|
Woodlawn Park
notes by Steve Schoenherr Feb. 19, 2018
Subdivisions in Otay 1928, by Tax Factors, Inc.
1880/09/24 Faivre Homestead Tract in Otay, J. Faivre, Proprietor, surveyed Sept. 24, 1880, by M.G. Wheeler, filed Sept. 27, 1880. Country Road on west side, dividing Sec. 22 from Wilcox property to west in Sec. 21. 80 acres subdivided into 8 lots of 10 acres each. ( Subdivision Map No. 0010, filed Sept. 27, 1880, Engineering Department, City of Chula Vista. ) 1887/07/25 Otay, a subdivision in Sec. 22 and 23 as surveyed by O. N. Sanford, city engineer and filed July 25, 1887, by Guion, Hamilton and Hartley. ( Subdivision Map 0263, filed July 25, 1887, Engineering Department, City of Chula Vista. ) 1892 Township 18 South, Range 2 West, map shows property owners around Poggi Canyon, including B. J. Pritchard owning the area of future Woodlawn Park, Dan Button north of Woodlawn Park, G. E. Moorehouse and John Ladaroot south of Woodlawn Park. ( Township 18 South, Range 2 West, 1892, Bound Map Book, San Diego Historical Society. ) 1899/11/02 "Map Showing Location of Lands in Sections 21-22-21-24" The Otay River Through Said Lands owned by Frank P. Reed, Michael Bauers, John Ladaroot, Geo. E. Morehouse [Moorhouse, or Moorehouse] , I. P. and Mrs. H. C. Requa, Geo. S. Woolsy, Chas. W. Schaeffer, uri Decker, Mary E. Brimhall, Dorris Freeman, N. Christensen, L. A. Blochman, Fred M. Smith, J. A. Fritz and Jennie Owens Fritz, Silas J. Brimhall. Page 2 of map shows Otay Rancho and dam in northwest corner of section 18, for court case of Bauers et al vs Southern California Mountain Water Co. No. 10840, filed Nov. 2, 1899. ( Map 1562 COU-1890's, San Diego Historical Society. ) 1900 Census for Otay Township, houses in the area around Poggi Canyon. p14 - house 198 - Rosa Poggi, female head of house, widowed, b. 1846 in Italy, (immig 1887), farmer, son Phillip, b. 1877, son Joseph b. 1879, d. Aurielia b. 1888 -- p14 - house 199 - Ah Wong, day laborer, b. 1849 in China, immig. 1869 (still alien) -- p14 - house 202 - John Semenza, b. 1858 Italy (immig 1875) -- p14 - house 203 - Anton Guatilli, b. 1824 Italy (immig 1875) -- p14 - house 204 - Emanuel Daneri, b. 1848 Italy (immig 1866), wife Rosa, b. 1853 n Italy and immig 1863, s. John b. 1874 in Calif -- p14 - house 204 - Rosa Musto, boarder, b. 1849 Italy, immg 1885 -- p14 - house 204 - Simon Lavargi, boarder, b. 1844 Italy, immig 1866 -- ( U. S. Census, San Diego County, California, 1900. ) 1902 USGS map of 1902 showing Otay Valley, no houses are located in Woodlawn Park. 1910/03/24 Broderick's Otay Acres subdivision in Sec. 24, near Poggi Canyon, surveyed Feb. 6, 1910 by H. S. Culp, filed March 24, 1910, by Broderick West Land Company and John Benesch, with Main Ave. on north side and Otay Valley road angling across the northern part of the property, a "private way 45 ft. wide", with three long blocks divided by Date St. and Palm Ave. running north-south. ( Subdivision Map 1243, Engineering Department, City of Chula Vista. ) 1910/06/22 "Of What We Have Been Doing at Otay" (advertisement) We went into Otay over a year ago before the oil excitement and before anyone had even thought of drilling for oil here, when Otay was practically dead. We realized that Otay had the best soil and the balmiest climate of any of the districts around San Diego. We bought up a large tract of very desirable land at very reasonable figures. We found that the great pipe line which carries the mountain water to San Diego and Coronado ran along the bluffs just south of our land. We then organized the Otay Valley Water company and secured a twenty-five year contract with the Spreckels people for a 5,000,000 gallon flow of water. W e now had the land and the water. About this time the electric line was extended into Otay, which gave us a car service. We then started improving our land and getting it ready for home sites. BRODERICK-WEST LAND CO., INC. ( SD Union June 22, 1910 )
The San Diego Union, June 23,1910
1910/06/23 "Opening Sale Of Woodlawn Park" (advertisement) Discount On Opening Days. This land adjoins our famous tract called OTAY ACRES, where every buyer has doubled their money in three months' time. This tract was sold at $250.00 per acre and every piece was sold on the opening day. In Woodlawn Park we make the greatest offer of our business experience, and every purchaser will more than double their money. An acre of fine land with all improvements in; in the most artistic laid out tract in the state: in a park having over four miles of beautiful drives, all lined with trees, nine small and highly improved parks, eight cobblestone entrances and a small lake, and located where you get the balmiest climate San Diego affords, with electric car line near and the Spreckels Mountain Water piped to every lot, for $250.00 per acre, on Easy Terms, and a-10 per cent discount on the Opening Days, SATURDAY, SUNDAY and MONDAY/JUNE 25, 26 and 27 WOODLAWN PARK is the highest improved acre property that has ever been offered to the public. With over 4 miles of contour boulevards, 8 cobble stone gateways, 9 small and highly improved parks and a beautiful lake at one of our entrances, We have had the services of Mr. Vawter, the Los Angeles Architect and Mr. Elmer Weaver, the San Diego Architect, in laying this property out and they have taken advantage of every natural beauty of the land, and the results show what the skilled Landscape Artist can do with a magnificent location to start with. We offer an acre of beautiful level land equal in size to 50-foot city lots, near the electric car line, with streets graded and Spreckels mountain water piped in front of all lots, all streets lined with trees and palms, and a building restriction covering the entire tract, for $250.00 per acre, on terms. And a special discount of 10 per cent on all sales made on the opening days, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, June 25, 26 and 27. We make this low price because we want you to boost for this section as you never boosted before and together we will make this the finest acre villa property in the state. Otay has arrived and the you realize it the more money you are going to make. The following are some of the new developments taking place here. 1. Our holdings are large. W e are putting on this tract of 80 acres at prices which all buyers can double their money on, but we are keeping the wheel going that will make this section grow in leaps and bounds. 2. The electric cars have just begun running to Otay. Cars are run until midnight 3. The Otay Oil Co., are drilling for oil on land near our tract The opening of this Oil field will raise the price of land an hundred times or more. There are four other companies.getting ready to drill for oil on land adjoining our tract 4.The Otay Valley Water Co., a recently organized company, has a contract with the So. Cal. Mountain Water Co., for a 5,000,000 gallon flow of water. They are laying water mains here as fast as money and men can work. This means a water supply for Otay: a water supply for the first time in its history, which will improve this beautiful section as nothing else can. Otay is the place to put your money, because it is sure to grow very fast. The Otay Oil Co., who are drilling for oil on land adjoining us, have already struck a strong seepage of oil, and the bringing in of this well will advance land here an hundred times or more. We are in Otay to stay and we want you to come with us. We realize that here are the greatest land values around San Diego. BRODERICK-WEST LAND CO., INC. ( The San Diego Union, June 23,1910 ) 1910/06/23 (advertisement) WOODLAWN PARK is the highest improved acre property that has ever been offered to the public. With over 4 miles of contour boulevards, 8 cobble stone gateways, 9 small and highly improved parks and a beautifnl lake at one of our entrances. We have had the services of Mr. Vawter, the Los Angeles Architect and Mr. Elmer Weaver, the San Diego Architect, in laying this property out and they have taken advantage of every natural beauty of the land, and the results show what the skilled Landscape Artist can do with a magnificent location to start with. We offer an acre of beautiful level land equal in size to S 50-foot city lots, near the electric car line, with streets graded and Spreckeis mountain water piped in front of all lots, all streets lined with trees and palms, and a building restriction covering the entire tract, for §250.00 per acre, on terms. And a special discount of 10 per cent on all sales made on the opening days, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, June 25, 26 and 27. We make this low price because we want you to boost for this section as you never boosted before and together we will make this the finest acre villa property in the state. BRODERICK-WEST LAND CO., INC. ( The San Diego Union, June 23,1910 ) 1910/06/23 DISCOUNT ON OPENING DAYS,10 PER CENT (advertisement) This land adjoins our famous tract called OTAY ACRES, where every buyer has doubled their money in three months' time. This tract was sold at $250.00 per acre and every piece was sold on the opening day. In Woodlawn Park we make the greatest offer of our business experience, and every purchaser will more than double their money. An acre of fine land with all improvements in; in the most artistic laid out tract in the state: in a park having over four miles of beautiful drives, all lined with trees, nine small and highly improved parks, eight cobblestone entrances and a small lake, and located where you get the balmiest climate San Diego affords, with electric car line near and the Spreckels Mountain Water piped to every lot, for $250.00 per acre, on Easy Terms, and a 10 per cent discount on the Opening Days, SATURDAY, SUNDAY and MONDAY/JUNE 25, 26 and 27. BRODERICK-WEST LAND CO., INC. ( The San Diego Union, June 23,1910 ) 1910/06/23 A LITTLE HISTORY Of What We Have Been Doing at Otay (advertisement) We went into Otay over a year ago before the oil excitement and before anyone had even thought of drilling for oil here, when Otay was practically dead. We realized that Otay had the best soil and the balmiest climate of any of the districts around San Diego. We bought up a large tract of very desirable land at very reasonable figures. We found that the great pipe line which carries the mountain water to San Diego and Coronado ran along the bluffs just south of our land. We then organized the Otay Valley Water company and secured a twenty-five year contract with the Spreckels people for a 5,000,000 gallon flow, of water. We now had the land and the water. About this time the electric line was extended into Otay, which gave us a car service. We then-started improving our land and getting it ready for home sites. In uie meantime the Otay Oil company took leases on land right up to our line and began drilling for oil. They are now down about 900 feet and have strong indications of a very valuable ,well.. They are this week starting two other wells and we look for the Otay oil fields to become one cf the greatest oil producers in the state. About three months ago, we put on our first tract, called "Otay Acres" at $250.00 per acre with all improvements in. The entire eighty acres were sold on the opening day and we made the unprecedented record of having for a buyer everyone that looked. Since that time the property has doubled in value and we have found a purchaser for every piece offered at double the original price. For the past three months we have been working on our beautiful "Woodlawn Park," building over four miles of contour roads, lining them with palms and trees, with here and there a restful park and in fact we have tried to make this the most artistic suburban home spot in the state. W e are going to make this a buyer's opportunity in order to keep the ball rolling at Otay. W e are going to put this on at $250 per acre on easy terms with all improvements in. . . The opening will take place on Saturday, Sunday and .Monday, June 25, 26 and 27, and we will make a special discount of ten per cent to all purchasers on these days. W e wish to extend a hearty invitation to all our old customers and to the public in general to take advantage of this great opportunity. BRODERICK-WEST LAND CO., INC. ( The San Diego Union, June 23,1910 ) 1910/06/23 Small Farms in Woodlawn Park are a Tremendous Success. (advertisement) We have built and.sold ten houses on this tract in the last three, months. We have the best" located laud and the best water supply of any acreage subdivision near San Diego. These houses have been located on tracts of from one to four acres, and these new settlers have made wonderful improvements. Owning a small, farm near a beautiful and growing city like San Diego is real independence, an ideal and profitable way to rear your family. We have a little three-acre ranch and a cozy four-room cottage, which jou should not fail to see. Take a ride with us and we will show you a paradise of small farms, made up of bright, intelligent people, who are making a true success of their lives. Broderick-West Land Inc. ( The San Diego Union, June 23,1910 )
Subdivision map filed June 30, 1910
