by Paul R. Spitzzeri
As has been the case for many years, the birthday of El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciúncula, otherwise known as Los Angeles, has large passed unnoticed and certainly not much celebrated. We’ll see whether that changes in 2031 when the Angel City marks its 250th birthday, but #243 has come and gone with virtually no fanfare.
This post, however, takes us back to the city’s centennial in 1881 through the pages of the Los Angeles Herald and its coverage of a celebration that was substantial and which was tied in with the short-lived Horticultural Fair that followed several years of an Agricultural Fair at what became Exposition Park and long before the Los Angeles County Fair was inaugurated in 1922.
The Los Angeles Herald had some significant and notable content for the 100th birthday with one feature reminding readers that “five years ago the centenary of American Independence was celebrated with great pomp in Los Angeles” and was worthy of a city many times the size. The paper continued,
We are now called upon to supplement one great effort with another—commemorative of a local event—and we have no doubt whatever but that the duty will be intelligently and even brilliantly discharged. Ten years ago Los Angeles was a village. A hundred years ago the region which is now included in the pueblo was a jungle. The advances have been magical; but, we are confident, they will be more than exceeded in the coming years.
The paper further asserted that the city and county constituted “a very ill understood region” even among locals, much less afield, but it averred that the region “is the most promising section upon the American continent.” Whatever marvels could be claimed for its development to date were to pale in comparison to what was to come and the Herald ventured to suggest that “whatever there is in scriptural or classic story which tells of the prodigal and charming favors of old Mother Earth has its reproduction in a belt of territory which hugs the thirty-fifth parallel of north latitude, on the Pacific Coast, and clasps hands with the thirty-second, and is known as Los Angeles county.”
Moreover, insisted the editorial, “every winning and historical form of vegetation” with respect to crops or produce “have their perfect development in this county” of some three million acres. The natural water supply could support some 100,000 persons (the 1880 census, these always being undercounts, tallied not far over 11,000 residents in the city and north of 33,000 in the county), but upcoming years would certainly push that number from three to ten times that amount and “the onus is upon us to be up and doing.”
Commenting that locals would “respond to this injunction [conjunction?] of nature and civilization” so that “the result will be one of the most energetic and enterprising populations on the American continent,” the paper went into some of the history of the last one hundred years, including the fact the Los Angeles grew faster than any settlement in Spanish or Mexican California for more than a half-century—though Alta California was very sparsely populated as the “Siberia of México.”
The 1836 district census tallied more than 2,200 persons within “the present county of Los Angeles, except San Juan Capistrano, which at that time was attached to the district of San Diego,” with just above 550 persons being “domesticated Indians” and 46 being foreigners, of whom half were Americans—the second such person to settle in the pueblo was Jonathan Temple. Jumping ahead to 1850 and the first county election that spring, it was related that there were 377 voters, compared to the 7,000 on the rolls just over three decades later.
Observing that the population was wholly Roman Catholic, the piece noted that the Plaza Church, the spiritual center of the pueblo and said to have been designed by José Antonio Ramirez (who, it was added, worked on many of the California Missons), was built between 1818 and 1821 (1822 is now acknowledged as the completion date), with 15 August being the date of the first service and that still acknowledged as “a great day with the natives,” not the indigenous people, but the Californios, “and has been uniformly celebrated with all the pomp and grandeur” available.
As to the current day, the Herald took an interesting approach regarding the development of the Angel City, suggesting that,
In this year of grace 1881 we find Yankee enterprise engrafted upon what remains of the old conquistadore [sic] heroism and energy. The union is an auspicious one. In the blending of the two civilizations, and in the resulting diverse virile impulses, we may confidently look for one of the most interesting race developments recorded of this or any other continent.
The editorial closed with an issue raised by former Los Angeles Star publisher and author of 1874’s Semi-Tropical California, Benjamin C. Truman, who “with the design of having the truth of history vindicated, has raised . . . a doubt as to whether the 4th instead of the 5th of September is not the anniversary of the Centennial of Los Angeles.” Juan Toro possessed documents that “establish the fact conclusively that the Centennial dates from the 5th,” which is when the 1881 celebration was held.
