development

THE FALL AND RISE OF SANTA ROSA’S TOXIC TANNERY

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

It was the worst fire since the 1906 earthquake, but that’s not what made the Levin Tannery’s destruction a disaster.

Photo courtesy Sonoma County Library

The ferocity of the blaze that afternoon in the early summer of 1910 was astonishing. “Great masses of heavy, black smoke rolled high into the heavens, solid walls of red and angry flame leaped in every direction,” according to the Press Democrat, “explosion followed explosion as oil tanks and acid receptacles were reached, and the hissing of escaping steam from the great boilers added to the unearthly din.”

The fire, at the modern location of 101 Brookwood Avenue, immediately spread from the tannery to the adjacent shoe factory and a couple of houses. And then it was remembered that gasoline was being stored at the building next door. “It was said there was enough gasoline in the place had it exploded, to have wrecked every building within a considerable distance, to say nothing of the probable loss of life,” the PD reported.

Afterwards, there wasn’t much left at all, which in a way was great news; the tannery had a history of being a terrible citizen, stinking up the town and repeatedly poisoning Santa Rosa Creek with illegal discharges. The Levin brothers promised in 1906 and 1909 to clean up their business but never did, as discussed at length in the earlier article, Tannery Town. Good thing: Tannery gone. Bad thing: There were about 140 men working there at the time of the fire, which meant about three percent of the local workforce was now unemployed.*

Soon afterwards the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce held the first of three public meetings on the future of the tannery and shoe factory, the events chaired by Press Democrat publisher Ernest Finley wearing his hat as the Chamber’s president. Curiously, no members of the Levin family or representatives from the owners attended. Some prominent businessmen said they had discussed matters with the Levin brothers, and while hastening to add they were not speaking on the Levin’s behalf, were in fact clearly doing so.

At the first meeting, one of the non-spokesman spokesmen for the Levins stated “plans are already well under way for the immediate re-establishment of the Tannery, but had intimated that if any suitable arrangement should be proposed they might be willing to move to some other part of town, as they were tired of having to fight with their neighbors and carry on business at the same time.” Dr. Bogle suggested the tannery could be rebuilt near the train depot, which sounds similar to the 1908 proposal that Santa Rosa move all the bordellos to the West End Italian neighborhood.

Photo courtesy Sonoma County Library

At the next meeting three days later, Finley presented a proposal from the Levins. It was a complicated deal. The shoe factory would be spun off into a separate business after $75,000 was raised by selling shares in the new corporation. Half of the investment would come from the Levins, with local capitalists chipping in the rest. The factory would stay at the same location, with the rest of the land to be sold to the new company for $10,000. The tannery would move – once Santa Rosa found a new suitable location for them. It was never explained whether the city or the Levins would own the property at the new spot.

It was quite the sweetheart deal for the Levins, who apparently had enough insurance coverage to rebuild both businesses anyway. They would net the equivalent of about $5 million today while hanging on to half ownership in the factory. And presumably, the new location for the tannery would come with a city guarantee there would be no further complaints made against them.

The third meeting recapped the proposals and State Senator Walter F. Price reported that investors were really getting excited; they had raised about 20 percent of the funds in just the past 72 hours. Oh, and it had been privately decided it was important for the city to buy the former tannery land for a public park. And thus two weeks later, everything was riding on the City Council approving $5,000 (the investor’s half of the property deal with the Levins paying themselves the other half).

And the Council said no. “The City has no money for such purposes,” a councilman told the Press Democrat.

Newspaper editor Ernest Finley was apparently irate the Council had put the kibosh on the deal negotiated by Chamber of Commerce president Ernest Finley:


At a special meeting of the City Council called for last evening to consider the park proposition upon which also hinged the re-establishment of the shoe factory, the removal of the Levin Tanning Company’s plant from the residence district, its early re-establishment here in another part of town, and the ending of the long and bitter wrangle that has resulted from the maintainence of the tannery at its present location, the entire project was turned down, and with scant ceremony.

In addition to that remarkable sentence which dribbles on for nearly seven dozen words, the PD article closed by naming all members of the Council who were at that meeting. At least he didn’t publish their home addresses and announce the hardware store was having a sale on rope.

That was the end of the tannery removal saga. The Levins began to rebuild the shoe factory and tannery in the exact same locations. Five weeks after the Council refused to appropriate funds, two people sued the Levins, claiming the tannery conditions were damaging their health.

There are two takeaways to the story.

First, it’s highly unlikely the tannery actually could have been relocated elsewhere in Santa Rosa. Tanneries use lots of water and thus need to be near a plentiful supply, such as Santa Rosa Creek, and it’s doubtful there was another creekside location available in city limits – Santa Rosa was so small at the time you could probably bicycle from any end of town to the other within ten minutes. If they left their old location it would make more sense for the Levins to leave Santa Rosa altogether and rebuild somewhere like Petaluma, which already had a large tannery on the river.

Rebuilt tannery in 1944. Photo courtesy Sonoma County Library

The story also shows Santa Rosa’s leaders once again managing to find a way to fail in a win-win situation. This was a pattern during the first decade of the Twentieth Century, as has been discussed here several times. Grand proposals were made for the betterment of the town, only to collapse because there was no political will to follow through, no courage to take risks no matter how good the cause and how eagerly sought the outcome. The Levin Tannery was long recognized as a blight on the town, its bad practices destroying the creek and causing endless complaints about the smell. It does not take a genius to see that its presence seriously hampered the town’s growth. Yet at the second public meeting, the PD reported, “From the first, [Ernest Finley] said, the only object had been to prevent anything being done that might run the tannery out of town and lose its payroll to the city.” More than anyone else, über-booster Finley should have championed letting the tannery leave for the sake of Santa Rosa’s future, even if it meant the loss of a few jobs.

It has to be understood, too, that the tannery drama was playing out at the exact same time as the courtroom case over the downtown lake. As described in the previous item, a group of citizens banded together and created a little lake by damming Santa Rosa Creek. Admired by all for creating a much sought-after park, it was doomed first by the toxic discharges into the creek during the tannery fire, then threatened by a lawsuit from a man who claimed his property line extended into the middle of the creek.

