CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Anaheim, California, today is a modern, prosperous city of over 17,000 inhabitants. It is the world's largest exporting center of Valencia oranges and citrus by-products, and in this post-World War II period is rapidly adding industrial enterprises to its economy.
Less than two centuries ago the area in which Anaheim is located was first visited by white men in the party of Gaspar Portola who in 1769 led a band of sixty-three men from San Diego in search of Monterey. Later men whose names are famous in California history crossed the territory in their treks up and down the state in missionary, colonizing, and military endeavors - Father Junipero Serra, Father Fermin Francisco Lasuen, Juan Bautista de Anza, various Spanish and Mexican governors, John C. Fremont, "Kit" Carson, Commodore Robert F. Stockton, General Stephen W. Kearny, and many others.
The land upon which this future city was built was a part of a Mexican rancho, Rancho San Juan Cajon de Santa Ana, granted to Juan Pacifico Ontiveras in 1837. It is in 1857 that the story of this paper begins, when the first Americans, men and women of German descent, settled on the rancho.
There were only two American settlements in southern California when the German-Americans came to Rancho San Juan Cajon de Santa Ana. Many individuals or family groups had come to southern California, but none had formed organized colonies until in 1851, when immigrants from Texas coming to California over the southern route had formed a settlement twelve miles east of Los Angeles on the San Gabriel River which they named El Monte. El Monte became a successful, though small, agricultural community noted especially for its ruthless methods of ridding the community of lawbreakers. A few months after the founding of El Monte, a party came through Cajon Pass from Salt Lake City to establish an outpost of the Mormon empire at what was to be San Bernardino. This community, based in its physical organization on Salt Lake City, also became a thriving agricultural and small-scale industrial settlement, until 1859, when Brigham Young, the great Mormon leader, recalled the colonists to Salt Lake City. Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo were Spanish centers of population at this time.
The German colony at Anaheim was an unusual one for southern California -- or for anywhere for that matter. To begin with, it was cooperative in nature. A group of individuals, few, if any, of whom would have been able independently to afford the purchase of a farm the size of those granted through the cooperative venture, banded together, pooling their resources in a stockholding enterprise and established a wine-producing community. None of the participants were agriculturists by occupation, nor were any familiar with irrigation practices which were to prove essential in maintaining their economy. Another unusual feature is that members of the company bought shares in the project without first seeing the site of the proposed colony and continued to purchase stock for two years or more before taking possession, during which period the. colony was in process of establishment by a paid manager elected by the shareholders.
There was no common religious tie for the colony as had been the basis for settlement in so many colonization schemes throughout the United States. The people involved were hard-working, determined individuals who knew they wanted to leave San Francisco, where most of them had been living, and establish an agricultural community. This is the story of how that community was built and how it progressed for a period of approximately a quarter of a century when a mysterious disease struck its vineyards and destroyed the basic economic activity.
If there is a disproportionate amount of material here on the Los Angeles Vineyard Society period, it is for two reasons: (1) the source material available to the writer was more abundant, and (2) the writer found this chapter of the city's history more interesting because of its uniqueness.
CHAPTER II
PRELUDE TO SETTLEMENT
Colonizers of the Anaheim settlement originally came to the United States from Germany, coming from all parts of Germany except its eastern border. The majority of them were living in San Francisco when the plan of settlement was formulated.
Why and when these particular Germans came to the United States and to the West is mostly a matter of speculation. The German element in the United States in the nineteenth century was the largest of any foreign element, 5,009,280 entering from Germany during the century, and unchecked by the vastness of their new homeland, pushed on westward with the frontier until they reached the Pacific Coast. There is a possibility that many of those composing the Anaheim colony had emigrated to the United States following the revolutionary troubles in 1848. They may have come earlier during the decade 1831 to 1840, a decade with a great increase of emigration from Germany due to over-population, over-production, and the decline of the small hand industries which were finding competition with the new factory system. Conditions in the United States during the decade of the thirties were conducive to immigration, for as Frederick Jackson Turner stated, it was an era of land speculation, town-building, and westward movement. "Cheap lands, light taxes, the need of laborers, and the opportunity to gain a competence in a short time by toil-these were conditions that attracted the Germans."
There were persons of German ancestry among gold seekers coming to California in the rush of 1849 and in succeeding years. There had been Germans in California previous to the gold rush, also. The first organized party of emigrants which arrived at John A. Sutter's colony in New Helvetia in the Sacramento 4 Valley in 1841 was to a large extent composed of Germans. Merchants, trappers, and artisans of various types had arrived in both Los Angeles and San Francisco in the thirties and forties from Germany.
Coming from Austria to the gold mines of California in 1850 by way of Cape Horn and Peru and to Los Angeles in 1853 was George Hansen who was to play a prominent part in the founding of the Anaheim community. Mr. Hansen was a civil engineer and surveyor, who during his residence in southern California probably made more land surveys in Los Angeles and adjoining counties than any other person. He attained the position of deputy county surveyor of Los Angeles County. Also in Los Angeles at this time was John Frohling, a German musician who had come to California in 1849 by way of New York and St. Louis and who in 1852 had planted a vineyard of 3,000 vines in Los Angeles along with Charles Kohler, also a German musician who had come to New York in 1849 and to San Francisco by way of the Isthmus of Panama in 1852. Kohler and Frohling opened a wine shop in a basement on Merchant Street in San Francisco in 1854. In 1855, Mr. Hansen, Mr. Frohling, and Otto Weyse, editor of the Democrat, a San Francisco newspaper, met to discuss plans for buying land, planting it in vines, and establishing a German colony. This is the first record of the thinking which was to result in the Anaheim colony.
Viticulture in the mid-nineteenth century in southern California was, next to the livestock industry, the most valuable industry. The demand for wine greatly exceeded the supply, and it appeared to these Germans that this would be a profitable way to make a living. The success of Arpad Haraszthy, a pioneer vintner of Hungarian origin, in grape growing in Sonoma County was an example to them of the possibilities of that type of livelihood. Grapes were bringing high prices, and there were profits from the wine business. The early fifties was a time when nearly every land owner caught the "wine fever, " entertaining the idea that the planting of a few thousand vines would make him rich, and "vineyards sprang up as if by magic all over California. " In 1855, the number of vines in California was listed by one source as 324,234; the next year there were nearly 1,500,000; in 1857, there were 2,000,000; in 1858, 4,000,000; and in 1859, 6,500,000.
The possibilities of a cooperative grape-growing enterprise were tempting to this group of San Francisco Germans. They saw in a venture of this type a chance to invest their money profitably and an opportunity to leave the city with its current iniquities and live an outdoor life on their own homesteads. Furthermore, grape cultivation was an endeavor with a ready appeal to Germans, who as a national group, had been successful viticulturists in their native land and had attempted grape cultivation elsewhere in the United States with a certain amount of success.
Those who expressed interest in the cooperative project were of various occupations, some not too successful in their respective callings. In the main they were artisans. Of those that actually made up the settlement there were several carpenters, a gunsmith, an engraver, three watchmakers, four blacksmiths, a brewer, a teacher, a shoemaker, a miller, several merchants, a bookbinder, a poet, four or five musicians, a hatter, some teamsters, a hotel-keeper-and "not a farmer among them all, pray notice. " Coming from such a wine-producing country as Germany, it was taken for granted, however, that they would understand more about the wine business than other groups in America. These Germans knew enough about grape growing to be convinced that California had great possibilities in that form of agriculture.
