STILL STANDING AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

Part VIII: E.D. and Alletia Goode, Their Railway, the Odd Fellows and a 1916 Tragedy

By Katherine Peters Yamada

Alletia E. Goode. Photos Courtesy of Glendale History Room unless otherwise noted.

Edgar Douglas Goode gets the credit for building a trolley line from Glendale to Eagle Rock and later to Montrose, but in some ways, it was a family affair.

The first leg was completed in 1909. (See Part 6 for more.) A year later, the company’s board of directors appeared before a LA County notary public with documents for a bonded indebtedness of $25,000. The papers were signed by President Goode, director Alletia E. Goode and secretary R.E. Goode (their oldest son).

Montrose historian and train enthusiast Michael Morgan uncovered the document at the Seaver Center for Western History. “They have the incorporation papers of different businesses in LA County.”

“Alletia must have been a remarkable woman. She is the only one I know of in rail corporate history to sign such papers and it reflects her belief in E.D. and herself. There was no city government to build a railroad at that time. All development was done by private investors such as themselves.”

New Goal

Their new goal was to extend the line to Montrose, but, first, they had to reach Verdugo Park before July 4, 1910.

According to Morgan, the park - a long-time popular picnic area - was purchased in 1910 by Pirtle and Glassell, who wanted to expand its usage. They offered Goode a $25,000 bonus to reach the park by the holiday. The bonus would cover his bonded indebtedness and allow him to continue to Montrose. And the reached their goal (Part Six.)

Ultimately, Morgan said, their railroad lines led to the development of the eastern part of Glendale and also into Verdugo Canyon. “Goode had plans to go to Griffith Park. He always had plans! But never enough money.”

Power Couple of the 1900s

The Goodes were the early 1900s version of a civic-minded couple, Morgan added. “They were always promoting Glendale.”

As head of the Glendale Improvement Association, Goode lobbied for cityhood and brought in public transportation (Part 6) and fought for higher education (Part 7).

He was the first library board president, 1908, and one of the first vice-presidents of the Chamber of Commerce, 1910. Plus, he represented Glendale on the Democratic County Central Committee for twenty years.

Alletia helped found the Tuesday Afternoon Club (founders of our library).

Verdugo Park, date unknown. Courtesy of Greg Grammer.

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows

Both were affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the I.O.O.F.

Lodge No. 388, formed on January 26, 1901, was one of Glendale’s first fraternal lodges. With a motto of “friendship, love and truth,” members were expected to visit the sick, relieve the distressed, bury the dead and educate orphans.

According to E. Caswell Perry and Carroll W. Parcher, writing in the “Glendale Area History,” six charter members first met in an upstairs hall at Glendale and Wilson. Known as Ayers Hall, the room was shared by the rapidly growing city’s religious, civic, and social groups.

Interestingly, in one article, Parcher indicated that Goode was a charter member. In another, he lists charter members: J.F. McIntyre, R. Gilman Taylor, Bailey Hickman, George W. Haskin, Robert Garrett and Constantine Haines. Goode’s name is not included.

However, Parcher lists Alletia as a charter member of the women’s auxiliary, Carnation Rebekah Lodge 257.

Women’s Auxiliary

This was Glendale’s first female fraternal group. On October 2, 1901, the ladies gathered for a formal inauguration. Mrs. Ada E. Madison, past president of Rebekah Assembly of California, presided. A chartered train brought officers and guests from LA and waited on a siding to take them home again.

The lodge soon outgrew Ayers Hall. In 1908, they moved to the Hurtt Building, on Broadway near Howard Street, pictured below. In 1914, they moved to their own building at Wilson and Isabel.

Anticipating a permanent home, the members laid a cornerstone inscribed with the lodge’s name and the year. But when the civic center was expanded, they moved again.

In the ‘30s, they finally settled into what seems to have been their final home, on East Glenoaks. They placed their well-traveled cornerstone near the doorway.

One of their projects was to team up with the Glendale Historical Society to mark several historic spots in the city with bronze plaques.

Hurtt Building

Ayers Hall

One of first markers. Courtesy of KPYamada.

Goode Also Worked with Brand

Goode’s first venture into public transportation was in 1902, with L.C. Brand.