But like the tannery situation, there were no better angels in Santa Rosa to step up and do what was best. Even though the District Attorney was part of the grassroots effort, the city averted its gaze and allowed the dam to be demolished. For reasons unrelated to the ersatz lake, Santa Rosa had reasons to challenge such a claim – it was important to settle legally whether half of the creek was private property or not.

The lake story and the tannery relocation tale ended up being twin failures for the town, the two episodes joined together like the front and back sides of the same plugged nickel. Which was about all Santa Rosa’s leadership was worth.


*The population of the greater Santa Rosa area in 1910 was around 11,000 (see discussion) which would make 4,000 a reasonable guess as to the number of total able-bodied men in the workforce.

FIERCE FIRE DESTROYS LEVIN TANNERY AND THE SANTA ROSA SHOE FACTORY
Great Excitement Prevailed Tuesday Afternoon while the Flames Held Angry Revel and Threatened Further Destruction
MUCH DAMAGE DONE
Tannery and Factory Practically Covered by Insurance–Two Cottages Burned–Loss Keenly Felt by the Large Number of Employees–Cause of Fire Unknown

Fire dealt Santa Rosa another hard blow yesterday afternoon, leaving in its wake a mass of smouldering ruins to mark the spot on upper Second street where the big plant of the Levin Tanning Company and the Santa Rosa Shoe Manufacturing plant had stood. Within an hour from the time the alarm was turned in, so fiercely did the fire rage, that damage amounting to more than $150,000 had been wrought, and two of the city’s largest and most important institutions wiped out.

About ten minutes past five o’clock the alarm sounded, and it took but a glance in the direction indicated by the box number to show that a fire of startling proportions had broken out. Before the fire department could reach the scene, the highly inflammable nature of the main tannery building and its contents, accelerated by a stiff breeze blowing from the southwest, had given the flames such a mastery of the situation that it was apparent the big building as well as the one beside it, was doomed.

A Spectacular Conflagration

It was one of the most spectacular fires ever seen here. Great masses of heavy, black smoke rolled high into the heavens, solid walls of red and angry flame leaped in every direction, explosion followed explosion as oil tanks and acid receptacles were reached, and the hissing of escaping steam from the great boilers added to the unearthly din.

The fire started in the main tannery building, which was located right on the creek bank, and at the worst possible point, as far as controlling the flames was concerned. The wind drove the flames directly on and into the big structure, leaping higher and higher in their angry revel, crackling and roaring their defiance. Leaping across the narrow passageway between the main tannery building and the four-story finishing house, they rushed on toward the street and the office building and dwellings standing opposite.

The Shoe Factory Goes

From the first it was seen that the big shoe factory to the east was doomed, and when the long arms of flame reached out and took it in, a fresh touch of the spectacular was lent to the scene already boarding on the tragic. In and out of the many windows the angry flames played and when the wind drove them clear across the street. Just when it seemed that the warehouse and office building must likewise become their prey, the wind again veered and drove the flames back over the already half-demolished factory building.

With the tannery building, finishing house and shoe factory, much valuable machinery and large number of tools, as well as immense quantities of leather and shoe stock, were consumed.

Two Cottages Burned

The cottage occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Frank Day and owned by Mrs. Anne E. Straub, was completely gutted. The Days succeeded in removing considerable of the furniture, but as they held no insurance the loss is quite heavy. This cottage adjoined the tannery on the west. On the east side of the shoe factory the residence owned by John Brennard and occupied by the Misses Anna and Maria Brennard, was also burned. The occupants saved some of their belongings.

Excitement in Neighborhood

The magnitude of the fire occasioned much excitement in the neighborhood and people on both sides of the street in proximity to the burning buildings carried out most of their furniture. Many roofs were wetted down and a number of smaller blazes started by the flying embers were extinguished without much damage resulting.

The residence of Milton Wasserman on upper Third street caught on fire several times, but the flames were fortunately extinguished without any serious damage being done. A grass fire was also started near the residence of John Rinner, but was speedily stamped out when discovered.

Gasoline Warehouse Menaced

The greatest excitement prevailed when it was known that almost in the path of the flames was an old planing mill, in which was stored a large quantity of gasoline belonging to the company represented here by A. D. Sund as local agent. It was said there was enough gasoline in the place had it exploded, to have wrecked every building within a considerable distance, to say nothing of the probable loss of life. Very fortunately the fire did not take the building.

Ben Noonan’s Loyal service

Ben Noonan, in his big Stoddard-Dayton touring car, did valiant and effective service during the fire. When the blaze was assuming dangerous proportions, he raced to the fire station on Fifth street, hitched the auxiliary steamer on to his machine and in on time had it at the scene of action. Again he raced back for a load of fire hose, and again he went back for a fresh supply of coal for both steamers. At one o’clock this morning he drove past the Press Democrat office, pulling the auxiliary engine back to the engine house, for it was not until that hour that the engines were removed. Hosemen were on duty all night, guarding against any possibility of further outbreak of fire.

Fire Origin Not Known

The origin on the fire is not known. It broke out soon after the men had quit work for the night, and before they had all left the premises. Two men still working in the finishing house were compelled to flee in their working clothes.

Carried Good Insurance

Fortunately the plants were well insured, and it is likely the insurance will practically cover the loss. Both institutions were doing a great business at the time, and the fire necessarily hinders that, and at the same time throws many people out of employment. About 140 men were employed at the time of the fire.

[..]

