JERRY PERSON -- A Look Back

I received a call from a First Team Realtor wanting to know if I knew

anything about a piece of property she was offering for sale at 403 10th

St.

After she described the green and white house on the corner of 10th and

Orange Avenue, I knew at once it was the Warner homestead -- the home of

Willis H. Warner, a local businessman, as well as a former city

councilman and supervisor for Orange County.

This week, we’ll take a look at his life story.

Near Aurora, Ill., there flows the waters of the Fox River, and near this

river lies the small hamlet of Millington. In this hamlet on Jan. 18,

1889, Willis H. Warner was born.

His father, Charles Warner, was the telegraph operator and ticket agent

at Millington for the Burlington Railroad. Charles Warner would later

become a city judge for Huntington Beach.

In 1894, the Warner family moved to California and settled in Garden

Grove for a short time. His father farmed several areas in Orange County

until he moved the family to Huntington Beach in 1906.

Charles Warner became a local carpenter and helped to build the homes of

some of our pioneer families, including his own at 403 10th St.

Willis Warner attended school in Garden Grove and in neighboring

communities. In 1906, he and three other students graduated from Las

Bolsa High School. There were all of 17 students in the school.

When the earthquake struck San Francisco in 1906, Willis Warner and

several locals staged a benefit play called “Esmerelda” in the rooms

upstairs in Stewart Hall at 201 Main St. They collected $53 to help those

earthquake victims.

The next year, Warner enrolled at USC to study civil engineering. In

1911, he graduated as a civil engineer.

In 1910, Warner operated the tent city and cafeteria at 11th Street and

Orange Avenue on the old Methodist campground.

In 1911, Warner married 20-year-old Ethel Morrow Crane, the daughter of

Abner J. Crane, a local rancher from the Smeltzer area near present-day

Beach Boulevard and Edinger Avenue.

By 1912, Warner had become the local manager for the San Pedro Lumber Co.

From then to 1925, the couple lived in Westminster.

In 1925, Willis and Ethel moved to Huntington Beach, where Warner

purchased the hardware store at 112 Main St. from Ted Tarbox and Tarbox’s

father-in-law, William T. Newland.

From 1925 to 1953, Warner Hardware was a fixture on Main Street where

locals could buy anything from a couple of nails to small appliances.

Warner sold that hardware store in 1953 to Frank and Thelma Hinshaw.

Ethel Warner passed away on Feb. 12, 1953, in the family home at age 61

after a long illness.

Ethel and Willis Warner had two children -- Alice and Willis Charles. A

few years later, the Hinshaws sold that same hardware store to Paul

Jones.

Not only was Warner a hardwareman, he was also a city councilman in 1934

and mayor of Huntington Beach in 1937 and 1938.

When his term was up as councilman, Warner ran for Orange County

supervisor and was elected and reelected for several terms on the Board

of Supervisors.

A school was named in his honor at 14171 Newland St. in Westminster, as

well as a major street in Orange County -- Warner Avenue.

Willis Warner passed away on Nov 1, 1963. I am indebted to Pam of Willis

H. Warner Intermediate School and Trish Cannady from the Westminster

School District for the assistance they provided for this column.

I do hope whoever buys the old Warner homestead doesn’t tear it down and

build one of those 25-foot eyesores in its place.

* 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.