1910/06/30 Woodlawn Park on Sec. 24 of Otay, surveyed May and June 1910 by D. A. Loebenstein, filed June 30, 1910, by Broderick-West Land Company, W. Broderick, President, and attested by A. E. Broderick, Secretary, with south boundary Main Street and Broderick's Otay Acres, and north boundary Walnut Drive and Sec. 13, and west side Palm Road, and east side lots along Maple Drive that meets Main at East Gate Park. The center road of Walnut Drive meets Main at East Lake Park. In the center Sycamore and Spruce Drives meet at a plaza. ( Subdivision Map 1271, Woodlawn Park, filed June 30, 1910, Engineering Department, City of Chula Vista. ) 1911 plat map of property owners around Poggi Canyon in Otay Valley, Mrs. S. D. Button north of Woodlawn Park, Broderick's Otay Acres and John Ladaroot south of Woodlawn Park. ( Alexander, W. E. Plat Book of San Diego County, California. Los Angeles: Pacific Plat Book Co., 1911. ) In 1918 Carlo Valpreda's family decided that they should leave Los Angeles and join Carlo's brother Alberto who was living and farming in Otay Valley. Their first house in the valley was located directly across the street from where the Shinohara Farm is today. Then, that was one of the few houses in the valley, as most of that area was just barren land. After two years, they moved again a little farther east down the valley into the old Daneri School House which had been converted into a house while Carlo's brother was living in it. Alberto and his family had left the valley and moved to San Marcos. Carlo farmed five acres owned by his brother Alberto across the street from the Daneri School House raising beans, corn, and feed for his animals. He farmed there until his brother sold the five acres to Mr. O'Donnell in 1940, who started up his own hog ranch and later his rendering plant (Omar Rendering Plant). The Valpredas lived in the old Daneri School House until 1929. ( Chula Vista Historical Society. Family, Friends, and Homes. San Diego CA: Tecolote Publications, 1991. ) 1930 USGS map of 1930 showing Otay Valley, no houses are located in Woodlawn Park. 1931/12/29 Witnesses Tell Of Fatal Shot On Mesa Ranch. Preliminary Hearing Opens In Murder Charge Filed Against W. H. Vincent. Preliminary hearing for William H . Vincent, 35, charged with murder In the fatal shooting Dec. 20 of William Christ on the latter's hog ranch on Otay mesa, was begun yesterday afternoon in Justice Arthur L. Mundo's denartment of township court. The prosecution. led by Victor Winnek, deputy district attorney, opened the state's case by calling as witnesses Deputy Coroner Dave Gershon, J. S. Porter and Andrew Jackson. The last two were neighbors of the slain man. The shooting of Christ is said to have climaxed an alleged estrangement between Vincent and his wife. Mrs. Teran Vincent, and an attempt on the part of Vincent's father. Elmer Vincent, to take the woman's belongings from Christ's home, where Mrs. Vincent is reported to have kept house for him. When all parties concerned gathered at Christ's house the morning of Dec 20. an argument ensued. The younger Vincent drew a pistol and at the same time Christ grabbed Mrs. Vincent and held her in front of him. Vincent fired. The bullet penetrated Mrs. Vincent's arm and entered He died on route to a Porter and Jackson, Christ's head. hospital. the latter a negro, testified yesterday that they saw t h e shooting take place. A. Fairchild. Vincent's attorney, attempted to show through cross-examination that Christ. Porter and Jackson had been drinking prior to the arrival of the Vincents. Some excitement started inthe courtroom when Jackson called Fairchild a liar and shouted, "You must be drunk, yourself!" Justice Mundo calmly handled the situation by admonishing the negro not to get excited. Fairchild persisted by asking Jackson if he ever took a drink. "I never took but two drinks in my life." Jackson said. "That was when I left the army. I lost all of my money then and I've never wanted any more to drink." The aged negro also testified that on the morning of the tragedy he was in Porter's house and saw two glasses on a table, but he said he saw no bottles "Had there been any liquor in the glasses?" Fairchild asked. "I couldn't say about that. I'm not a detective." The hearing will be continued a t 2 p. m. today i n Justice Mundo's court. Mrs. Vincent sat with her husband at Fall-child's table. ( The San Diego Union, Dec. 29, 1931 ) 1932/01/28 State Rests Case Against Vincent. Aged Negro Hermit, on Staid Nearly 4 Hours, Describes Rancher's Shooting. The state yesterday afternoon rested its case against William Vincent, 35, charged with tie murder, Dec. 20, of William Christ, 32, at the latter's ranch on Otay mesa. Trial began Monday morning in Judge Clarence Harden's division of superior court. Attorney A. Fairchild opened the defense after Andrew Jackson, colored, had been on the stand under direct and cross-examination nearly four hours. Jackson, said to be 100 years old, told of the shooting, which allegedly climaxed a quarrel between Vincent and Christ over Vincent's estranged wife. Mrs. Teran Vincent. John Porter, a neighbor of Christ, was called again yesterday by District Attorney Thomas Whelan to relate details of what occurred at Christ's ranch immediately preceeding the shooting. Deputy Sheriffs O. C. Macumber and Chuck Cameron also testtfied relative to their investigations of the tragedy. It is expected the trial will last a week. ( The San Diego Union, Jan. 28, 1932 ) 1935/11/29 Mr. and Mrs. L. A. Brand Celebrate 60th anniv. at their Woodlawn Park home in Otay Valley; were married in Illinois, came to present home in 1911 ( San Ysidro Border Press, Nov. 29, 1935 ) 1935/12/01 Couple Serves Wedding Breakfast To Friends, Marking 60th Anniversary. (photo) Mr. and Mrs. L A. Brand happy on their ranch home as they celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. Mr. and Mrs. L. A. Brand, on Ranch Home Near Otay: Honored by Neighbors; S.D. Residents Since 1911 On the morning of the 60th wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. L. A. Brand, who reside in Woodlawn Park. MrsBrand prepared a wedding breakfast for their neighbors. Mrs. Brand is 77 and Mr. Brand is 80. After breakfast. Mr. Brand took charge of washing the dishes for his wife on their anniversary, which was celebrated Nov. 23. The Brands were married in Brookville. Carol county, Ill., in 1875. They lived on a farm near Polo. Ill, for eight years. Their two children. Alpha and Ivy. were born there. At Polo Mr. Brand owned a grocery business for 20 years. In 1911 the Brands moved to iheir present home in Woodlawn Park. east of Otay. Mr. and Mrs. Brand's daughter is Mrs. H. J. Ingram, Calipatria. Their son. Alpha, is an employe of the Sears-Roebuck store in San Diego. They also have three grandsons. Dr. H. H. Ingram. Imperial valley; Lester D. BraLd. Lyons. Tex., and Herbert Brand. San Francisco; and two great-grandchildren. At the farm bureau home department bazar in the Otay school auditorium Friday evening Mr. and Mrs. Brand were presented with a basket of flowers. Mrs. Brand had charge of a booth at the bazar. Among other gifts was a cake decorated with a crown to crown their 60 years of married life, given by Videl Malaoira.The Brands are members of the True Vow Keepers' club and have only missed one of the meetings. ( The San Diego Union, Dec. 1, 1935 ) 1936/05/09 - A. Jackson, 104, Rorabeck, 103, Pass In County. One Earned Living for Self, Wife Until Month Ago; Other High-Kicker at 100. (photo) Andrew Jackson, 104-year-old Negro, one of the oldest men in San Diego county. Two of the oldest men in San Diego county, and possibly in. California were dead last night. They were Andrew Jackson, 104-year-old Negro, a resident of Otay. who had earned a living for himself and his wife until a month before his death; and Thomas G. Rorabeck, 103, Encanto, who boasted that he kicked a hat held over his head on his 100th birthday. By a strange coincidence, both died Saturday, but news of the deaths was not available until last night. Rorabeck. a native of New York, was born May 5, 1833. Most of his life was spent on farms in Wisconsin and North Dakota. He retired about 20 years ago and came to San Diego to live with his son, James. 77, about a decade ago. It was his proudest boast that on his 100th birthday he still was able to kick higher than his head. He remained active for his years until within a few months of his death, and on occasions would attempt to imitate his birthday fete. He resided in Encinitas and county hospital authorities said senility was the cause of his death. Two other sons survive, George Rorabeck. Werner, N. D., and Curtis Rorabeck, Osseo, Wis. Funeral arrangements are being made through Harrell funeral chapel. El Cajon, and will be announced later. Mrs. Jenny Jackson, 87-year-old wife of the aged Negro, told of his death Saturday near Otay at a ranch home they had shared for 10 years. and went yesterday to the home of friends, Mr. and Mrs. R. E. Holloway, 3076 Webster ave., to live. She had been married 47 years. Last month. Mr. Jackson, a Negro, recited almost forgotten occurrences in Civil war and Indian war battles in which he fought and was wounded, and Miss Jean Hay of the San Diego chapter. Red Cross, listened to him and verified his stories after research into history books. With her help, Mr. Jackson established his right to an Indian war pension. With this income, and with the earnings which his small ranch yielded, he lived independent of charity until he was stricken with illness only two days before his death Saturday. Miss Gertrude Nave, of the Red Cross, was not certain last night that Mrs. Jackson will continue to receive her husband's government pension. But the Holloways have assured the widow at home with them. Announcement of services will be made by the Tate funeral home, 3109-11 Ocean View blvd. ( The San Diego Union, May 19, 1936 ) 1936/05/22 -"Negro Andrew White, 104," civil war vet (served with confederates), died on little ranch near Otay, known in area as Andrew Jackson, resided there for 10 yrs, raised 30 hogs for Robert Armstrong and A. G. Stephenson. He came to U.S. 90 years ago at age 14 from Cuba, came to Calif 40 yrs ago. ( Chula Vista Star, May 22, 1936. ) 1936/05/22 - Andrew White, 104, Civil War Vet, Dies Unexpectedly On Otay Ranch. Hemorrhage Fatal To Negro Who Came To United States From Cuba 90 Years Ago; Rites Conducted By Catholic Priest; Buried At Holy Cross. On Jan. 1. 1832, a Negro boy born in Cuba They christened him Andrew White. Last Saturday, on a neat little ranch near Otay, a friendly old Negro, known throughput the South Bay district as Andrew Jackson, expired. He was 104 years old. For 10 years, Andrew White or Andrew Jackson, had resided near here. Time and again, his pictures had appeared in metropolitan newspapers. For Andrew was news. Especially in November of last year. That was when he decided to retire, to take things easy in his declining years. So he turned over the care of his ranch and the responsibility of raising 30 head of hogs to Robert Armstrong and A. G. Stephenson. He was in the best of health [then. Carefully he made out the lease. It was to run for three years. And at the expiration of that period, he commented when he signed the instrument, he hoped to be able to renew the lease. But death struck swiftly, unexpectedly. It was 1:30 a. m. Dr. Parker Hollingsworth attended him.And on the death certificate the cause was listed as cerebral hemorrhage. Ninety years ago, Andrew White came to the United States. He was 14 years old. Gold hadn't been discovered in California. The Civil war still was 16 years distant. When hostilities did start, Andrew White enlisted. He served with the confederate forces ‹ a colorful figure in his tattered clothes‹a friendly Negro who became known as Andrew Jackson. Forty years ago, he came to California. About 10 years ago, he said a short time before his death, he got what he described as his second eyesight. And until the time he expired the finest newspaper print was not too small for Andrew White to read without the aid of glasses. His body was taken to Tate's Funeral home, 3109 Ocean View blvd., San Diego. Wednesday, he was buried at Holy Cross cemetery. A Catholic priest officiated. ( The Chula Vista Star, May 22, 1936, Page 1 ) 1938/11/25 Brands Celebrate 63rd Anniversary. Mr. and Mrs. L. A. Brand who were married,TM Brookville, 111., in 1875 celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary by entertaining » few friends for breakfast Wednesday morning at their home in Woodlawn Park. Mrs, and Mrs, Brand have lived their home which is located east of Otay for 27 years. ( San Ysidro Border Press, Nov. 25, 1938 )
Woodlawn Park Church of God in Christ
