A LOOK BACK

jerry person

The city will celebrate its 90th birthday with a dedication of the

SeaCliff murals from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, at the Civic Center. The

Huntington Beach Concert Band will provide some musical moments.

In honor of Surf City’s birthday, we’ll take a look back at the early

days of our history.

We’ll begin with the first decade of the 20th century, and the biggest

event, the founding of a town that would evolve into Huntington Beach and

its incorporation later as a city.

In 1901, Philip A. Stanton formed a syndicate of Los Angeles businessmen

to create a seaside resort.

They called their syndicate the West Coast Land & Water Co. and they

convinced William Newland to serve as their local representative. They

purchased 40 acres of land from Col. Robert Northam and began laying out

lots along the coast to be sold to people for summer beach homes. They

called their new town Pacific City. They hoped their new town in the West

would rival Atlantic City in the East. Pacific City comprised five blocks

from 1st to 6th streets and two streets in from the ocean, Philo (Walnut)

and Water (Olive) avenues.

Because Pacific City was so isolated in those days, it was hard to sell

those lots to people for $100 to $200 each.

A wooden pleasure wharf was built in the same location as today’s pier in

hopes of attracting more people.

In 1904, Stanton sold his interest in the town for $904 to a new company,

the Huntington Beach Co.

Henry Huntington was brought in and the company convinced him to run the

tracks of his Pacific Electric “Red Car” along the coast and erect a

depot by the city’s wharf.

The name of the town was then changed from Pacific City to Huntington

Beach in Mr. Huntington’s honor.

The officers in the new company included J.V. Vickers as president,

Walter Vale as vice president, C.W. Gale secretary-treasurer and Alex

Mills as assistant secretary-treasurer.

To celebrate the arrival of people from Los Angeles in the Red Car,

residents arranged to have a giant all-day celebration July 4, 1904, with

music furnished by Moore’s Fidelia Concert Band.

There was dancing, fireworks and a huge open pit barbecue for people who

came from Los Angeles that day, including Henry Huntington in his special

Red Car coach.

Theodore Smith has the honor of becoming the first Red Car motorman to

arrive in Huntington Beach that day.

A school had been organized a year earlier in Pacific City in the first

block of Main Street, with Clara Christianson the town’s first

schoolteacher.

Huntington Beach was now expanding rapidly thanks to the Red Car and

perfect beaches.

On Jan. 8, 1906, a meeting was called of the town’s board of trustees.

Included in that evening’s business was the idea of incorporating the

town.

A committee was formed to look into the idea and report back to the

trustees.

They found that to get the necessary head count, additional acreage would

be needed. The Huntington Beach Co. favored incorporating, as long as

most of their land holdings were not included in the new city.

Trustees reasoned that with incorporation, taxes could be assessed to

bring in new improvements.

That sure sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

An election was held, and on Feb. 17, 1909, Huntington Beach was

incorporated.

* JERRY PERSON is a local historian and longtime Huntington Beach

resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box

7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.