LOOKING BACK

Young Chang

Say the name Donovan Southworth to any longtime Costa Mesa resident

and you’ll hear something about the dips.

“You have to tell the story of the Southworth [dips],” said Mary Ellen

Goddard, a volunteer at the Costa Mesa Historical Society. “It was a

cheap way of carrying off runoffs -- dips in the road.”

As Costa Mesa’s first city engineer, Southworth is best remembered for

paving and constructing the area streets and making them conducive to

proper drainage.

The Idaho native, who died four years ago in Newport Beach, grew up in

Washington and graduated in engineering from Washington State College,

according to former mayor Bob Wilson’s book “From Goat Hill to City of

the Arts: The History of Costa Mesa.”

His wife was Evelyn Allen, the couple had two sons and the family

lived in Newport Beach. He was very proud of his wife’s paintings,

Goddard said.

“And he was very quiet and not self-assuming,” she added. “He didn’t

make a big deal... he was just a quiet man.”

Before taking a position with the city of Costa Mesa, Southworth, who

was a lieutenant colonel during World War II according to Wilson’s

history, worked as an engineer at the Santa Ana Army Air Base.

Through his senior years, he continued to attend reunion events, which

were often held at the Costa Mesa Historical Society, Goddard said.

He became city engineer for Costa Mesa in 1955, according to Wilson’s

book, and paved so many roads through seven improvement districts that by

the time he retired, the area saw 124 miles of completed streets.

Before he was appointed to the position, Costa Mesa made do with

mostly unpaved, “old country roads,” said Wilson’s book.

* Do you know of a person, place or event that deserves a historical

Look Back? Let us know. Contact Young Chang by fax at (949) 646-4170;

e-mail at young.chang@latimes.com; or mail her at c/o Daily Pilot, 330 W.

Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627.