1940 Woodlawn Park Church of God in Christ - This church at 124 Spruce Road was built in 1940 by Will and Menzie Wallace who lived for 40 yrs at 1655 Sycamore on their 6-acre Woodlawn Park hog ranch since the 1930s. 1940/03/29 A truck carrying 30 to an Easter egg hunt overturned at Highway 101 and Otay Valley Rd, causing injuries to 19, 16 of whom were negroes. . . The party, it was reported, was going to a Negro settlement 1.5 miles east of Otay. [prob Woodlawn Park] - truck crash ( Chula Vista Star, Mar. 29, 1940. ) 1941 USGS map of 1941 showing Otay Valley, with about twenty houses in Woodlawn Park. 1943 Annjennette S. McFarlin came to CV in Dec. 1943 at age 9. She was born in 1935 in Pensacola, Florida. Grandfather Isaac McFarlin helped start the Church in Woodlawn Park. Her cousin Ed Brown, was in the military, had a hog farm. His son is Gaylord Brown. Mr. Hancock across the street had a hog farm. Her cousin Christine Brown was 1st black cheerleader (at Sweetwater HS?? or was Laferne Booker the1st black cheerleader (died)??). Linda Brown, sister, still lives in Woodlawn Park, in white 2-story house near Annjennette's house that is on left side from Y in the road, 3rd house. Paradine and Calvin Ruff also still in Woodlawn Park.. Barbara Anderson was 1st black librarian. Wm Anderson, 1st black probation officer. Evelyn Booker, sister of minister Robert Booker, lives in SD. The Bookers were related to Fentress Neal family. Annjennette's mom wanted to borrow money at the local bank on F Street (across from the drugstore) to add bathroom to her house, but denied, instead needed a friend to help get the loan. Annjennette remembers smell from Omar Rendering. The O'Donnells lived on 2nd St in CV. Louis Cacho had twin sisters. Cacho's father lived in Otay. Mark Robinson, retired - mother still lives in Woodlawn Park. Shinahara (or Shinohara) may have farmed east of I-805. ( McFarlin, interview Jan. 29, 2010. ) 1945 Omar Rendering has expanded to 60 employees and international status through the parent company Darling-Delaware Co., Inc. Omar Rendering has served the South Bay since 1945 at same location at 4826 Otay ( Chula Vista Star-News, Feb. 28, 1971 ) 1945/10/26 "$2,125,000 Negro Subdivision South of Otay Planned. The announcement was made today, that a group of San Diego negros were seriously planning the creation of a large subdivision for negros requiring at least 160 acres of land, and costing in excess of $2,125,000, to be located between Otay and San Ysidro.." Mark H. Money real estate agent has been offered contract for the project that plans 350 homes at $6500 each, for a population of about 2000. ( Chula Vista Star, Oct. 26, 1945. ) 1949/05/27 Dick Day, seven-letter man at CVHS, won 1949 Outstanding Senior Athlete award, announced by Arthur Lynds, chairman of the CV Athletic Club awards committee. Fentress Neal, "Negro track flash and four letter man," won second place. It is the second annual award of the club; Al Hooper won last year. Day is the son of Victor Day, 270 J Street. ( Chula Vista Star, May 27, 1949. ) 1949/06/03 At CVHS award assembly May 26, "brilliant miler" Eddie Davis and Fentress Neal were voted most valuable man and honorary captain, repsectively, of the track team. Billy Casper was awarded trophy for low score in the All-County golf match, golf team won two trophies for All-County and All-Metro chanpionships. Dick Day gave Coach Cox a cap to wear while golfing in his retirement ( Chula Vista Star, June 3, 1949. ) 1949/06/10 Edward Neal protest Fentress not getting award - "Fentress Neal has been cheated out of the No. place in athletics for 1949 at Chula Vista High School, which the Scroll of 1949 branded him as No. 1 in athletics. My question is this: how long must the witch of racial prejudice and discrimination continue to ride her broom stick hither and yon?" ( Chula Vista Star, June 10, 1949. ) 1949/06/10 Edward Neal, father of Fentress, protested award to Dick Day. ( Chula Vista Star, June 10, 1949. ) 1949/10/14 Fentress Neal died in crash on Main Street in Otay Monday night. He had one brother, Edward Neal, Jr. - CV to use new football stadium for first time today. -- [Annjennette McFarlin said Joe Rindone prevented Spartan Stadium from being named in honor of Neal] ( Chula Vista Star, Oct. 14, 1949. ) 1949/10/28 Oct. 28 editorial - Fentress Neal honored in the current issue of The Spartan. -- ( Chula Vista Star, Oct. 28, 1949. ) 1950/02/16 Woodlawn Park business club org'd Feb. 4, Mr. W. Wallace, pres, Mr. John Giles, secy, Rev. Obie Bennett, treasurer, will meet Feb. 25 in community hall ( Chula Vista Star, Feb. 16, 1950. ) 1950/02/16 Woodlawn Park Club Formed. Decision to circulate a petition requesting a post office substation was made at a meeting of the Otay chamber of commerce Monday evening. The 37 members and guests present beard A. J. Bard, president of the Montgomery coordinating council, announce that Arthur Lynds of Chula Vista will be a Speaker at the next council meeting February 27 on the water situation. J. M. Kschelman. president of the chamber, said "Otay" signs will be placed in the outer boundaries of Otay within the next two weeks. The meeting followed a potluck supper. Both events were held in the Woman's clubhouse. Group Organizes The Woodlawn Park business dub was organized February 4 in Otay. Officers elected were: lb. W. Wallace, president; Mr. John Giles, secretary; Rev. Obie Bennett, treasurer. . The purpose of this club is to unify the community and to be represented at all civic meetings. The next meeting is to be held February 25 in the community hill tin Woodlawn park. Hold Recital .A. musical recital of trumpet, waice and piano was held recentIy at Chula Vista Junior high school under the direction of W. a, taing of Palm City, all participating students being from Stay. Piano selections were by Elizabeth Hernandez, Lydia Arballo. Rachel Palma. Rita Lozano; piano duet by Mary Castro and 01ga Galindo. Trumpet selections were by Jimmie Dean, accompanied by Miss Arballo: Sara Hernandez. accompanied by Elizabeth Hemandez; Miss Dorothy Gibson, contralto,accompanied by Elizabeth Hernandez on the piano, sang several selections. Mrs. Carrie Howe, of San Diego, was a dinner guest of Mrs H. Banks, on Sunday. Prospect Again. Dave Banks and Peter Perin tried their luck again at prospecting at the San Luis Rey Mission, *near Oceanside, last weekend, ."AH good things come in threes". The three Palenschat children. Freddy, Douglas, and Patsy, are confined at home because of chicken-pox. Mr. and Mrs. Amos Hall, of Woodlawn Park. Otay,, are the proud parents of a baby boy. born Sunday, February 12, at the Quintard hospital in San Diego. Mr. and Mrs. Elvin Reynolds and children of San Diego, were dinner guests of Mr. and Mrs. Hardin at the Hardin ranch Sunday. The "Over-teeners'' met Thursday at the home of Mrs. Louise Jennings in Otay. ( The Chula Vista Star, Feb 16, 1950, Page 8 ) 1954 "Otay Dreams" by Byron Shewman. In 1954 I sat on the school bus every day next to my best friend, Mark Robson. The ride home from Montgomery Elementary School in Otay was a straight shot east on Main Street. The bus dropped off poor white and Mexican kids until we reached "the Hill," where Mark and the other black children bounded off and ran up Sycamore Street to ramshackle houses with spacious yards of junked cars, chickens, cows, and pigs fattening in the dirt. Woodlawn Park was called "the Hill" by its residents. The last four on the bus ‹ my sister, me, and the two other kids who lived on Otay Ranch ‹ squinched our noses as we soon passed the stench of the hog farm and Omar's Rendering Plant, where carcasses of dead animals were melted down to a substance that was most likely bleached, hydrogenated, packed in round blue containers, and sold to the nation as Crisco. At the southwest corner of the 29,000-acre ranch, Mrs. Stewart waited at the locked gate in her dull green Nash to pick up her two children, as well as my sister and me, and take us down the half-mile gravel road to the houses where we lived. Her husband, Dave Stewart, was a real Texan cowboy and foreman of the Otay Valley Farm, as we called the small cattle outpost. In the fall of 2003, I ran down Mark Robson. After 49 years, his strength was still evident, although the muscles have been padded somewhat. I recognized his face immediately, especially the flared nose. . . At the corner of Broadway and Main was the raucous Uncle Sam's Barbecue, owned by an African-American. Robson's own father moonlighted there for a time as a bouncer, and one night during a planned attack on him, he was forced to shoot and kill one of two knife-wielding men. Eventually the thriving business was moved farther west on Main, but its doors closed forever when the new owner was fatally stabbed in the throat while breaking up a fight. We turned north on Broadway, and a few streets up, Robson pointed out where the infamous motel used to stand, discreetly tucked away on a side road. As a kid, I didn't know about it, but Robson explained that it was a place of fleshly commerce in dark-skinned women. A smartly attired black man oversaw the affairs of the establishment. Robson chuckled in reverie remembering what his dad once told him: "Son, you'd be surprised who goes in there." . . . Up a bit farther from the former notorious motel still sits the Bayside Trailer Park. You have to look hard for it, since between the tiny exit and entrance is a discount tire shop. The park has shrunken to some 20 spaces, and the faded, timeworn trailers look like displays of a poor man's museum.Strange that I lived in that court several different times during my boyhood. The first in 1952, as a kindergartner attending Montgomery school. A bit farther up on the other side of the avenue, where Broadway intersects Palomar, used to be another trailer park. I remember it as Las Flores Trailer Court. On my brother's birth certificate of September 5, 1954, the address is 1301 National Avenue. My particular remembrance of the second-grade class was the ethnic mix of kids. It typified Otay ‹ the impoverished town on the outskirts of Chula Vista ‹ a crossroads of Mexicans, blacks, and white trailer trash like me. School was the one public place where children of different colors, with different languages, cultures, and income levels, could mix with a minimum of self-consciousness. I recall Montgomery school like that. As Carlos Hernandez, a second-grade classmate, today remembers, "We were all poor. Some more than others, of course, but maybe we just didn't know it. Just like what race you were. Of course, we knew that distinction, but with us kids it rarely made a difference." Even the Hill has undergone a profound metamorphosis. Only a dozen or so black residents ‹ almost all over 60 ‹ have stayed to live out the end of their lives in comfortable, rebuilt houses. The majority of the denizens are Hispanic. . . . We left Main Street and ascended the Hill. Robson's 84-year-old mother still lives in one of the first houses on the street, and an aunt lives nearby. Farther up rests the small Woodlawn Park Church of God in Christ. Mark told me how his uncle, Clyde Ruff, helped build the church in the 1930s, an era when African-Americans, like white people, sought refuge out West from the Depression. Blacks also sought easing of the hard, virulent grip of racism found in older parts of the nation. To be sure, black people were met with no little amount of prejudice wherever they went, forcing them to settle in separate communities, but at least in California their kids could attend the same schools as whites. The early residents of the Hill ‹ like the Harveys, the Bookers, the Hawkinses, the Wallaces, the Ruffs ‹ found jobs and cheap lots, so they naturally relayed the good news to relatives and friends. And the migration was on. Robson explained how his own dad, Mack, found himself in Arizona. He got work and sent for his young wife, Darphelia. Life was still hard, and after Darphelia visited her older brother, Clyde Ruff, in Otay, it became plain what was next. Packing up what little they had, the Robsons and their two young kids set out for the promised land. Once in Otay, Mack Robson gratefully grabbed employment in what was available to black men ‹ collecting and hauling garbage to Paul O'Donnell's nearby hog farm. At times, O'Donnell also gave Mack and other Hill residents work with the animals and other chores at his adjoining Omar's Rendering Plant. Working and saving, after some years Mack realized the dream too rare for African-Americans in those times: he purchased a lot and built a house. He also bought an old truck, rebuilt the engine, and stepped out on his own. No more collection of putrid food scraps in large restaurant bins; now it was a daily route of emptying the trash cans of Otay's residents. One side job that most men in Woodlawn Park practiced was "junkin' " ‹ and that was the reason front yards were full of rusting cars. A man who did all those jobs, and a few more, today lives on the Hill in a large, handsome house with an impeccable lawn. Calvin Ruff is Mark's uncle. In 1940, Ruff was making one dollar a day loading cotton on boxcars in Arizona when his siblings beckoned him to Otay. Wasting no time, he got a job washing dishes for six dollars a day at Topp's Cafe in San Diego. Ruff's reputation as a hard worker next provided him a position with O'Donnell, picking up garbage for the hogs and performing other duties at Omar's Rendering Plant. The money was a little better, but the daily closeness of animal carcasses took its toll on the man. $175 he had saved for the purchase of a lot. Ruff built his first house with his own hands, like most of the men in that era. Today he has three houses. But he also remembers the buying opportunities that were missed in the early days. A tacit understanding between real estate agents, banks, and sellers themselves kept the property lines racially defined: blacks only owned houses in Woodlawn Park. Ruff's wife, Paradine, who worked for years as maid in the upper-crust houses of Chula Vista. To make it off the Hill became a goal for many of the next generation, and Annjennette McFarlin was the first woman to attain that. Her family lived next door to the Robsons, and she has since returned to remodel her parents' original house, after a long career as a professor of speech communications at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and San Diego State University. McFarlin's life in Otay began as a nine-year-old in 1944, after a cross-county ride on a military train that originated in Pensacola, Florida. A girl with an early intellectual bent, she would choose the longer bus ride to San Diego High School rather than attending Sweetwater because "I wanted to take French, and they didn't offer it at Sweetwater." At San Diego City College she earned a nursing degree, then took a job in Los Angeles but soon discovered that nursing was not satisfying her cerebral needs. What did was a speech class, galvanizing a latent talent that would set her on the path to a master's degree at UCLA, followed by a doctorate at Washington State. An exquisite storyteller, McFarlin explained how the Hill in her youth was "a real community. Wonderful events, like Saturday-night fish fries, when families got together." She recalled also the racial lines drawn outside school life, when Main Street was the divider. On the south side of Main and reaching down to the Otay riverbed was a white community. When McFarlin strolled down to the house of a classmate one afternoon, she was told by the girl's father to leave. "I only went down there once," she said smiling. "There was prejudice in Otay. But there were also acts of kindness." (San Diego Reader, June 17, 2004. ) 1957/06/06 South Bay Votes July 16; CV Annexation Ruled Out Superior Court Judge Glen Tuesday set aside a temporary restraining order secured last month by the City of Chula Vista, and cleared the way for voting by South Bay residents July 16 to determine if they desire to be annexed by the City of San Diego. The area includes Palm City, Nestor, Otay Mesa and San Ysidro. Judge Glen's ruling was returned against the City of Chula Vista, which was opposing the annexation with the support of the City of Imperial Beach. 