by Paul R. Spitzzeri
In the excellent 2005 anthology, Land of Sunshine: An Environmental History of Metropolitan Los Angeles, edited by William Deverell and Greg Hise, the essay “Zoning and Environmental Inequity in the Industrial East Side” by Christopher G. Boone discussed how regional planners established zoning for an area now comprising the City of Commerce and portions of East Los Angeles and Montebello in that section known as the “Industrial East Side.”
A post here on the development of the Montebello Park subdivision in the 1920s covered some of the close ties between that project and the enormous growth of the commercial and industrial district around it that represented the second such section in the area after its forbear in downtown Los Angeles (the City of Industry, where the Homestead is located, was established in another generation of such districts). What Boone covered was the significant long-term effects of zoning decisions that placed housing adjacent to industrial factories and businesses, especially with respect to exposure to toxic environments.
The growth of industry in greater Los Angeles during that period was remarkable and came about as the region experienced a massive surge in oil production during a series of booms in which the population skyrocketed. Whereas the area’s economy was essentially built on agriculture, most notably citrus, at the end of the 19th century, the spread of suburbanization, the mania for petroleum prospecting and other elements wrought a significant change in the landscape with that “Industrial East Side” being one prominent example.
This post takes us back to 1893 and early instance of a manufacturing concern arising, not in downtown Los Angeles or its southeastern neighboring areas in what became Vernon and Commerce, but in the western San Gabriel Valley town of Alhambra. That community arose at the tail end of the region’s first boom, which lasted from the late 1860s through the mid-1870s, and was developed by local landowners Benjamin D. Wilson and his son-in-law, James De Barth Shorb, whose adjacent Lake Vineyard project included F.P.F. Temple as a partner.
Alhambra, its name evoking the romance of Spain and superficially tied to this region’s pre-American past, went into malaise, as did other new communities of the time, such as Artesia, Pomona and San Fernando, but, like them, was largely revived by the Boom of the 1880s. Like those others, it was agriculture that was the financial lifeblood of the community, but its proximity to Los Angeles led to the establishment of the Alhambra Shoe Manufacturing Company, an early industrial concern (though on a very modest scale as these generally were compared to later ones, like in the Industrial East Side) that had a brief, but notable, lifespan.
In its 7 February 1893 edition, the Los Angeles Times announced that “at Alhambra, nine miles from Los Angeles, work was yesterday begun on an important enterprise which has been successfully established and started fairly under way without the knowledge of the public.” On the 6th, several rail cars filled with lumber arrived for the construction of the factory, with the main edifice, of two stories, measuring 30×50 feet, with plans for two or more additions. The article continued,
It is the intention of the company organized for the purpose to import labor and machinery from the East and manufacture shoes in competition with the Eastern factories. About fifty operatives will at first be brought from Maine, and the necessary machinery has already been ordered and will soon be on the way.
This statement is interesting in that it was reflective of the general massive growth of American industry in the last portion of the century (it was not all that many years before that shoemaking was still largely a cottage industry–Temple’s brother-in-law, John H. Bancroft, was a shoemaker in Temple’s hometown of Reading, Massachusetts, not far from Maine) but also that conditions in Los Angeles were such that there was a perception that a large enough market existed locally for such an enterprise.
The Times added that the company was largely bankrolled and operated by the brothers Gail (1859-1918) and Milbank Johnson (1872-1944), whose father Jehu was a prominent figure in Houston, Texas in farming, ranching, real estate, politics and owner of the Houston Post, and whose mother Philadelphia was a member of the Borden family from the famed condensed milk company. Gail, named for his grandfather who started the company, worked for that firm in Chicago from 1884 to 1888 and then came to Los Angeles with his younger brother joining him. A sister came out, as well, and married John B. Miller, who became the powerful president of Southern California Edison Company.
At the beginning of 1889, as the Boom of the Eighties was going bust, Gail purchased land from former Civil War Union Army General, and future California governor, George Stoneman on the latter’s ranch at Alhambra and later in the year he was a founding trustee of the Alhambra Methodist Episcopal Church (the church built in 1926 is on the former estate of Walter P. and Laura G. Temple, owners of the Homestead) and, in summer 1890, he became director of the city’s bank. Another figure involved in both was George B. Adams, an important early figure in the community.
In spring 1892, Milbank, a newly licensed doctor after finishing his studies in Chicago, purchased property in Alhambra from his brother and from Adams. At the end of the year, the Johnson brothers and other Alhambrans formed a real estate and investment concern and this may have led directly to the formation of the shoe enterprise.
The paper ended its coverage by remarking that “it has been vaguely known that Eastern persons were figuring on starting a shoe factory in this section” and that folks in Garvanza, in the northeastern corner of Los Angeles next to Pasadena, were hoping their community would be chosen as its location. It was added that “Alhambra secured the prize, which will largely add to the population of that pleasant place.” Lastly, the piece noted,
A[lonzo] Phillips, the excursion man [who ran popular tourist trips by rail to this area, as did Walter Raymond, builder of the well-known hotel in nearby South Pasadena], whose home is in Alhambra, interested himself greatly in the enterprise, and is gratified at the selection made. The people who are pushing the enterprise have little to say regarding it, and no promises to make, but the establishment is looked upon as a welcome addition to Southern California industries.
In its editorial page, the Times had more to say about the project, remarking that “the capitalists behind the enterprise are the Johnson brothers, formerly of Maine, who are large owners in the Gail Borden brand of condensed milk, and are very wealthy.” The account went on that “a site, comprising three acres near the center of the Alhambra settlement has been purchased” and that lumber delivered for the factory and workers’ cottages.”