In the very early days, residents relied on the Southern Pacific and also on the Los Angeles, San Pedro and Salt Lake Railway for public transportation. However, passenger service on both was limited.

When Brand first came to town, he worked with Goode and the Glendale and Tropico improvement associations to secure a right of way for an electric interurban railway. (At the time, Tropico was independent.)

Parcher notes that Goode was one of Brand’s strongest allies in this project. Brand eventually teamed up with Henry Huntington and brought the Pacific Electric to Glendale, but that is a story for another chapter.

Goodes Leave Glendale for New Ventures Elsewhere

Goode was active in the city until 1913 or so, when he moved to the Imperial Valley to grow cotton. In 1919, he moved again to an area between Culver City and Venice.

There he went into real estate and encouraged the incorporation of a community called Barnes City. After a long legal fight, it was annexed by the city of Los Angeles.

Goode passed away at his Culver City home in 1935, age 77. An unidentified newspaper account, posted on his Find a Grave site, bore the headline “Plan Funeral for Builder of Railroads,” reflecting on his Glendale railway endeavors.

He was a pioneer of the Ballona Valley and the first mayor of the former Barnes City. He had lived in the area for some 20 years and was widely known.

He was survived by his widow, Alletia, two daughters, Fay L. Robison, of Cape Town, South Africa, and Pearl Prentice, and three sons, J.D., Leo D., and Roy, all of Glendale.

Buried at Forest Lawn

Goode’s body was taken to the Forest Lawn mortuary in Glendale for burial. He lies in the Graceland area, as does Alletia, who died in 1937. However, her grave is several rows away. Their three sons are also buried at Forest Lawn, but in different sections.

In July 2023, Michael Morgan met this writer at Forest Lawn. Together we toured their burial sites, and also others who were affiliated with the G&M.

One was Preston L. Hatch, who had worked for the Riverside and Arlington Railway before coming to Glendale to take over. (This was after Riverside Portland Cement Company purchased Goode’s trolley line.) Hatch returned to the cement company when the Glendale railroad closed. He died in 1932 in Glendale and is buried in Sunrise Slope.

Another was John W. M. Burton, who had built railroad lines in the Midwest before coming to Glendale in 1913 with his wife Ellen. (They came at the request of Ellen’s brother, Robert A. Walton, to help build the line to Montrose.) Burton served as general manager of G&M until 1915, then entered the real estate business.

The Burtons had two daughters, Zelma and Emma Lee. Zelma, 21, had just graduated from Glendale Union High. She was a member of Glendale Presbyterian Church and the Christian Endeavor Society. A poem, written in her 1916 GUHS yearbook, read, “She has a way to chase despair, to heal all grief, to cure all care.”

Emma Lee, 18, had finished her junior year at GUHS and was also a member of the church and of the society. She was treasurer of her sophomore class and she and her father had organized a G&M trolley trip from Glendale to Montrose as the highlight of their class year.

Tragedy Strikes Family in 1916

An auto accident on December 22, 1916, took the lives of both girls and left their parents gravely injured. Later, in a series of email conversations, Morgan told me more about this tragedy.

Returning home from Christmas shopping in LA, Burton turned right onto Verdugo Road; however, his view was blocked by several Los Angeles & Salt Lake boxcars. As he crossed Cypress Avenue, his car was hit by an Eagle Rock bound LA Railway trolley. The car was demolished and both girls were killed.

Their mother, Ellen, had a fractured pelvic bone and was in serious condition, while their father was badly bruised and in danger of concussion. Both were hospitalized and unable to be at the funeral at the Presbyterian Church.

Burton’s brother and family came from Woodford, California, and Ellen’s brother was also present, according to the Glendale Evening News, December 28, 1916.

Several young women, friends of the two girls, sang “Nearer My God to Thee” and, at the request of their mother, “Someday We’ll Understand.” Male classmates served as pallbearers.

The sisters shared one double casket, “with their arms interlocked, together in death as they had always been in life.” They were laid to rest beneath an outpouring of floral offerings.

Burton never fully recovered and died in 1923. Ellen Burton died in 1962, nearly 40 years later. “She lived to be ninety, a long time to be alone,” Morgan reflected.

