834 W. 28th St. -- John H. Norton

John H. Norton (1846-1911), left his Boston area home at an early age to seek his fortune in the west. In 1864 he worked in southern Colorado as a storekeeper and saloon owner, building capital steadily. Around 1870 he sold everything and took a stage to Tucson, where he was appointed by the U.S. government as "post trader" at Fort Grant, a new fort in southeast Arizona Territory. From there he went on to found Willcox, Arizona, where his store today is on the Register of Historic Places. Joining forces with partner Madison Stewart, they created a successful stage line among other businesses in Arizona. He married Mary Frances Van Doren (1867-  ), and in 1891, their only child Amy Marie was born in Willcox.

In 1896 they moved to Los Angeles, where Norton quickly got involved with city "movers and shakers", joining the Chamber of Commerce, and multiple Clubs, including the Jonathan and California Clubs. By 1900 the family had moved into their upper-class home in West Adams. The Los Angeles Public Library has a photo of the house when brand new.  Ours below is from circa 1906.

834 West 28th Street - home of the Nortons

While in Los Angeles he no doubt worked with his neighbors -- two doors west was John Mackay Elliott's residence, and Norton and Elliott were both directors at the Los Angeles Trust Co. (along with George Cochran). Norton also created a new company that performed railroad building work, and invested in real estate, owning the Norton block at his death in 1911.

No doubt when Mr. Norton was with friends, he became known for his stories of the "old days", as the cartoon book "As We See 'Em" by local newspaper cartoonists, showed Norton in his stagecoach still (below).

Norton on the Trail

By 1910 Amy Marie had turned nineteen, so that December her Cotillon was held at the home at 834 W. 28th, resulting in the Society section of the next day's L.A. Herald featuring a photo of Amy Marie.

Amy Marie Dec. 20, 1910

Sadly, father John passed away the next February, but Mary remained in the house well into the 1930's. After John's passing she traveled abroad with one of her servants taking multiple trips to Hawaii.

Today the house is gone (it was probably torn down after Mary's death), and the location now shows allegiance to the nearby university, as the house of Delta Delta Delta (Theta Xi chapter).

Today at the Norton Residence
(courtesy of the author)

Update: A commenter (see below) spotted that the original house is behind the current facade--below is a closeup of the top of the round tower--the decoration appears to be the original...

A closeup of the tower
(courtesy of the author)

J. Ross Clark

James Ross Clark (1850-1927) followed his older brother William A. Clark into Montana, where for 20+ years he worked in mining and banking, becoming successful in copper mines, as well as delving into railroads. In 1892 he moved the family, consisting of wife Miriam (1858-1951), daughter Ella (b.1879), and son Walter(1885-1912), to Los Angeles, where he became heavily involved in railroading and sugar beets, owning a large operation in Los Alamitos. J. Ross envisioned a railroad between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles (as did E.H. Harriman of the Union Pacific) that would allow for Montana mining materials to be more quickly shipped to Los Angeles. Brother William agreed, and along with Harriman formed the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad in 1902. An area in southern Nevada appeared to be a good mid-point for the railroad, supplying water and crews, so in 1905 Las Vegas was born, with J. Ross auctioning off 600 plats (at the direction of Harriman).

Meanwhile the family was enjoying the new house at 710 West Adams Street, part of a growing high-end neighborhood, with families such as the Dohenys mere blocks away, Stephen Dorsey a few doors to the east, and William Kerckhoff second house to the west (you UCLA grads who think you've heard that name--yes it's THAT Kerckhoff). The house as it looked in 1906:

710 W. Adams Street

 Living in the house during the 1910 census were J. Ross and Miriam, son Walter and his wife Virginia Estelle, daughter Ella and her husband Henry Carlton Lee, along with four servants.

In early 1912 it was decided that Walter and Virginia would travel out of the country and return on the maiden voyage of the world's soon-to-be most famous ship. Walter filled out the passport paperwork in January, 1912 and all was set to travel.