1959/09/06 Owners of 400 acres seeking annexation to get sewer and water connections, principal owner is Morey Sorriano, in area south of CV to Main St., east to Woodlawn Park, west to recent Russell-Haas Industrial annexation. ( Chula Vista Star-News, Sept. 6, 1959. ) 1962/07/19 Rev. Obie Bennett has left the Woodlawn Park Church of God in Christ for a new church on Imperial Ave in SD. he built the Woodlawn church in 1943 and the next year was ordained a minister by the mother church's district superintendent and board of elders. He was born in Alabama 1905, moved to Okla, came to Calif 1938 and to SD 1941, rising from a restaurant kitchen helper to expert cook working for an exclusive Redondo Beach restaurant and Santa Monica Country Club and the El Cordova Hotel in Coronado. He was "pretty wild" but gave up drinking and gambling and went into the ministry. He preached to an average of 45 at the Woodlawn church, organized a Sunday School and a young peoples' program. He gives much credit to his wife Tommie that he married in 1957. He works for the Star-News as a general handyman. He is now building his new congregation in SD at 2921 Imperial Ave, wants to hold services for prisoners in county jail. ( Chula Vista Star-News, July 19, 1962. ) 1962/07/29 San Diego City Council ordered six Otay Mesa hog ranches closed, as 3-year extension granted in 1959 neared its end. Robert Combs, son of Alfred Combs one of the six ranchers, and Val Ramirez, who operates ranch with his brother said they will take a poll of local residents, but councilman Frank Curran said petition of 400 signatures opposed the hog ranches. Combs said that hogs eat 35 tons garbage daily hauled in from local restaurants,and city dump in same area burns with a far worse smell than the hogs. Tom Hansen has owned a hog ranch since 1929, used to have 9000 hogs but down to only 500 now. Albert Schulenburg has been ranching for 20 years, has bought another ranch in Dulzura. The six ranches were located just a half mile east of the Hobart Heights subdivision that wanted the ranches closed. George Barnhart represented the Hobart Heights sales office. The ranches are scattered along a crudely paved road that ends at the Combs Ranch and also leads to the South Bay dump. Schulenburg was offered $35,000 for his 10 acres back in 1959, but declined, today can get only $17,000. The ranchers have huge $10,000 sanitary boilers to heat all garbage fed to the pigs to 212 degrees for 30 minutes. A San Diego city ordinance prohibits raising hogs but allows dairies. (Chula Vista Star, July 29, 1962. ) 1962/08/02 "Doomsday for the Hog Ranchers" - An old, graying man sat in his bright red pickup truck, looking out over acres of near-empty hog corrals. "This is the last stop for me," said Tom Hansen, a hog rancher since 1929 and one of the owners of Hansen's Hog ranch on Otay Mesa. "They ran me out of Spring Valley in 1947... now they're running me out of here. "I can't afford to go build another ranch. Why, this one cost me about $100,000. By the time I'd paid for another ranch, I'd be dead and gone." As Hansen spoke, a sparse 500 hogs rambled about in the vast pens which just a few years ago held between 8,000 and 9,000 hogs. But not all of the six hog ranchers on the mesa were as ready to give up as Hansen. Most this week were intending to fight the city of San Diego's order to close down their ranches. The Otay area is within San Diego city limits. In the summer of 1959 the city gave the ranchers three years to shut down. Tomorrow the three years will be up. The San Diego City Council has refused an extension. But none of the ranchers really intend to try closing by then. "Fd settle for just another six months." said Albert Schulenburg of Schulenburg and Sons Ranch, who's been ranching on the mesa 20 years. "I bought another ranch in Dulzura. but I've been trying to move for two years. It's hard to keep one ranch going while you're building the other." Some of the other ranchers want five or 10 more years. "If we ask for six months, the councilmen will just say we've had three years‹that should be enough," said 23-year-old Robert Combs, son of Mr. and Mrs Alfred Combs, owners of Combs and Sons Ranch. We feel that 10 years really isn't too much to ask for. It'll that long before progress comes out this far," said the young California Polytechnic student. The six Otay hog ranches are located just east of the Hobart Heights subdivision. "The nearest corrals, about a half mile from houses, have been closed down. A Sunday driver would find hard to believe that these acres of wooden fences, little lean-to sheds and admittedly smelly hogs are within the city limits of a metropolis . . . and only a quarter of a mile from high-density population. The six ranches are scattered along a crudely paved road that leads at the Combs Ranch and also leads to the South Bay dump. There are small houses for workers, whose number as been sharply reduced during the three years the ranchers have been cutting back on their stock. The ranch owners, though some don't live at their ranches, can usually be found out among their stock. Mrs. Combs, a grandmotherly type who might be found at woman's club meeting, right at home among the pigs her blue jeans, sun hat and flat-heeled shoes. She's been doing it 27 years. She steps as casually into a pig pen, with a herd of hogs, as other woman would step into her kitchen. And she shouts a loud "sooee" with the best of hog-calling techniques. Aren't they pretty," Mrs. Combs said, as she walked past a pen of enormous, black, squealing, wet-snouted hogs. Her young daughter-in-law Clarice, Robert's wife finds the pigs have personality. "After a while they begin to take on character," she said, You recognize them like people." The senior Mrs. Combs has special names for some of them. "Oh, they're my own names for them, like Sally and Dimples and Lizzy," Mrs. Combs said, with a faint touch of embarrassment. "After all, the sows are born here on the ranch and then we breed them for years. So you get to know them." It's not so hard for Mrs. Combs to get to know her stock now. The herd's been cut back from the usual 3,000 to 5OO head, she explained. Most of the sows have been soId, but even at that, there've been more than a thousand births on the ranch during the past six months this year. "If they get a court order or something to make us close," Mrs. Combs said, "We'd have to truck our stock up to Los Angeles to sell. And the little ones would have to be sold locally. That takes time." Said her son: "The way we look at it, we could operate here for years without disturbing anyone. Then when subdividers want to move in ... or the new freeway 241 (which would cross their property) comes we'd move. "We didn't fight the three-year limit back when it was imposed, because we thought the economy would still be booming and we could sell our land and get out. But things have changed." Schulenburg pointed to a 10-acre plot of land. "I was offered $35,000 for that land during the boom three years ago. Now all I could get would be about $17,000. "Things looked good three years ago. No one's moving into this area now." Mrs. Combs explained that it's virtually impossible to find a buyer for their 160 acres. The only offers, she said, are at a ridiculously low price. "And it costs money to find another place to build a hog ranch. There aren't any spots in San Diego County with enough water . . . here we have plenty," she said. "We may just have to move completely out of the state to find a spot." But young Robert doesn't want to talk about moving. "We won't admit defeat," he said. "It may not do us any good, but we're trying to get a council hearing. We won't give up without a fight." Mrs. Combs is helping. This week she was out gathering signatures from residents who live to the west (upwind) from the ranches, "I got 58 persons to sign a petition that they don't object to our staying," she said. "Most of them didn't even realize that the ranches are here." Though the ranches definitely smell . . . as would be expected from thousands of hogs . . . the odor doesn't drift to the residential areas. "We've only had three complaints in the past three years," Robert said. The hog ranchers insist neighbors have no reasons for complaint ‹ that precautions are taken to keep down flies arid rats. They point to the huge $10,000 sanitary boilers found on every farm ‹ they're used to heat all garbage fed the pigs to 212 degrees for 30 minutes. "It turns out to be a kind of stew," Robert said, pointing to an unappetizing goulash spread on the concrete feeding troughs. The hog ranchers have regular routes, gathering garbage all over the South Bay and San Diego. They even have competitive bidding to get the Navy's leftovers. "The councilmen don't realize that we'll be missed when we quit picking up garbage around town," said Robert. "We're also big businesses and contribute a lot to the economy. Why during the days before we cut back, our monthly operating costs were $5,000 ‹ and that's just at our ranch." The going of the hog ranches will also affect some 60 families ‹ those of the owners and their workers. "Most of the laborers don't know any other kind of work," Robert said, "so they'll just go on the welfare rolls. "The councilmen don't know that these are big ranches, not just hog wallows. And none of them will come out and have a look." Meanwhile, the workers are out cleaning the pens . . . throwing pellets to the little pigs . . . feeding a garbage-goulash to the hogs . . . showing the city and county health inspectors around. And the owners are waiting to see what the morrow will bring. ( Chula Vista Star-News, Aug. 2, 1962. ) 1962/09/28 Omar Rendering Co. at 4826 Otay Valley Road main fat processing plant burned by fire, is one of the two big rendering plants in the San Diego area. One Montgomery volunteer fireman, Charles Richard fell into an auguring pit near the fat vats but escaped serious injury. Fire may have started from internal combustion of the highly volatile grease and tallow. Tommy O'Donnell, son of the general manager, said "all our outside services are operating and we shipped 50,000 pounds of grease today after the fire. We will have to do our processing for 10 days or two weeks at our Los Angeles or Bakersfield plants." O'Donnell said the firm had 150 tons of grease and tallow in nearby storage tanks and 25 tons of combustible meat meal and 8 tons of tallow in the central area. [The plant was at the juncture of Main street where Wiley road continues east and Otay Valley Road turns south to Otay Mesa Road at Brown Field] ( San Diego Union Sept. 28, 1962) 1963 Mark Robson again until high school. Landing in Imperial Beach, I became mainly a basketball player at Mar Vista High. Robson emerged as a football star at the new Castle Park High, in Chula Vista. His physical prowess was legendary around the Metro League. He could run the 40-yard dash in 4.3 seconds, and, as the local Chula Vista Star News reported, he was "190 pounds of muscle." A running back, he was also an All-League selection as a linebacker in his junior year. Carlos Hernandez remembered seeing, hanging from the bleachers at opposing schools, signs such as "Stop the Black Monster!" The Castle Park coach, Wayne Sevier, took a special interest in his star. "He bought my shoes so I could play." Funny, in turn I recounted that as a sophomore trying out for the junior varsity football team at Mar Vista, I was in the same shoeless position. Until the head varsity coach, Verne Dodds, donated his old college high-tops for me to wear. I was curious about other great athletes on the Hill, and Robson ticked off an uncelebrated roster that included Leroy Jackson, Fentris Neal, David Harvey, and Lavelle Lover. Jackson, Robson's uncle, topped the list in his opinion. My friend went on to relate the fascinating story of a legendary footrace that pitted the fastest guy in Logan Heights, Rosco Cook, against Otay's best, Lavelle Lover, who had happened to be a cousin of Robson's. Growing up, I had heard of Rosco Cook, the fabulous sprinter from San Diego High School who ran an incredible 9.5 seconds in the 100-yard dash ‹ a state record for many years. Granted, the footrace was unofficial, the prize being bragging rights, and Robson didn't see the contest. "But the story was that Lavelle beat him. And he ran barefooted." Such stories spurred me to ask for more. I wondered in particular what racism Robson had experienced growing up. "Yeah," he calmly confessed, "certain things like walkin' on the sidewalk one day as a kid, a man threw an elbow at me." Unsavory incidents were more likely to happen the farther north kids of color traveled. One afternoon in the early '60s, Robson and several friends sauntered up a few miles to play basketball at the Chula Vista Rec Center ‹ the sole public indoor gym in the South Bay. Quietly they took the second court and played among themselves. Leaving was another matter; outside they found themselves surrounded by some 25 guys snarling with bad intent. No chance of running; things were just ready to erupt when the Chula Vista cop cars roared in. The officers corralled the black youths: "Boys, you better listen to this. Get back to Otay, and never come up to this part of town again." When Castle Park High School opened in 1963, things got better. Otay kids made up a substantial part of the student body, and instantly this high school had a sizable racial mix. Still, it was far from being socially integrated. ( Shewman, "Otay Dreams," San Diego Reader, June 17, 2004. ) 1964/01/23 Princess Park Estates allowed to build smaller than 1300 sq ft, will build 1200 homes in the 350 acres of the Judson estate in Jonathon Manor annexation, north of Main st in Otay and east of Woodlawn Park. The developer presented surveys of sociologist Howard Bliss that CV needed these type homes. Aircraft factory workers had monthly incomes of $431 to $700 and homes cost $12,900 to $14,450 ( Chula Vista Star-News, Jan. 23, 1964. )