– Press Democrat, June 1, 1910

LOCAL BUSINESS MEN SAY FACTORY SHOULD REBUILD
New Site for Tannery and Other Matters Discussed
Chamber of Commerce Committee Named to Investigate Situation Fully and Report Back Monday Evening–Tannery to Resume Operations at an Early Date
At last night’s meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, which took the form of a mass meeting at which tannery matters had been made the special order of business, the matter of rebuilding the Levin Tannery and Shoe Factor was discussed at length, as was that of assisting the institutions in finding a new location in another part of town. The proprietors were not present, but it was stated that plans for the immediate reestablishment of the the Tannery here are already well under way, while the Shoe Factory may also be rebuilt providing some assistance is forthcoming from the community. The Chair was finally authorized to appoint a committee of five to investigate the situation fully and ascertain just what can be done…

Last night’s meeting of the Chamber of Commerce was largely attended, the big rest room adjoining the regular headquarters being used as a meeting place and being crowded to its utmost capacity. President Ernest L. Finley occupied the chair, while Secretary Edward H. Brown was at the desk…

…Under the head of new business, Chairman Finley stated that the special order of business for the evening was the consideration of tannery matters, briefly outlining the situation resulting from the recent destruction of the Levin company’s big plants, and stating that a free and full discussion of the matter was desired.

J. H. Einhorn started the ball rolling by stating that everybody wanted to see the Tannery and Shoe Factory reestablished, because they had been a good thing for the town. The business community could not fail to notice the loss of the company’s big payroll, he said.

M. Rosenberg stated that he had had a talk with Nate and Pincus Levin, in which they both had told him that plans are already well under way for the immediate re-establishment of the Tannery, but had intimated that if any suitable arrangement should be proposed they might be willing to move to some other part of town, as they were tired of having to fight with their neighbors and carry on business at the same time. He said the Levins had further told him that while the Shoe Factory was on a paying basis at the time of the fire, they had not yet made up their minds whether to rebuild it or not. If the community would assist them, however, they would rebuild, and furnish half the capital required. The amount necessary to properly build and equip the Shoe Factory was estimated at between $60,000 and $75,000.

Charles E. Lee said he thought the community could well afford to assist in the establishment of such institutions, and favored as many citizens taking stock as possible.

J. H. Brush said the business community fully appreciated the work that had been done by the two institutions, and wanted to know whether in the event of being asked to take stock it would be in a joint tannery and shoe factory, or merely in a shoe factory operated as a separate concern. Mr. Rosenberg said that as he understood it, the Shoe Factory and Tannery were separate and distinct institutions.

C. D. Barnett said that he had had a talk with the Levins, and while he had no authority to make any statement in their behalf, he understood that they felt that would have their hands full for a while with the Tannery alone, and that if they started the Shoe Factory they would want to put all the details of supervision and management in the hands of a competent manager. On some such basis they would be willing to furnish half the capital required.

Superintendent Gilman of the Shoe Factory was called on, and said that at the time of the fire fifty hands were employed in his department, with a payroll of about $625 per week. The Tannery payroll was much larger, he said, he did not now know just how much so. Orders for about 13,000 pairs of shoes have come in since the fire…

…Dr. S. S. Bogle told of the plan undertaken last year to secure a tract of land near the depot for factory sites, and hoped something could still be done along that line. “Now is the time to settle this matter of location,” he said. He said he would be willing to give $100 toward procuring a new site, and thought the people living in the neighborhood of the old plant would all assist to the best of their ability.

John Rinner said that if the people would help who are continually putting their money into wildcat schemes and senting it away to pay for lots in some new “metropolis” that is going to be built about the bay, they would not only be doing themselves but their town some good…

– Press Democrat, June 18, 1910

MASS MEETING DISCUSSES PLANS FOR SHOE FACTORY
New Site for Tannery Favored by the Committee
Citizens Gather and Hear Plan Outlined by Chamber of Commerce Representatives for Re-establishment of Institution Recently Destroyed by Fire

At the mass meeting held under the auspices of the Chamber of Commerce Monday evening at the Columbia theatre, the committee named at Friday night’s meeting to formulate a plan of action in the Shoe Factory and Tannery matter submitted its report. The report was adopted, and the committee authorized to proceed and try and work the plan out to a successful conclusion, additional members being added to assist in handing the details.

Briefly stated, the plan proposed is to have a corporation capitalized at $75,000, of which amount the citizens will be asked to subscribe half and the Levin Tanning Company the remainder, said corporation to take over the business of the Santa Rosa Shoe Manufacturing Company and begin operations at as early a date as possible. The Levin Tanning Company agrees to sell to the Shoe Company all [illegible microfilm] at the head of Second street and move its tanning plant to another part of the city for $10,000.

Under this agreement, the Levin people would be paying half of the $10,000 above mentioned, for they would first have subscribed for half of the capital stock of the Shoe Company…

Monday night’s mass meeting under the auspices of the Chamber of Commerce was called to order by President Ernest L. Finley, who acted as chairman. Secretary Edward Brown kept the minutes. The meeting was held in the Columbia theatre, the use of which had been tendered by Manager Ray Crone of the Columbia Amusement Company.

In stating the objects of the meeting, Chairman Finley took occasion to refer to criticisms that had been heard when the Chamber of Commerce took up the tannery matter, stating he believed it was the result of a misunderstanding as to the aims and purpose of the organization. From the first, he said, the only object had been to prevent anything being done that might run the tannery out of town and lose its payroll to the city.

[…]

– Press Democrat, June 21, 1910

SHOE FACTORY PLANS WILL BE RUSHED FROM NOW ON
The City Authorities to be Asked to Buy Old Site
Chamber of Commerce Committees Submit Reports at Public Mass Meeting Held at Columbia Theatre Last Night

At the public meeting held last night…President Finley outlined the plan that had been agreed on by the general committee, and told something of the work that had been done to date. Briefly stated, it had been decided to try and form a new corporation to reestablish the shoe factory, said corporation to be capitalized for $75,000, the Levin Tanning Company to subscribe half and local investors the other half. The Levin people had agreed to sell their real estate holdings at the head of Second street to the new shoe company, and move their tannery to another part of town for $10,000…

…W. F. Price reported for the committee named to look out for stock subscriptions, stating that the outlook was encouraging, and that a number of subscriptions had already been received. At the conclusion of his remarks he gave any of those present and desiring to subscribe for stock an opportunity to do so, and about $2,500 was pledged. Up to the present time something like $7,500 has been promised…

…John Rinner called attention to the fact that if the tannery is re-established on its old site, the city will be compelled to expend five or six thousand dollars on a new sewer to accommodate the street sewage, while if the tannery is moved the present sewer will do. This he mentioned as an additional argument in favor of having the city co-operate in the plan now under way to bring about the tannery’s removal.

