by Paul R. Spitzzeri
There was no question that the explosive growth of the Montebello oil field was an enormous boon to the growth of the suburban town on the southeastern fringes of a rapidly expanding Los Angeles in the years following the discovery of “black gold” there by Thomas W. Temple II and the bringing in of the first wells in 1917.
The town, after being part of Monterey Park for a few years, incorporated in 1920 with a population of about 2,500 and that number more than doubled during the subsequent decade to about 5,500. There were some major public improvements during that period, as well, including the fall 1927 opening of Beverly Boulevard, which joined Whittier Boulevard as the second east-west route through town.
A third was Ninth Street, heading east of downtown, which became a primary route to the Montebello Park subdivision, of which we’ll touch upon in an upcoming post. That tract is partially in Montebello and largely in east Los Angeles, and the thoroughfare became Olympic Boulevard, so renamed because of the onset of the 1932 summer games held in Los Angeles. In Montebello, Olympic was at the southern fringe of the municipal park, while it also was near the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad line.
Two years later, Atlantic Boulevard and Garfield Avenue were dedicated as primary north-south thoroughfares, with the latter running through the west edge of town and the latter still important in terms of general access to neighboring territory. These new streets were also part of developments related to Montebello Park and related subdivisions including Repetto Park, along Atlantic, and Tri-City Park, next to Garfield, as the “East Side” grew by leaps and bounds.
With respect to Whittier Boulevard, an important milestone was the completion of a new $105,000 bridge crossing the Río Hondo, with the Los Angeles Express of 14 January 1922 called it an “important unit in what the Automobile Club of Southern California calls the second most heavily traveled highway in the state” as the state highway (it is still Route 72 east of the 605 Freeway in Whittier and La Habra), which was assumed to become the most used road in the world, made that vital leap over the watercourse. The 470-foot long bridge with a pair of 35-foot concrete approaches and a quartet of 100-foot spans on reinforced concrete piers was considered “of the latest and best type of modern engineering and construction.”
Less obviously important, though certainly vital, was the fall 1928 completion of “a flood control and storm drain project serving the rapidly-developing district comprising Montebello, Montebello Park, Belvedere Gardens [East Los Angeles] and adjacent territory.” A rare public works project finished ahead of schedule, by about a year, the $3.6 million effort involved two drainage systems.
The larger, at $2.25 million, included three trunk lines, with one through Montebello and Montebello Park emptying into the Río Hondo and two more, called the Bandini, through the City of Commerce, and Belvedere terminating at the Los Angeles River. The two embraced 18 miles of lines, under a quarter composed of double concrete box construction, this under the terminal rail yards of the Union Pacific/Santa Fe line, this being the former San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake route.
One of the manifold benefits of having oil fields within a school district was, obviously, the funds apportioned for projects and some of the smallest districts were blessed with the money to build elaborate buildings. Near Montebello, for example, in the former La Puente School District, renamed Temple in 1921, a small student population attended a highly ornamented Temple School, now the Los Angeles district headquarters for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The Whittier News of 8 June 1925 reported that,
Montebello’s new $600,000 high school will be formally opened next Wednesday night with commencement exercises. The new building, pronounced by architects to be one of the most modern in Southern California, has been under construction for 18 months . . .
The new institution . . . has been constructed so as to care for the requirements of that rapidly growing community. It will be completed in every respect, with well-fitted gymnasium, machine and wood-working shops, cafe, large auditorium, etc.
The commencement address was by Rufus von KleinSmid, president of the University of Southern California, while entertainment was from an unnamed Russian president who was a student of the famous Jan Paderewski, while opera singer John Pench was also a performer. With 32 rooms and capacity for 1,200 students, the school was more than ready to accommodate future growth as the student body then numbered 350. Growth was anticipated to jump noticeably including the adjacent communities of Belvedere Gardens and Montebello Park.