Establishment of the Vineyard Society
Plans for a vineyard society as discussed materialized into a cooperative venture known as the "Los Angeles Vineyard Society, " the first recorded meeting of which was held in San Francisco on February 24, 1857. At this meeting presided over by Otmar Caler, George Hansen, the Los Angeles surveyor, addressed the group concerning the profit and advisability of grape culture. By-laws were presented by Mr. Hansen as drawn up by a committee, these by-laws providing for five trustees, seven directors, a president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer, with provision for election of officers and meeting dates. The by-laws, with provision to change them by two-thirds majority at a general meeting, were adopted.
According to the by-laws, there was to be a superintendent or overseer of the Society who would be a stockholder in the company, giving bond for the fulfillment of his contract. His first responsibility was to select a suitable site for the vineyard, obtaining a map of property to be considered and submitting it to the board of directors of the Society along with legal papers and title to land for which he recommended purchase. After the land was purchased, the next duty of the superintendent was to fence it, construct buildings for housing equipment and laborers, whom he was to oversee, and build water canals. Then would come preparation of the land for planting of grape vines and fruit trees. The superintendent was to plant eight acres out of every ten to grape vines and one acre to fruit trees, leaving one acre to fruit trees, leaving one acre for house and farm buildings. The executive committee, according to these by-laws, would furnish the superintendent with funds to meet the bills he would submit, for he was not allowed to contract any debts. The by-laws provided for this further obligation for their overseer:
He is instructed to further the welfare of the Society in any way possible. He is to furnish the Board of Directors an exact report of all the conditions favorable or unfavorable to the Society and to report on climatic conditions.
Mr. Hansen was unanimously elected superintendent at the meeting on March 2, 1857, for a three-year period with a salary of $200 a month, $150 to be paid at the end of each month and $50, a month to be retained until his contract had expired. 1 fi Bond of $5,000 was posted for the fulfillment of his duties.
At the previous meeting on February 28, attended by twenty-two men and one woman, twenty-seven shares of stock in the Society were subscribed at twenty-five dollars each, which was a ten per cent payment on a share at that time. Otmar Caler was elected president of the Society, Charles Kohler, Vice-president, John Fischer, secretary, and Cyrus Beythien, treasurer. A board of directors of seven 17 members was also elected.
It was reported at the meeting on April 6, that all stock allotted to residents of San Francisco, forty-two shares, had been subscribed. It was resolved at the next meeting that four shares of the remaining eight should be reserved for Americans living in Los Angeles. Mr. Hansen was to be instructed to select men who would 19 be of the greatest benefit to the Society.
Selection of a Site
One of the first assignments of the superintendent as incorporated in the by-laws was to select land for the enterprise. He had early success, for at the April 30 meeting of the directors of the Vineyard Society it was resolved and adopted that Mr. Hansen be instructed to purchase from Keller's Ranch one thousand acres at the rate of $2. 50 per acre with the privilege of buying a further thousand acres at the same figure within one year. A second provision of the resolution was that in the event Mr. Hansen should have found another tract of land more suitable to the Society than this piece, then the terms as would apply to the Keller's Ranch purchase should be transferred to the new site. It was wise that this provision was incorporated in the resolution, for the purchase was not consummated. A second site considered was on the Rancho Santa Gertrudis on the San Gabriel River, near the present site of Downey. This purchase was not completed either.
The minutes of the meetings in June and July expressed discontent over failure of Mr. Hansen to purchase a site for the colony. The vice-president, Mr. Kohler, went by steamer to Los, Angeles in June to confer with Mr. Hansen and lend his support to the selection of a suitable piece of land. At the meeting on June 15, when further disappointment over delay of land purchase was noted, two members of the Society turned back their stock.
A detailed report from Manager Hansen regarding the advantages and disadvantages of several proposed sites for the colony and the distance from them to Los Angeles was presented to the Society at the directors' meeting on July 27, 1857, and "after due consideration, the manager was to be instructed to buy the Santa Ana land." This land was part of the Rancho San Juan Cajon de Santa Ana which had been granted to Juan Pacifico Ontiveras on May 13, 1837, by Mexican Governor Juan B. Alvarado. At the meeting on August 15, Vice-president Kohler, having returned from southern 27 California, reported favorably on this selection. The land, said to be level, was situated twenty-seven miles southeast from Los Angeles on the crossroads of wagon trails between San Pedro, San Bernardino, and Salt Lake City, and on the stage road between Los Angeles and San Diego. The directors passed resolutions to abandon negotiations for land on the ranches on the San Gabriel and the manager was to be instructed to buy, at a cost not to exceed two dollars per acre, enough land on the Santa Ana River so each of the fifty shareholders would have twenty acres of tillable land and enough more for public streets and at least one public building. Provision was also to be made for the privilege of bringing water from the river through the adjoining lands without interference in perpetuity. It was further voted that all stockholders were to be notified to pay in the remaining ninety per cent of their shares on or before September 21, 1857.
Official incorporation of the Los Angeles Vineyard Society was noted in the minutes of September 15, 1857, and a resolution was passed declaring legal all previous business transacted. In the Certificate of Association the statement was made that the subscribers "associated themselves together as a corporation for the purpose of manufacturing wine from grapes grown in the County of Los Angeles in the said State of California. " Capital stock of the company was given as $37,500, divided into fifty equal shares of $750 each. The principal place of business was to be in San Francisco and mechanical operations of the company were to be conducted in Los Angeles County, at Rancho San Juan Cajon de Santa Ana. According to the Certificate of Association, duration of the Association was to be until May 1, 1860. Provision was made for management of affairs of the Society by 32 a board of eleven trustees.
Purchase of the land at Bancho San Juan Cajon de Santa Ana is recorded in a deed dated September 12, 1857, between Juan Pacifico Ontiveras and Martina Osuna, his wife, grantors, and John Frohling and George Hansen, grantees. The deed provided that for the sum of $2,330 the parties of the first part "do grant, bargain, sell, alien, remise, release, convey and confirm unto the said parties of the second part, and to their heirs and assigns forever" the land known as the Rancho San Juan Cajon de Santa Ana, bounded and described as follows:
Commencing at a point on said rancho where there is a stake, and which stake is 9 chains and 50 links south, 70 1/2 degrees west of the western comer of a small garden belonging to said Ontiveras, and which is situate about 3 1/4 miles westerly of the house now occupied by said Ontiveras, and running thence . . . from said point north 15 1/2 degrees west 42 chains, thence south 74 1/2 degrees west 116 chains and 50 links, thence south 15 1/2 degrees east 100 chains, thence north 74 1/2 degrees east 116 chains and 50 links, thence north 15 1/2 degrees west 58 chains to the place of beginning, and containing in all 1165 acres of land and also the right of way in and over a strip of land 12 varas wide, running through their said rancho, . . . for the purpose of making a ditch of capacity to carry water sufficient to irrigate the said piece of parcel of land . . . and also the privilege of using so much of the water from the Santa Ana River as appertains to their said rancho, for the purpose of irrigating the same . . . together with the privilege of making such other ditches through their said rancho as may be necessary for irrigating and cultivating said tract of land . . . .