A half-century later, for the 150th birthday, Thomas W. Temple II undertook to prove that the 4th was, in fact, definitively the birthdate of the Angel City, as a previous post here noted. Still, the Herald remarked that “the chronology is without flaw and the celebration, we trust, will not be without drawback.” Enthusiasm was certain and the paper exhorted residents that “no disagreeable episode shall mar a joyful and significant event.”
The obligatory parade was detailed in an “Order of Exercises” in which Police Chief George E. Gard and officers accompanied Grand Marshal George Stoneman, a Union Army general in the Civil War, resident of the San Gabriel area and future governor and his assistants, former Southern Californian newspaper publisher John O. Wheeler, City Treasurer and future Sheriff James C. Kays and Henry King, who was both predecessor and successor to Gard.
There were also 21 marshal’s aides including such prominent locals as Phineas Banning, Benjamin Dreyfus, Reginaldo del Valle (soon to be in the state legislature), former State Treasurer Antonio F. Coronel, William Henry Workman, Prudent Beaudry, Kaspare Cohn, Francisco Palomares, George Carson and former Sheriff Tomás Sánchez. Surviving members of the 1850s paramilitary organization, the Los Angeles Rangers, were also given a place of honor, these including Captain John Quincy Adams Stanley, Lieutenant William W. Jenkins, and Horace Bell and former Sheriff David W. Alexander among others.
The first division, headed by Marshal and former Sheriff Henry M. Mitchell, comprised the city band; the newly formed Eagle Corps militia; a “Detachment of native Indians;” “Spanish Californians in native costume;” an emigrant group from the Gold Rush; Mexican-American War veterans; the President of the Day, Bernard Cohn; the orators; the school board; Mayor James R. Toberman; the Common (City) Council; the Board of Supervisors; Superior Court judges; Governor George C. Perkins and Lieutenant Governor John Mansfield, a Los Angeles resident; the Junta Patriotica de Júarez; and the French Benevolent Society.
Marshal Eulogio de Célis, former owner of much of the San Fernando Valley and of the La Crónica newspaper, led the second division, which was mostly composed of volunteer firefighters from Los Angeles, this being the 38s, and Anaheim as well as the Park Hose Fire Company, organized in 1878 for the area that is now around Pershing Square. The third division, headed by Dionisio Botiller, was composed of more fire companies, these being the Confidence Engine Company, the Vigilance Hook and Ladder Company and the volunteer force of San Bernardino, as well as the Irish organization, the Ancient Order of Hibernians.
Otto G. Weyse was the marshal for the fourth division and the German-American was followed by the Turnverein Germania society as well as the Italian and Spanish benevolent societies, members of trade unions (Los Angeles would become widely known as an “open shop” or anti-union city), the California Cavalry and citizens on foot as well as those on horseback and in vehicles.
Each division formed on the corresponding numbered street with their “right resting on Main.” Marshals and their aides, as well as bandleaders, were to be ready at 1 p.m. as were carriages carrying dignitaries. Color-coded insignias were also detailed for various groups. At the firing of a signal gun, all groups were to move to Main Street for a 2 p.m. sharp start of the parade, the route of which went north to the junction with Spring and Temple in front of the Temple Block, then south on Spring to 3rd, then a block west to Fort (renamed Broadway in 1890), the north up hill to Temple, then east back to Main, then north past the Plaza and then countermarching down Main to the Court House (Jonathan Temple’s Market House just below the Temple Block) for dismissal after inspection by Governor Perkins and his staff.
The same grandstand was to be used for orations, and it was noted that,
Honorables J.J. Warner, Stephen C. Foster, Solomon Lazard, Major Horace Bell, Don Antonio F. Coronel, Don Juan Toro, Don Pio Pico, and other representatives of a past age will amuse and instruct the audience with reminiscences of the early history of the pueblo.
