Countdown to 2000: 1910s at at glance

COSTA MESA

Population: 300

* Teachers’ salaries: -Fairview: $630 to $1,000 per year

-Paularino: $70 to $85 per month

-Harper: $65 and $125 per month

* 1910 -- Harper’s first blacksmith shop opens

* Early 1910s -- most roads and streets are graded dirt roads; Newport

Boulevard was the first street to be paved with asphalt.

* 1910 -- A service station and fruit and vegetable stand are built along

Newport Boulevard.

* 1915 -- Fairview School closes. The Fairview School District merges

with the Harper School District.

* 1915 -- Harper’s first school bus is purchased; it carries eight

students.

* 1917 -- Apples in Harper sell for three cents per pound* 1918 -- The

Segerstrom Family produces their first crop of lima beans

NEWPORT BEACH

* Population: 445

* Early 1910’s: The first issues city council faces are law and order,

whiskey and water

* The first police chief is paid $120 per year

* The town has one jail with two rooms

* 1910 -- The first fire department is built on a lot worth $750; three

reels of fire hoses are bought for $75 each; Fire chief earns $10 a

month; assistant fire chief makes $5; volunteer firemen paid 50 cents for

every practice and $2.50 for every fire call.

* 1913 -- City has 50 telephones

* 1915 -- Corona del Mar consists of 15 houses and one small hotel

* 1916 -- Residents vote 233 to 176 to keep Newport Beach a “dry” town;

alcohol will not be sold in Newport Beach until 1933.

Sources:

“Newport Beach 75: 1906-1981,” James P. Felton 1981

“A Slice of Orange: The History of Costa Mesa,” Edrick J. Miller, 1970

“The Story of Costa Mesa: The Estancia,” Thomas A. Barr, 1981