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These brief sketches, with
occasional modifications, are taken from the booklet
Etiwanda The first Hundred Years
September 17, 1982
1870 to 1890 |
| Isaiah Phillips Smith
came to the San Bernardino area in 1863 where he and his wife, Maria Delores,
lived with their young, growing family. On February 9, 1870, when he was 53 and
Maria was 35, Isaiah purchased property six miles east of Cocomunga** on the
road leading from Cocomunga through Cajon Pass to Fort Mojave. In only twelve
years, this would become known as the Etiwanda Colony Lands.
Isaiah and Maria built a house on what is now the
southwest section, at the corner of Summit and East Avenues, where they moved
with their six young children. There were two additional children born to the
couple during their years in Etiwanda, Solomon and Adrine.
Isaiah purchased other lands adjacent to his, and also
filed a possessory claim for a section of 160 acres which joined his on the
northeast. He also filed for and purchased the water rights for all of his land.
A ditch was dug from the house north, intersecting East Canyon to insure a
supply of water for his home and other needs. Isaiah's land was sold to others,
but in 1874, Isaiah sold all of his property in this area and all of the water
rights to Joseph S. Garcia, a Portuguese sea captain. Isaiah, Maria, and their
young family moved to the Cocomunga area where they rented the old Rains house.
**(Cocomunga was one
of four different spellings used to identify the area now known as Cucamonga.) |
| Joseph S. Garcia was born in the Azores Islands on June 9, 1823. He went to Sea
at the age of thirteen, making many voyages to different parts of the world. He
acquired the ability to speak five languages fluently, and moved up in positions
on various vessels. |
| In 1850 he became a prospector in
California gold mines, making enough in six month's time to purchase a share in
a ship. Two years later he had earned enough to enter into partnership in
ownership of several vessels. Captain Garcia bought a block of land in Los
Angeles. Even though a landowner, he still sailed.
In 1868 he decided to leave the sea. He purchased land
in the Cucamonga area and went there to live. This land was sold in 1875 to the
Hellmans and others. He had already moved to the Etiwanda area, having purchased
lands there and in the area soon to be the Ontario Model Colony.
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| After selling the Etiwanda property to
the Chaffey Brothers, and the Ontario area land soon after, he built the
first residence in the colony of Ontario. He was active in public affairs in
Ontario for many years. Captain Garcia died at his home in Ontario in 1902 at
1790 Euclid Avenue and was buried in San Francisco. |
| Jean Louis Sainsevain,
at the age of twenty-two, came to America from France to join his
brother, Pierre.
In 1855, their uncle, Jean L. Vignes, sold his El Aliso
vineyard to the two brothers for $42,000. This was the largest sum paid for a
piece of real estate in the Los Angeles area up to that time.
In 1865 the Sainsevain Brothers bought land in the
Cucamonga area and set out a large vineyard. In 1870 they moved to the Cucamonga
Vineyard.
From 1871 to 1873 Pierre and Jean L. Sainsevain with
Joseph S. Garcia ran the vineyard and winery at Cucamonga.
On February 24, 1873, Pierre Sainsevain sold 580 acres,
part of the Rain's Cucamonga Rancho, to Joseph S. Garcia.
In 1874 and 1875 the Sainsevains purchased land in
Hawker Canyon four miles east of Etiwanda and built a large stone house and
reservoir. |
| The George Chaffey Sr. Family, in 1877, moved to Riverside in the Highlands area from Ontario,
Canada. They purchased property, two ten-acre lots, upon which they settled.
Making the move at this time were George Sr. and his wife, Ann, his twenty-two
year old son, William, and William's wife, Hattie, a third son, Charles, age 17,
and a daughter, Emma. Two other sons, George Benjamin Chaffey, Jr. and Dr.
Elswood Chaffey remained in Canada. |
| George Chaffey Jr.
came to California for a visit in 1881. He and his brothers, William and
Charles, rode over the Cucamonga Plains area looking at the available land.
