|
THE
HISTORY
Packing
fruit in the groves, circa 1880
photo courtesy of oc.book.com
A
century ago, the area that now is La Habra was
a sparsely populated valley dominated by herds
of sheep and fields of barley.
Aside
from the wooden ranch house owned by Jose Sansinena
that overlooked what is now Hacienda Road, the
valley's only structures were an occasional shepherd's
shack.
Sansinena,
a French born Basque shepherd, owned the northern
third of modern-day La Habra. The Puente Hills,
where Sansinena's sheep roamed, was prime grazing
land, as were the Coyote Hills in southern La
Habra, owned by Domingo Bastanchury, another Basque
shepherd and Sansinena's former boss. Today, much
of Bastanchury's land makes up the southern third
of La Habra.
Between
Sansinena's and Bastanchury's land was a central
strip belonging to a company formed by Abel Stearns,
a Massachusetts merchant who leased the land to
barley farmers.
Two
or three years after Orange County was formed
in 1889, the first group of non-sheepherding settlers
came into the La Habra valley. The Stearns company
began selling them the land that would become
central La Habra.
With
the newcomers came the idea of planting fruit
trees, and as in much of the county, orange groves
sprang up. Among that group of early La Habra
settlers was the Milhous family, the grandparents
of future La Habra lawyer and US President Richard
Nixon.
By
1903 a blacksmith shop, country store and hardware
store with a post office where the core of the
fledgling town. That same year, oil was discovered
on the part of Bastanchury's land that is within
present-day La Habra. That parcel was sold to
the Standard Oil Co., its current owner, in 1911.
The
Pacific Electric Railway arrived in 1908, creating
opportunities to ship tomatoes and cabbages grown
in the area. The population had grown to a few
hundred people.
The
oil and increased farming - citrus became the
prime crop - sparked a minor boom before World
War I. Citrus packing houses moved in and more
industry was established in the next two decades.
In 1925, with a population of about 4,000, La
Habra was incorporated.
After
World War II, an industry and population explosion
hit La Habra. The Alpha Beta Co. established its
headquarters there in 1952. The
'50s and '60s is an era that can be called the
era of the vanishing grove when houses mushroomed
overnight.
Today,
Standard Oil still owns wells in southern La HAbra
and the city's bedroom-community reputation established
in the '50s and '60s remains.
Historical
Sites:
La
Habra's Birthplace - Southeast corner of Euclid
Street and La Habra Boulevard
This is the original site of the town of La Habra's
store and post office. La Habra was founded in
1896. The site now is that of a statue, which
contains the bell of the first Catholic church
in the area.
La
Habra Pacific Electric Depot - 301 S. Euclid
St
The site is that of the earliest railroad line
in the La Habra area. The depot was moved from
its original site across the street to complement
a museum. The depot has been refurbished and now
is used as a community theater.
|
