Historical Happenings: November 2011

Monday, November 28, 2011

Pup in a Cup

Hearty wishes to you from the Atascadero Historical Society as we enter the Holiday season!

Hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving Day and found lots of things to be thankful for. Remember, as Christmas shopping begins; buy American and locally whenever possible.

This photo of a cute little pup in a cup covers a full page in the April 1919 Illustrated Review.

James Wilkins is the president of the Atascadero Historical Society. The Colony Museum is located at 6600 Lewis Avenue, mailing address: P.O. Box 1047, Atascadero CA 93423. For more information, visit the website, www.atascaderohistoricalsociety.org or call 805-466-8341

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Caladero Pumpkin Flour introduced in 1920

I hope everyone enjoyed celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and friends. I am not a fan of Pumpkin pie but it is a Thanksgiving Day tradition in our household not only for dessert but for breakfast the next morning (not eaten by me I assure you). You pumpkin-eaters may be interested to learn that in1920 Atascadero there was a dehydrating plant located on Traffic Way and Via. Pumpkin flour was produced there and received a mention in the January 1922 monthly publication, “The American food journal.” The following is excerpt from an article in the journal.

Rapid Development of Dehydration Since War.

Just as the wars of the last century stimulated the development of canning so did the recent war create a worldwide interest in dehydration. California also felt this call and supplied several million pounds of dehydrated vegetables during the war, the principal producer being E. Clemens Horst of San Francisco. Over 200 dehydrators have been built in California since 1918. These range from small one ton per day dryers to large modern plants of 50 to 75 ' tons capacity. Of special interest among these is, the Caladero Products Company, Atascadero, in whose $200,000 plant a variety of dehydrated fruits and vegetables is produced. This company has recently perfected and introduced an excellent pumpkin flour for pies.

Another Use for the Caladero Processing Plant

Hospitality was alive and well in the young colony of Atascadero according to the article published in the July/August 1920 edition of The Illustrated Review. E. G. Lewis put the members of the Editorial Association up in tents the first time their conference was in Atascadero but found a new approach to housing them during their 1920 conference. After writing last weeks article about the Caladero Processing Plant you may find the following article as interesting as I did.

Newspaper Editors at Atascadero

Recently the Illustrated Review entertained for a week nearly two hundred editors of newspapers of California, at Atascadero. The great conserving plant of the Caladero Products Company was converted into a hotel. Twenty thousand fruit boxes were used to build little houses with, each house being completely furnished and all facing on streets leading out from a civic center, in which had also been built from fruit boxes, a city hall, jail, hotel and pawnshop, where needy editors could get small loans on their watches. Following the convention of newspaper editors, the following resolution was presented by them to Atascadero:

Resolutions

Whereas, The members of the Southern California Editorial Association four years ago, in 1916, as guests of Mr. E. G. Lewis, while enjoying his handsome hospitality had the privilege of a pre-view of his vision of an ideal illustration of community life at Atascadero, California: and,

Whereas, Four years later, in the year 1920, we are again the glad guests of the good people of Atascadero and have seen the amazing consummation of Mr. Lewis' dream – a fact accomplished by the cordial cooperation of Mr. Lewis and the wonderful folk he has attracted to Atascadero from all parts of the world; therefore be it

Resolved, That we congratulate Mr. Lewis and his able assistant Mrs. Lewis on the result of seeing their dreams come true, and the people of Atascadero on their good fortune in their association with such a leader as Mr. Lewis, and the remarkable result of such association; further, be it

Resolved, That in returning thanks for Atascadero hospitality, twice enjoyed by ourselves, we give hearty and practical expression thereto by telling the world through our various newspapers that Mr. Lewis and the good people of Atascadero have here actually accomplished what has so often been attempted – a choice community life that people everywhere hope for, but not many besides the fortunate folk casting their lot with Mr. Lewis in Atascadero, have ever actually attained.

Committee on Resolutions

Crombie Allen, Chairman, Ontario Daily Record.

W. O. Hart, Orange Daily News.

W. S. Spencer, Oceanside Blade.

Geo. F. Orgibet, Redondo Breeze.

M. D. Witter, Brawley Daily News.

Harvey Johnson, Banning Record.