Previous to signing the deed with Frohling and Hansen, Juan PacificoOntiveras had signed a deed with Bernardo Yorba granting him for the sum of $200 a right of way in and over a certain strip of the Yorba lands commencing at a point one hundred varas below a dam in the Santa Ana River sufficiently wide for the construction of a water ditch of capacity to hold and convey enough water for irrigating 1,200 acres of land with adequate space on either side of the ditch for the passage of a man on horseback for the purpose of inspecting and keeping the ditch in order. Under this agreement Don Bernardo Yorba was not to be liable for any damage done by reason of cattle, horses, or other stock passing over his land. This privilege of a right of way to the Santa Ana River, a distance of five or six miles, and to be very important in the life of the colony at Anaheim, was conveyed to Frohling and Hansen from Don Juan Ontiveras and his wife in a separate deed for payment of ten dollars.
John Frohling and George Hansen in an indenture dated October 5, 1857, conveyed to the trustees of the Los Angeles Vineyard Society for the sum of $2,330 the land they had purchased for the same amount from Don Juan Ontiveras. Mr. Frohling and Mr. Hansen also signed an indenture with the trustees conveying for ten dollars the right of way from the colony site to the Santa Ana River for purposes of building an irrigation ditch. The colony was now legally established, although in name only, for none of the shareholders had as yet taken residence on the site and would not for approximately two years. The Los Angeles Star on September 19, 1857, reported its first announcement of the enterprise, mention that the company had at last succeeded in obtaining land suitable to its purpose. The article called this project the most important every contemplated in southern California, and "as it is to be carried out by energetic, practical men, there can, of course be no doubt of its full success, especially as the stock required is already paid up." Actually, several increases in the capital were made after this date and by no means had enough stock been subscribed at the time of this article to meet the requirements.
Capital stock of the Los Angeles Vineyard Society when incorporated in October, 1857, had been $37,000. On July 19, 1858, the capital stock was raised to $60,000, and to $80,000 in August, 1859. in September of that year, it was increased to $92,000. There were some who invested in the stock for speculation only, and consequently, there was a heavy turnover in shares within a few years after the Society's founding. There had been an agreement in the corporation that stockholders who wished to dispose of their stock must list it with the secretary with the price asked, and if no members of the Society wanted it, then it would be the privilege of the owner to sell to a non-stockholder.
CHAPTER III
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COLONY
With the Society incorporated, a site selected, and land purchased, a next step was development of land and planting of vines in preparation for taking possession of their land by the shareholders. Improvements were to be made gradually, not only because of the physical difficulties to be overcome, but because it must be watched that payments for labor and supplies did not exceed the monthly assessments of the shareholders, who in general would be considered poor economically, for the organization did not have credit in the beginning and could not contract debts.
The tract to be developed was one and one-fourth miles long (north and south) and one and one-half miles wide (east and west), sub humid and practically barren except for cactus, sage-brush, and weeds. It is said that Don Juan Ontiveras told his purchasers the land was not fit pasturage for goats. It was sandy, however, and with waters of the Santa Ana for irrigation, there was good reason to believe it could be developed for viticultural purposes.
One of the first acts of the superintendent after the purchase was to begin construction of the zanja or irrigation canal. A ditch was dug from the Santa Ana River to the settlement, a distance of approximately five miles, and on through the colony for two and one-half miles. The ditch was six feet wide on the bottom, eight feet wide on top, and two feet deep. Conductors for leading the water over the grounds were dug, nine of which were one and one-half miles long and fourteen, one and one-quarter miles long. These canals were four to five feet wide and one and one-half feet deep. In addition there were three hundred miles of subsidiary ditches through the grounds. The average velocity of the water was two miles per hour, discharging 211,200 cubic feet per hour or 5,068, 800 cubic feet of water per day.
Water reached the settlement through a main canal at the northeast corner of the tract and by a secondary canal a little farther south near the present location of Santa Ana and East streets, a fall of twenty feet from the river. The tract was located on the lower end of a large alluvial fan of the Santa Ana River, and distrlbutary ditches were surveyed to conform to the slope of the fan.
The canal banks were lined with willow cuttings to shade the stream from excessive evaporation. The willows, however, absorbed too much water, so they were eventually uprooted and used for firewood and not replaced.
Another important early project of the superintendent was division of the colony into fifty twenty-acre lots, with the central forty acres of the tract divided into fifty village house lots and fourteen additional village lots reserved for a schoolhouse and other public buildings. It was originally intended that colonists would build their homes on the town lots, which were 140 by 181.5 feet, and commute to their vineyards. Time proved that they preferred to have their homes on their twenty-acre farm lots. Six streets running north and south were planned and received the names of Los Angeles, Orange, Lemon, Olive, Palm, and Citron, and bounded by East and West streets. Three streets were to run east and west: Sycamore, Center, and Santa Ana, with North and South streets on the boundaries.
Each of the twenty-acre lots was fenced with willows, five and a half miles of outside fencing and thirty-five miles of inside fencing. It is estimated forty to fifty thousand willow cuttings, planted three feet deep and placed at intervals of one and one-half to two feet and strengthened by three horizontal poles composed the outside fence. Cross pieces with rawhide were fastened on the willows.
A ditch four feet deep, six feet wide at the top, sloping to a breadth of one foot at the bottom also surrounded the colony. For further protection, the Anaheim Water Company, meeting January 10, 1862, authorized that six feet of ground all around the colony outside the fences be plowed and planted to cactus. Intrusion of cultivated fields by cattle, coyotes, foxes, badgers, and other destructive animals throughout the southern California area necessitated these several protective measures.
Planting of the vines was a major task of the superintendent who in January, 1858, declared his intention to fence the acreage and plant vines on each of the twenty-acre lots and the following year to plant five more acres in vines. Eight acres of vines, estimated at 8, 000 vines, were planted first on each of the lots. The cuttings came from vineyards in Los Angeles and Santa Ana areas. In speaking of Mr. Hansen, one contemporary said, "I remember that I supplied him some eighty thousand grape cuttings in the winter of 1858-1859, which I obtained from the vineyards of Mr. William Wolfskill. " The board of the Los Angeles Vineyard Society in November, 1857, had decided to write the Patent Office in Washington for information regarding the best grape varieties to plant for the different wines. As it developed, Mission grapes were the chief variety planted, although in years to come, Muscat, Carignon, Zinfandel, Black Malvoisie, Mataro, Trousseau, Biesling, Golden Chasselas, and Fontenac (Berger) varieties were to be found in Anaheim vineyards. The Mission grape, also known as the Spanish Barcelona grape, was introduced into California by padres of the order of San Francisco and held the reputation of most productive, healthy, and remunerative species to be cultivated in the state.
Digging an irrigation canal, dividing land into lots, constructing a fence, planting vines and fruit trees, and launching various other projects in connection with creation of a settlement required considerable personnel and equipment. The Los Angeles Star, January 30, 1858, reported that "as may be expected, Anaheim is a busy place. All is life, industry and activity." The article stated that at the time there were employed seven men, fourteen horses, and seven plows in making ditches; one man, one wagon, and two horses procuring provisions and firewood; fourteen men, fourteen wagons, and fifty-six horses in hauling fence poles; one wagon and ten horses in bringing cuttings; thirty-three men making ditches and fences; two overseers, besides cooks and miscellaneous help, making a total of eighty-eight men, ten women, eighty-four horses, seven plows, and seventeen wagons, all at a daily expense of $216. Indians were employed as laborers. The Yaquis from Mexico were satisfactory workers and could be trusted if treated well. These, however, disappeared late in 1860, and the California Indians which replaced them proved to be inefficient workers because of their general lack of dependability and ambition. Chinese brought from San Francisco proved more capable, were industrious, sober, clean, and peaceful in contrast to the Indians. According to the minutes of the Los Angeles Vineyard Society of September 20, 1857, a committee was appointed to see about sending Chinese down to work for the Society, their wages to be twenty dollars per month with board and lodging. Mrs. Frohling, wife of John Frohling, wrote in her memoirs that thirty Chinese came to the colony and each was given a town lot.
