STILL STANDING AFTER ALL THESE YEARS
Part VI: E.D. Goode, the Glendale Improvement Association, Incorporation, the Old Settlers, and the Glendale and Eagle Rock Railway, 1894 to 1910s
by Katherine Peters Yamada
Edgar D. Goode only lived in Glendale about twenty years, but during that time, he compiled an impressive list of accomplishments.
Born in the late 1850s, Goode grew up on a farm near Taylorsville, Indiana and married Alletia E. Suttle in Christian, Illinois. Soon after their 1882 wedding, the couple headed west. They lived in Santa Barbara for a short while, then relocated to Ventura and later to Eagle Rock before the nearby village of Glendale caught Goode’s eye in 1894.
Three years later, the couple purchased a house on North Cedar, just a few short blocks from the center of town at Glendale and Third (now Wilson). The Queen Anne-Eastlake style dwelling, built just five years before, became home to the Goodes and their two daughters, Fay and Pearl and three sons, Ray, Leo, and John.
Alletia E. Goode
E.D. Goode. Photos: Courtesy of Glendale History Room unless otherwise noted
Goode and the Glendale Improvement Association
A town plan had been filed in 1887, but Glendale still had only 300 or so residents when Goode arrived on the scene. With the formation of a new civic support group, the Glendale Improvement Association, in 1902, Glendale quickly went from a small unincorporated village to a thriving town. Goode was at the forefront of that movement.
More than thirty residents signed up for the support group. They elected a newcomer, D.W. Hunt, who had purchased C.V. Bogue’s medical practice the year before (read more about Bogue in Part II), as president and Goode as secretary.
Goode plunged enthusiastically into civic ventures, working with the association to improve public transport, water mains, flood control, tree planting and fire fighting operations. The association also publicized the fledging town through local correspondents, who sent Glendale-based articles to Los Angeles newspapers. In addition, a promotional brochure was distributed. But their primary goal was to incorporate.
Goode and Incorporation
As secretary of the Improvement Association, “he did more than anyone else to get up petitions and do the necessary preliminary work to convert Glendale into a municipality,’’ according to E. Caswell Perry and Carroll W. Parcher, writing in Glendale Area History.
By 1900, the local population stood at 1186. Many of these new residents had come from more established towns and cities and hoped their newly adopted home would upgrade its services, starting by incorporating.
At a community meeting in September 1904, a motion was made to begin the process of incorporating all of the area within the existing school district. The motion carried by a substantial margin; however, some residents were opposed.
Those who lived on the Verdugo Road side of the district already had a post office, called Verdugo, and considered themselves residents of that village. And, Tropico residents not only had their own post office; they also had a school, a railroad station used by everyone in the area, and a thriving business district.
In the face of this opposition, the promoters reduced the proposed city limits and eventually set the election date: February 7, 1906. That day, 120 votes were cast; 75 were in favor, and the motion was approved.
Having accomplished its primary objective, the association quickly disbanded. Goode was not elected to an office; instead, he continued to work behind the scenes.
Goode and the Old Settlers Picnic
Postcard, Verdugo Park, ca 1914. Courtesy of Greg Grammer
By now, the new city had grown to some 2500 residents. Parcher wrote that the pioneers who had come in the 1880s had frequently gathered to share stories of hardships and feelings of loneliness about being so far from their hometowns.
Now, perhaps, they were feeling the impact of this influx of new people. The year after incorporation, calling themselves the ‘Old Settlers Association,’ the pioneers gathered at a skating rink in Echo Park to reminisce about the ‘old days.’
Glendale’s first mayor, Wilmot Parcher, “started the talk-fest off in good style,” according to The News, August 1, 1907, which also noted that Goode, president of the brand new Board of Trade, took an active part in planning the gathering and that he and his family were on hand to enjoy the festivities.
The News added that seventy-five people attended, including J.W. Cook, the “celebrated Indian fighter,” and his wife. They had lived on San Fernando Road for 29 years. When their house was built in 1878, it was the only residence for miles around.