1965/06/17 SD county preparing zoning plan for the last major unzoned area in South Bay - Otay and Woodlawn Park. ( Chula Vista Star-News, June 17, 1965. ) 1965/06/24 City planners want to rezone area north from Main street 1300 feet to residential. Ben Jaehn is developing Holiday Estates for 146 lots on 38 acres south of Loma Verde school and east of the Haas Industrial Park and west of Woodlawn Park. ( Chula Vista Star-News, June 24, 1965. ) 1965/08/12 volunteers help at Lauderbach Head Start - (photo) of Mrs. Clifford McFarlin (her first name was Thecimar pronounced Thee-see-mar, a Native-American name, father was part Creek and she was part Seminole. Father Clifford retired in the early 1960s from working as civilian employee at North Island. ( Chula Vista Star-News, August 12, 1965. ) 1967/04/10 OFFICE OF ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY OEO finances two Community Action Council agencies: San Ysidro Neighborhood Center and Otay Woodlawn Park Neighborhood Center. -Ap )0, 67 ( Chula Vista Star-News, Apr. 10, 1967. ) 1967/06/18 photo of Negro Shirley Wallace of CV, dancing the production number "Tequila" at Lincoln HS auditorium in annual program of the Mary King Studio. ( Chula Vista Star-News, June 18, 1967. ) 1967/08/03 White affluent South Bay pocked by little Detroits - photo of Woodlawn Park "No street lights. No roads in this Negro ghetto." San Ysidro, Palm City, IB, all pockets of poverty ( Chula Vista Star-News, Aug. 3, 1967. ) 1968/02/29 Seaview Property Owners Assoc complain of odors from Omar Rendering at 4826 Otay Valley Road, also of odors from hog ranches. New subdivision of Princess Manor been built. Also a chicken ranch and 2 dairies in vicinity. This county land has been zoned to allow livestock for many years. ( Chula Vista Star-News Feb. 29, 1968 ) 1968/02/29 Steps to Curb Hog Ranch Odors Possible. No action was taken this week by the board of supervisors concerning the complaint of the Seaview Property Owners Association about odors coming from the Omar Rendering Plant at 4826 Otay Valley Rd. near Chula Vista. The association also complained of odors from hog ranches. The board did order that a letter from W. B. Walshe, chief of the county sanitation division, be sent to the association. This letter explains that odors could come from the hog ranches or the rendering company, but also from fertilizing of the large amount of land under cultivation. County Health Director J. B. Askew told the board it may have to make a decision on the bog ranches in the future. He said there is no way that such an operation can be compatible with subdivisions such as Princess Manor. This Is despite the fact, Askew said, that the operators are maintaining relatively sanitary conditions. Omar, Askew said, is in the process of making further improvements in the operation to try to control the odors associated with the plant. Walshe said in his report that although conditions were ideal for the creation of odors, none were detected on his visit to Princess Manor on Feb. 11 He said there is also a chicken ranch and two dairies In the vicinity. He said the elimination of any on of the possible odor causes would not materially correct the situation. He said mere art no laws at the present time with relation to the control of odors from these types of operations. The land use is zoned and has, in fact, Walshe said, been used for the purposes for which it is zoned, for many years prior to the encroachment of the residential dwellings. ( Chula Vista Star-News, Feb 29 1968 ) 1968/06/16 Woodlawn Park, "a Negro ghetto" just south of CV, wants annexation to CV. Last fall Fred Drew of 1275 Banner St in Otay launched project to annex 225 acres of Otay-Woodlawn park-Broderick Acres, got 290 signatures but they were residents, not the property owners. Another resident seeking annexation is Walter Douglas: "We want to get it cleaned up and straightened up so people will be proud to live here." area has no paved streets, no street lights, many substandard houses. The 2 major opponents of annexation are Mr. and Mrs. Will Wallace. CV's negro population is one third of one percent. ( Chula Vista Star-News June 16, 1968. ) 1968/08/11 black teenager Danny Daniels arrested in Otay, "a ghetto area" of 3500 people. Ruby Daniels, 17, sister, is rec leader at Montgomery HS. Area is patrolled by Sheriff Dept, Sheriff Joseph O'Connor set up command post at Safeway parking lot at Third and Palomar. Israel Cosio, director of Otay Neighborhood Center, said Danny was pistol-whipped. ( Chula Vista Star-News, Aug. 11, 1968. ) 1968ca In the spirit of desegregation, the Imperial Beach United Methodist Church was invited to "An old Fashioned Day" program at the Otay Star of Bethlehem Church. After the message, and much music from both groups, a meal of "Soul Food" was shared. The funds received were added to their Building Fund. A few weeks later, they returned the visit by giving us a concert in our church. We had thought our organ needed repair, but you couldn't tell it when they played it. ( IB United Methodist Church scrapbook ) 1969/02/20 Otay Head Start School been moved to Castle Park area, protests by Otay Brown Berets. Protested by Ernest Miranda of 24 East Palm st., Frederick Drew of 1275 Banner, Dr. Bert Halsema of 1605 Palm. Drew was once president of Otay-Woodlawn Park-San Ysidro CAC ( Chula Vista Star-News, Feb. 20, 1969. ) 1969/02/27 Frederick Drew, negro living at 1275 Banner Ave. on Otay, protested move of Head Start from Apostolic Church in the heart of Otay to Precious Blood Church in CV. Drew came to Otay in June 1966 and worked for several months as an immigration officer. Cornelius Patrick Calahan is asst superintent of education for SD Catholic Diocese. (8348) ( Chula Vista Star-News Feb. 27, 1969. ) 1969/06/05 Danny Daniels, 19, negro Otay youth, died in shootout after buying LSD at pool hall in Castle Park, in mob fight at Otay Youth Center, Frank Galindo, 21, director. ( Chula Vista Star-News June 5, 1969. ) 1969/06/05 Death of Danny Daniels, black Otay youth, mourned. Daniels was slain outside Otay Youth Center. Raymond Vasquez was also killed in the same incident. Stroud and Whitney held in slaying of Daniels and Vasquez. ( Chula Vista Star-News, June 5, 1969. ) 1969/09/07 Will Wallace, 76, of 1655 Sycamore Dr. in Otay, prominent South Bay pioneer died. Body will lie in state at Woodlawn Park Church of God in Christ at 124 Spruce Road that he and his wife, Menzie, built. Wallace lived for 40 years at 1655 Sycamore, on their 6-acre Woodlawn Park hog ranch. Was fire chief for the area up on the hill for the area's 25 families. He was born 1892 in Louisiana. The couple raised $2000 to pay for parts to build a fire engine. The fire truck was dedicated 12 years ago. He attended Woodlawn Park Community Center junior high school adult school built on his property and leased to Sweetwater HS district. This school was also used by VISTA. He and his wife would take community children on excursion trips all over SD county, trips financed by fundraiser dinners at the open-pit barbecue that the Wallaces hosted and cooked for. ( Chula Vista Star-News, Sep. 7, 1969. ) 1969/09/07 Will Wallace pioneer rancher and County fire chief dies. New Woodlawn Park fire chief is Hayes White. ( Chula Vista Star-News, Sept. 7 and 25, 1969. ) 1969/12/01 Ruth Nuttall's column talks with two feuding Otay groups - the Chicanos and the Street People, both concerned about Daniels murder. ( Chula Vista Star-News, Dec 1, 1969. ) 1969/12/04 Second annual Miss Woodlawn Park coronation will be Dec. 13 at Montgomery School, contest open to any negro girl over 16, proceeds to go to Woodlawn Park Community Building. ( Chula Vista Star-News, Dec. 4, 1969. ) 1969/12/21 Josephine Gillespie, 17, crowned Miss Woodlawn Park at annual benefit ball of the Woodlawn Park Civic League, is daughter of James Gillespie, 4052 Main St. The event raised $599 to pay for recently installed gas line at Woodlawn Park Community-Library Building. ( Chula Vista Star-News, Dec. 21, 1969. ) 1970/ 06/07 Woodlawn Park now has County Branch Library at the Community Center on Walnut Drive. Mrs. Ella Herbert is in charge. ( Chula Vista Star-News, June 7, 1970. ) 1970/01/18 No action taken by Benevolent And Protective Order Of Elks to change rule barring Negroes, Indians and Orientals. Editorial on "racism" in Elks Club. ( Chula Vista Star-News, Jan. 18 and 22, 1970. ) 1970/06/18 Montgomery and Woodlawn Fire Districts agree to consolidate. ( Chula Vista Star-News, June 18, 1970) 1970/07/26 (photo) Floyd Richardson and Lynn Ronehart run summer programs in Woodlawn Park and Otay for United Community Services ( Chula Vista Star-News, July 26, 1970. ) 1970/09/17 (photo) Mrs. Frederick A. R. Drew of Otay (June Drew), moved here from DC when Fred Drew transferred from Federal Civil Service to Immigration Patrol Inspector, 2 years ago started FARD Janitorial Services, whole family works, 9 children. ( Chula Vista Star-News, Sept. 17, 1970. ) 1970/11/19 long article on Fred Drew, FARB enterprise, Woodlawn Park has without help from government agency built a library, fire dept, added community center. In Otay pop is Mexican-American, in Woodlawn Park is black, have established a YMCA program. ( Chula Vista Star-News, Nov. 19, 1970. ) 1970/12/27 (photo) pro basketball player Elvin Hayes of SD Rockets pose with kids from Woodlawn Park Community Center at Sports Arena before game with Phoenix Suns - scored 33 points to beat the Suns 110-104. (Chula Vista Star-News, Dec. 27, 1970.) 1971/01/21 Eagles Lodge -Chula Vista. Eagle Aerie has abandoned its policy of not admitting negroes to the membership. ( Chula Vista Star-News, Jan. 21, 1971. ) 1971/04/01 Woodlawn Park's recreation center got a facelift Saturday. The surgery was provided by some neighborhood volunteers, working from 10 a.m. 10 5 p.m., to spruce up the building at 1630 Sycamore Dr., Chula Vista. Ten adults and 41 youngsters did the weed pulling, grass mowing, weed chopping, volleyball court moving, swing set painting and sign painting this week in preparation for the center's grand opening and merger with the YMCA April. 