R. M. Adam, Lompoc Record

Atascadero's First Zoo

Atascadero's First Zoo

E.G. Lewis definitely had a sense of humor as witnessed in this excerpt from a very long article he wrote in the January 1920 issue of The Illustrated Review. He frequently added amusing paragraphs in his articles reporting the progress and events of early Atascadero. It appears from his writing that forming a zoo was his desire from the very formation of Atascadero. It is unfortunate E. G. didn't have Charles Paddock to assist with the Colony's first zoo; the release of his collection may not have been necessary.

Making the Unearned Increment Earn Itself

The Zoological gardens that I had secured, composed of all the native varmints obtainable, was located close to Headquarters House, the only residence on the vast estates. They soon learned to sing in chorus, however, with a big black furred coyote name Bob as bandmaster. They certainly could go some when they got started about midnight; but for the fiercest noise the ear can listen to, commend me to about a thousand cows with their calves inside a corral being weaned, while they talked to them through the rails all night...

A great convention had been held, to which came several thousand people from every part of the United States... A tent city, complete in every detail, had been constructed with a capacity of four thousand people, and it was filled to over-flowing... It was during this convention that the Zoo having become such a nuisance, Mrs. Lewis insisted that it be dispensed with. One clear moonlight night, about 2 o'clock a. m., the nightly concert having become insufferable, I went out and cut the wires of the cages and pens.

First Old “Bob” the leading coyote, slowly and carefully stuck his head through, then jerked it back, and watched to see what would happen.

Then he stuck it out again, and jerked it back, then he sat and contemplated the hole in the wires, and the moon, and thought a moment. Then he stuck his head clear through and carefully examined all the edges and the ground below; then like a flash he went through.

After gamboling round a few moments he went back and tried to get the rest of the bunch to come out, jumping in the cage and out again to show them it was all right. Finally one by one he coaxed them out. Meantime, the bob cats, the coons, the eagles, the foxes, the badgers, the owls and the rest of the varmints had taken their silent departure.

The whole outfit struck right over to the tent city and crawled in wherever they could. There were many heroes in Camp Atascadero that night. That Zoo outfit stuck round Headquarters House for months and in fact the coons and some others still are with us, as the watermelon patch bears testimony to each summer. The eagles made a specialty of cleaning up all the cats, while the coyotes feeling that they were the original option holders, helped themselves to Mrs. Lewis' chickens. One eagle used to sit out on the pergola in front of the house all day, and a visitor with a fine Pomeranian dog, dropped him on the ground one day. The eagle spotted the pup and not having had any Pomeranian recently, made a dive and I lost a land purchaser when she lost her pup.

Removed Rotunda Trees to be Utilized by Historical Society

When you travel across the Lewis Avenue bridge heading toward the Junior High, you will see a sight that most of us haven't seen in our lifetime. The grandeur of Atascadero's Historic City Hall is a striking sight. This jewel built as the heart of the Civic Center by Atascadero's founder, E. G. Lewis, is a magnificent work of art. Now that the trees have been removed from the Lewis Avenue and East Mall sides of the building, also known as the Rotunda, it can stand in its original glory.

As president of the Atascadero Historical Society my first contact with Bernards, the construction management team contracted to oversee the restoration of the Rotunda, was during an evening when they were walking around the building prior to them being awarded the bid. They caught sight of the Atascadero Colony Museum. I happened to be there working on a project and observed them looking curiously towards the museum so I invited them in. This was my first introduction to them and their first contact with Historical Society. Bernards was the only construction company that actually spoke to us about the history of the building which made a favorable impression on me. I spoke in their favor at the City Council meeting and was pleased when their company was awarded the project. I felt compelled to speak before the council on several occasions after that when concerns about the protection measures for the trees were viewed as a possible safety hazard for the construction crew. The majority of our board of directors agreed the historic building could be better appreciated if it was not hidden behind the trees.

When the idea of removing the trees came to light I proposed the Historical Society would like to utilize the larger sections to be milled into lumber. Whit's Turn Tree Care was awarded the contract to remove the trees and agreed to give wood for milling to the Society. The lumber will be used around the Colony House Museum for future projects. We have received some of the wood chips for use in our landscaped areas. Another use will be as a fundraiser for the Society to raise monies to help with Atascadero's upcoming centennial in 2013.