Naming the Settlement
An important item in formation of the colony was selection of its name. At a meeting of the stockholders at Leutgen's Hotel on Montgomery Street in San Francisco on January 15, 1858, the decision was made. On the first ballot, the name "Annaheim" (spelled at that time and in the minutes of the Society until March 12, 1859, with two "n's") as submitted by Theodore Schmidt polled eighteen votes, with "Annagau" second with seventeen votes, and "Weinheim" the third choice, receiving one vote. On the second ballot "Annaheim" received twenty votes and "Annagau" eighteen, the name "Annaheim" then being declared the name of the colony.
Distribution of the Property
The colony was progressing so that the time could be foreseen when owners of shares in the Society would take occupancy of their property. In October, 1858, the directors decided to sell the fourteen building lots at $100 each, providing the purchaser of each by May 1, 1859, would put on $250 improvements. He would then get the deed to his property a year after that. The building lots were distributed by a drawing on February 28, 1859. In August, 1859, it was resolved to set September 12, as the date for distribution of the twenty-acre lots to their respective owners.
Expenses of the settlement up to September 13, 1859, two years after purchase of the land, amounted to approximately $60,000. The land itself cost $2,330. Wages paid to field laborers amounted to $20, 000. For grape cuttings $2,300 was expended; for job expenses, $1,156; transportation, $1,138; provisions, $14,500; stable, $219; smith's shop, $560; horses, $1,200; kitchen, $550; fence poles, $3,353; carpenter shop, $205; lumber and buildings, $2,200; agricultural tools, $2,500; blankets, furniture, forage, arms, fuel, legal services, medicines, and stationery, $5,459. Money had been forwarded regularly from San Francisco, where the stockholders made their payments, to the sub-treasurer in Los Angeles, in order to meet these expenses.
At a stockholders meeting on September 12, the twenty-acre lots were distributed by lottery. Since the lots had been appraised at values ranging from $600 to $1, 840, with an average value of $1,400, it was resolved that those who drew lots valued at more than $1,400 must pay the difference to the board of directors by October 21, so that by November 21, those who drew lots valued less than $1,400 could be paid the difference, and after these adjustments the owners would then receive their titles.
The personal property of the Society was sold at public auction on November 21, 1859, on which date all workmen were discharged and owners of lots assumed their management, the cooperative character of the colony ceasing. These effects of the company consisted of tools, horses, and materials that had been used in the development during formative days. Disposal of resources remaining after this sale was handled by a resolution on February 11, 1860, by the board of directors as follows:
RESOLVED, that the money on hand, after retaining $650.00 for attorney fees notary fees and other expenses that might occur before final closing of the Society's business, be distributed equally to stockholders on February 14, 1860."
On November 1, 1859, the certificate of incorporation of the Anaheim Water Company, the successor to the Los Angeles Vineyard Society, was discussed by the Vineyard Society shareholders. On November 2, an indenture was signed between the directors of the Society and the Los Angeles Vineyard Society to which for one dollar the directors granted rights and privileges to the land on which the colony was established and which Juan Pacifico Ontiveras had granted to Messrs. Frohling and Hansen over two years previous. The certificate was filed ten days later, providing for capital stock of $20, 000, with a duration of fifty years. The number of shares of capital stock was to be fifty and the number of trustees, who were to manage the concerns of the company for the first three months after its formation, five. There could be no sale or transfer of the company stock or water-right except by conveyance of the vineyard lot to which the stock was appurtenant. The purpose of the water company was said to be for "supplying and selling water for agricultural, mechanical, and manufacturing purposes to the inhabitants of the settlement known by the name of Anaheim."
The Los Angeles Vineyard Society deeded to the Anaheim Water Company for $10, 000 title to the 1,165 acres of land, the irrigation ditch to the Santa Ana River, the strip of land bordering the ditch, and privilege of bringing water from the river to the colony. In this indenture each of the fifty lots sold to the Water Company was specified as twelve chains wide and seventeen chains long and containing 20.4 acres. The following streets, three rods wide, were mentioned in the deed; Orange, Olive, Los Angeles, Lemon, Palm, Citron, West, North, Sycamore, Center, Santa Ana, and South; and East Street, four rods wide, was also included in the deed.
The last recorded meeting of the stockholders of the Vineyard Society was held April 30, 1860, after which the records were assigned to the Anaheim Water Company. George Hansen, superintendent of the Society, before its dissolution, received from the company he had been serving one of the twenty-acre lots-Lot G five-and a building lot-Number 17-which was eleven rods long and eight and one-half rods wide.
Dissatisfaction with Manager Hansen
During these years of 1858 and 1859, Superintendent George Hansen and his crew had been busy developing the land, making general preparations for occupancy by the shareholders. Minutes of the Society evidenced a certain amount of disappointment during these months that the shareholders in San Francisco were not advised as fully as they would like to have been of progress in the colony. At one point it was recorded that the fourth steamer had arrived without bringing any report from Mr. Hansen. There is a statement in May, 1858, that the secretary was to write Mr. Hansen suggesting that seven acres in each lot be planted in fruit trees and inquiring 32 how many acres he intended to plant in grape vines the next winter. By the end of June, it was resolved by the directors of the Society not to send any further money to Los Angeles for colony development until it was asked for, and the secretary was instructed to ask again the manager for an immediate answer to questions asked in May about various aspects of the planting. By July, a report from the manager had been received and the board expressed satisfaction. The October 27, 1858, meeting recorded regret, however, that Mr. Hansen found it necessary to answer certain questions of the board "in such a sarcastic manner."
Dissatisfaction with Mr. Hansen was not temporary, and an increasing lack of harmony among the shareholders, coupled with lack of confidence in the work of Hansen, hastened division of the common property. For example, the manager had been issuing warrants directly to the treasurer in San Francisco without any explanation instead of through Mr. Felix Bachmann, sub-treasurer in Los Angeles. He had also neglected to keep the shareholders informed as to progress he was making. The directors at a May, 1859, meeting resolved to request Mr. Hansen to come to San Francisco that month so that rumors that could be explained only by his personal appearance might be handled. There was discord at this time because he had not sent a map of the colony which had been requested. The end of his contract was May 1, 1860, and in the previous July he was asked to present an estimate of the amount of money necessary for his work until the end of his contract.
It is debatable whether Mr. Hansen actually deserved all the criticism he received, for he is frequently spoken of as honest, patient, and sufficiently able to conduct the responsibility that was his. The fault for the accusations against his integrity may very well lie in the cooperative nature of the enterprise. Mr. Hansen has been said to declare "he would rather starve than conduct another such enterprise. " He continued to live in Anaheim about two years after giving up his position as colony superintendent.
Arrival of the Colonists
The first colonists arrived at San Pedro harbor from San Francisco on the ship Senator, September 12, 1859, the ship anchoring three miles out at sea. By rowboat the party was taken near shore where one Indian for each person then placed an individual on his shoulder and carried him through the water to land. Included in this party were Mr. and Mrs. Philip Hammes and their two daughters, and Mr. and Mrs. Carl Rehm. (If Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Keller were not in this party, they soon followed, according to reports.) By wagon the party was then taken to their new home by way of Los Angeles, passing but one house en route from Los Angeles to Anaheim where they could rest and have refreshment.