17, said resident Annjennette McFarlin. The house-now·rec center was donated by Mrs. Menzie Wallace, a neighbor who lives across from the center at 1655 Sycamore. She was on hand 10 help with the clean up, as was Woodlawn Park Fire Protection District's Asst. Chief Mack Robson. Miss McFarlin said the center's annual barbeque and fund-raiser is also planned for April 17. The dinners are sold for a donation, she said, and all profits go to the Y. Last year's dinner netted $110 in profit. And, if the spaghetti lunch served this Saturday to hard-working volunteers is any indication of cooking in the neighborhood, the barbeque dinner Should be a success again this year. Last year, the Woodlawn Park branch of the Y, starting a little late in the season, still managed 10 send 10 youngsters to the Navy's Imperial Beach Camp Surf and 40 children to ( Chula Vista Star-News, April 1, 1971. ) 1971/05/06 The Woodlawn Park Civic League has permission to move a building onto the property being used as a community and youth center. The special use permit was granted unanimously by the County Planning Commission for 115 Spruce Road. While Assistant Planning Director Jack Lamb had recommended approval he told the commission the recommendation was given reluctantly. He said, "We had to hunt for reasons for approval, because its a lousy plot plan." His biggest objection is that a paved playing court is to double as the required off-street parking area. Permission was not accomplished without opposition. Rev. Warner Clives, pastor of the Woodlawn Park Church of God in Christ, presented a 15-name petition in opposition. One name was that of Rev. Frank S. Shaw, pastor of the Star of Bethlehem Church. However, there were some 20 people in the audience to rise in support of the permit, and there was little doubt from the beginning that it would be approved. Woodlawn Park, as speakers freely admitted, "is a poor area. There are dirt streets throughout. The population is mostly black and it was clear they were proud to be doing something to help their youth." Evelyn L. Gillespie, of the Civic League, said when boys reached 15 - before there was a community center, they would head for San Diego and trouble trying to meet the religious needs of the youths." This statement was in the petition statement he presented. David Smith of Design Center, a San Diego firm helping with the project, said the church was 100 feet away so there should be no parking interference. ( Chula Vista Star-News, May 6, 1971. ) 1971/05/06 Council Set June 8 hearings on annexation of 999 acres of El Rancho del Ray, Phase I Annexation, and on 92.4 Rancho Rios Main St. Annexation. Approved agreement with Woodlawn Park Fire Protection District for fire service. ( Chula Vista Star-News, May 6, 1971. ) 1971/10/07 Phyllis Wooten is city's first black beauty queen, for Fiesta de la Luna, daughter of Lewis R. Wooten of 73 Bethune Way, graduate of Castle Park HS (photo) ( Chula Vista Star-News, Oct. 7, 1971. ) 1972/01/20 Fred Drew running for city council in Apr 11 election. Drew, the first black to seek elected office here, says he hopes to represent all of the city's "poor, minorities and underdogs." "Most of Chula Vista's people are middle-class, and they elect middle class representatives to the City Council. But the poor people need representation, too, and I hope to provide It," he explained.Drew discussed his view on a wide variety of subjects: A synopsis of his opinions follows:On Our House: "It is evident that the Our House system is working. Young people can more easily relate to this type of thing because young people are involved in providing the services.''We ought to have 12 or more Our Houses in various parts of town, without regard to whether they're next door to a candidate for mayor, I think that we ought to experiment with putting one on city property. The people are solving a community-wide problem . . . and the people ought to be willing to pay a small price to have it solved." On the Rohr strike: "I don't personally think it ought to be a major concern of the city. But I understand certain members of the City Council are involved in the management of Rohr ... "My own sympathies are more with the workers. It is not proper for Rohr to discard its local workers ill favor of foreign labor when that particular industry has been built on local labor. As a reward for making Rohr rich, it doesn't seem proper that these people ought to be shut out." On the Downtown Improvement District: "I don't see much wrong with them being taxed. If they're making money, they should be able to pay taxes, and if they're not, maybe they shouldn't be in business. "I don't think that the rate structure they have is fair, but I'm not sure any fair proposal has been made. The council should not have the responsibility of deciding what rate is fair. It doesn't do a lot of good to merely criticize something which exists without offering a concrete substitute." On taxes: "On one hand, I think we ought to see if we can't ease our tax burden in some areas by getting more state and federal grants for things like low-income housing. "On the other hand, I think that the city of Chula Vista provides so many services that it seems well worth the money, in comparison to a lot of other cities which don't provide nearly ( Chula Vista Star News, Jan. 20, 1972. ) 1972/04/20 Woodlawn Park protest apts. ( Chula Vista Star News, Apr. 20, 1972. ) 1972/06/08 Woodlawn Park, he said, has been described as essentially a black community, but he said that it is really an integrated community. Woodlawn Park residents south of Chula Vista are apparently ready to pay substantially higher taxes so they can have an improved road system.The Local Agency Formation Commission this week approved the formation of a county service area that would do the job. By coincidence, there was another matter affecting Woodlawn Park on the same agenda. This was the Reinstra Orange Ave. Annexation to Chula Vista. While the annexation was approved, it had been the subject of two prior hearings before the commission, and it also concerned roads, specifically Walnut Dr. This is the northernmost road of the Woodlawn Park, and the first proposal would have taken all of the property north of the road into the city. As Walnut has a right-of-way of only 25 feet wide, the people of Woodlawn objected that hey would forever have a substandard street in that area.A final agreement was reached, after a great deal of staff work, that the prospective buyer of the 88 acres American Housing Guild would offer 15 feet to the county for dedication as a roadway. The AHG attorney, Norman Seltzer, also said that the company would be willing to pay for improvement of Walnut for the northern five feet provided the service area would improve the rest of the . . . ( Chula Vista Star News, June 8, 1972. ) 1972/12/07 The county planning department has approved a special use permit for an 50-unit planned residential development in the Otay. The commission also recommended that the land use classification be changed from R-1-B to R-1-A, reducing the required average square footage per lot from 7,500 to 6,000. The location is east of Walnut Dr. and Maple Dr., north of their intersections with Otay Valley Rd. The applicant, Harry L. McCray, agreed, as a condition of approval, to make. off-site improvements of existing narrow streets to meet county standards. . These are streets now being maintained by a county service area. When the work is complete they will be accepted into the county maintained road system. The development: on 11.2 acres, will have open play areas and recreational facilities. County planners said the PRD process is the most satisfactory method available to develop the property to provide for the type housing which is in demand in the Woodlawn Park area. ( Chula Vista Star News, Dec. 7, 1972. ) 1973/02/18 Frederick A.R. Drew (photo) reported he has been invited to submit a membership application to the Chula Vista Elks Lodge, whose national bylaws prohibit nonwhite members. Drew is a black candidate for the Sweetwater High School board of trustees and has criticized the lodge for its racially discriminatory policies. DREW SAID the lodge president "invited me to apply for membership, at which point I reminded him that I would not qualify under their present policy. Nevertheless, he insisted on advising me that I could apply and that if I did, my application would be processed." He said in a prepared statement that he believed the lodge was willing to "violate its stated policies" of accepting nonwhites as members. Drew, a Chula Vista resident, said he knows two present members of the lodge are nonwhite - an American Indian who introduced himself to Drew at the meeting and Assemblyman Wadie Deddeh . (Deddeh is a native of Iraq, whose natives are classified as Caucasian. ) HOWEVER, Drew said he later was not personally interested in joining the organization "or any other club, but I want any Negro to be able to. " He said he saw the Elks' insistence on my submitting an application as "an Insult." "They just wanted to show me that I could submit an application and it would .go through the proper channels. "But they know, and I know, it would never be approved." Drew, a defeated candidate for the Chula Vista City Council, this week met privately with Elks Lodge officers to discuss the organization's scholarship and awards program given through the high school district. He had previously criticized the district for participating in the programs because of the racial policies of the Elks. Drew said he had expected the Elks to announce a decision reversing their racial policy, but "they have not yet mustered the courage to do what they know to be right and proper. " ( Chula Vista Star-News, Feb. 18, 1973. ) 1973/12/02 HUD grant is financing park at Larkhaven Park near Woodlawn Park and in the middle of Deer Park, by AHG, city to get grant for a park. ( Chula Vista Star-News, Dec. 2, 1973. ) 1973/12/06 Woodlawn Park: Small town dirt roads in heart of Suburbia By Mary Roda. The sign says, " end maintained road'," and the narrow tract continues, rutted and dusty through a small town that looks like it walked out of a history book. Off to one side there is. a quaint church, the center of Woodlawn Park, and other community buildings are sprinkled throughout the community. Unimposing, neatly painted signs let visitors know where they are - "Woodlawn Park Library," "Woodlawn Park Community Recreation Center" and one older, now vacant structure, the "Woodlawn Park Fire Department." The community of several hundred residents rests on the southern border of Chula Vista. Although most Chula Vistans think of the area as black community, it has a varied population, Only 20 percent of the residents there are white. A community leader proudly told a. reporter that 37 percent of the residents are black, 41 percent are Mexican - American, 19 percent are Anglo and the remaining 3 percent are oriental. "We're modest living people," she explained. "We're a conglomeration of people just like any other community. It's a nice democratic community." She refused to be identified until she got permission from her neighbors, who will meet in a monthly town meeting next Tuesday. Despite ethnic differences of residents, Woodlawn Park is a close-knit community. The racial variations seemingly do not promote the unrest which has typified other areas where the poor ar herded into one community. The residents in Woodlawn Park obviously can't afford housing in other parts of Chula Vista. Their unpainted homes, make-shift repairs and modest yards reflect a dignified poverty . For every house that is broken down unkempt, two more are attractive bungalows with gardens and baskets of greenery hanging from porches. Unlike other poor areas, there is plenty of room for youngsters to play and romp. Woodlawn Park looks like a good place to grow up, and there aren't many cars to worry about. It's not unusual to see a chicken coop ' behind the house, and one family keeps a horse in a small corral. Woodlawn Park is a mixture of country and town, of poverty and 'a tenacious community pride. . The residents themselves financed the library and dedicated the facility to the county. They now continue to run a community center, where a myriad of activities keeps the residents of Woodlawn Park in a flurry of activity. Groups study everything from drug education to cooking, and free movies are held for youngsters. Two youth groups, one for elementary age children and another for teenagers, work from the community center. College students from a religious organization in Point Loma drop -in Sunday mornings to teach Bible lessons. On Saturday evening Woodlawn Park residents will crown a trio of queens at Montgomery School. The winners sold tickets for a drawing to pay the taxes and operating expenses on the neighborhood community center. Miss Woodlawn, for girls between 13 and 17, will be crowned along with Little Miss Woodlawn, for girls' 8 to 12, and Petite Miss Woodlawn for those under 8 years old. "We work together," one resident said, "and we're going all right. " The only problem the community now faces is the loss of tax base from annexations of Deer Park subdivision property to Chula Vista. Residents expect their fire district tax rate to increase 8.6 cents next year . Some residents have also complained that children on their way to school have been harassed by residents of the neighboring subdivision, where homes range from $36,490 to $45,749. Woodlawn Park residents admit youngsters scurry across the brick wall surrounding most of the subdivision to get to Castle Park Junior High School and Castle Park High, trespassing across private property. However, they say the children would otherwise have a long walk to school. When Deer Park is completed, the two communities will make curious neighbors. A park built for both of them is located on the southern edge of the subdivision. ( Chula Vista Star-News, Dec. 6, 1973. ) 1973/12/06 Park Fronts Onto Woodland Park. The park there because it is needed, and there is excellent access to Woodlawn Park. Without Deer Park, Jerry Linton added, "the park wouldn't have been there - period." Although three sides of the park are adjacent to the Deer Park homes, Linton said access to to the park is limited from all but the southern end of the rectangular piece of ground . He noted that the park actually faces the Woodlawn Park area and not the subdivision units. "It's set up to the south.) "They're getting a free ride ' said the AHG official of Woodlawn Park. " Who's paying for the maintenance? The city of Chula Vista. They're really getting a great benefit, and it's really a very minimal cost to them . The only cost to them is their federal income taxes." Linton objected to a Nov. 22 Star-News article on Larkhaven Park which referred to Woodlawn Park as a "poor ghetto area which receives only limited county servIces . " He warned a reporter that the newspaper would regret any future artIcles which referred to the neighborhood next to Deer Park as a ghetto. "I take great objection to calling it a ghetto ." Woodlawn Park includes some "very nice people," Linton said and it "needs some help because it has been ignored" by the county. He said that home buyers know that the Woodlawn Park is there when they move in and he added' that he bas had "no trouble" selling homes which face the neighborhood . A Star-News reporter visited the Deer Park sales room earlier this week and asked the salesman what surrounded the development. He described Woodlawn Park, as