In 1987, Morgan visited Leone Kiefer (of Kiefer and Eyrick Mortuary) who was 87 at the time. He interviewed her about her father, Charles Shattuck, who had partnered with Burton to extend the railroad to Montrose.

“She showed me a photo album of herself and the girls, taken at Verdugo Park in 1915, and started to cry. At the time, I did not know what had happened and could not understand why she was crying about something that had happened 71 years earlier.”

He learned that all three had been at Glendale High together and had been best friends.

Leone graduated in 1917, a year after the tragedy, and went to work at the Glendale library.

Ten years after he interviewed Leone Kiefer, Morgan came across the 1916 article and finally understood the impact that the horrible accident had on the community. “All of Glendale had come out for the funeral. It was one of the biggest in Glendale up to that time.”

After reading the article, he visited Forest Lawn and, after investigating, found the two girls’ unmarked grave, between their parents. Only Ellen Burton’s grave has a marker. As he stood there, he recalled Leone Kiefer's tears and he was very moved. “Time has a way to lessen the pain, but when I was there with Mrs. Kiefer, she spoke as if she was right back there in December 1916. Even 71 years had not erased her pain and hurt.”

He continued, “When I visit their grave, I think of how many times over the 46 years after the accident, their mom must have stood there and thought about what might have been. They were just starting their lives.”

Nowadays, Morgan makes a special visit in late December to place flowers on their graves. He wishes the girls had a grave marker, to acknowledge their family’s tragic loss and their place in Glendale’s history.

E.D. Goode grave. Courtesy KPYamada

Alletia E. Goode grave. Courtesy M. Morgan

Michael Morgan at Burton family graves. Courtesy of KPYamada

Morgan Leads Tour. Courtesy M. Morgan

Still Standing After All These Years

In 2005, Morgan organized a “Trolley Excursion on the Glendale & Montrose Railway.” Tour goers boarded a small bus (provided by LA County) at the Anawalt Lumber Company, where the old G&M trolley barn still stands.

Morgan dressed as motorman William H. (Pops) Nagel, a German immigrant who worked for the railroad for many years. He earned his nickname, ’Pops,’ from students riding to Glendale High from the Crescenta Valley. “He was older and had a gentle demeanor and he was always there - for 21 years. He lived on Geneva Ave. with his wife Kate near the G&M Station.”

Morgan took his tour group back to February 26, 1925, retracing the entire G&M route from Pennsylvania Avenue to San Fernando Road.

They stopped in Montrose, where Morgan pointed out how, before the G&M, the only way to get to Crescenta Valley was via winding Verdugo Road.

Another stop at Verdugo Park to hear about Goode’s race to finish that leg in order to get his bonus and a stop at the Goode House on Cedar where Morgan, who considers Goode the real ‘father of Glendale,’ described his accomplishments.

They viewed the site of the accident where the Burton girls were killed and visited their gravesite at Forest Lawn.

Lastly, they viewed some original tracks still visible near Forest Lawn, before returning to the old trolley barn via the 2 Freeway.

In April 2006, Morgan led another tour. Again, he dressed as Nagel. “People like to suspend belief, so for a couple hours they were in Glendale in April 1926 reading the Glendale Evening News, enjoying the photos and seeing long lost sights.”

G&M Locomotive 22. Courtesy of M. Morgan

100-Year-Old G&M Locomotive At Railway Museum

In late 1923/early 24, the Baldwin-Westinghouse company, based in Pittsburgh, PA, sent out a photographer to take promotional photos of the new G&M locomotive.

Baldwin, a locomotive manufacturer, and Westinghouse, a promoter of AC (alternating current) electrification, joined forces in 1895 to develop AC railway electrification. Westinghouse produced the motors, controls, and other electrical gear, while Baldwin produced the running gear, frame, body, and (in most cases) the final assembly, according to Wikipedia.

In the photo below, Motorman William H. Nagel looks out the rear window of the new locomotive. The photo was taken at the Montrose curve heading west toward Pennsylvania Ave. In the background are the La Canada hills.

The engine is now at the Southern California Railway Museum in Perris, CA. “They are trying to raise money to repaint in original G&M colors for its 100th birthday,” notes Morgan.

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.” 

Other Resources

<<PART VII<< INDEX >>PART IX>>