On Thanksgiving Day, 1881, George and William met with
Captain Joseph S. Garcia, the retired Portuguese sea captain, at his ranch in
what is today Etiwanda.
They purchased Captain Garcia's house, today the Chaffey-Garcia House, and 560 acres of land
for $30,000. This also included Garcia's interest in the water rights of Day
Canyon and the creek on the east. The "visit" suddenly evolved into a
permanent residency.
The Chaffeys also purchased 640 acres from the Southern
Pacific Railroad. They purchased other land as time passed.
On March 22, 1882, George Chaffey Jr. and William
Benjamin Chaffey created the firm of Chaffey Brothers, whose principal place of
business was Etiwanda, California. This name, chosen by the Chaffeys, honored
the Indian Chief Etiwanda, a close friend of the Chaffey Family in Ontario,
Canada.
The creation of a Mutual Water Company, whose members
shared equally in the available water, was the method devised to insure success
of their land venture. The land was subdivided into ten-acre agricultural lots
with one water share for each acre of land. The Etiwanda Water Company was
organized by them and incorporated on May 8, 1882.
In late 1885 and 1886, George and William were
persuaded to move to Mildura, Australia, and started a much larger project.
Charles Chaffey remained in the area taking care of the brothers' interest in
the Etiwanda and Ontario Model Colonies. |
| John H. Scott, a former steamboat captain from Canada, came to the new Etiwanda
Colony in January, 1882, just after the Chaffey Brothers purchased the land.
Captain Scott was one of the first settlers in the
colony. He purchased twenty acres, at one hundred dollars per acre. This
included ten shares of water. He soon afterward sold five acres, owing to the
hard times experienced in the beginning. When he first arrived, the land was
still in the process of being platted and no improvements had yet been made to
the land.
His was the first house constructed in the new colony.
It was board and batten, 1 X 12's nailed to studs, and contained three to four
rooms. He planted one of the original orange groves of the district in the
spring of 1882.
Captain Scott later purchased additional land and
improved it by planting sixty-five acres to citrus. He was a director of the
Etiwanda Citrus Fruit Association, the Etiwanda Fruit, Company, and the Etiwanda
Raisin Growers Association. He was active in many business and community
organizations.
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| George Frost left Canada in the autumn of 1882 and came to California to the
Etiwanda colony. He was employed by the Chaffey Brothers, and in the
summer of 1884, began supervising lands in the Colony for non-resident owners.
He purchased twenty acres of land and planted grapevines, later devoting fifteen
of the twenty acres to citrus.
About 1890, George Frost purchased a small general store and built up a flourishing
business. He not only had the only store in the area for ten years, he also
served as postmaster, having the post office in the store. In later years he
sold the business to his sons, William and John.
For many years Mr. Frost was active in many business
and community organizations in the Etiwanda area.
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| The First School
in the Etiwanda Colony was a one-room
schoolhouse, a wooden building built by the Chaffey Brothers at the corner of
Baseline and East Avenues. The school opened on May 8, 1883 and served the
children of Etiwanda until 1890 when a new, two-room schoolhouse was constructed
at the Etiwanda and Victoria Avenues site.
The wooden building was then moved again to the north
side of Victoria, 200 feet west of Etiwanda Avenue, where it was used as a
residence.
The second schoolhouse was a wooden two-room school
built in 1890 on the southeast corner of Victoria and Etiwanda Avenues. This was
the first of three different buildings on the present school site.
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| The Chaffey-Isle House is a mansard-roofed, two-story house that was built in 1883 on
property owned by Annie A. Chaffey, wife of George Chaffey, Jr. It was
originally located approximately 600 feet east of the old Chaffey-Garcia ranch
house, on what was to be Wanona Avenue. |
The house was sold to O. S. Winstanley in
1885 and then sold in 1903 to J. H. Scott and sold again to James C. Isle for
approximately $3,000. The house was moved on log rollers to its second site, the
northwest corner of Etiwanda and Highland Avenues. In 1998 the house was again
relocated further south on Etiwanda Avenue, where it is now in the process of
being permanently established several lots north of the Chaffey-Garcia house and the Etiwanda Congregational Church.
