La Canada Flintridge History

 

One of the first settlers in our valley was Colonel Theodore Pickens for whom a street, a mountain peak and a canyon are names. In 1871 he settled on a homestead in the foothills north of Rancho La Cañada. Pickens' cabin was on what is now called "Briggs Terrace" at the top of Briggs Avenue. Although a Kentuckian, Pickens fought in the Union Army and carried a bullet in his wrist to the end of his days. He was known as an honest and independent man and a genial companion.

Another early settler was Colonel Thomas Hall. He had been a "49er" and returned in 1874 with his son Tom, aged twelve, who had a serious lung disease.In our healthful climate Tom recovered and lived to be an old man on their ranch which became Alta Canyada.

In 1875 Rancho La Cañada was sold to two healthseekers from Michigan, Dr. Jacob Lanterman, dentist, and Colonel Adolphus Williams, a Civil War Veteran, 5830 acres for $10,000, a very low price because of lack of water.  They hoped to subdivide it and sell lots to support their families.

Jocob Lanterman and the heirs of Adolphus Williams sold all the lots between Pickens Canyon and the Tujunga border to Benjamin Briggs, M. D. And his sister, Maria Haskell and recovered their original $10,000 investment. They called this area "La Crescenta," which is not a Spanish word, but a name they coined for the valley's crescent shape.

Lanterman and Williams helped to found a school and a church. These attracted buyers. Successive generations of Lantermans diligently developed their part of Rancho La Cañada; typically having marginal success starting with barley on newly cleared land. Later came stone fruits, grapes and oranges. The eldest Lanterman son, Frank D. Lanterman I, spent many years (1885-1935) developing real estate in La Cañada. He surveyed land, drew maps, supervised road construction, wrote broadsides promoting the sale of the subdivision, conducted tours from Los Angeles for prospective land buyers and promoted other schemes to attract buyers with varied success.

By 1893 there were 53 houses in La Cañada. A few residents were prosperous but most were ranchers struggling with drought and economic depression.

As Los Angeles grew, people looked for places to spend weekends and vacations. Some of them took rail cars to Glendale and hiked up to La Cañada and La Crescenta. Some built small cabins. A few came in "horseless carriages " and built mansions.

The 1930s were the beginning of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Starting as a little test station, it has grown into 175 acres and six thousand employees and has become the lead U.S. center for robotic exploration of the solar system. JPL spacecraft have visited most all known planets. 1941 was a turning point for our valley. Few orange groves remained and ranching was almost dead due to low prices for fruit, freezing weather and costly water. World War II brought many defense industry workers from out of state who saw La Ca ñada and wanted to return here to live.

In 1950, Frank Lanterman, a member of the founding family, was elected to the California State Assembly. He hoped to get Colorado River water for La Cañada, and succeeded in 1955. This allowed more people to live in our valley and hundreds of houses were built, creating more streets, stores, and schools. La Cañada changed from a ranching community to a residential community.

In 1974, community residents organized the La Cañada Cityhood Action Committee for another shot at incorporation with George Parrish its leader. The decision to try it again came at a town meeting hosted by the La Cañada Coordinating Council with backing from the Chamber of Commerce, then the only local organizations with a broad-based membership. A hand vote was taken there with 658 La Cañadans favoring cityhood and only two dissenting.

Of course, the paramount challenge was for the committee to convince Flintridge to join in this all-important effort to save the valley community's identity. Neighboring Pasadena and Glendale had agreed on how they would carve up unincorporated LCF, according to a "sphere of influence" plan of the State Legislature. A Glendale "prize" would be Descanso Gardens. Pasadena's takeover included all of Flintridge

On Dec. 8, the official incorporation of LCF took place as Councilman Edmund Krause filed the incorporation certificate of completion with the County Recorder. The new city would comprise 8 1/2 square miles and have a population of 21,000.

La Cañada Flintridge became known as the city without a hyphen in its name, demonstrating community unity. There was a local furor when it was learned that a clerk in Sacramento had inadvertently added a hyphen while working on some LCF papers. It took an ordinance to correct the mistake. Never was that to happen again.

Information From La Canada Flintridge History,  La Canada Flintridge.com