There were six structures in the colony when these first settlers arrived: a store belonging to August Langenberger, the residence and office of George Hansen, Kuchel's butcher shop, an adobe lodging-house belonging to some Indians, and the new store constructed for Mr. Langenberger and Mr. Benjamin Dreyfus. Barren as it must have been, a brilliant picture of the colony was painted just two months later in the Weekly Alta California of November 12, 1859:
A beautiful oasis has grown up in the desert; Anaheim is an evergreen garden, brilliant with perpetual verdure and ever-blooming flowers. The climate is both temperate and semi-tropical; the heats of the south are tempered by the breezes of the cool Pacific, but never turned into frosts. The orange and date flourish in the Santa Ana valley, alongside of wheat and the grape.
More settlers followed after this initial group, the steamer arriving at the harbor every two weeks, and by December 17, 1859, there were ten German families 44 in the colony. An omnibus passed through the settlement three times a week from Los Angeles. There was still no post office in November, 1859, but it was expected that an express office would soon be established. It was also anticipated that a dozen houses would be erected by the end of that year, and by 1861, Anaheim was predicted to be, after Los Angeles, the most thriving town near the coast south of Monterey. As it was, there were twenty houses by the end of 1859, nine in the town proper and eleven in the adjacent vineyards, and orders had been given for building four or five others. There were then, two months after the first colonists arrived in "Campo Aleman" ("German camp" as it was termed by the natives) two stores, a blacksmith shop, a butcher shop, a tin shop, a bakery, and preparations for a saddler shop. A hotel was to be completed early in the next year. Employed in the colony were seventy Chilenos, Mexicans, and Indians, who lived in tents.
Some shareholders waited to occupy their property after more improvements were made and sent men down from San Francisco to occupy their lots while they were being developed. Lumber bought at wholesale was shipped from San Francisco for construction needs, and other supplies were taken by stage from Los Angeles. The price paid for lumber in January, 1860, was $55. 00 per thousand feet, and there was some difficulty in getting all that was demanded.
By March, 1860, the shareholders were nearly all in residence and engaged in improvements of their holdings.
CHAPTER IV
EARLY ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES
Cultivation of grapes for the purpose of wine-making was the economic support for establishment of the German colony at Anaheim. Although other agricultural pursuits found a place in the colony, until the destruction of the vines by a mysterious disease in the last half of the 1880's, these other interests were of much less importance than were grapes.
The spring of 1858, 400, 000 vines were planted, 8, 000 on each of the twenty-acre plots. The vines grew well, for as early as December, 1859, they were reported to be in general two inches thick with twigs three-fourths inches thick, and many were twelve and fourteen feet long. The main stems were a foot or fifteen inches high. Only one in twenty of the vines had died. The vines were expected to produce a considerable quantity of grapes the next year.
The crop of autumn, 1860, was small, but in 1861, there were enough grapes to make 75,000 gallons of wine. In 1862, 125,000 gallons were produced; in 1863, 200,000 gallons; and in 1864, 300,000 gallons. Anticipation was a gallon of wine for each vine planted. Actually, 600, 000 gallons were produced in 1868, and by 1884, 1,250, 000 gallons were the yield. Returns were never lower than thirty cents a gallon, and computed at that rate, income from wine-producing in Anaheim was $22,500 in 1861; $37,500 in 1862; $60,000 in 1863; and $90,000 in 1864. For an investment of $65, 000 for vines plus an estimated $50, 000 for cultivation for these years, the total of $210, 000 income was good. On an individual basis, the vineyards gave their owners a clear annual income of from $250 to $1,000 above living expenses. Actual costs of vineyards in Anaheim were lower than those near the center of the state. However, southern vineyards were confronted with a great disadvantage of distance from market and high cost of transportation. Boxes, packing, and freight cost of grapes from Los Angeles to San Francisco amounted to as much as five or six cents a pound for grape shipment, and casks also were expensive.
Grape harvest commenced about the first of September and continued for two months. Indians were the chief hired laborers, being the most available, even though not the ideal. The best Indian help came from the Pala reservation. Pay for Indians at harvest time ranged from fifty cents to a dollar and a quarter per day. Their great weakness was susceptibility to inebriation, but their docility was a compensation. Local Mexicans were also employed, and Chinese were sent down from San Francisco for labor in the vineyards. There was an influx of Chinese into Anaheim about 1870, adding not only a labor supply for the vineyards, but also a colorful oriental flavor to the colony.
An Anaheim Wine Growers' Association was managed for many years by Benjamin Dreyfus, one of Anaheim's leading grape-growers and wine-makers. Dreyfus and Company manufactured both wines and brandies and also bought grapes, wines, and brandies. The company had depots in San Francisco and New York. In 1879, 187, 000 gallons of wine and 15, 000 gallons of brandy were produced by this firm. Mr. Dreyfus owned 240 acres of vineyards in 1880, and about 9,000 acres of vineyard land which were for sale in Los Angeles. He is said to have had 170, 000 vines at this time out of a total 914, 000 vines within the colony and immediate suburbs, with preparation for planting 400, 000 more. Wineries in Anaheim numbered about fifty by 1885, eight of which would be considered important. Anaheim had become the greatest wine-producing center in California, and many spoke of Anaheim wine as among the best in the state.
Agents for the Anaheim Wine Growers' Association were John F. Carr and Company of New York City, which listed in 1869 the following among the choicest of wines produced by the Anaheim Association: Rock or White Wine, Claret or Red Wine, Port, Angelica, Sherry, Santa Ana, Muscatel, Sparkling Angelica, Eureka Champagne, Grape Brandy, and Wine Bitters.
The vineyards were affected by certain pests and natural phenomena. Hares, squirrels, and gophers inhabited vacant areas and ate near-by vines. A flood in 1861-1862, when water was four feet deep in the streets, deposited layers of deep sand over the vineyards. A severe drought imperiled crops from 1862-1865, and although the good irrigation system kept the land green, protection against invading thirsty cattle which threatened to trample the vineyards demanded much attention. The menace of cattle became too great for the willow fence, and a mounted guard had to be placed outside the willow enclosures. Grasshoppers were also destructive during this dry period. Frosts in 1872 and 1873 reduced the yield of wine to 300, 000 gallons compared with the average of 700, 000 to 800, 000 gallons.
Vine Disease
The greatest and final catastrophe came at the peak of the grape economy when Anaheim had achieved recognition as California's leading wine-producing community. A mysterious disease struck the vines and began to kill them. Record of evidence of the disease is found as early as 1882, but 1884 is the date accepted as that when the fatal disease first became prevalent. The Anaheim Gazette reported on October 24, 1885, that the vineyards were in their last stages, although it was stated that the yield that season had been much more satisfactory than anticipated. Over six tons to the acre were said to have come from the vineyards of Dreyfus and Company that year.
A call for all grape-growers to meet to discuss the disease was published in the Gazette in July, 1886, and from the meeting which was convened, proceedings of the discussion of the disease were published, which was the first public acknowledgment of the impending disaster. A branch of the State Viticultural Society was organized, and two of the grape-growers were appointed to correspond with Professor Eugene W. Hilgard of the University of California regarding the disease.