[…]

– Press Democrat, June 25, 1910

CITY COUNCIL TURNS DOWN THE PARK-TANNERY PROJECT
Had Endorsement of Chamber of Commerce, Women’s Improvement Club, Park Commissioners, Mass Meeting and Citizen’s Committee

At a special meeting of the City Council called for last evening to consider the park proposition upon which also hinged the re-establishment of the shoe factory, the removal of the Levin Tanning Company’s plant from the residence district, its early re-establishment here in another part of town, and the ending of the long and bitter wrangle that has resulted from the maintenance of the tannery at its present location, the entire project was turned down, and with scant ceremony.

“We declined to endorse the plan — the City has no money for such purposes,” said a member of the Council to a Press Democrat representative after the meeting was over.

The plan as outlined was presented by the Chamber of Commerce, which organization had previously given the project much careful consideration and its unqualified support…The Women’s Improvement Club had promised to donate the sum of $2,500 toward the plan and also to assist the project in other ways. The residents living in the immediate vicinity of the Levin plant had promised $5,000 to help carry the plan to a successful conclusion.

The City was asked to assist to the extend of $5,000, said sum to be paid at any time it might prove convenient, half out of one year’s levy and half out of the next year’s if desired. In return, it had been arranged to have the Levin Tanning Company deed all its holdings at the head of Second street to the City for park purposes.

Present at last night’s meeting were Mayor James R. Edwards, Councilmen C. Fred Forgett, H. L Johstone, Fred C. Steiner, Eugene Bronson and Frank L. Blanchard.

– Press Democrat, July 8, 1910
AN INJUNCTION SUIT AGAINST TANNERY
Mrs. Catherine Bower Plaintiff in an Action Commenced in the Superior Court Here Wednesday

Alleging that she has been damaged in the sum of $2,500 by reason of conditions existing at the tannery that have depreciated the value of her property, and been a menace to her health, Mrs. Catherine Bower has instituted a suit for the recovery of damages and for an injunction against the Levin Tanning Company.

In her prayer the plaintiff asks for a judgment of this court that defendant be forever restrained and enjoined from maintaining, conducting, operating or carrying on a tannery upon the site mentioned, the manufacturing of leather from hides, the handling of hides, the allowing of deleterious matter to enter Santa Rosa Creek and many other things constituting as alleged by Mrs. Bower in her complaint a nuisance.

The injunction asked for is a permanent one. For some time the injunction proceedings have been threatened.

[..]

– Press Democrat, August 18, 1910

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SANTA ROSA’S NO-GROWTH DECADES

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

Pity Santa Rosa; hardly anyone wanted to move here in the early 20th Century. While some communities in the state were doubling in population every decade, our numbers were as stagnant as swampy backwater, with the city growing a pathetic average of only about a hundred people a year between 1900 and 1920. Or so sayeth the U.S. Census.

The numbers might have been technically accurate, but in an editorial about the 1910 count, Press Democrat editor Ernest Finley railed the city was being cheated because the real total had to be double the 7,817 officially tallied. Finley should have counted his lucky stars; according to the census reports, the towns of Sonoma and Cloverdale would supposedly lose more than a hundred people in the following decade, with San Rafael reportedly losing 400.

Were any of these census counts reasonably correct or no? Academic discussions of census problems concerning that era focus on undercounts of minorities, the poor living in dense big city slums, migrant workers, and so on. But looking at summaries for all California towns between 1900 and 1920, it seems that urban areas steadily marched forward while agricultural towns often curiously wobbled.

Part of the reason could be because those three census enumerations were taken in different parts of the growing season. The 1900 census was in June; the 1910 count came in April, and the 1920 census happened in January. Anyone connected to farming might understandably be elsewhere in January when the land was fallow and fruit trees dormant, which could explain the apparent anemic growth (or even lack thereof) in the North Bay between 1910-1920. As a specific example of seasonal tilt, I knew there were lots of people living in Sebastopol’s Chinatown(s) at the turn of the century, yet the 1900 census reported almost no one was around – but census takers found Chinese ag workers all over West County that June, working in the orchards and hop fields. Thus at best, more than a few footnotes are demanded whenever any scholar uses any of these census reports to draw overreaching conclusions about Sonoma County development during the early 20th century. Pleaseandthankyou.

Both the Press Democrat and the Santa Rosa Republican commented Santa Rosa’s census numbers were too low because the city limits were overdue for a greatly needed expansion. A letter-writer to the Republican commented Santa Rosa needed to be more inclusive of the west side and Roseland specifically should be annexed to the city:


Ten years ago the Roseland tract was field of grain and an orchard. Today it is a thickly populated district, not only composed of small farms, but many people reside there who enjoy all benefits of a city, and who come daily to the shopping district of Santa Rosa and traverse the streets, utilizing the rights of the taxpaying citizens…there are in the neighborhood of 3000 to 3500 people residing within a radius of a quarter of a mile west of the present boundary of the city of Santa Rosa.

One wonders what our ancestor would think to learn that more than a century later, Roseland still would not be welcome in the city.

PD editor Finley also complained that the city was unfortunate in having the census taken soon after huge factory fires, which threw many out of work:


The town’s largest three factories were burned but a short time before the census enumerators began their work–the Levin tannery, the shoe factory, and the woolen mill…the fact that the census was taken just after those great fires cost Santa Rosa at least 1,000 population in the census figures.

None of that was true, however; the census was in April. The tannery/shoe factory fire happened in late May, and the woolen mill was destroyed in August. And the consequential unemployment estimates that appeared in the PD at the time were a fraction of the number he now claimed. Seeing as these events had occurred only a few months before his editorial was written in January 1911, it’s hard to understand how Ernest Finley could have honestly turned the sequence of events upside down.