unincorporated area, property under the county jurisdiction. Deer Park is located just inside Chula Vista city boundaries. When a reporter asked what was in the unincorporated area, the salesman replied, "Nothing." Linton said the salesman must have misunderstood the question. Woodlawn residents have objected to annexations of property for future Deer Park units out of their county service area to the city of Chula Vista. They complain that the annexations only mean that tax base will be taken away from the community - resulting in tax increases there. ( Chula Vista Star-News, Dec. 6, 1973. ) 1975 Movements gathered steam in 1975 to make two major changes in the political map of the South Bay. Studies were begun by the county and local Montgomery Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) to help the unincorporated communities of Castle Park, Otay, Broderick Acres, Woodlawn Park and Harborside decide how to get the most for their tax dollars - by incorporation, annexation to Chula Vista or San Diego or remaining under the county's wing . ( Chula Vista Star-News, Jan. 1, 1976. ) 1975/03/06 Seven weeks ago the Otay Community Clinic opened south of Chula Vista, bringing free medical care for the first time to the poor in Castle Park, Otay, Harborside, Woodlawn Park, and Otay Mesa. Mental health clinic opens in San Ysidro. ( Chula Vista Star News, March 6 and 13, 1975. ) 1977/08/25 Woodlawn Park: Rural calm amid urban madness. (photo) Mark Robson and plaque of Woodlawn Park Church of God in Christ dedicated Apr. 29, 1945. Woodlawn Park. Squeezed in between San Diego and southeast Chula Vista, this tiny black community has managed to retain its "lived-in" rural flavor, despite urban encroachment* Cattle and horses graze next to rusted-out automobile shells. Chicken wire encloses real chickens. About the only thing missing is the infamous pig ranch. Life is slow, unorganized. Black and brown faces closely watch strange cars. They know .who lives in Woodlawn Park and those who don't. The community began in 1910 as a planned wealthy agricultural development. When the Lower Otay Dam broke in 1916, flooding rendered the land unproductive. Cheap land and open space drew many blacks from the South. One old-timer is Mack Robson, deacon in the Woodlawn Park Church of God in Christ, former fire chief and self-proclaimed keeper-of-the-peace. He drives his white pickup along the community's narrow asphalt streets just to make sure "everything's all right" before getting down to the task of cutting the church lawn. Robson says he's a former deputy sheriff who came to the area in 1941 from Oklahoma. He "kind of liked the place," so he stayed put. "It looked much better then," Robson says, pointing to the decaying frame building which was home for 16 years for the Woodlawn volunteer fire department. They never had many calls, only a couple of house fires,Robson recalls. It was a good thing, some say, because the truck didn't run very well. Actually, the volunteer department had two engines. Each cost some $17,000, Robson said, sounding impressed even now. The volunteers manned the Spruce St. station for almost two decades before turning the fire fighting business over in 1971 to the Montgomery Fire Protection District. "I'd say the place has changed," Robson said, leaning out his truck window, "just about 85%. There wasn't nothing here except that white house over there." Woodlawn Park was good rabbit-hunting grounds, he said, adding, "Just over there" he let some 3,000 head of hogs have a run of it in 1945. Today, Woodlawn Park is reviving itself internally. Gone are the disagreements over the community's needs. While streets may need paving, lawns mowed and fences mended, the community is alive and well in the form of Evelyn Gillespie and the Woodlawn Community Center. Children of all colors come to the center for a hot lunch, a game of tether ball or a chance to pet Strawberry, the resident pony. There are recreational programs, a 4-H Club, field trips and a county branch library for the youth, adult classes for their parents and a hot lunch program and food co-op for grandparents. Gillespie, soft spoken and modest, like to say the center belongs to everyone, as does Woodlawn Park. And so it does. ( Imperial Beach Star-News, Aug. 25, 1977 ) 1978/03/30 Frederick Drew to run for City Council, his 5th time seeking election of the council and school boards. Moved to CV 15 years ago from DC, his first involvement was as president of the Community Action Council of Otay, Woodlawn Park and San Ysidro which was involved in heading off youth gang disturbances some years ago. He has since formed an informal group known as Families in Trouble. On issues affecting the April 11 election, . Drew is the only candidate to support the Proposition 13-Jarvis- Gann tax, limitation initiative and to oppose Chula Vista Town Centre and bayfront redevelopment projects. Proposition 13 gives voters one way to control spending which elected officials are not doing, he said. Redevelopment of Town Centre should be up to the business people in the area, he said, "and it should not be under the purview of the city. "I don't want to be locked into something that's going to be too expensive for the ChuIa Vista's bayfront tidelands "should be left alone," he said. "It's going to take too much money to try to develop the bayfront. "We have more important things to do with Chula Vista's money than to add another pIayground for muggers." He said Chula Vista cannot adequately patrol the parks and recreational areas it has now to prevent vandalism and violence, and developing a bayfront recreational area would add to the problem. Development, he said, should concentrate on "redevelopment" of land already developed with a ban don e d buildings to replace them with diversified industries. ( Chula Vista Star-News, Mar. 30, 1978. ) 1978/04/25 Otay Area Community Unity Seen. A better community is the common goal which has pulled together various elements of Otay for the first time in a long time. Jesse Martinez, chairman of People United for the Education and Development of Otay (PUEDO), said his group wants a better place to live and raise families. The acronym PUEDO, he said, means "I can" in Spanish. "More literally, we can," Martinez said. Martinez, 27, community school assistant at Otay Community School, 1651 Albany St., said he is excited about what is happening. "We're getting together to pool our talents instead of bickering over what group should be doing this or that. We're showing people we have credibility, and that united we represent a significant voting bloc." PUEDO is a community coalition, a steering committee for the five communities making up the Otay area, he said. Its members, he added, include representatives of the MAAC Project, the YMCA, 4-H Clubs, Folklorico Dancers, the Otay Senior Citizens Center, the Mother's Club, the library, schools, Health Systems Agency, Mutualistas, Vista volunteers, community workers and the MECHA group at Southwestern College. Martinez said the five communities of Broderick Acres, Castle Park, Harborside, Montgomery and Woodlawn are represented. "Each has its own identity, its own cultural background that the residents are trying to maintain. "We are committed to fostering this because the people are proud of their cultural heritage," Martinez said. Andrea Pineda, PUEDO vice chairwoman, said the group was organized last year following the celebration of Cinco de Mayo. "In the past, we would work together on the celebration and disband," she said. Selina "Sally" Alonzo, PUEDO secretary, said the group will be active in many areas. She said the committee recognizes that the community has to expect continued growth, but it wants to make certain that services are available. "We are just barely meeting the educational needs of the people." Pineda said. Martinez said the group's first priority is to make certain the county goes ahead with plans to construct a $350,000 community center on land at Otay Community School. The structure, he said, will be a meeting place for the entire community. At present, PUEDO and numerous community groups meet at the school's multipurpose room. If there was any single action that united the community, Martinez said, it was a decision by the county Board of Supervisors to shift the money set aside for a community center at Otay to Lauderbach School at Fourth Avenue and Palomar Street "When we went down there on that, the board listened to us for the first time," Martinez said. "I think they recognized us as a potential political force, and now we are getting some attention." One of the PUEDO members is Bell Ann Baker, an aide to Supervisor Tom Hamilton. Angelica Lozano, with the Castle Park-Otay Library, said PUEDO hopes to get community-wide involvement in a number of traditional celebrations. ( The San Diego Union, Apr. 25, 1978 ) 1979/01/25 The Montgomery Citizens Coalition Against Annexation continued to gear up for a campaign to block annexation of the area to Chula Vista at another organizational meeting. Around 25 persons were on hand for the meeting at Woodlawn Park community center to hear progress reports and vote on newly drawn up coalition bylaws. Dennis Rink, coalition president, told the group an account had been opened at the Castle Park branch of California First Bank with deposits of a $100 contribution from Montgomery Firefighters Assn. and a $50 donation from Woodlawn Park Civic League. However, Rink, who is Montgomery Fire Chief, later reported the coalition already owed some $210 in attorney's fees for "legal work done to get the organization started." He and treasurer Judy Meyers of Broderick Acres are authorized to sign checks disbursing coalition funds up to $150 without a vote of the membership. Christine West of Castle Park, secretary, is alternate signatory. Bylaws drawn up by a committee headed by Annjennette McFarlin were adopted. Concern was voiced over the prospect of irregular attendance by active members, but the matter was resolved by designating a quorum to consist of 50% of the active membership "in attendance." Bylaws define membership as residents of the five communities in Montgomery, land owners and business people , , , and "those persons with a vested interest in the defeat of annexation." The coalition later approved a motion by Charles Rolfe of Castle Park that "annual membership dues be left open, with a minimum of $1 per member or $2 per family." West had suggested establishing dues "in the smallest amount possible. There are people who would like to be active members but might not be able to afford it otherwise," she commented. "I don't think we should exclude anyone." The issue of dues was raised by Charles Mitchell of Castle Park, with the admonition, "We've got to put our money where our mouth is. We can't operate on hot air. "If we are annexed, it is going to cost us a minimum of $25 to $30 a year to pay the Chula Vista utility tax alone, and, if they choose to, they can put a sales tax on us as well," he said. Mitchell continued, "If we are annexed and they want to put in streets and sidewalks, we are going to be hit with the cost." He said Montgomery presently receives federal bloc grants for those projects, grants which would go to Chula Vista if the area were annexed, "And they will not be required to put (the fund) down here." he said Mitchell also recommended membership dues be set at a minimum but urged "those who can give more" to do so. Rink said informal talks he had with planners lit the Local Agency Formation Commission (Lafco) had failed to produce any indication of when the proposed annexation would be placed on the Lafco board's agenda. At any rate, he reported, Lafco must receive petitions signed by 5% of the registered voters or owners of land in the area saying they favor annexation before the coalition could act. "We don't have anything to respond to until then," he noted. ( Chula Vista Star-News, Jan. 25, 1979 ) 1979/08/16 Dr. Annjennette McFarlin, Chula Vista, is challenging current board president Mary Gwen Brummitt for Seat No. 5. (Chula Vista Star-News, Aug. 16, 1979 ) 1979/10/11 McFarlin: Sees problems, solutions. Challenging incumbent Mary Gwen Brummitt for seat number five on the Southwestern Community College Board is Dr. Annjennette McFarlin, professor of speech communication at Grossmont College. "I think I'm better qualified than my opponent, academically and professionally." she said, "by virtue of both my education and my experience." McFarlin has taught at Grossmont College for the past two years. She holds a bachelor, masters and a Ph. D. in speech communication in addition to being a trained nurse. The problems she sees at Southwestern are not new. They have been identified before: Poor communication, a low profile and poor faculty morale. She saId a recent forum held at the college exemplified these problems. "Specific questions asked of board members by both students and faculty were met with superficial answers having little to do with the questions asked," she saId. McFarlin also finds condescending answers like, "Oh yes, we understand, but . . . " to be commonly used in place of affirmative action or acknowledgment of specific problems. "What we need on the board," she says "is someone who is viable, accessible and willing to listen to all persons involved, the students, the faculty and the administration. Someone who can understand and work with the needs of all parties concerned. An I've run the whole gammut of experience," she says, "from administration right on down to being a student." McFarlin has worked as a counselor at Washington State, which she says make