J.Ross Clark witnesses son Walter's signature on his passport application Jan. 31, 1912

Ross Clark and grandparents J. Ross
and Miriam--courtesy of UNLV Collections

Virginia survived the Titanic, but Walter died in the tragedy. She returned to Los Angeles, and the house at 710 W. Adams, in grief. That fall Virginia took a "vacation" to assist in recovery, only to notify the Clarks that she had remarried to a man named Tanner. The Clarks, taking care of their grandson, immediately filed for custody of the child, which was awarded, then taken away, ending in Virginia's presence in the Clarks living room with two lawyers and two sheriffs in order to pick up the two-year old.
Interestingly, by 1920 the Clarks had the boy at their house during the census, and took little Ross with them when trips permitted.

In 1913, Homes and Gardens of the Pacific Coast Volume II Los Angeles had this to say about the Clark house on West Adams:

"The home of Mr. Clark shows many interesting English features, notably the brick and half timber construction. The training of the vines over a large portion of the exposed surface, the placing of the small trees and shrubs, and the fine old palms, give the home an air of quiet seclusion. The grounds are well laid out, and are enclosed with wrought iron fences supported by heavy cement posts, over which vines have been trained in a very pleasing manner."

Clark Mausoleum
(Note Date on steps at left)

J. Ross died in 1927, and was laid to rest in a large private vault at today's Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Miriam and James Ross II stayed in the house until after 1944, when it was demolished to make way for an expansion of the Auto Club of Southern California headquarters.




Reference: William Andrews Clark; PBS profile


710 West Adams Boulevard

William G. Nevin -- 700 South Garland

This next house really points out how much Los Angeles has grown in the last 100 years. Today's corner of Garland and 7th Street looks like this:





View Larger Map

Tall commercial buildings abound, with no residences in sight.

But back in 1900 when the Nevin family had recently moved in to their new home, the neighborhood was quite different. William G. Nevin (1855-1902) was General Manager of the Santa Fe railroad, appointed in 1897 after a tour in Chicago as Purchasing Manager for the company, capping a long career in railroading.  In the house in 1900 were his wife Ella (b. 1854), son William (b. 1881), and daughter Helen (b. 1889). Back then the southeast corner of the intersection looked like this:

700 S. Garland in 1906

Nevin in 1901*

Along with railroading, William (both father and son) invested in L.A. real estate.  The Nevin tract located near 23rd St. and Gramercy was their offering.  Son William and his family lived on a parcel in the tract through the 1920's at 2270 W. 23rd St.

Unfortunately in 1902 at age 47, William Sr. had a heart attack at his home and died the next day.  His burial location is not currently known. Wife Ella remained in the house well past 1910.


*As printed in Men of the Pacific Coast, 1902 (copy at archive.org)

Eli P. Clark -- Saint James Park

The Pasadena & L.A. Electric in 1906
Figueroa at Marmion Way (3)

Eli P. Clark (1847-1931) arrived in Los Angeles in 1891 at the behest of his partner, long-time friend, and brother-in-law General Moses Sherman. The two partners had just grown a successful mercantile business in Prescott, Arizona Territory, along with a railroad from Prescott to Seligman (Prescott & Arizona RR) when Gen. Sherman (so named because he was the adjutant general for the Arizona Territory) heard that cable-car interests in Los Angeles were encountering difficulty because of sand and water getting into the cable systems. Sherman knew that New York was having success with new "electric" trolleys, which were cheaper to operate and build. Immediately Clark and Sherman went to L.A. and purchased multiple short lines to form the Los Angeles Consolidated Railway, installing Sherman as President and Clark as Vice-President. Shortly after that they created the first interurban railway, the Pasadena & Los Angeles Electric Railway. Newspaper cartoonists in 1900 had this view of his company. Selling it to Henry Huntington in 1901, Clark continued to run it until 1909, when it was sold to the Southern Pacific.

Around 1904 the Clarks wished to move from their house at 823 W. 23rd to something more luxurious. A prime lot on the north side of prestigious St. James Park was available, and so by 1906 they had moved in.