And although the PD editorial ended with a drum-thumping call to expand city borders (“We must have a Greater Santa Rosa!”) it worked to the advantage of the town’s ruling elite at the time to maintain the town’s status quo, with its borders hemmed to the older and more affluent core neighborhoods. The newer subdivisions to the west and south offered modest homes for laborers, and voters from those new districts potentially could shake up municipal elections by electing men who were not players in Santa Rosa’s political machine.

The history lesson takeaway is that the problems of 1910 continue to reach forward into today. Roseland remains an unincorporated island within Santa Rosa, certainly in part because of the same fear that its voters could have a sizable impact on city elections, which are still under the sway of a political bloc. Even the questionable census numbers linger as a problem, particularly in overstating the impacts of the 1906 Santa Rosa Earthquake; lower census counts create the misleading picture that the destruction and death toll were comparatively much worse here than in San Francisco (see discussion).

As a bonus, there is also transcribed below a lengthy letter from the census enumerator of Salt Point and Fort Ross, filled with humor and many interesting descriptions of his encounters.

SANTA ROSA AND THE CENSUS

Santa Rosa’s neglect to make its boundary lines cover the whole city has put the town back into the same class with towns of only 7,000 or 8,000 population. The new census gives us but 7,817 inhabitants.

If Santa Rosa had done as it should and taken all the city into the city limits, the census would have given us the fourteen thousand or fifteen thousand to which we are rightfully entitled. But we failed to do it, and so for ten years every atlas and every geography and every gazetteer will hold misleading figures about Santa Rosa’s population. There is no help for it now, and the fact is regrettable, for in many respects a town’s importance is gauged by its census figures.

We have none but ourselves to blame–we and our suburban neighbors, who are denied the privilege of the city’s free postal service by carrier twice a day, and who have the poor substitute of a rural mail service once a day that reaches some of them in the evening with the morning mail. Also they are denied the advantage of the city’s fire and police protection, the city’s free water system, the sewer system, express delivery, and the privileges of the municipal library. They are also denied the privilege of pointing to Santa Rosa on the census rolls with [illegible microfilm] which it certainly has but for which it gets no credit because the whole city is not incorporated.

The people of Santa Rosa must wait another ten years before the error in the census can be corrected; but the evil may be mitigated by the prompt action in extending the city lines to where they belong. In all reason, they should be coterminous with the lines of the school district. And again, in all reason, the name of the school district should be changed to Santa Rosa school district instead of Court House school district. There is a little district near town that bears the name of Santa Rosa district. At one time there was talk of putting those names right, but the fact that one of the districts had outstanding bonds called a halt in the proceedings. There certainly is a way to give Santa Rosa school district its right name to give Santa Rosa city credit for the population it actually possesses, and to make the geographical limits of the two identical.

There is another point that has counted against Santa Rosa in the census. The town’s largest three factories were burned but a short time before the census enumerators began their work–the Levin tannery, the shoe factory, and the woolen mill. These disasters threw out of employment more than 400 people, most of whom were heads of families, and most of whom soon afterward left town with their families to seek employment elsewhere in the callings of their crafts. The tannery has since been rebuilt on a larger scale and has recalled its quota of the population and added more; the shoe factory has done the same; the woolen mill will doubtless follow later on, and a new shirt factory is about to open its doors here. But the fact that the census was taken just after those great fires cost Santa Rosa at least 1,000 population in the census figures.

Santa Rosa’s city limits should be extended so that they will include all of Santa Rosa; and it is unfortunate that another enumeration cannot be made at the present time, when conditions are so much more favorable than they were when the count was made. It is probable that a more careful enumeration would have helped matters at that time. The future is what we must now consider, however, and not the past. We must have a Greater Santa Rosa!

– Press Democrat editorial, January 5, 1911

THE CENSUS ENUMERATION
Why and Where Santa Rosa Should Have Increased

Editor of the REPUBLICAN:
It is with interest that many of the citizens of this community read the census figures just announced by the officials at Washington and published in your paper…

…Santa Rosa’s population showed an increase of 1144 people over the enumeration of ten years ago, or a percent of 17. This does not seem quite as great in comparison with other towns as could have been possible. Many of the residents have been guessing at the amount the figures would show, but in many instances their imaginations outnumbered their real thoughts. These people did not calculate upon the number of people taken from this city by the great fire and earthquake of some years ago, and furthermore, that the incorporated limits of Santa Rosa were filed many years ago, and at that time the men framing the charts of the city did not figure upon the great increase that would, and was bound to come, to this fertile spot. When they bounded the city on the west by Santa Rosa creek, little did they expect that in time to come enough people would move to that section to start another city larger than the one of which they were laying the limits.

But nevertheless, such has been the fact, and today the corporated limits of the beautiful city of Santa Rosa do not include what they should and many acres of land and taxes and benefits to the people are being lost by not including this tract in the limits of Santa Rosa.

Ten years ago the Roseland tract was field of grain and an orchard. Today it is a thickly populated district, not only composed of small farms, but many people reside there who enjoy all benefits of a city, and who come daily to the shopping district of Santa Rosa and traverse the streets, utilizing the rights of the taxpaying citizens.

This seems unfair, inasmuch as they in some instances, conduct business in this city and derive their source of living from these stores. Santa Rosa is incorporated on other sides of the city for many rods more than on the west, but to that side have the greater number of people bought homes to settle upon. A very jagged outline was formed when the city limits were made, and many people who have had occasion to visit that section and see the great numbers of homes and the people who made that their abode, wonder at the men composing the body of people who framed the city’s boundary, and why a more regular line was not made.

Now I come with an earnest appeal as to why this section of land, with its many people have not been added to the city of Santa Rosa? Is Santa Rosa ashamed of the country? Or is it afraid to undertake such a task? We have a body of men who are able to cope with the situation and it is certain that the law making body of this city would do something that would bring applause to the multitude and something that would make them a body of people not to leave office and become forever unknown, without some showing for betterment for the city.