For the past month or so I have worked on the logistics of lining up the necessary equipment and timing with Bernards, Whit's Turn Tree Care, R. Burke Corporation and Dwight Peterson Low Bed Service to secure the wood after it was cut and move it to a storage area. Steve Burke of R. Burke Corporation provided use of an excavator with a thumb to pick up the logs and Dwight Peterson provided the trucks and trailers to move the logs. We are grateful to both companies for working with us to minimize our costs.

The Story of a Pioneer

If perchance you attended the Atascadero Chamber of Commerce Business Showcase a couple of years ago and viewed the Historical Society's exhibit, you may have noticed an elderly gentleman pictured holding some gigantic vegetables. That gentleman was Dr. J. E. Littlefield, one of Atascadero's earliest settlers. Dr. Littlefield truly embraced the pioneer spirit that E. G. Lewis envisioned for our community.

The following article is excerpt from the Atascadero Historical Society's February 13, 1928 bound copy of the Atascadero News.

The Story of a Pioneer

by DR. J. E. LITTLEFIELD

I came to Atascadero in 1913 and selected my land. In 1914, I opened the first business (optical and photographic) on the Estates. In 1915, I became the first President of our Booster Club. I built my home, planted the first family orchard, garden, grapes and berry patch. I brought in the first baby chicks, rabbits and pigeons. For five years my place was known as the “Show Place” of Atascadero.

With this statement as a foundation, I feel that I am qualified to speak as a real Pioneer Settler of Atascadero.

After forty years of business activity in the East and Middle West, I came to Atascadero because of its fine climate and natural beauties. I consider that nature here has produced her masterpiece. These beautiful hills and valleys, giant oaks and sycamores, springs and running streams, cannot be duplicated in any other part of the world. With never a hot night in summer or a cold day in winter, three hundred and fifty days of sunshine each year, it is a veritable Paradise, wherein one finds the real joy of living.

It has been my pleasure to experiment with everything that could be produced on a one-acre garden farm that I might assist other settlers coming later. I have conducted a private information bureau and answered countless letters of inquiry. My answers were based upon my own personal experience.

Hundreds visited my place and saw with their own eyes the largest cabbages, cauliflower and other vegetables, raised anywhere. My fruits, berries and grapes would win the most skeptical to the fact that this is the place to build their ideal home.

In the pioneer days Atascadero was greatly handicapped. I had to go fifteen miles by train to buy my groceries and feed. Today one can buy everything in Atascadero, in modern stores.

I had no home market that first year and I shall never forget the thrill I got when I carried my first pail of beautiful white eggs to our new store and traded them for groceries. My cockerels found a ready market among the new residents as I dressed them and delivered them wrapped in parsley from my garden...

Today, with our present market facilities, I consider that Atascadero offers the greatest inducement for home-building and the opportunity to produce food for our California cities. One can obtain the highest cash prices any day in the year for all he can produce. Feed prices and other overhead expenses are less here than in any other part of the State...

Abraham Lincoln once said and it is recorded in stone on our beautiful Civic Center Building, “The most valuable of all arts will be the art of deriving a comfortable subsistence from the smallest area of soil.” Nowhere in this world can this be more easily done than in Atascadero, California. His prophecy is being fulfilled before our very eyes...

I came to Atascadero to end my days. I feel that I have added at least twenty years to my span of life during my fourteen years' residence here...

Enough said; Make your home in Atascadero the Beautiful. A long and happy life awaits you here. Atascadero will welcome you with a glad hand and happy smile.

Great Morro Road

Today's article is excerpt from the “E. G. Lewis Monthly Letter” and can be found in the November 1916 edition of the Woman's National Magazine. The monthly column written by E. G. provides interesting reading as he described the progress and goals of the growing Colony and included tidbits of local happenings. The magazine was published monthly in Atascadero within our historic Printery Building by the Woman's National Publishing Company of which E. G. Lewis was president, Mabel G. Lewis, Vice President, J. N. Bissell, Editor, R. P. O'Connor, Secretary and G. B. Lewis, Advertising Manager. The magazine went from a weekly publication to a monthly magazine starting with the September 1916 issue selling for 10 cents a copy or $1.00 a year. The previous twelve years of the weekly woman's magazine was published in University City, Missouri.