Evidences of the disease appeared first on the foliage of the vine, but by the second season a reduced growth of cane was apparent. Some varieties were more resistant than others, but no variety completely withstood attack. The Mission vine, which was most predominant in Anaheim, was easily affected and first to be killed. Wine grapes were hit before raisin varieties. "So marked was the destruction of the wine grapes and the apparent immunity of the raisin grapes that many regarded the disease as a judgment on the wine traffic. " The effects of the disease were disastrous to the economy of the community. Before 1885, for example, the Dreyfus vineyard had produced ten tons of grapes to the acre; in 1885, the production dwindled to six tons; and in 1886, one wagon load of grapes was harvested from eighteen acres of vines. The new Dreyfus winery had just been completed at a cost of $40,000. By 1891, government reports showed only fourteen acres of Carignon, Mission, and Muscat varieties left.
Pursuits Other Than Viticulture
The end of a viticultural economy did not mean termination of all agricultural endeavors in Anaheim. Although grapes had been the chief product, other items were being grown successfully. Oranges had been a profitable crop for several years, output in 1888-1889 being some one hundred carloads, with an even larger harvest expected the next year. It was principally to oranges that agriculturists of the settlement turned after the grape destruction.
Walnuts were also grown for commercial purposes. To a lesser extent for export, but more for domestic use, were lemons, limes, apricots, apples, pears, peaches, plums, quince, olives, nectarines, figs, and pomegranates, all grown in Anaheim. In 1870, it was estimated there were 10, 000 fruit trees of various kinds in the community. Vegetables of all kinds, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, corn, barley, wheat (chiefly of the Odessa variety), rye, oats, flax, castor beans, potatoes, sugar cane, and sugar beets were all part of the Anaheim agricultural economy. Livestock was also raised: sheep, cows, hogs, and poultry. Anaheim, although this may have been a statement intended for publicity purposes chiefly, was said to be the best farming and fruit-growing locality in the state.
Anaheim also had a coal mine at one time. In the hills fourteen miles east of the community was the Black Star Coal mine, owned and controlled by residents of Anaheim. Coal was sold in the town at eight dollars per ton. The coal, tested by the Southern Pacific Railway Company on a trial from Los Angeles to Yuma, was found to be satisfactory for use of locomotives and stationary engines. Silver ledges, gold, and tin mines were also in the hills to the east. To the north there were said to be deposits of asphaltum, gypsum, and bituminous coal.
An ostrich farm also made its way into the economy of Anaheim when in April, 1883, twenty-two ostriches were imported direct from South Africa and located six miles west of the town in the Centralia district.
Transportation
To transport products of Anaheim to market was a major problem. Roads in the early days were little more than wagon trails and did not allow for rapid transportation. Rivers had to be forded for lack of bridges, and there was constant danger from bandits. There was a stage carrying mail and express which passed through the colony every Tuesday from San Francisco and Los Angeles to San Diego, returning through on Saturday. There was also passenger and express service to and from San Pedro, thirty-five miles distant, on the arrival and departure of the steamer from San Francisco. This service, however, was far from adequate for shipment of viticultural produce to the main Pacific Coast port, San Francisco. Ocean travel was the only expedient means of transportation from the southern coast to the metropolis of the north. It was essential that Anaheim have a seaport, not only as a point of embarkation for products being sent to market, but also as a receiving point for goods and materials needed for the course of living in the colony.
It was very shortly after the first residents arrived at their Anaheim homes that search for a near seaport began. In the January 4, 1860, edition of the Daily Alta California, complaint was registered in a letter from an Anaheim resident of having to trade at San Pedro. "Some of our citizens are going down soon to the beach-only ten miles distant-to see whether we cannot have a port of our own. "
At one time in the quest for a port closer than San Pedro, a site fifteen miles east of the colony was examined. This location was sixty miles from San Bernardino, twenty miles from San Juan Capistrano, and thirty-five miles from El Monte. There was an estuary here of one-half mile which entered into the land for a distance of eight or ten miles. A sand spit half a mile wide ran parallel with the shore at this point. Water inside the spit and in the estuary was about twenty feet deep. A chart was made of this location and displayed in the store of J. P. Zeyn and Co. in Anaheim, and it was agreed that the Superintendent of Coast Survey should be asked to have the place examined. It was rumored that silver mines were discovered between Anaheim and San Juan Capistrano, and an agent of a company of miners who wanted to send machinery for crushing and amalgamating auriferous quartz in Bear Valley in San Bernardino County also examined this prospective port to see whether machinery could be landed there.
The Los Angeles Star on February 23, 1861, mentioned that a project for a landing on the coast about twenty miles from Anaheim was temporarily given up, but not abandoned, "as the trade to the tin mines, San Bernardino, etc. may yet render it necessary." It is possible that this is the same location as that stated above as fifteen miles from the settlement.
A site for Anaheim's port was ultimately selected in October, 1864, on the ocean twelve miles south of the town. The Anaheim Lighter Company was formed in the early sixties by citizens of the community for the purpose of financing this port. Each member of the company was assessed to build a wharf, warehouse, and lighter at the harbor which was named Anaheim Landing. Three lighters of eighty-ton capacity each were taken by cable to and from the steamers which called at the port, one end of the cable being fastened at the warehouse and the other anchored near where the steamer would stop. Eight or ten men pulled the cable. Depth at the port was seven feet in the slough at low tide.
A hard, level road was built across the twelve miles to the Landing. At last a shipping point for wine, corn, wool, and other products not only from Anaheim but also from the neighboring country was established. Freight was landed at this port for points as far distant as Salt Lake City, being taken by wagon team to San Bernardino and by pack mules from there to Salt Lake City.
A record from the year 1872 shows that thirty or forty teams were making the trip daily from the Landing to Anaheim, and one day's report mentioned seventy teams. Usually two coast steamers stopped at the Landing each week.
Anaheim Landing served Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Arizona, as well as Anaheim, for many years, but never achieved a major seaport name for itself. The Lighter Company was terminated with the coming of the railroads to Anaheim.
The Southern Pacific Railway came to Anaheim with a branch in January, 1875, its terminus there for nearly two years before it extended to Santa Ana. The community had wanted a railroad for many years, so when the Southern Pacific constructed this branch, there was great rejoicing. The editor of the Anaheim Gazette in relating the advent of the railroad wrote:
... there is assured a paradise of wealth and refinement in Southern California. All praise to God, who, after years of frowning, smiled upon our land with an exceedingly gracious smile.
Santa Fe built its road into Anaheim in 1887, and as a result of its depot being some distance out of town, the boom hotel, Hotel del Campo, was built and a streetcar company organized with a track down Center Street connecting the stations of the two railroads.
Irrigation
Just as Anaheim needed a port, it needed an irrigation system, for without irrigation there could not have been an agricultural colony at Anaheim. The colony site near the Santa Ana River was selected because of proximity of water. Procurement of water from the Santa Ana was of vital importance in the early days and continued to be important for many years in the life of Anaheim, until the population of the Santa Ana Valley became greater than the river could adequately supply.
As stated previously, in 1860, the Anaheim Water Company assumed ownership of the ditches and water rights originally belonging to the Los Angeles Vineyard Society and was incorporated with $20,000 capital stock. The first ditch built in 1857, tapped the river about six miles above the colony site. A fifteen-mile ditch was completed in 1878, by the Cajon Irrigation Company which was formed to irrigate sections north and east of Anaheim in the Placentia and Fuller-ton areas. This ditch which reached the river at Bed-Rock Canyon was three feet deep and eight feet wide and cost about $100, 000. The Anaheim Water Company that same year bought a half interest in this ditch for $20,000 and increased its capital stock to $50,000 with 500 shares. In March, 1879, construction of a flume, 6,970 feet long to connect the Cajon canal with the Anaheim canal was made.