While it was mentioned that $25,000 comprised the initial investment, more would be put into it if warranted, this deemed reflective of solid judgment on the part of the siblings. Observing that a packing house by Chicago meat mogul Michael Cudahy, as well as an iron smelting works, were also in process of construction, the piece concluded,
While the starting of a new enterprise of this kind may not warrant a great amount of boasting, still it is a most healthful sign, indicating the general drift into manufacturing, in which branch of industry Southern California has been hitherto so much lacking.
The editorial, however, stirred Gail Borden to write the Times, in which he denied that he and his brother were rich or involved in ownership of the Borden milk company, demurring that he was “not wishing to pose before the public in a false light.” Moreover, he downplayed the scale of the project as “the projectors propose to begin in a very modest way” because “manufacturing is an experiment in this section” and establishing too large a plant “would be poor business policy,” though expansion would occur as the market determined.
Still, the article ended with the Times, then approaching a dozen years in operation and among the region’s most determined and powerful boosters, stating,
They believe thoroughly in Southern California, its present promise and future greatness, and feel confident that manufacturing will ere long play a large part in the material prosperity of this section, and, believing this, say that they are “entirely willing to stand the brunt of a little pioneering.”
When the company incorporated on the 8th, the Los Angeles Express briefly observed that the $25,000 firm, of which $15,000 in stock was subscribed in increments of $100, “proposes to manufacture and sell boots, shoes and saddlery. In addition to the Johnson brothers, F. Edward Gray, J.A. Green and John M. Elliott were directors, this latter being a prominent banker, including as president of the Alhambra National Bank, and later owned a large ranch at North Whittier Heights, very close to the Homestead.
Three months later, the Times provided an update in its number of 25 May under the heading of “Home Manufacturing” and in which it told readers “it now affords us pleasure to learn that the factory is thoroughly under way, and that first-class goods of home manufacture are being offered to the people of Southern California.” It added that it was the goal of any successful area to have manufacturing and “this the sagacious gentlemen at Alhambra are doing.”
The paper then commented that,
They began without any preliminary flourish of trumpets, and have gone forward in a practical and business-like way, and it is to be hoped that the merchants and consumers of this section will stand by them in their laudable effort to keep a portion of the money in circulation at home that has heretofore gone East for shoes and boots. The success of this enterprise means the establishment of others; it means the influx of thrifty and industrious workmen to help swell the wealth of the country, and hence is deserving of the most liberal support. May the Alhambra Shoe Manufacturing Company wax strong and be long-lived!
That day’s edition also contained the first located advertisement for the business, in which it was stated that “The Pioneer Shoe Factory in Southern California, are [sic] now prepared to fill orders in case lots for all kinds” of footwear in the newest styles with the “Best Oil Grain and Kip Leather Used, with Genuine California Oak Sole.” The lesser-known end of the enterprise was its manufacturing of harnesses, including single and double and light and heavy examples.
A couple of weeks later, the firm advertised for “fifteen bottomers and shoemakers” to handle piece work, as well as stitchers. In early August, however, some labor problems (which were major controversies throughout the country during the Gilded Age, manifested most notably in such examples as the Homestead Steel strike of 1892), soon arose. Under the title of “Dissatisfied Workmen,” the Los Angeles Express of 5 August reported that “the managers . . . are having some trouble with their help.”
The account continued that a quartet of workers, not quite a quarter of the labor force of 18, walked out over the lack of wages, with one of them, identified as L. Morris, telling the paper that the foreman “wanted to have calf shoes and brogans lasted and stocked for 10 cents per pair,” far under what was commanded in such cities as San Francisco and St. Louis.” It was added that “when the molding machine is put into operation this class of work will cost less,” but, meanwhile, “the company is doing an excellent business, having orders that will keep the establishment going a for long time.”
In fact, expansion was soon in the offing, as the 14 August issue of the Express cited The Alhambran as reporting, that the company “found [its] present quarters entirely inadequate to the demands, and therefore are building a large addition to the western side of [the] factory, increasing [its] capacity to at least four times as much as at present and giving steady employment for many more people.”
Brick, lumber and other material were onsite and it was remarked that the firm looked to expand its offerings so that there would be “a completely equipped shoe factory, something that not only the people of Alhambra, but Southern California will be proud of.” Two days later, and a day after the Johnsons sold the property, part of the “Alhambra Addition Tract,” to the firm for $4,000, the Times issued a statement by the proprietors:
We are now building an addition (40×75) to our shoe factory in order to accommodate a large number of new and latest improved machines . . . The demand for our shoes greatly exceeded our capacity, and we determined to place ourselves in a position to fill all orders promptly, and at the same time turn out even better work than heretofore. By September 1 we hope to be in thorough running order in our new building, with a daily capacity of 300 pairs. Our line of samples will be largely increased . . . We are now making everything in men’s footwear . . .
This auspicious start augured well for the future of the Alhambra Shoe Manufacturing Company, especially given that the “pioneer” manufacturing enterprise was launched and then expanded during the Panic of 1893, which an article on the Federal Reserve History website stated “was one of the most severe financial crises in the history of the United States.” Declining gold reserves and a slowing economy were main contributory causes of a series of runs on banks, including in Los Angeles in late spring and into the summer, with hundreds of banks failing from mid-July to mid-August. While conditions improved by fall, we’ll see that another recession rose at the end of 1895 and lasted nearly two years.
With that, check back with us part two as we continue our look at this early example of manufacturing in greater Los Angeles.