‘Old Settlers’ named in the article included Ayres, Ayers, Bullis, Devine, Dutton, Goode, Hobbs, Hodgson, Light, Logan, Parcher, Patterson, Rice, Richardson and Sherer.
The gathering was held at Echo Park for two more years. Then, in 1910, the picnic moved to Verdugo Park. That was the year that Goode’s new enterprise, the Glendale and Eagle Rock Railway, extended its line north, with a final stop at Verdugo Park.
Goode and the Glendale and Eagle Rock Railway
Goode is credited with building a trolley line which ran between the two named towns.
He began exploring the idea in 1907 and obtained several right of ways for the tracks. The line began at the intersection of Glendale Avenue and Broadway, with the tracks running along Wilson Avenue (then Third Street) and on to Colorado. (At the time, Colorado was an abandoned county road, so no right of way was needed.)
The line ended on Eagle Rock Boulevard. The more than two miles of track were completed in March 1909 for $38,357, plus donations of cash and right of ways.
Goode sought assistance from the Los Angeles Railway, which rented him a passenger car, brought it to Eagle Rock and, using mules, placed it on Goode’s tracks, according to Montrose historian and train enthusiast Michael Morgan.
On the first day of service, March 13, 1909, railway officials and guests gathered in Eagle Rock to ride into Glendale. There, at Glendale and Broadway, they posed for a photograph.
In January 1910, the line was extended to Brand Boulevard, but only after some challenges. “Goode was a determined man,” according to Morgan. “He won the franchise for Broadway to Brand, but the only problem was that his tracks on Glendale Avenue were east of the Union Pacific tracks on that same road.”
To prevent Goode from crossing west over UP rails and onto Broadway to lay his tracks, the UP placed a steam engine in the middle of the intersection of Broadway and Glendale, effectively blocking Goode’s tracks.
He confronted the UP, but to no avail. It wasn’t until he signed a document allowing him the “right to cross over,” and paying UP a fee, that “he won the right to go to Brand.”
That same year, the Glendale Avenue line was extended further north — out to Verdugo Park. After a test run on July 3, the line opened to passengers on July 4th. Morgan noted that more than 1000 people rode the trolley to the park that holiday, perhaps including many of the ‘Old Settlers.’ No doubt, Goode and his family were on hand to welcome them.
One of the stops on the Eagle Rock line was at the landmark Victorian structure opened in 1887 as the Glendale Hotel. By this time it was home to the Glendale Sanitarium.
E.D. Goode, president of the company, (center, in light-colored suit) and other officials on opening day.
At Glendale Sanitarium on Broadway, ca 1910
At the terminus at Broadway and Brand, 1910
Goode Sells Railroad
In 1911, Goode sold his interest in the railway to the Western Empire Suburban Farm Association for $40,000.
Two years after that, the railway was purchased by the Holmes-Walton Company, a real estate firm active in Crescenta Valley, for $43,500. In February of that same year, sales of property began in the new community of Montrose.
Holmes-Walton extended the Verdugo Park line further north to Montrose and changed the name to the Glendale and Montrose Railway. (Holmes-Walton sold the railway on June 1, 1916 to the Riverside Portland Cement company, which expanded it to Glassell Junction in Los Angeles.)
In 1919, a barn was built just off Verdugo Road to house and service the trolley cars.
In early 1924, the train began stopping on San Fernando Road at what was then the entrance to Forest Lawn Memorial Park, (to the right of the current entrance). It was a popular stop on weekends, Morgan noted.
The huge sycamore tree shown on the postcard was one of the oldest landmarks in the San Fernando Valley. At one time, it was the central point from which all survey lines ran.
Eventually, competition from other transportation lines, combined with the 1929 stock market crash, caused the company to file for abandonment. The order was issued by the California Railroad Commission on September 29, 1930 and the last car ran on December 31 of that same year.