One of the Busiest and Most Interesting Places in California

Says Morro Beach is Best of All

Two weeks ago Sunday we opened the great Morro road to the seashore and let the automobiles go over it through the mountain passes. A continuous string of them went through. It is one of the most beautiful roads in all California. We have closed it again to the public for this season as we will be working on it all fall and winter, improving the grades and making great rock cuts to give better roadway and by spring we will open it permanently. Meantime, this coming week, our engineers go down to the beach to begin the work of the final surveys for the topographical maps that must precede the laying out of the improvements of the superb beach property. I have just received a letter from a California woman who has visited and bathed at about all of the beach resorts on the coast, in which she writes as follows:

I have been to a great many beaches in California (having lived here fifty-three years) but I never have bathed at any beach as lovely as our Atascadero beach. There is no doubt in my mind that our Atascadero beach and its attractions will be the greatest in California.

It is a peculiar thing that one-fourth of all the thousands of purchasers of orchards and residence lots in Atascadero are Californians. They ought to know.

It scarcely seems possible that this beautiful Colony with its hundreds of beautiful homes, its great buildings, its thousands of acres of orchards, its sea beach, parks, seventy miles of roads and streets have all been created and built up in the few months since we purchased this immense estate, which had scarcely been trod by the foot of man. It just shows what a power several thousand people are when they all join together with a common purpose, no matter what their neighbors say to them. It takes people who know their own minds and can act on their own judgment to accomplish anything worth while. If all those who are interested in Atascadero, and who have helped to make it possible, had acted on the advice of others who knew nothing about it but constituted themselves general guardians on general principles, Atascadero would still be a trackless wilderness today, as it was for thousands of years before we bought it. Darn a man who can not make up his own mind and then act on it, but has to get all his neighbors to tell him what to do. He usually does nothing and then berates Dame Fortune because of his lack of opportunity.

Monday, November 21, 2011

The English Dynamo

In 1919 E. G. Lewis and the Colony gained a new neighbor on Eagle Ranch by the name of Frederick Peabody, owner of the company that made Arrow Collars for men’s shirts. I will just touch the surface of the accomplishments that Frederick and his wife, Kathleen achieved independently and together.

Frederick met Kathleen Burke when she traveled to the United States, on a funds raising mission during World War I, as a representative for the Red Cross. They were married in April 1920 and spent some of their honeymoon at Eagle Ranch. Their marriage ended after seven years when Frederick died in 1927. Kathleen married John Reginald McLean, a World War I acquaintance, a couple of years later and while returning to Santa Barbara from their honeymoon in San Francisco, the couple were involved in an automobile accident near Santa Maria, that killed her new husband.

While recuperating in France, Kathleen met up with another war-time friend, Girard van Barkaloo Hale, and rekindled their friendship. Kathleen's final marriage was to Girard in December 1930. The Hales traveled around Europe and were gone for a long period of time before returning to Eagle Ranch. My grandfather, Meridith Gates, heard from Harry Hewitt, owner of Hewitt's Hardware in Templeton, the owners of Eagle Ranch were looking for a superintendent for their ranch. He submitted the appropriate paperwork and was hired by Kathleen Hale. It was a couple of years before he actually met his employers, Mr. and Mrs. Hale.

The following caption was printed beneath the autographed photo of Kathleen Peabody given to E. G. Lewis and included in the June 1920 Illustrated Review:

A new Atascaderan, Kathleen Burke Peabody, the most decorated war worker in the world, recently married an Atascaderan, Mr. F. F. Peabody, the millionaire manufacturer. Miss Burke is from London and has been decorated by all the great nations of Europe for her heroic services at the battle fronts, and is the youngest of the 116 commanders of the British Empire created by King George. The Peabody estate is in the Western mountains of Atascadero, and Mrs. Peabody adds another noted personage to the Atascadero community. She is a most charming and beautiful woman.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

1950 Aerial View of E. G. Lewis Civic Center

Found this photo in the August 17, 1950 Atascadero Advertiser a shopper guide to the local businesses published by the Atascadero News in cooperation with the Atascadero Chamber of Commerce. This aerial picture of Atascadero shows the school facilities of 1950 Atascadero. This general view in the picture is from east to west. I added the descriptive text on the picture to help readily identify the various locations within the E. G. Lewis Civic Center at the time the photo was made. This is how the mall and gardens looked before the highway cut through on the west side of El Camino Real and the Junior High was built on the east side.