her sensitive to the needs of students. She's also worked in an administrative capacity at San Diego State University and been active in a variety of task forces in addition to teaching at Grossmont college. "I'm a well rounded human being both in and out of the academic arena," she says. "I'm also internationally known. I'm listed in Who's Who and I've had a book and several articles published." McFarlin says her motto is "education through communication," but she said the present board does too much of its communicating with the administration, focusing little attention on faculty and students. "I wouldn't give carte blanche to either party," she said. "But I would provide a viable means of communication for all concerned." McFarlin, criticizing what she calls "an underhanded way of getting themselves re- elected" explains that incumbents on the board set up community forums at local libraries in Chula Vista, Imperial Beach, Coronado and National City shortly before election time."But why haven't they been doing this type of things all year?" information. No one they meet in different communities all year long so they can let the taxpayers know what's happening, what's being done with their money. Why now, just before elections?" An why were only six people, including McFarlin and Green, another candidate for the board, concerned enough to show up at these forums? "Apathy and lack of information. No one came becasue no one knew. I've been conducting a telephone survey," she said. "I call people and ask them what they know about Southwestern College. They ask me, 'Where is it?' " McFarlin blames this low profile problem for the college's declining enrollment. "People just don't know what the college has to offer." she said. However, present board members seem to feel declining enrollment was due to scheduling, said McFarlin. The calendar, with the fall semester beginning in mid-August and ending before Christmas, was changed this year. A calendar was put inot effect with classes commencing in late August and ending after Christmas. Both students and some faculty wanted to stay with the early schedule, but the administration wanted a change so the board approved it. The previous schedule went into effect again this fall. And faculty morale? "Well, in a vote taken last year, more than 50% of the faculty said they had no confidence in the president of the administration." McFarlin said good representation on the board could be the key to the morale problem and feels she can provide that representation. ( "Meet the candidate," Chula Vista Star-News, Oct. 11, 1979 ) 1982 Historic commercial and industrial land uses may affect water quality on the Otay River watershed, specifically in the form of impacted soils and sediments from past activities. The RWQCB has targeted one specific site on the Otay River watershed, the former Omar Rendering Facility on Otay Valley Road in Chula Vista (RWQCB, 1997). The 40-acre animal rendering facility ceased operation in 1982. ( "Otay River Watershed Management Plan, Final Draft," for Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement Public Agencies, prepared by Aspen Environmental Group, Contract No. 46618, May 2006. ) 1985/12/31 On Saturday, residents of Chula Vista and what used to be Montgomery will be celebrating what may be the most populous annexation in the history of the state. The densely populated 3.5-square-mile Montgomery was virtually surrounded by Chula Vista. Montgomery has about 23,000 residents on 2,300 acres of unincorporated territory lying between Interstates 5 and 805 and L and Main streets in Chula Vista. Montgomery voters approved in the Nov. 5 annexation election. The actual annexation became effective Dec. 31. At the time of annexation to Chula Vista the Montgomery area was almost completely developed and was comprised of five identifiable neighborhoods Castle Park, Harborside, Otay, Broderick Acres, and Woodlawn Park. (Los Angeles Times, Jan 3, 1986.) 1990/01 Chula Vista Public Library in three locations. The Civic Center Library, dedicated July 4, 1976, is at 365 F Street in a 55,000 sq. ft. building. The Castle Park-Otay Library, at 1592 Third Avenue, and the Woodlawn Park Library, at 115 Spruce Road, were formerly part of the San Diego County Library. The Montgomery area was annexed to the City of Chula Vista and the Chula Vista Library began operating these small branches in July 1989 with new furnishings and 25,000 new books. (Chula Vista Historical Society Bulletin, February 1990. ) 1991/10/19 The watch manufacturing company was founded in 1890 to bring some industry and jobs to a thriving little boom town named Otay, developed three years before. Alas, six months after opening, the Otay Watch Co. folded, its product never catching on with the time-keeping public. The community nearly disappeared too, but hung on through thick and thin, even surviving a 1916 flood. Time marches on in Otay, a district in southern Chula Vista rich in history, with a distinctly Latino flavor. Grafted onto the city as part of the 1986 annexation of the Montgomery area, this tight community -- where homes are passed on from generation to generation, where extended family members live within blocks of each other -- has been trying to reverse decades of neglect and indifference while under county government rule. With today's second annual Otay Community Fair, residents hope to take another step toward raising the community's profile within the city, to erase what one longtime resident called "the poor stepchild" image of the area. "For a long time, we were kind of left to one side," said Rev. Richard Hermosillo, born and raised in Otay, member of the Otay Committee, and chairman of this year's fair. "But now, it seems as if some things are starting to happen." For one, there is the fair. And there will be plenty at the fair, which runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Otay Park off Albany Avenue. Booths, food, exhibits, live music -- all the elements of other community fairs -- will fill the park. There will also be a sky-diving exhibition at noon, as well as a folkloric dance performance by Balet Folklorico de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, a local company from the neighborhood. Though the festivities are welcome, much needs to be done in Otay: street and sidewalk repair, street lighting, traffic-control measures and so on. Ridding the area of graffiti and gangs is a priority, too. Though some things have changed since annexation to the city, some have not. Other efforts include a successful neighborhood cleanup campaign that collected nearly 1 million pounds of trash, according to city reports -- an indication not only of the success of the program but also of the condition of some of the areas in Otay. The city is aware of the problems, which run through the six neighborhoods -- Otay, Castle Park, Woodlawn Park, Harborside, West Fairfield and Broderick's Otay Acres -- that comprise the Montgomery area. The city's Community Redevelopment Department has embarked on a long-term neighborhood revitilization program for Otay, which includes programs to upgrade housing and public works, and building ties between the city and the community. The Otay Watch, the official quarterly newsletter of the Otay Commitee, is mailed by the city to 575 single-family homes in the district. It is hoped that Chula Vistans from throughout the city will stop by the fair today, perhaps after viewing the popular Fiesta de la Luna parade winding its way through downtown. ( San Diego Union, Oct. 19, 1991. ) 2005 South Chula Vista Library Branch - Based on the Master Plan in 1990 the Chula Vista Public Library applied for a grant from the California Library Construction and Renovation Bond Act Proposition 85 for the construction of a new library facility for the Montgomery Area. In 1991 the Library received a 67 million grant from the California Library Construction and Renovation Bond Act to begin construction of the South Chula Vista Library. On April 8, 1995 the 37,000 square foot South Chula Vista Library was opened to the public. The branch holds a collection of 175 000 volumes which includes an extensive Spanish language collection a state of the art computer lab a full service Literacy Center two community meeting rooms and study rooms In addition the branch offers ESL classes computer classes research databases in English and Spanish extensive children s programming story times adult and family cultural programs teen programs summer reading programs and year round reading programs for children and teens Both the Castle Park and Woodlawn Park branches were closed as a result of the opening of the full service South Chula Vista Branch In 2005, $450,000 was spent on renovating the South Chula Vista Branch Library The renovation included conversion to the marketplace model lighting improvements signage improvements exterior painting fountain repairs floor repairs and roof repairs The award winning library is a great asset to the Montgomery area and the community at large. ( Agenda Packet 2006/04/06, City Council Minutes. ) 2005/10/01 Historic Designation Application Form date 2005/10/01 for Lorenzo Anderson house, 3487 Main Street, Chula Vista, Ca, built 1888, six acres in size, a Queen Anne Orchard House, submitted by William Anderson in San Diego, Jacqueline Perkins in Descanso, Barbara Anderson in Lake Elsinore. The house survived the 1916 flood, was twisted on its foundation but remained on its present location, sits on redwood and cement pilings, was built with modern indoor plumbing. An early photo of July 21, 1891, identifies the house as Mr. Isaac Smith's residence. Owners in the 1920s were George and Lisbeth Schurig who operated a dairy. A young Lorenzo Anderson who worked for the County Road Dept decided to relocate from Logan Heights to Otay Valley, and after a delay due to opposition of neighbors to a black family moving in, the house was occupied in 1939 and an orchard of 250 lemon trees was planted. The 3 children attended Otay School and Otay Church where Mr. Anderson was a deacon and where his youngest child Jaqueline was baptized. The farm prospered during the WWII years, he became an area air warden at a time when a Japanese sub was reported off Imperial Beach. He registered voters and was a poll inspector and was active in the Woodlawn Park Community Association. There was an Army base at Albany and Main during the war, and he put out a bench in front of the orchard for soldiers, and invited soldiers to family holiday dinners. The lemons were processed at the Sunkist plant at 3rd and K, but cold winters killed the trees at war's end, and were replaced with vegetables and flowers. In the 1950s part of the old orchard was leased out to small businesses, the old Schurig dairy barn and packing shed demolished, and the neighboring poultry ranch became a housing development. The Andersons became semi-retired and established the Anderson Trust for income and tax purposes. Mrs. Anderson died in 1971 and Lorenzo Anderson remarried. He died in 1986. A scholarship was established at Bethel church in San Diego where the family had been members. His second wife died in 2004. The 3 children Barbara, William and Jacqueline restored the house in 2004, and is kept up by William who lives nearby. The house sits down a palm-lined driveway and is known by long-time Otay residents. The City Council in Resolution No. 2005-171 approved the application May 24, 2005, and it has been placed on the CV List of Historic Sites and Historic Site #68. ( Agenda Packet 2005/05/25, Attachment 5, City Council Minutes, Office of the Clerk, Chula Vista, CA.. )
Pat Combs grew up on his family's farm south of the Otay Valley between I-805 and Dennery Road where the Wal-Mart is now located (#1 circled on attached map). His father Alfred Combs bought the 80-acre farm and hog ranch in 1944. The price of pork was high during the war years, 33 cents per lb, and times were good for the farmers supplying the military camps. The Navy had a base on Monument road where rockets were launched for airplane target practice. Pat was born in 1942 and grew up with his brother Robert on the farms leased (#2 and #3) and owned by the family south of the Otay valley. Other hog ranches along Palm Avenue were owned by Albert Schulenburg (#4), Val Ramirez and his brother (#5), by the Hansens (#6). John Hansen was a contractor and moved 10-12 houses to the ranch for his workers, brother Tom Hansen ran the hog ranch. A city dump (#7) was located just north of the Combs ranch. Hobart Heights subdivision (#8) was built where the Wolfe airport had been located on Palm Avenue, and a church (#9) was on Palm across from the Schulenburg ranch. A big wood water pipeline ran down Palm Ave, and the old pipewalker at the time of the 1916 flood may have been the father of Charles "Stub" Cook, the one-eyed dragline operator for the Fenton Company. On Main Street south of the valley was located the Otay Acres subdivision (#10) for African-Americans, a burn dump with an incinerator near I-805 (#11). On Main Street east of I-805 was Omar Rendering plant and hog ranch (#12) owned by Bill O'Donnell, and the Daley hog ranch (#13), probably owned by the road contractor George Daley who bought the Jamul Rancho in 1927. (Pat Combs interview at OVRP Ranger Station Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009) |
||||||
|
Home •
About Us •
Next Meeting •
Latest News •
Resources •
Organizations •
Exhibits •
Bulletins
Contact
|
||||||
|
This web page was created Feb. 19, 2018, and revised Feb. 22, 2018, by Steve Schoenherr for the South Bay Historical Society | Copyright © 2018
|
