Fullerton Heritage

Call Directions Website

Fullerton Heritage Fullerton Heritage is a California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation dedicated to preserving Fullerton's past for the future. Our goals are to:
1.

Educate Fullerton residents and the general public about the city's cultural and architectural resources.
2. Promote a sense of community by drawing on Fullerton's rich historic past.
3. Implement techniques to effectively support advocacy of preservation issues with city government and community groups.

Robert Linnell (May 7, 1945 – October 15, 2026) Long-time Fullerton resident and champion of neighborhood preservation, ...
10/20/2026

Robert Linnell (May 7, 1945 – October 15, 2026)

Long-time Fullerton resident and champion of neighborhood preservation, Robert Linnell passed away on October 15th in his historic home on Malvern Avenue while in hospice care. He was “Bob” to everyone. It even said so on his license plate. He is preceded in death by his parents Hugh and Joan Linnell and his brother Richard, all of Long Beach. A lifelong bachelor, Bob had no living relatives, but he had a huge family of friends, neighbors, and co-workers. He was 81.

Bob grew up in Long Beach, California, where he attended Long Beach Poly High School and Long Beach City (now Community) College before venturing off to USC in the 1960s to get a Bachelor of Architecture where he made many lifelong friends (he went back to USC and eventually earned a Master of Urban Design). The world beckoned and Bob joined the Peace Corps serving in Tunisia for three years in the 1970s. Returning home, he landed a job working for the City of Fullerton as a Planner. He quickly purchased his historic home and planted his gardens. After working for over 30 years, he retired but still needed to earn Medicare credits by working in the private sector. He went to work part-time for the large sign company Outdoor Dimensions in their Codes and Permitting department (right up Bob’s alley). He was their code expert but was known for much more than that. He enjoyed it so much he continued working there long past earning all those credits. Those “OD” folks joined Bob’s growing family of friends.

In addition to his love of the beach, USC football and winter sports, “Historic” and “Gardens” became Bob’s side passions. He volunteered for years with Fullerton Beautiful, the Arboretum, and Fullerton Heritage. While serving with Fullerton Beautiful, he was Membership Chair and helped to select the gardens for the popular annual garden tours. He was always at Arbor Day plantings with his gloves and shovel ready. Most recently he had been working with City staff on plant selection for the Hunt Branch Library and collecting signatures for homes that wanted Jacarandas planted in their parkways on Jacaranda Avenue. The Arboretum benefitted from Bob’s countless volunteer hours working in the gift shop. In fact, if you wanted to go to Wahoo’s lunch with Bob, it had to fit into his Arboretum volunteer schedule. Bob was a tremendous asset to the work of Fullerton Heritage, serving on the Board of Directors and as Secretary for decades. With his COF planning expertise, he was able to "educate" the revolving door of new City planning staff on the particulars of neighborhood preservation zones. For decades, Bob helped to compile the nominations for Fullerton properties that were designated Fullerton Local Landmarks or listed on the National Register of Historic Places. His most recent collaboration, the Lower Golden Hill Historic District designation, was recently approved by the City Council on October 13 as Bob slipped away.

As friends and neighbors came together in Bob’s final days and shared stories, we realized that probably none of us knew the whole Bob, but our shared bits and pieces made us aware even more of how fortunate we were to have been part of Bob’s family.

Bob requested no formal services. McAulay Wallace is handling the arrangements. Thoughts and memories can be made on their website at https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/fullerton-ca/robert-linnell-13077406. Donations in Bob’s name can be made to The Prostate Cancer Foundation (Santa Monica); The USC School of Architecture; Providence St. Jude Memorial Foundation; CSUF Philanthropic Foundation for The Fullerton Arboretum and Fullerton Heritage.

Adams Barber Shop (509 N. Harbor Blvd.) - In 1946, barber Oran Otis Adams (613 N. Highland Avenue) convinced his fellow ...
10/06/2026

Adams Barber Shop (509 N. Harbor Blvd.) - In 1946, barber Oran Otis Adams (613 N. Highland Avenue) convinced his fellow Masons to allow him to construct a narrow commercial building immediately south of the impressive Fullerton Masonic Temple (1920), now the Spring Field Banquet Center, located on the northwest corner of Harbor Boulevard and Chapman Avenue (501 N. Harbor Blvd.). Adams hired local contractor John Rhodes Brock (1901-1987), who was residing in a home he had built for his family at 1156 Fern Drive, to build a curved Streamline Moderne two-room concrete building expected to cost $9,600. In the Fall of 1946, the Adams Barber Shop opened in the front room of the small building with insurance agent Harman H. Schwoob setting up an office in the rear. Members of the Fullerton F & AM (Free and Accepted Masons) Lodge No. 339 frequently used the barbershop for a shave and haircut and later sold Adams the land.