9 St. James Park, taken from across the street at 20 St. James Pk.

The family lived here until the death of Lucy H. (Sherman) Clark in 1942, celebrating marriages of their daughters, engagement parties, and other social events in the house. Daughter Mary Sherman's wedding to Henry Eversole in 1910 was officiated by the Reverend Robert J. Burdette, whose book the house photo came from. Son Eugene and his wife lived next door to the north for more than 20 years.

And though retired, in 1911 Eli Clark funded the building of his namesake Hotel Clark, which was an early user of concrete in larger buildings.

Sherman and Clark were partners for most of their lives.  They ended up dying within a year of each other, and have a shared tombstone at Forest Lawn Glendale. Clark's wife Lucy and Sherman's daughter Hazeltine are also interred there.

From Men of the Pacific Coast, 1902

The house was eventually demolished and is now incorporated into a nearby Los Angeles school.

Sources:
1.  L.A. from the Mountains to the Sea
2.  Rootsweb.com (biography)
3. Photo from Pacific Electric; Donald Duke; 1958; An L.A. bound car is crossing the Los Angeles and Salt Lake R.R. tracks, which previously ran down the east side of Figueroa, turning east at York Blvd. to cross the Arroyo Seco. The bridge for the Pacific Electric ran across the arroyo a block south. 

More:
1. A brief video from 1919 showing the main intersection in St. James Park

L. T. Garnsey -- 2241 West 24th Street

Lehman T. Garnsey (1846-1916) first appears in the Los Angeles area in 1887, when he shows up as President of the Providencia Water, Land, and Development Company, which platted the city of Burbank. According to a biography published in the L.A. Herald in 1908, Mr. Garnsey came to California essentially to retire (at 40!) after entrepreneurial success in Denver, Chicago, and New York. With booms come busts, and Mr. Garnsey mentioned that when it came (in 1888) he was "in the swim", taking twelve years to pay back his debts.

That did not appear to slow him down, as he continued to be involved extensively in real estate. His largest fame came from being the President of the Los Angeles and Redondo Railroad, a small-gauge railway he purchased in 1894, that went from downtown L.A. to Redondo Beach, where he was heavily invested in...real estate. Garnsey Street alongside Redondo High School was named for L.T.

Mrs. Garnsey's 1924
passport photo

By 1900 he was living downtown in a hotel at 506 S. Hill. The census mentions his occupation then as "capitalist", which was common when it was not possible to pin down any one industry or occupation. Living with him was his wife of five years, Cecil J., and her eight-year old daughter from another marriage, Warren Mills. Cecil was 25 years younger than L.T. and appeared to enjoy the good life. Society pages and other records mention multiple trips to Hawaii, the Orient, and Europe for Mrs. Garnsey. One in 1908 mentions a visit to the Orient, with Mr. Garnsey accompanying her as far as Hawaii.

The Garnsey Home in fashionable West Adams

In 1906 the Garnseys purchased a home at 2241 West 24th Street, where they resided until Mr. Garnsey's death at age 71 in February, 1916. The monies for the house may have come from his 1904 sale of the railroad and associated lands to Henry Huntington. The sale created a mini-boom in Redondo Beach, as investors in L.A. knew of the significant capital Huntington could bring to the operation. He did upgrade the railroad significantly, and within a month had made his money back through the uplift in land sales.

L. T. in 1908

In 1911 Honolulu papers were abuzz with mention of Mrs. Garnsey's daughter Warren. Evidently she eloped while in Hawaii and Mrs. Garnsey was quite upset about the episode.  A daughter Virginia and a son Warren were born to Warren and her husband, James Haynes, in 1914-1916, which no doubt became a good reason for Mrs. Garnsey's multiple sea trips to Hawaii in the '20s.

By 1920 Mrs. Garnsey had moved to an apartment hotel in San Francisco, where she continued to live past 1930. L.T. passed away while at the California Club in downtown Los Angeles, and according to the L.A. Herald, his last resting place was to be Birmingham, New York. Most likely that would have been Binghamton, New York, where L.T. had significant business success in the 1870's as a fruit wholesaler.

And what of the house today? See below...

The House Today (with guard dog)
(courtesy of the author)

Warren Haynes Virginia Haynes