The census just shown proves that Santa Rosa has not grown as she should and one of the reasons is that, with rough calculation of people who have made a study of numbers, and calculated upon many bodies of people and homes that there are in the neighborhood of 3000 to 35000 people residing within a radius of a quarter of a mile west of the present boundary of the city of Santa Rosa. Now this is one of the rasons our census enumeration has not increased as great as should have been, and it is earnestly urged that some steps be taken to ascertain the reasons why that section of land should not be added to the city.

In these districts lying on the borders of the town are two schools which are supervised and under the direction of the city superintendent, receiving all the benefits derived from the city taxpayers and being attended by the children of people who do not aid the city’s treasury in any manner. Again of all the 3500 people they are without any modern facilities, such as sewers, free water, fire protection and improved streets. All these reasons are placed before the people and the question is asked why do not the city fathers make the addition. These people, in almost every case, are willing to become part of the city and derive the city advantages, but they cannot rise up in arms and demand to be admitted to the folds of the city.

Many other California towns have changed their city limits in the recent years, owing to the rapid growth of population, and it is now time that something was being done toward the advancement of the city of Santa Rosa.
PROGRESS

– Santa Rosa Republican, January 6, 1911
A CENSUS ENUMERATOR WRITES SPLENDID LETTER

According to promise, I make good to your worthy army of brightest, tip-top newsboys. From top to bottom, I am deeply in love with news paperdom. Kill off the newspapers and we would be in midnight darkness. Encourage them, and we save and glorify mankind.

My experience as a census enumerator interested myself, and I hope it will interest the newsboys and the many readers of the REPUBLICAN. So here we go.

It required some months to prepare to take the test, and when it finally came, the cart seemed to be hitched up before the horse, and I felt like a cock of hay going to the press. I told Mr. Emmett Phillips, our up-to-date supervisor of census, that I expected to get left, but little tons of instruction kept on arriving until I felt as weary as Mr. Ballinger. Then I received my commission, with the promise of four-fifty per day. Uncle Sam told me to be a good little boy, or I would be fined five hundred dollars, and maybe go to the calaboose. I was to gather no news for the papers, nor talk politics, and leave all rag-chewing to the goats. And boys, I swear I have kept the faith. I did not write down a single item, but the news gathered itself to me; and somehow or other, stuck all over me, inside and out, so I am not goung to give you the forbidden fruit, only just everyday facts.

On the 15th day of April, at 7:00 a. m., I cammenced [sic] work on my own family (by the way, the largest in Salt Point township), then I loaded up like a little Boer from South Africa and started to enumerate the greatest township on earth. Afoot, with the mighty wealth of a single one cent stamp, I started on my mission. However, as I closed the gate, there at the window stood my mountain of strength and success. It was the sweet, little watching, loving eyes of my baby boy, and his mother, saying, “Jack, be good and come back.” The people from the first showed a willingness to answer all the questions, only, “Oh, mister,” or “that is a sticker,” was occasionally brought out. Away up here in the redwoods, I soon found the sound of the political pot. “I am not allowed to talk upon these matters,” I said. “But you cannot prevent us,” was fired back. In every walk of life men who can vote are brim full of politics. Some are for Debs, some are for Hearst, others for Taft. “Teddy will be out next president,” “Bryan is the best of them all,” and so on. For Governor Hiram Johnson leads with the Republicans, but Charles Curry is hanging up his picture in every home. Theodore Bell hold his own to the end.

Tie making is in full blast, bark peeling is well along, haying has commenced, the fruit crop is good, excepting prunes, the dairymen are in luck; thus from one end of the township to the other everybody is busy, not an idle man to be found. It is true I found five silent saw mills, but that is because lumber is cheap and so it is more profitable to make split stuff. I had found out in a  day or two that I must have a horse, or I would not make it in time. By now my one cent stamp had grown to be twice its value. Yes, every day proved beyond doubt that Salt Point township is the banner township for generosity. “What is my bill?” I asked at every house at which I ate, but there was no charge. “Glad to have you, old man; come again,” was the reply. Back and forth I went through some of the finest forest to find tie makers in mountain and canyons. Just one thought I was the assessor and said, “I am only twenty,” but he was soon able to say “I am twenty-three.” Chinamen spoke in the inquisitive way. One young fellow ran away from the line number thirteen, but he came back, as I told him it was the luckiest number on earth. A few foreign born chaps took me to be a detective and thought I had come for them. I gave them my hand and their nerves were soon easy. Indians thought I was the Great Father’s son all the way from Washington to give them a piece of land. Good old John Linderman at Salt Point told me to send him a dollar if I ever got my pay, but he doubted if I ever would. Still on I went, for I was charmed by seeing the country in all its glory. I arrived at night in Fort Ross, yet my welcome was so sincere and kind. All is well at the fort. By this time my letter day came and I explained to my good friend, William Morgan, the postmaster, that I did want so much to send a letter to Annapolis, but I only had a one cent stamp. Mr. Morgan furnished the other cent and I was so grateful, but I was broke. I received five dollars from my wife and you know pin money is the very best, and I felt like a lark and went singing over the divide, viewing the sleek flocks and herds of a a contented people. I found many happy children, but not enough of them. Happier would be the homes with them. Bachelors swarm in the township, but there will be less of them in the fall, as quite a number of them are moving from the danger zone to married life.