With the 5th also being the opening day of the Horticultural Fair, Governor Perkins was to give a speech in the Pavilion structure built for the event and located on Temple Street. He was to be followed by Superior Court judges Ygnacio Sepúlveda, speaking in Spanish, and Volney E. Howard, presenting in English. When the speeches concluded, “Don Antonio F. Coronel, with some thirty couples, will enact a series of old-time Spanish dances in ancient costumes” with fireworks to be set off on Temple Street near the hall.
In separate smaller items, the Herald further commented on the centennial celebration. For example, Ygnacio Francisco de la Cruz “will be one of the features of the Centennial Celebration” because he was born in May 1781 in Sonora, México, and his baptismal document was brought forth to prove he was just slightly older than Los Angeles. Said to be “generally known” to locals, de la Cruz, apparently possessing the moniker of “Chico Zorrillo,” was said to look no more than 70 due to his slim figure and excellent posture.
The paper also recorded that,
A large variety of quaint relics of the past century arrived at the Pavilion yesterday morning. The age of some of the Indian utensils to be placed on exhibition is believed to be several hundred years, and article dating from the time of the occupation of the city by the Spanish are quite numerous.
Separately it was remarked upon that “an interesting feature of tomorrow’s parade will be the carreta, with solid wooden wheels, drawn by oxen, which Don Antonio F. Coronel has procured for the occasion.” These were to be accompanied by (and contrasted with) modern carriages produced by Louis Lichtenberger during the previous year. Related to this, the Herald observed that “many of the old-time costumes . . . are of exceeding richness, being heavily embroidered with gold and silver bullion.”
Returning to Coronel, it was reported that “the ladies and gentlemen who execute the old time Spanish dances . . . will give two exhibitions at the St. Charles Hotel,” this originally being the Bella Union, originating in an 1830s adobe on the east side of Main Street, on the evenings of the 6th and 7th. The St. Charles was also host to a dinner by a ladies’ committee for the centennial and which was to involve 300 guests, with the Herald commenting that “many of our old time residents will avail themselves of the opportunity to partake once more of an elegant repast in the dining room of the ‘Old Bella Union Hotel.'”
A Mexican-American War veteran coming from San Francisco for the celebration was Colonel Jonathan D. Stevenson, whose New York regiment of volunteers provided guard duty after the seizure of Los Angeles in early 1847. When Pico, the last governor of Mexican California returned home from México the following year and stayed at the Workman House at the Homestead, Stevenson admonished Workman in a report to a superior, claiming that the English native and compadre of the governor was “ever hostile to the American cause.”
At the Plaza Church, Father Pedro Verdaguer, who served there for many years, “proposes that the old church at the Plaza shall lead off in the Centennial decorations” including the display of the flags of the Catholic Church, the United States and Spain. The paper determined that
This is highly appropriate, considering the fact that, in 1781, California acknowledged the allegiance of Spain and the Pope and now contentedly nestles under the Stars and Stripes. In addition, there will be a splendid transparency, with the inscription “1781—1881.” Inside of the church fence a platform has been erected, on which the vocal and other exercises will take place Monday evening.
Lastly, there was a lengthy work of verse commemorating the centennial by Albert F. Kercheval (1829-1893), whose poems were frequently published during those years. A native of Ohio, Kercheval was one of the hordes of Gold Rush ’49ers and settled in Los Angeles in 1868, as its first boom was underway, and was a vineyardist and orange grower. In 1883, he published a volume of his works, which were highly regarded in Los Angeles.
As we end part one and return tomorrow for part two, we can let the reader decide the quality of Kercheval’s writing with these samples:
A Hundred Years! A fairy tale,
A lonely land, a dreamy vale,
A silent, sighing, silvery sea
Unshadowed by a gleaming sail!
A plain unmarked by mete or bound,
By Summer’s ardent kiss embrowned,
Dim spreading ‘neath the trembling haze,
Unbroken solitude around . . .
The years go by, and to and fro
Their tide-like cycles come and go,
And like the ocean’s ceaseless tides
Life’s changeless currents ebb and flow . . .
Thy children’s spreading homes around,
In teeming fruitfulness abound;
And all thy courts and flowery ways,
Ring out Centennial’s joyous sound.