The son of a farmer, Oran O. Adams (1896-1956) initially worked as a farm laborer before opening a small barbershop in his hometown of Republic, Missouri. He joined the Missouri Home Guard during World War I, but when he attempted to enlist in the United States Navy, he failed the medical examination. In the mid-1920s, Oran and his wife Grace (1902-1995) moved permanently to Fullerton. After Adams’ retirement in the 1950s due to ill health, he sold the building to Haskell Ford (2500 W. Valencia Drive) who renamed it Ford’s Barber Shop. The small building was then used for a variety of commercial purposes, including an artists’ co-op, the Common Ground Multimedia Art Gallery, in the 1980s. The building is currently being used as a State Farm Insurance office. The small structure has always stood out for its compact, modest form, and closeness to the street, in sharp contrast to the Masonic Temple. At one time, Fullerton had a number of small standalone barbershops, and the building appears to be the only remaining one in the city.


Mexican Farmworker Camp on South Balcom Avenue- On November 24, 1894, the Placentia Orange Growers Association was organ...
09/29/2026

Mexican Farmworker Camp on South Balcom Avenue- On November 24, 1894, the Placentia Orange Growers Association was organized by pioneer citrus growers, including such notables as William McFadden, George B. Key, Atillo Pierotti, and Albert Summer Bradford, who’s 1902 Colonial Revival home in Placentia is now open to the public. Although the Association was identified with Placentia, it had its main office, a pre-cooling plant, and a packing house located in Fullerton. Over the decades, the board of directors included several influential Fullerton growers, including Mayor William (“Billy”) L. Hale, Louis P. Drake, Lilburn M. Gardiner, Edmund D. Lang, and Edmond E. Beazley. The Association prospered, in part, because it was run by two highly competent Fullerton managers: Abe Pritchard from 1905 to 1924 and Jack A. Pritzer, the former superintendent of the Bastanchury Ranch Company, from 1924 to 1952.

By 1923, the Placentia Orange Growers Association was composed of 262 members who owned an aggregate of 4168 acres of highly developed orchards in and around the cities of Placentia and Fullerton. From 1918 to 1930, the Association marketed 6,476,036 boxes or 14,017 carloads of 462 boxes each and returned $21,409,755 to its growers. The growers concentrated primarily on Valencia oranges produced under several brands, often using Spanish themes: Carmencita, Colombo, Dona, Cabrillo, Las Palmas, Angelita, California Belle, and Portola.

By 1920, Fullerton had a severe housing shortage, and the mostly Mexican farmworkers could find no living accommodations. Several turned to setting up tents on city lots only to be told they had to pay $5.00 a week or move. Fullerton property owners objected to building any worker housing next to their homes. The acute worker housing shortage caused Placentia Orange Growers Association manager Abe Pritchard to lash out at a Fullerton News Tribune reporter on December 1, 1920: “I don’t know what people expect. They are chasing out the J**s, they try to keep us from building homes for the Mexicans, and it seems some of them even try to make it impossible for white men to come here”. To solve their housing problem, the Placentia Orange Growers Association purchased an 11-acre walnut grove from Russell C. Annin located on South Balcom Avenue off East Commonwealth Avenue. Mexican workers immediately set up tents under the walnut trees. Circumspect about its intentions, the Association began building four-room bungalows, costing $700 each, intended as farmworker housing. Board member Louis P. Drake, then serving as a Fullerton Trustee, used his influence to have Balcom Avenue extended to the railroad tracts and water lines added.