I only met one typical old maid in the district, and she could be heard to talk over two city blocks away. By now, I find Salt Point township as big as a county, and great as a kingdom, yet there is no doctor, no preacher, and no tinker living herein. There are eight schools and more teachers. There are four saloons and one church. Drunkenness is decreasing, as I only met two so far gone, no more than six with about seven fingers in the washtub. Only two desired to treat. I only saw three men play cards for money, and they had more gold and silver than there is in the bank of Annapolis. One young lady was uncertain as to just what class of breadwinners she belonged. After giving in the household I asked her occupation. She blushed, so I thought I would suggest she could take her choice. “Then,” said she, “I would like to be a Gypsy.” “Well,” said I, “just become a census enumerator and you are it.” You should have seen her beautiful pearly teeth, boys! They seemed as inviting as the gates of “The Holy City.” I was afraid she was about to take up her bed and walk. Then I saw my wife and baby and said, “I must not talk.” I found only two weak-minded children, and if they can be given the sun light and company, they are saved. I met one locked gate and just one wicked crank that threatened to blow up a family of sweet little children. Two people remembered seeing Halley’s comet 75 years ago, Mrs. Rachel Throop and A. J. Lancaster. By the by, “Jack” Lancaster, with his crown of 80 and more years, is a very interesting person. “Jack” should have been a lawyer, and he once came very nearly being it. Mr. Lancaster had business in court at Santa Rosa over horses, and a bridle was produced to prove that it would not shut off a horse’s wind, “and now if Mr. —– will come forward, we will shut off his wind.” “Jack” must be the only man in history that ever had such a chance in court.

I found no one in the township that kept a complete record of their business. Generally those who owned the most were the quickest to answer questions. I only went twice without my dinner, and slept twice like a rabbit, once my horse was sick, but I felt strong enough to carry him….

…During my travels through the district I was very anxious to get up in the morning to see the comet, and once I tried every door in the house, and I would have been trying yet if I had not been taken for a lock picker. I worked twelve hours a day and traveled almost 250 miles to do the work. At the end of twenty-five days I folded my portfolio and made for home, hoping and praying that the day will come soon when the electric railway will come to glorious old Salt Point so that I might take all the newsboys of Santa Rosa through the beautiful township by the sea.

I slipped up to the window, took hold of my wife’s hand without her seeing me, as she was sewing, and she screamed, thinking she was being held up by a tramp, and so she was.
OLD CRIPPLED JACK.

– Santa Rosa Republican, June 21, 1910

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WHAT’S NEW IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD, 1909

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

Street improvement time! In the neighborhood that would become the Ridgway Historic District, the big news was that Benton street would finally become the town’s northern most thoroughfare, opening a straight shot between the Southern Pacific train station on North St. and Ripley Street. At the time, Benton didn’t connect between Glenn and Morgan (see map in a previous neighborhood article).

(RIGHT: Detail of 1885 Santa Rosa bird’s eye view showing most of the Ridgway Historic District. CLICK or TAP to enlarge. Image courtesy the Mark Parry Map Collection)

The Ridgway district is a bit of a hodgepodge because most it wasn’t added to the town as a single developer’s platted subdivision, with streets and parcels already neatly sliced up. As this closeup of the 1885 map shows, Benton Street then ended at Mendocino Avenue, which was called the Healdsburg road. (Want to be really confused? Cleveland Ave. was “West Benton” at that time, and College Avenue was also known as Guerneville Road.)

For a new street to be added retroactively, several landowners might need arms twisted to convinced them it’s in their own best interest to give away a swatch of land to the city, in the hopes that they would profit greatly by selling many small home lots on their former pasture or orchard farmland. Although this deal seems like a no-brainer today, great-grandpa sometimes seemed to have no brains at all; it wasn’t unusual to read in the newspapers that someone foolishly demanded the town or county pay full freight for some nearly worthless sliver of land. For example, that summer of 1909 ended a three year-old city campaign to widen Fifth Street and transform it into a sister boulevard to Fourth. What killed that vision was the unbudging price by a man named John McCormick for a ten-foot strip of frontage at B street (which, in fact, he might not have legally owned).  

In the Benton Street deal, the arm twister appeared to be our own James Wyatt Oates. In August, 1909, he was elected president of the Sonoma County Automobile Association and vowed to promote the “betterment of good roads.” A month later he was making a rare appearance before City Council and mentioned “property owners between Glenn and Morgan streets were contemplating the opening of Benton street.” And just five short weeks later, the property owners handed over right-of-way to the city to allow construction of the new block to immediately begin. Likely attorney and Association president Oates did the legal work gratis.

The only glitch in the plans was that there was a house at 1238 Morgan that was in the way, and the owner said she would move it to a lot on the new block of Benton street (this is probably the Italianate house at 322 Benton). County Clerk Fred L. Wright was renting it with his family, and stayed there after it was relocated. But Fred was slow in correcting his house numbers – in the 1910 census, he was recorded living at 1238 Benton Street. (Wright later moved, but remained close by; Fred, Bessie and their four kids lived for a decade or so at 425 Carrillo, a jewel that still dominates the street.)

Oates’ appearance before the City Council was also to present a petition that the city use Mendocino Avenue for the new 20″ sewer line, “to relieve the very unsanitary and unfortunate overflow of sewage during last winter, which everybody agreed was deplorable.” This was a surprising bit of news; at the time, a small item in the papers reported that the intersection of Carrillo and Mendocino was flooded because the storm drain backed up during a downpour. And there I was imagining the squeals of children splashing around in their wonderful neighborhood lake, not groans of disgust from nearby homeowners.

Also in local news for 1909 was the renaming of “Joe Davis” street to Healdsburg Avenue. Residents of that short block had petitioned the city council since 1900 to have the name changed, and finally won. Thus endeth another link to old Santa Rosa.

The bulk of articles transcribed below, however, concern improvements to nearby streets. Mendocino Street – the section between Fourth and College – was paved, and a load of crushed rock was spread on College Ave. The difference underscores the two faces of Santa Rosa; business streets in the downtown core were now mostly asphalt because of the exploding number of automobiles in use. College Avenue was still a busy farmer’s horse-and-buggy thoroughfare across town, not to mention the route used to drive cattle herds to the slaughterhouse from the Southern Pacific stockyard on North Street. College would still be pretty bumpy ride with its new coarse gravel, but as the PD noted, “It has been a long time since any work of a permanent nature was done” on that street at all.

And then there was the surprise that there were still wooden plank curbs all around town. Wooden street curbs hardly seem worth the bother, given that they’re likely to rot and fracture, particularly when made from a soft material like redwood. But that was the 19th century standard, and a Google image search reveals they can still be found in New Orleans’ preservation district, albeit in the expected shabby shape.