E. G.'s 1916 Visit to Mr. Tognazzini

Mr. Lewis wrote about the Colony's beach property (currently a Morro Bay housing development known as the Cloisters) in the following excerpt copied from one of his monthly letters to his many readers. The Colony Holding Company built a beach hotel and restaurant for persons taking a holiday at the beach but also sold small beach lots to Colony residents to build their own cottage or bungalow for regular visits. The article in its entirety may be found in the December, 1916 edition of Woman's National Magazine..

The Monthly Letter From Atascadero

By E. G. Lewis

ATASCADERO, California, Nov. 6, 1916.

Today I drove by auto down to Morro beach to visit Mr. Peter Tognazzini, the Supervisor of that district, who lives a few miles above the beach in one of the canyons running in from the seashore. In his yard were oranges, lemons, grapefruit, limes and other tropical fruits ripening on the trees in great abundance. Mr. Tognazzini has lived there for forty years and told me that geraniums blossom the year round. In discussing the matter with him, he saw no reason why we should not plant the streets of Morro, particularly the seed farms back of the beach, with lemons, grapefruit and lime trees with great success. This is something worth thinking about in the subdivision of our Morro beach property.

Here at Atascadero, although it is the 6^th of November, we still have the roses in full bloom, every kind of vegetable and berry in the garden while a new crop of radishes, the ninth this year, is just getting large enough to be enjoyed. Coming home tonight by moonlight, along the road that skirts the beach for miles, with the moon shining over the sea waves and breakers, and old Morro Rock looming up out at sea. I could see this same scene a few short years from now with hundreds of pretty seaside cottages, of Atascadero's people, the great pavilion and pier lighted brilliantly, and the soft balmy air stirring the leaves of the palms, lemon, lime and grapefruit trees along the streets of Atascadero's seaside resort.

Back over the mountains a few miles, but a thousand feet above the beach, the Colony itself will nestle in its beautiful valleys, while Morro road will connect its every part with the seashore. The Automobile Club of Southern California has already placed a steel post and sign pointing from the beach road up the Morro road which we have built, with the single word on it “Atascadero” and an arrow pointing the way.

Paderewski “future ruler of Poland”

This month, during the Paderewski Festival, the Paso Robles Historical Society and The Pioneer Museum showcase displays celebrating Ignace J. Paderewski. The Pioneer Museum has borrowed one of our Illustrated Review magazines showing photos and articles written by Paderewski. Over the last couple years while researching, I have noticed quite a few articles, photos and references to Paderewski and his friendship with E. G. and Mabel Lewis. The following article mentions M. and Mme. Paderewski were frequent visitors to the historic Printery Building (located at Olmeda and West Mall in Atascadero). I find it intriguing the Premier of Poland spent many pleasurable hours in Atascadero. The editor's (E. G. Lewis) following comments may be found in the December, 1919 edition of The Illustrated Review.

Coming events cast their shadows before, and sometimes these shadows are but the inadvertent disclosing of high state secrets concerning which the die has been cast by those in high places long before the actual event comes as a startling surprise to the masses. More than a year and a half before M. Ignace Paderewski became Premier of Poland, the Editor of The Illustrated Review was his guest at a birthday party in the Paso Robles Hot Springs Hotel, eight miles north of Atascadero. At this banquet several prominent Eastern men were also present. A toast was offered M. Paderewski as the “future ruler of Poland”, which would seem to indicate that his selection to head the new State of Poland had been determined upon by the powers, secretly, and long in advance. M Paderewski lived on his ranch close by Atascadero and both he and Mme. Paderewski were tireless in their efforts to help Poland, his native land. M. and Mme. Paderewski were frequent visitors to the plant of The Illustrated Review and warm friends of the Editor. His career in Europe is therefore of more than usual interest to The Illustrated Review. ~ EDITOR