That year the capital stock of the Anaheim Water Company was increased to $90,000. Stock of the Anaheim Water Company in 1880 was divided into 3,000 shares representing one acre each. Only 2,000 of these shares were in the market, 1,000 being reserved until a sufficiency of water should be assured beyond possibility of failure. Par value of the stock at that time was eight dollars per share, but this price was constantly being increased by the annual assessments which were charged up pro rata against the unsold stock. There were then about 1,600 shares sold, and about four hundred yet offered for sale. No speculation in stock of the Water Company was allowed, only owners of land being allowed to purchase it. It could be transferred from one piece of land to another. When assessments were not paid, stock of the individual was advertised and sold at public auction, anyone, whether owning land or not, being eligible to purchase it.
The North Anaheim Canal Company and the Farmers' Ditch Company were established or reorganized in 1882, and with the Anaheim Water Company and the Cajon Irrigation Company consolidated in 1884 under the name of Anaheim Union Water Company with a capital stock of $1,200, 000.
For domestic purposes, privately owned wells, giving out in dry seasons, supplied water for the Anaheim colony until 1879, when an artesian well 103 feet deep was sunk. Water from this well was forced by a six horse-power engine up into a tank of 22,000 gallon capacity thirty feet high and distributed throughout the colony by means of a pipe line laid along the principal street. A tax levied upon those inhabitants partaking of water from the well carried its expenses.
The Anaheim Water Company was engaged in a lawsuit in 1880 when it brought suit against the Semi-Tropic Water Company to prevent that company from taking water from the river and diverting it to uses of the land on the south side of the river. Don Juan Warner, an early pioneer testified that he saw Don Bernardo Yorba, grantee of Rancho Canon de Santa Ana, with his men, irrigating lands on the south side of the Santa Ana River in 1831. Anaheim Water Company lost its case with this testimony.
CHAPTER V
CULTURE AND INSTITUTIONS
As a town founded by Germans, Anaheim throughout its early years displayed characteristics typical of a German community. However, inasmuch as those populating Anaheim did not come directly from Germany, but had been in the United States for some time, the town did not have the extreme foreign character such as those eastern and mid-western villages colonized by people directly from a European nation. Most of Anaheim's colonizers spoke English fluently although the German tongue was cherished and used extensively in the early years. For example, the minutes of the Los Angeles Vineyard Society and of the Anaheim Water Company were written in German until 1871.
The colonists were quick, however, to adopt certain customs and terms native to southern California. They built their houses not of wood or stone as they would have in Germany, but of less expensive adobe. Those buildings that were wooden exemplified an American style with perhaps some minor traces of German influence. They built irrigation ditches as the Mexicans had and added to their vocabulary "zanja, " "zanjero, " and "vaquero. "
The pioneers of Anaheim were serious in their intent to be successful in their undertaking and were industrious and persevering. They were proud of their adopted country and proud of their share in its government. There was self-respect evidenced in their homes by the orderly appearance of their houses, stables, gardens, and vineyards. The houses were reported to be exceedingly neat, the gardens prolific with flowers and vegetables of all descriptions, the yards alive with poultry, and the stables and barns filled with clover, hay, and barley, and cows and horses sleek and fat.
Most of the colonists in the first years of making a start in Anaheim were frugal by necessity. Although it is boasted that there were no poor in Anaheim, neither were the majority rich. Many had to enter debt to build their houses and cultivate their acreages, and interest had to be paid on their debts. With their habits of thrift, though, they were able to have enough to eat and care for their children properly. It is said no one failed in his efforts to get out of debt and none would be called destitute. "The sheriff has never sold out anyone in Anaheim, " was one report. Eventually each settler's property became worth from $5, 000 to $10,000.
Moral character of the Anaheim residents was high. There were no deeds of violence recorded in the early years. A correspondent wrote in the Daily Alta California of January 4, 1860:
Our energies are occupied, not in quarrels with fellow-men, but in reducing rude nature to subjection, and making the desert blossom as the rose. Since I have become a man of peace and a tiller of the soil, I have lost my taste for the records of deeds of blood ....
Another writer spoke of the intense morality of the colony as its only objectionable feature. The people kept sober; the making of wine and brandy did not cause drunkenness among the colonists-the only drunken ones to be seen being Indians. It was prohibitive by law to sell or furnish Indians intoxicating liquors. One writer to take exception to the sober characteristic of the community was Edward A. Wicher who wrote of Anaheim: "It was always thrifty; and it was sometimes tipsy. " (The "tipsy" could, of course, refer to the Indians.)
The colonists were happy and fortunately had little illness in the first years. Music, dancing, and other pleasant social amusements were a conspicuous part of their social lives. Even before they took possession of their colony, the board of directors was planning entertainments for the members of the Vineyard Society as noted in the minutes of February 28, 1859: "It was decided to have an evening entertainment with music within the next three months and the secretary was instructed to send manager George Hansen an invitation to same."
A Singing Society was established in the colony with twenty-two members in 1861. It is said the men especially enjoyed singing and evening song fests. Christmas was a gay occasion in early Anaheim, as was also the Festival of Kermiss, a German holiday of games, races, and matches.
The Polish Colony
The Germans of early Anaheim were hospitable and were pleased to see guests. A very distinguished guest came to Anaheim in September, 1876, intending to make her home there. She was Madame Helena Modjeska, the famous actress, who with her husband, Count Bozenta Chlapowski, and son and a small group of friends from Poland, including Henryk Sienkiewicz, author of Quo Vadis ?-a total party of eleven persons-intended to establish a Utopian Polish colony in California, on the order of Brook Farm of New England fame. Anaheim was selected because of its German-speaking people inasmuch as these Poles spoke German. The Poles were also anxious to profit from the success of the Anaheim Germans in learning methods of developing their colony. The project was a failure, however, due to the impractical character of the colonists who were "intellectuals, " unaccustomed to manual labor so necessary for the enterprise. Furthermore, the physical facilities were crowded and unpleasant, the house used as living quarters on the rented land being very small for those it was meant to accommodate. Modjeska did admit, though, that in spite of all discomforts, the view of the Sierra Madre Mountains to the north and the~Santa Anas to the east was beautiful.
In December, 1876, Count Bozenta purchased a tract of land, some 47.1 acres in extent, near the present location in Anaheim of Center Street and Placentia Avenue, land which, when the colony was disbanded, was resold to its original owners at a considerable loss. After failing to tend properly the horses, cows, and poultry on the farm, and with general discouragement and homesickness, the colony collapsed with all returning to Poland except the Chlapowskis who later settled in nearby Santiago Canyon, on an estate to be known as "Arden. "
Churches
Anaheim was an unusual nationalistic, homogenous settlement in that those who founded it were not as a group attached to any one religious denomination. Some were even atheists, and there was no established church in the community until ten years after the first settlers arrived.
Until establishment of church buildings, religious meetings of various denominations were held in the office of the Water Company which also served as the school during the week. Missionaries passing through the colony conducted meetings on Sundays or in evenings. Catholic services were held by visiting priests from Los Angeles.
Between 1869 and 1886, various denominations organized congregations and constructed edifices. In 1869, a Presbyterian church was organized by the Reverend L. P. Webber, who also founded Westminster colony west of Anaheim. A church building costing $3,500 was built in 1872. St. Michael's Episcopal Church was organized in 1875, with services held in Enterprise Hall at Los Angeles and Chartres Street. In the fall of 1876, a church building was completed at a cost of $3,600. A Roman Catholic Society was organized in 1876, and a building completed in 1879, at a cost of $1,000. A German Methodist Episcopal Church was established in 1881.
