and after the 1927 numbering change. I haven’t completed it yet and there are no doubt errors in some of what I have done. Sometimes it appears that there was more than one number assigned to a building. Some buildings were built in 1926 and I have no record of the old number. Where there were vacant lots before 1927, and subsequent building took place, I have indicated the year of construction in parentheses. I hope to find more information as new sources come to my attention. I welcome any information or questions my readers might have. I intend to revise this from time to time, but here is what I have found so far (Six Pages):

La Verne Business Ads from 1946

I was born in 1946 in Park Avenue Hospital in Pomona at a time when my parents lived at 1970 Seventh Street in La Verne. I am posting a sampling of advertisements from various sources published that year for La Verne businesses.

Here is an ad for the First National Bank of La Verne from the 1946 Bonita High Echoes yearbook. The bank was located at 2307 “D” Street, now the site of Aoki Japanese Restaurant. The bank occupied that spot from 1910 until 1954 when a new building was built one block north at 2079 4^th Street, now Bonita Avenue:

This ad for Baker’s Sweet Shop was published in the 1946 La Verne College Lambda yearbook. The building was replaced in 1980 by a two-story suite of offices and it now houses a variety of businesses:

The 1946 Bonita Echoes published this ad for Bishop’s Cleaners at 2336 “D” Street. That building now houses Wild Earth Spa:

The La Verne Leader ran this ad for La Verne Feed and Fuel on December 13, 1946. This building eventually became the La Verne Fire Station and was located where the parking lot for the present Fire Station now sits at the northeast corner of 3rd and "C" Streets. Note the sale of coal and coke for heating and cooking:

This ad for Everybody’s Garage was published in the April 12, 1946 issue of the La Verne Leader. The garage was located west of City Hall on property now occupied by the La Verne Public Safety Building:

The 1946 Bonita Echoes contained this ad for Chuck Overholtzer’s Insurance business. He was City Clerk at this time and had his business office at City Hall. City Hall at that time was located where the Police Station parking lot is now:

This ad, also from the 1946 Echoes, is for La Verne Malt Shop. It occupied the western-most building of the three buildings (2121, 2123 and 2125 3^rd Street) that now house Henderson Insurance Services, 2123 3^rd Street:

The 1946 La Verne College Lambda had this ad for Jack Chesney’s Tractor and Truck repair shop. It was located in a building that is now occupied by two businesses, Serendipity Spa Boutique (2134) and Chase’s Restaurant (2136):

This is the masthead from the December 13, 1946 issue of the La Verne Leader. A weekly newspaper, the Leader began in 1910 as the Lordsburg-La Verne Leader. In 1946 the Leader was located in an area that is now a driveway on the west side of the Telephone Building:

The Leader for April 12, 1946 ran this ad for the dental office of Dr. Worth. The building (2122 Bonita Avenue) is now occupied by a Mexican Restaurant:

In the same issue of the Leader is an ad for Smith Realty, across the alley to the east from Dr. Worth. The building is now occupied by La Verne Animal Hospital:

The 1946 Echoes carried this ad for Entre Naranjos Café, located at 1917 Foothill Blvd. Entre Naranjos is Spanish for Among Orange Trees. The café later became The Old Corral. The building is gone as are the orange trees. A building at the northwest corner of Emerald Avenue, numbered 1911 Foothill Blvd., houses several businesses and is located approximately where the café was:

The History of Palomares School in The La Verne Leader

I find that one of the best ways to present a history is to use contemporary writing like that which is found in local newspapers. The La Verne Leader began publication in 1910 as The Lordsburg-La Verne Leader, a newspaper that reported on happenings in the city of Lordsburg and the community of La Verne to the north. The newspaper changed its name in 1917 when Lordsburg became La Verne. The community to the north became La Verne Heights.

At the time the grammar school was built in about 1908, its main building was adequate for the number of pupils in the city. The new Sloyd or Manual Arts building that was added in 1913 would have opened up more classroom space in the main building.

This article from the June 6, 1921 issue of the Leader reports on the eighth grade graduation. One of my mom’s older brothers, Homer Jay Kreps, was in that class. There were 24 members. We will soon see an article about a later class to demonstrate the growth of the school.

As time went on, more people came to live in La Verne and it was deemed necessary to expand the main building. By 1922 it was decided to do this by adding a wing of classrooms on both the north and south sides of the old building and remodeling the main building to conform to the new structures. This architect’s drawing appeared in the Leader on March 23, 1922.

This article from the Leader issue of August 24, 1922 tells of the progress to date.

This article from the Leader for May 28, 1925 tells of the coming eighth grade graduation. My mom, Esther M. Kreps, was a member of that class of 33 pupils. Even though that is only nine more than in 1921, it is an almost 38 percent increase over that four year period.

This June 3, 1926 Leader article tells of newly hired teachers. Some of them had long careers in the district.

This July 1, 1926 Leader article tells of re-roofing the central building and a program of general improvement. However, something of more significance, historically, is the mention of the need to handle the overflow of pupils. There is a short-term solution to what is called “The Mexican Problem,” and also the proposal of an additional school.

This September 16, 1926 Leader article tells of the new principal’s program and the teachers for the coming year. You can see by some of the classes that there was already some segregation in the school.

Less than six months later on February 24, 1927 we find a Leader article telling of the decision to build a separate school for the Mexican children.

A week later, on March 3, 1927, we have the following Leader article about funding for the new school.

On March 31, 1927, the Leader ran an article about the new school giving details about construction and proposed costs.

In another post on this blog, these lines give more details about the new school:

In the spring of 1927 bonds for $25,000 were voted by the citizens and a new five room steel and tile building was constructed at the corner of “A” and Palomares streets, especially for the Mexican school population. All of the Mexican children were required to go to this school except those in the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. According to law, a principal was appointed for each building, and the office of district superintendent was created.

On the new building $17,000 was expended and the remainder of the bond issue was spent in equipment and rearranging of the rooms of the Lincoln School. An auditorium was extremely necessary and the waste space in the central building of the Lincoln School, including one small classroom, was built into an auditorium with a nice stage and room for 200 people.

In this October 13, 1927 Leader article we find that the school was being used even before its completion. I apologize for the quality of this copy and hope everyone can read it. Let me know if you want clarification.

Palomares School, located at the Southwest corner of Palomares and "A" Streets, is shown at the bottom of this 1952 photo from the La Verne College Lambda yearbook. The L-shaped building was built in 1927 and the straight building below it was added in 1937. The large building to the east is Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, torn down in 1968 to allow for the widening of Arrow Highway.

Even though the school opened in the Fall of 1927, it was not named until 1928. Nor was the "D" Street school named Lincoln until that time, the two schools being referred to as Unit No. 1 and Unit No. 2 of the City Grammar School. This June 21, 1928 Leader article tells of the naming of the schools and the teachers assigned to each for the coming year.

Segregation of the elementary schools ended in 1947 and that Fall all children of the La Verne City School District in Kindergarten and grades one and two began attending Palomares School. Those in grades three through eight attended Lincoln School. In the Fall of 1949 a new primary school went into operation and Palomares School began being used for recreation and other purposes.