The Los Angeles Times, being a paramount booster of the region, had at least four major features about the town and surrounding areas during the Twenties. The 22 June 1924 edition by Helen Starr began with the observation that,
The word Montebello means beautiful hills. On this site, some seventy-five years ago, the famous battle of San Gabriel was fought and the Californians [Americans!] in this sparsely settled country became victorious over the territory which up to that time had been under Mexican [and, before that, Spanish] domination.
Notably, it was added that the California Historical Society, formed in 1871 and which only recently disbanded, was planning to spend $50,000 on a library in a 15-acre park to be laid out at the battle site. This was not to be, though there is a state historic landmark plaque at the location now.
In discussing the burgeoning oil field, Starr remarked that, despite this, “Montebello has never been classed with the boom towns, for its natural growth has continued in gradual and substantial fashion” and was at some 6,000 persons. The city had property valuations of some $14 million, with eight blocks in its downtown, well-paved streets with ornamental lighting and other highlighted facts to demonstrate its evolution.
The writer commented that, as well known as Montebello was for its black gold deposits, “it is a city famous for flowers,” thanks to the many nurseries, while “it is said that this town ships more flowers to all parts of the United States than any other suburban city in America.” The usual businesses were featured: Howard and Smith, Roy Wilcox and C.J. Groen, in particular.
Also mentioned was the handsome existing high school and the new one under construction, while a block away was Washington School, a $150,000 campus of French Renaissance architecture. Greenwood School was acknowledged for its Spanish Colonial Revival building and lush landscaping, while “the Vail School accommodates the Spanish [Mexican] children of the vicinity.” Three other schools were just finished or under construction, including one in Bandini (City of Commerce) and the Eastmont area.
Further signs of important development cited in Starr’s piece were that streets in some 40 city blocks were to be paved and that “many new subdivisions are being placed on the market in the near vicinity.” This included the El Carmel Tract, mentioned in part two of this post as developed on 200 acres by Whittier’s Harriet Russell Strong in “South Montebello,” where portions of the City of Commerce are now. There, a hundred houses and a $125,000 water system were cited.
Among Whittier Boulevard were other projects and the writer commented that, “they are so numerous, in fact, that Montebello seems now to be merely an outlying portion of Los Angeles.” The Simons brick yard constituted “the world’s largest clay product plant,” while the 400-member Chamber of Commerce was readying for a publicity effort. The article concluded that the town had a theater, a newspaper, five churches and Rotary and women’s clubs, while the recently formed State Bank of Montebello and a branch of Los Angeles’ Security Trust and Savings Bank operated there. The Chamber was looking for a harness maker, optician, photographer, sheet metal business and an undertaker.
The Times of 28 February 1926 ran a piece titled “Montebello In Prosperous Era,” in which Harry Brownson called it “a city where extremes meet and opposites attract, where the mathematically material and the aromatic ideal exist side by side, each aiding in the commercial activity of the community.” This meant the large number of nurseries and the $6 million citrus, walnut and intensive farming elements were found with other industries, including the Simons brick yard of some two decades in existence and the $7 million output of the oil field.
Brownson reviewed the population of 6,000, the railroad and bus service to the Pacific Electric Railway line in Boyle Heights, and, “in harmony with the cultural side of life in Southern California, the churches and schools. These included the new high school, with $300,000 expended for the plant, as well as seven churches, all Protestant, save the Our Lady of Carmel Catholic Church (among whose parishioners were the predominantly Latino workforce at the Simons yard), while St. Benedict’s Monastery had a new building on the 20-acre campus occupied that many years ago.
The writer also identified the importance of businesses, the Chamber of Commerce, the fraternal orders and woman’s club and claimed that “the Montebello annual flower show [meaning held yearly, not comprised of annual flowers!] ranks second in importance to the Tournament of Roses at Pasadena.” A $30,000 city park was to be finished within a half-year, with two lakes and all of the plant life “for which Montebello is celebrated,” while a public library and city hall were underway.
In its 7 August 1927 issue, the Times remarked that,
In keeping with the development which has characterized practically all of the East Side in the last two years, the record of building permits, public utilities, bank clearings and civic improvements indicates a substantial forward stride for Montebello.