Initially, only seven wood-frame “California houses” – painted dark brown – were constructed on the east side of South Balcom Avenue as an “experiment”, but from 1922 to 1952, the tree-sheltered camp was continuously enlarged and improved. Eventually thirty-two family dwellings, three bunkhouses (dormitories) for single men, a mess hall, a recreation hall, a shower house, a community washhouse for cleaning clothes, a garage, handball court, and baseball field were added, along with a small house and office for the man in charge of the Balcom camp. A trained nurse and physician made monthly visits. Teachers from the Americanization Department of Fullerton Union High School were given a schoolhouse in which to teach basic English, cooking, and housekeeping, and the cultural and societal norms of American society. At its peak, the community consisted of 200 Mexican Nationals, who generally stayed six to nine months before moving on to other seasonal work. Long-term employees, such as foremen and truckers, were given priority on the houses. The Mexican workers paid about $15.00 a month for housing, gas, lights, and water, while earning on average $2.50 a day (27 cents an hour). The Placentia Orange Growers Association was not ashamed of the Balcom camp, and both Pritchard and Pritzer allowed visitors and the press to view the area. The Association’s annual reports often featured photographs of well-fed and happy workers.

The Balcom camp survived fires; two massive floods in 1927 and 1938; a violent citrus strike in 1936; worker repatriation in the 1930s; and a return of farmworkers during World War II. As the citrus industry declined, the Association merged with the Placentia Mutual Orange Association in 1955 and fully dissolved in 1963. The Fullerton packing plant was sold to the Eadington Fruit Company in 1953. Demolition of the houses began in 1957. Some of the residents were able to move into housing on nearby Truslow Avenue, which had no racially restrictive covenants.


After opening his berry stand, then later Knott’s Berry Place in 1928, Walter Knott was always on the lookout for the ne...
09/22/2026

After opening his berry stand, then later Knott’s Berry Place in 1928, Walter Knott was always on the lookout for the next big berry. He purchased new varieties from berries from around the nation to his customers. When George Darrow of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture told him about Rudolph (“Rudy”) Boysen’s new berry – a cross between a blackberry, a lingonberry, and a red raspberry – Knott was curious. The two men contracted Boysen and found a few scraggly remaining berry plants on the farm of Boysen’s in-laws, Oscar Wilson (1868-1931) and Alice Brunton (1870-1957), located at around 1500 South Raymond Avenue. Knott transplanted the plants on his Buena Park farm, where they thrived. Knott insisted that the berry be named the boysenberry, which quickly became the Knott family trademark. By 1934, Knott’s Berry Farm was producing 2,200 baskets of the oversized berries, which sold in one-pound baskets. Rudy Boysen, Anaheim Park Superintendent, made no money from the berry. There is a Boysenberry Lane in Placentia where the juice was made, and a Boysen Avenue in Anaheim, as well as Boysen Park, a public park in Anaheim.

The Boysenberry’s story is so improbable, it’s surprising it survived to go into commercial production. The tale winds across California like a vine – from Merced County, to Napa, to Fullerton, to Buena Park, to Tustin, and to Anaheim where Rudy Boysen (1895-1950) became the city’s beloved Parks Director. Come learn about the Boysenberry, the creative and hardworking Mr. Boysen, the critical contributions of Walter Knott, and how the berry – after nearly disappearing from the world at least twice – is making another comeback.

Chris Jepsen is the longtime president of the Orange County Historical Society and an independent historian. He’s a frequent lecturer; has created museum exhibits and historical tours; and has written for historical journals, magazines, and his own blog: The O.C. History Roundup. He wrote the first significant article about Rudy Boysen and the Boysenberry.

Mark your calendars, Chris Jepsen will discuss “Rudy Boysen and the Boysenberry” at our Fullerton Heritage Community Event coming to the Hunt Library, October 4, 2026, 2-4pm. The event is open to the public, flyer attached.

Clara Shortridge Foltz Visits the Fullerton Ebell Club, 1930- On July 10, 1930, at 8:00 p.m., famous lawyer and suffrage...
09/15/2026

Clara Shortridge Foltz Visits the Fullerton Ebell Club, 1930- On July 10, 1930, at 8:00 p.m., famous lawyer and suffragette Mrs. Clara Shortridge Foltz (1849-1934), the sister of United States Senator Samuel M. Shortridge, spoke at the Fullerton Ebell Club on East Chapman Avenue. At the time, Mrs. Foltz, then 81, was a Republican candidate for the governorship of California. She was greeted by Fullerton City Councilman Oscar A. Kreighbaum and introduced by actress Rose Tapley, the “Mother of Movies”. Her Orange County campaign was being run by Mrs. Viola M. Crawford, a Fullerton real estate agent (136 West Whiting Avenue, razed). Her local campaign committee included other Fullerton women supporters: Mrs. Kitty Kelly Smith (1241 Luanne Avenue); Mrs. Bessie E. King (122 East Brookdale Place); Mrs. Ada F. Moore (337 West Brookdale Place); and Mrs. Clarissa Story (129 West Malvern Avenue). After her talk, Mrs. Foltz met with members of the Fullerton Lions Club.