Masonic Lodge No. 207, F. and A. M. was organized in October, 1870, with a hall built two years later at a cost of $4,000. Anaheim Lodge, No. 199, I.O.O.F. was organized January 23, 1872, and a hall erected in 1875. Orpheus Lodge No. 237, I. O.O.F., was organized November 5, 1875, by a number of Germans who preferred to work in their own language, and Orion Encampment No. 54, I. O. O. F. was formed January 4, 1876. Anaheim Lodge No. 85, A.O.U. W. was organized March 5, 1879, surrendered its charter in 1893, but was reorganized under the same name and number in June, 1900.
A literary society, the Anaheim Literary Union, was formed in 1877, "holding weekly meetings for musical and literary exercises every Tuesday evening in the Presbyterian Church. "
Schools
In the fall of 1859, soon after the first colonists arrived, under the initiation of August Langenberger, prominent merchant and colony leader, a petition was circulated for signatures and presented to Mr. J. F. Burns, Superintendent of Schools of Los Angeles County, requesting a school for Anaheim. The request was granted and a school opened in a room in one of the adobe buildings on the large lot of Mr. Langenberger in the center of the community. A teacher was found from among the shareholders, Mr. Fred William Kuelp, who had not yet left San Francisco to take possession of his twenty-acre tract. A temporary home was provided for .him since there was no dwelling upon his property, and in early spring of 1860, he arrived with his family and formally opened the school in the fall of that year with nine pupils enrolled.
There were other difficulties to be overcome in addition to securing a physical plant and a teacher for Anaheim's first school. There was the problem of getting supplies and ascertaining requirements from the county superintendent, which entailed tiresome trips over undeveloped roads to Los Angeles. Books and supplies were actually ordered through Mr. Langenberger's store and shipped to Anaheim from San Francisco via San Pedro.
Compensation for schoolmaster Kuelp was not great, and to help meet expenses his wife taught music, sewing, and fancy-work, and he became Justice of the peace and Notary Public. Also to make it easier for the family to live on the small salary, they were provided residence quarters in the new adobe building which was constructed for the school, only to be destroyed shortly after its completion in the flood of February, 1862. Classes were then moved to the home of Mr. Langenberger and then later to the building of the Anaheim Water Company. Water Company quarters were not entirely satisfactory, for the one room was sometimes used for meetings of officers of the Company simultaneously with the conduct of classes. Mr. Kuelp continued under these handicaps until 1869, when he was forced to resign because of ill health.
The most significant name in early Anaheim School history is that of J.M. Guinn, a graduate of Oberlin College, who came to Los Angeles and to Anaheim in late 1869, and served the system as teacher and principal until his resignation in 1881, when he became Superintendent of Schools of the city of Los Angeles. Mr. Guinn faced an old adobe building with one window, empty boxes and benches for seats, rudely constructed tables for desks, and twenty students when he arrived in Anaheim. Soon an assistant teacher was hired to teach the primary children and a new building constructed, financed by a district tax of about $2,000 approved in an election early in 1870.
Funds were always a problem in maintaining the school. However, Anaheim did well in relation to other districts of the county, ranking third in 1873 in that apportioned among thirty-six districts. Anaheim received $1,216.75, Green Meadow Districts, $1,299.17, and Los Angeles, $8,383.00. Later Anaheim was second in apportionment. Another $1, 000 was raised by a district tax in 1874, and $3,190.50 in 1876.
The paramount need of the district was a new school building since the old school house had long reached its capacity, the primary department having to meet in rented quarters elsewhere. A plot of land was purchased in early 1877, for $1, 500 on which a building was to be erected. To finance the building, Mr. Guinn in 1877, drafted a bill authorizing the district to issue bonds in the amount of $10,000 and was instrumental in securing passage of the bill by the legislature, March 12, 1878. The bonds were sold at par. This was one of the first, if not the first instance in the state of incorporating and bonding a school district to secure funds for school building construction. The building resulting from this bond issue- the old Central School-became known as "the handsomest school building in the county outside of Los Angeles city. " It was built in the center of a two-acre lot landscaped with pepper and pine trees and hedged with cypress, at a cost, including grounds, of some $13,000.
School enrollment in Anaheim in 1878-1879 was 217, with an average daily attendance of 130. There were four grades in the district school taught by two men and two women with salaries from $73.00 to $75.00 per month. The first class to graduate from the high school was in June, 1880.
Politics
Anaheim township was created December 17, 1860, setting it apart from Santa Ana township. On February 10, 1870, an act for incorporation for a city of Anaheim was approved by the California State Legislature and Governor Henry H. Haight. The city was declared incorporated according to an act of 1850 which provided for the incorporation of cities. The territory incorporated was described as:
All that track of land known by the name of Anaheim, lying and being in the county of Los Angeles in this state and comprising the east halves of sections 9 and 16, and the whole of sections 10, 11, 14, and 15 of township four south range ten west, of the San Bernardino meridian and base line.
In the contest for mayor, Theodore Reiser and Max Stroble tied in the election of August 16, 1870, but Mr. Stroble was victorious in the second election on August 30. A council of five members was elected, with John Fischer, president. F. W. Kuelp, former schoolmaster, became city clerk.
The incorporated city was given responsibility for maintenance of streets, a responsibility held by the Anaheim Water Company until that time. The tax burden covering these maintenance matters proved too great for the city, and on petition of citizens the charter was revoked by act of State Legislature, March 7, 1872, and approved by Governor Newton Booth. August Langenberger, Theodore Rimpau, and Theodore Reiser were appointed commissioners to settle and adjust matters. After the charter was revoked, the Water Company refused to reassume maintenance expenses it formerly held. Once again the town was incorporated by the Board of Supervisors on December 6, 1876, and on March 18, 1878, by act of Legislature. It was reorganized as a city of sixth class in 1888. In 1886, Anaheim was still the only incorporated town in the county outside Los Angeles.
Anaheim was a part of Los Angeles County until 1889, but twenty years previous sentiment was being expressed for creation of "Anaheim County, " and Anaheim had its official representative in Sacramento ready to present its claims and that of its thriving neighbors for cutting off one thousand square miles from the southeast portion of Los Angeles County. Max Stroble was that representative in the state capital and was instrumental in securing signatures for petitions advocating separation on grounds of long distance to the county seat with inconvenience and expense in reaching it over ungraded roads and unbridged rivers and at a cost of six dollars round-trip for the two-day journey by tri-weekly stage. It was also argued that Los Angeles politicians monopolized county government. The proposed dividing line began at a point in the Pacific, three nautical miles southwest from the mouth of the old San Gabriel River, then northeast following the channel of that river to the intersection with San Bernardino base line, thence east on that line to the division line between Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.
Stroble's bill passed the Assembly in its 1869-70 session with little opposition, and the hopes of divisionists were high. It was then that Los Angeles awoke to the loss segregation would mean, and enough opposition developed in the Senate to defeat the bill. Funds were contributed to enable Stroble to urge the Senate to reconsider, but he failed. He died soon after his defeat, and management of the county division scheme was placed in the hands of a committee.
A bill to create a new county was introduced into the legislative session of 1872, but never reached a vote. Efforts also failed in 1878 and 1881, to form a new county, but finally on August 1, 1889, Orange County was officially formed. This time Anaheim, challenged by the prominence of its neighbor, Santa Ana, opposed the effort which succeeded in making Santa Ana the county seat.