Trolley at entrance to Forest Lawn in 1927
Passengers gather to ride the first train into the new community of Montrose, 1913
Glendale and Montrose car barn in Montrose, 1927
Tickets for Glendale and Montrose railway. Courtesy of Michael Morgan
Conclusion plus Ostriches
Ostriches in South Pasadena. Postcard postmarked 1910. Courtesy KPYamada
Goode continued his involvement with the Old Settlers. In 1911, he was elected secretary and the group went back to Echo Park.
Ostriches were no doubt the topic of conversation at one gathering. Pioneer Edgar S. Ayres told a local newspaper that several ostriches had escaped from a railroad car at Sepulveda Station back in the 1880s. After they were recaptured, the ostriches were taken to their intended destination, the huge Griffith ranch across the Los Angeles River.
According to the article, public interest in the ostriches led to the establishment of the Cawston Ostrich Farm in South Pasadena.
As the Los Angeles County Road Commissioner from 1898 to 1910, Goode was in charge of some 200 miles of road, including the Glendale, Tropico, Eagle Rock and Garvanza areas.
In addition, he represented Glendale on the Democratic county central committee for twenty years.
Next time, Goode and the New High School
Still Standing After All These Years
The Goode House on Cedar Avenue
The Goode family house still stands today. It was built in 1892 by Henry C. Banker, who, along with his brother, Joseph, settled in Glendale in 1885. The location has remained the same over the years, but its address has changed from 329 Cedar to 119 Cedar St.
The house has had a number of owners and tenants since the Goodes lived there. Today, it is part of a privately owned residential care facility, according to city planning officials. The house was placed on the Glendale Register of Historic Resources in 1977.
The car barn still stands on Verdugo Road. It is now part of the Anawalt Lumber Company, which purchased the property in 1921.
Valentine Anawalt left Holland for the United States in 1761 and purchased 120 acres of farm and timberland in Pennsylvania. His son John, his grandson Samuel, and his great-grandson Elias were all carpenters by trade.
Elias relocated to Rock Island, Illinois and later to Wichita, Kansas to manage the Rock Island Lumber Company’s retail lumberyards.
Elias’ son Harmon Fred, known as H.F., operated a lumber business in Kansas, but, for health reasons, brought his family to Southern California in 1920. He opened Anawalt Lumber in Montrose the following year.
According to their website, three more generations of Anawalts have been at the helm: H.F.’s son Bernard, his grandson Buz, and his great grandson Bill, the current owner.
The Anawalt Lumber Company is one of the area’s oldest family-owned, independent businesses.
The car barn at present day Anawalt Lumber Co. Courtesy of KPYamada
Note: Goode Avenue is a very short connector between Brand and Central, adjacent to the 134 Freeway.
References
The Glendale History Room, on the second floor of the Central Library, has city directories dating back to 1906, photographs of early Glendale, and archival collections on the Glendale Unified School District, Forest Lawn, theaters of Glendale and other Glendale-related topics. Visits are by appointment only (please email glendalehistoryroom@glendaleca.gov)
Our local history was studied extensively by early historians, including John Calvin Sherer, who authored ‘History of Glendale and Vicinity’ in 1922. Carroll W. Parcher incorporated much of that information in `Glendale Community Book,’ published in 1957. A later version, ‘Glendale Area History,’ was published in 1974 and expanded in 1981. Unless otherwise noted, much of what is included here is from these books and from “Glendale, A Pictorial History.”
Find A Grave https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/94154259/e.-d.-goode
Glendale Register of Historic Resources. City of Glendale, CA
Anawalt Lumber. https://anawaltlumberm.wpengine.com/
“Montrose,” authored by Robert Newcombe, 2013, “Images of America,” Arcadia Publishing
Michael Morgan, historian
Mike Lawler, columnist, Crescenta Valley Weekly
For more on the ostrich story, see Verdugo Views: ‘Ostrich farms were once popular tourist attractions locally,’ February 8, 2019 https://www.latimes.com/socal/glendale-news-press/entertainment/tn-gnp-me-yamada-20190206-story.html