(Excerpts from PD coverage various city council meetings)

Want Sewer Relief
In behalf of property owners in the section Colonel J. W. Oates addressed the council and asked that the new twenty-inch main that is to be laid from the College avenue section to the sewer farm be run from Mendocino avenue instead of Ripley street, so as to relieve the very unsanitary and unfortunate overflow of sewage during last winter, which everybody agreed was deplorable.

City Engineer Newton Smyth said in his opinion the new twenty-inch main from Ripley street to the sewer farm would relieve the conditions mentioned, but would not say that it would entirely eradicate it.

[..]

Sidewalks on Benton
In response to a petition presented by Colonel Oates and other property owners the City Council ordered that cement walks be laid on Benton street from the Southern Pacific depot to Glenn street on both sides. Col. Oates also mentioned that property owners between Glenn and Morgan streets were contemplating the opening of Benton street through to Morgan, and the giving of a deed of right of way. Crushed rock was also ordered placed on Benton street from North to Glenn street.

[..]

– Press Democrat, September 22, 1909

Mendocino Street Improvement
The matter of street repairs was considered at some length and it was decided to remove the basalt blocks on Mendocino street, lay a base of Healdsburg gravel with a binding of crushed rock, similar to the roadway at the Northwestern Pacific depot, and then bituminize the street. All sewer, water, gas and wire connections are to be laid in the street before the work is done, and the property owners will be assessed for half the cost.

– Press Democrat, June 16, 1909

Mendocino Street Improvement
John S. Taylor and James O. Kuykendall have had the old redwood plank curbing removed and a concrete curbing laid along Mendocino street in front of their residence properties. They have also had concrete gutters laid. The work is a marked improvement and adds materially to the appearance of the street.

– Press Democrat, May 25, 1909

Now “Healdsburg Avenue”
Residents and property owners of “Joe Davis” street asked the council to change the name of that thoroughfare to “Healdsburg Avenue.” W. T. Hurt spoke of the existing difficulty on account of the conflict of names. The request was granted. The street is only one block long…

– Press Democrat, June 2, 1909
MORE IMPROVEMENTS ON MENDOCINO AVENUE

The old wooden curb along Mendocino avenue in front of the Riley property is being removed and is to be replaced by a modern concrete curb and gutter the entire length of the property. The change will greatly improve the appearance of the thoroughfare and add to the value of the property.

– Press Democrat, October 15, 1909

COLLEGE AVENUE IMPROVEMENTS
Work Commenced in Laying Cement Curbs and Gutters–Will be One of the Best Thoroughfares

The improvement of College avenue from Mendocino avenue to Fourth street has been commenced and Contractor J. D. Sullivan is at work putting in cement curbs and gutters. It is the plan to lay these curbs and gutters the entire distance between the points named and then the city will put down crushed rock on the thoroughfare. The advantage derived from this improvement will make College avenue one of the best boulevards in the city and will greatly enhance the appearance and value of property. It has been a long time since any work of a permanent nature was done on College avenue and everybody is pleased to see the work commenced.

– Press Democrat, October 10, 1909

STREET OBSTRUCTIONS ARE DANGEROUS

The lack of lights on College avenue, where dirt has been thrown into the street from the excavating for the concrete gutter and curb, and piles of gravel and mixing boxes strewn along, makes that thoroughfare very dangerous at night. Sunday night from Slater to Humboldt street there were no lights and with the heavy shade of the trees along the north side it was almost impossible to keep out of danger. Unless more care is taken in protecting such places in the public streets there may be a serious accident and some one may be killed or crippled.

– Press Democrat, November 9, 1909

TO OPEN BENTON STREET TO MORGAN
Noteworthy Improvement is Contemplated And a Number of New Houses Will Be Built

Arrangements have been completed for the deeding to the city of the right of way through several pieces of property for the opening of Benton street from Glenn to Morgan street. City Surveyor Smyth has made the survey and secured the descriptions to be placed in the deeds to be drawn by City Attorney Ware. When the deed has been prepared the necessary land will be transferred to the city for the purpose stated.

Property owners in the vicinity have raised the funds for the purpose of defraying the cost of removing the house occupied by County Clerk Fred L. Wright and owned by Mrs. M. F. Calderwood, which partially stands in the lot to be deeded. It is understood that the house will be moved around so as to face on the new Benton street, and in all probability a new house will be erected on the corner by Mr. Wright.

E. D. Seaton, who owns considerable frontage on Benton street, between Mendocino avenue and Glenn street, is preparing to erect several two-story modern houses on Benton street as soon as it is opened through to Morgan street. H. H. Moke, who owns the entire half block facing on the north side of the new street, and W. E. Nichols, who owns the other quarter block on the south side, are both contemplating improvements on their property.

When the street is opened it will give a main thoroughfare from the Southern Pacific depot to Ripley street and divide the drainage of storm water which is now all carried on Carrillo street during the rainy season. The street opening will be a marked improvement to that part of the city.

– Press Democrat, September 26, 1909
DEEDS PASS FOR BENTON STREET OPENING

Deeds were signed and passed Saturday for the required land for the opening of Benton street from Glenn to Morgan streets, and the street will be opened at once. H. H. Moke, W. A. Nichols and Mrs. M. F. Calderwood are the property owners affected. Mrs. Calderwood will be compelled to move one of her houses which is now partially in the proposed street. Monday the fences were removed from the Moke and Nichols property and preparations are being made for the immediate clearing of the Calderwood property so that the street can be put in condition for use before the heavy rains begin.

Work is progressing rapidly on the other part of Benton street, which is being given a heavy coat of crushed rock. The rock has been laid from Mendocino avenue to a point half way between Orchard and Beaver streets. A number of the property owners are also laying cement walks along the street as ordered by the Council, while others are making preparations to do so.

The laying of cement curbs and gutters on College avenue is also progressing rapidly. The work has practically been completed on each side as far as Slater street and will be pushed right along as fast as possible. Both of these streets present a much improved appearance where the work has been completed.

– Press Democrat, November 2, 1909

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