All three are on the east side of Etiwanda Avenue between Baseline and Highland. |
| George F. Johnson
came to Etiwanda in 1888 at the age of
twenty-four. He purchased land and contracted to have a house built,
returning to Cincinnati in the same year.
Approximately two years later he returned with his
bride, Jessie Spencer, her mother and sister, and his father and two
sisters. George and Jessie took the north side of the house, which was
constructed as a duplex, and his father and two sisters took the south side.
Jessie's mother and sister rented the Garcia ranch house and later the Isle
House. George F. Johnson was well known throughout the State for his unique
ideas for packing and shipping table grapes. He owned many acres in the West End.
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| The Perdew School in
Grapeland was located approximately twenty miles west of San
Bernardino and north of what is now Highland Avenue. A small group of
homesteaders settled in an area that they named Grapeland. They planted
vineyards and deciduous fruit trees, using both dryland farming methods and
watering with the small amount of canyon water available.
One of the settlers was G. F. R. B. Perdew who moved to
the area around 1880. He planted about twenty-five acres to peaches, the trees
grown from seed right there on the ranch. His orchard was near Citrus and Summit
Avenues. He helped construct the Perdew School, and became the Postmaster for
the area.
In June, 1890, the settlers formed the Grapeland
Irrigation District, casting thirty-one votes unanimously for organization and
non against.
The Perdew School petitioned for formation of a school
district in 1880, and closed in 1899 when the Perdew School District combined
with the Grapeland School District. They became part of the Etiwanda District in
1901.
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| A Camp for Chinese
Laborers was established one-quarter
mile west of Etiwanda Avenue, on the south side of Victoria Avenue, in the early
1890's. The occupants were all men who were employed in the fields.
Occasionally one could be called upon to assist with household chores.
Other Chinese field workers walked to Etiwanda each day
from Chinatown, on San Bernardino Road, in Cucamonga.
The Chinese as day laborers were replaced by Mexican
and Indian field hands about 1900. |
| The Smith Brothers,
from Rochester, Pennsylvania, came to the
Cucamonga area and began purchasing land in 1886. The property was in the area
of what is now Rochester and Eighth Street. A hotel, land office,
general store, and post office were established all in one building. They hoped
to build a dream city and many acres were sold to settlers from the East. A
school was constructed inn 1891.
Although successful for a couple of years, the town of
Rochester became involved in litigation with the Etiwanda Water Company over
water sources. In 1894 they lost their suit in court. The colony died after a
severe drought in 1898-1899. People began to leave the area, and by 1911 the
post office was closed. The Rochester Water Company moved its headquarters to
Los Angeles that year.
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| The Etiwanda Historical
Society PUBLICATION COMMITTEE
Beverly White Phillys Jeanne Clark Robert
L. Hickcox Chester Frost Dr. Robert Davis PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHER Rosalee Harris CONTRIBUTING
PHOTOGRAPHERS Lorraine Bailey Carolyn Hargrave |
| This book has been made
possible by the contributions of many people in their sharing of historic and
valuable photographs. We gratefully acknowledge the following contributors:
Phillys Jeanne Clark Chester Frost Robert L.
Hickcox Dorothy Hickcox Lawrence and Miriam Mueller Flora
O'Kane William C. Pearson Vera Pizzuto Lois Sandlin
Frances Williams The
Ray Trujillo Family The Bermudez Family
The Urena Family The
Viramontez Family The Etiwanda
Congregational Church We also wish to
gratefully acknowledge the considerable
financial contributions of RC Land
Company/WM .C. Lyon Company which
made publication of this book possible. |
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