In the past year, the town of 6,000 had 34 miles of streets completed and 15 miles of curbs and sidewalks. The new high school opened and was served by seven grammar schools. Building permits doubled since 1925 and, in addition to the two bank buildings, a $15,000 edifice was constructed for city administration, the fire department and the police department. An $85,000 building built by the International Order of Odd Fellows, the Masonic Temple of nearly the same cost and size, and the clubhouse of the woman’s club were also noted and included in illustrations.
The doubling of electric and gas accounts and more than that of telephone stations were also indicators of the new boom. The 15-acre city park was “the pride of Montebello,” including a natural amphitheater, bowling green, croquet court, tennis court and an $85,000 city pool, a photo of which was included, were also highlighted.
The nursery industry “is still Montebello’s greatest claim” and some of the data provided in an earlier part of this post was largely repeated in terms of 350 acres devoted to growing a wide range of plants, including 1.8 million square feet of glass or lath greenhouses. Notably, “a Montebello rose, the famous ‘Los Angeles,'” took a gold medal, the first for an American variety, at what was said to be the greatest rose show on the planet in Franc
Finally, the piece concluded with the remark that,
The background for the city’s development would be incomplete without the tall oil derricks on its surrounding hills. While oil production has never been of a spectacular nature [we discussed how the field was relatively shallow after its burst of yields in the late Teens], this district is rated as fifth among the Southland fields . . . Montebello is feeling the stimulus occasioned by the industrial development in sections lying between its boundaries and Los Angeles.
This latter, again, primarily meant the Bandini project, now the City of Commerce, and the 10 February 1929 edition of the Times addressed the Bandini and Montebello Park projects, commenting that “a few years ago that district which lies east of the Los Angeles River, was practically unknown and unheralded in the affairs of the fast-growing city of Los Angeles.” As the Angel City and environs welcomes hundreds of thousands of new residents, a need for more industry arose for “a new empire on the shores of the Pacific.”
The article continued that a new industrial movement came to the area within the last few years, with viaducts crossing the river, highways built or improved “and thousands of acres awaited the touch of industry.” This meant that “almost by magic a new industrial city has come into being on the East Side near Montebello Park and Bandini” with grazing land for livestock giving way to “thriving communities of contented workers, where workers find employment at the very door of their homes.”
In the preceding year-and-a-half, some $30 million in industrial development took place and James B. Ransom, whose meteoric rise to real estate success was centered on these projects, proclaimed that “the East Side is today on the threshold of its greatest growth” with factories worth many millions to come in the short term. He added that, by 1936, land for housing “will be only half enough to care for the needs of workers in East Side industries,” even as Bandini, Montebello Park and the Montebello Park Golf Club tracts “are building with lightning-like rapidity.”
Among the major industrial concerns cited in the piece were the $8 million Samson Tire and Rubber Corporation plant (now The Citadel in Commerce), the Pacific-Goodrich Rubber Company facility adjacent to Montebello Park; the Kittinger Furniture Company; and the Willys-Overland automobile company plant. The Crane brass and enamelware company had a site in mind near Montebello Park and planned to invest $1 million there.
It was added that a new passenger depot was being built (and still exists, though long disused) at the corner of Telegraph Road and Atlantic Boulevard, also in Commerce, while improvements to major thoroughfares like Whittier Boulevard and Garfield Avenue were also cited as important for further development. Ransom was quoted as stating that Montebello Park and Repetto Park, as central to the East Side’s progress, meant that,
With a new community consciousness taking shape, schools have been built, charming homes constructed and occupied, and beautiful parkways built, making Montebello Park unique in the annals of industrial community building.
Eight months later, though, the crash of the stock market on Wall Street in New York City ushered in the early days of the Great Depression and everything would suddenly and starkly shift, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves when it comes to the remarkable project that was Montebello Park. We’ll return tomorrow for that, so check back in with us then.