Although little known today, Mrs. Foltz was one of the most famous women in America, gracing the covers of national magazines. Her visit caused considerable excitement in Fullerton, making the front of local newspapers. She was the first female lawyer on the West Coast; the first woman Assistant District Attorney in the United States (1911-1913); the first woman appointed to the California State Board of Corrections; the first female clerk of the State Assembly’s Judiciary Committee; the first woman to prosecute a murder case; the first woman director of a major bank; and one of the first woman to run for the governorship of California. She authored the Women’s Vote Amendment for California, playing a prominent role in the campaign to secure the vote for women in California in 1911. Known as the Portia of the Pacific, Mrs. Foltz was often the only woman in the courtroom during her successful fifty-year career.

When her philandering husband abandoned her and their five children in 1876, Mrs. Foltz wanted to become a lawyer, but California law allowed only white males to serve as members of the bar. She authored the Woman Lawyer’s Bill (SB 66), which replaced “white male” with “person”. When Governor William Irwin appeared reluctant to sign the bill, Mrs. Foltz pushed herself into his office and politely insisted he sign it, which he did minutes before it expired. After passing the bar examination in 1878, Mrs. Foltz wanted to improve her legal skills, but she was denied admission to the newly established Hastings College of Law, the first law school in the West, because of her s*x. She and suffragette Laura de Force Gordon sued and won, although both women had moved on by the time the California Supreme Court ruled unanimously in their favor. (She was awarded a posthumous Doctor of Laws degree in 1991.) Throughout her legal career, Mrs. Foltz often represented the poor and sick, and she believed that all defendants deserved equal representation before the law. At the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, she introduced the concept of public defenders, authoring what she called the Public Defender Bill. Two decades later, she established the first Public Defender Office in Los Angeles in 1913, and in 1921, the California State Legislature passed her public defender bill, a precedent that all other states in the Union would follow.

While serving as a Los Angeles lawyer, Mrs. Foltz came to court one day to find her client in a cage. She protested vehemently, and the following day delivered an anti-cage petition to City Hall while also dropping off copies to local newspapers. Within forty-eight hours, the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors passed a resolution, and cages were permanently banned.

In 2002, the Los Angeles Criminal Courts Building was officially renamed the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center.


Carrie and John J. Fallert House (123 E. Valencia Drive) - In 1906, two Los Angeles men – real estate agent Samuel A. Pa...
09/08/2026

Carrie and John J. Fallert House (123 E. Valencia Drive) - In 1906, two Los Angeles men – real estate agent Samuel A. Pawley and Adolph L. Selig, general manager of the Edison Electric Company – purchased a 22-acre Fullerton walnut grove from Charles E. Evans, also from Los Angeles, for $13,200. Pawley and Selig quickly subdivided the orchard, naming the new housing development Walgrove. Mature walnuts trees were included with each lot purchase. Situated off South Spadra Road (now Harbor Blvd.), the tract included East Maple (now Valencia Drive) and East Ash Avenues. The subdivision had no restrictive racial covenants, and over the decades, several Hispanic families purchased homes within the area.

On November 21, 1907, John Joseph Fallert (1881-1949) purchased Lot 6 within Walgrove (now 123 East Valencia Drive). Fallert had married Carrie Ida Dyckman (1886-1987) at the Saint Boniface Catholic Church in Anaheim on October 30, 1907, and the Los Angeles Times reported that after the couple’s honeymoon in San Diego, they intended to “reside in a neat new residence erected by the happy groom in Fullerton”. While construction of the Colonial Revival home clearly began in 1907, numerous liens delayed completion of the dwelling. In January 1908, liens were filed by house painter Thomas Dietrick, carpenter J. H. Frederick Hermann, and the J. M. Griffith Lumber Company; a judgment was won by plumber Christopher Leo Becker, Jr. in June.

With its absolutely unique design, the Fallert house is one of the most remarkable from turn-of-the-century Fullerton. Two dramatic south-facing gables, one sheltering a recessed balcony behind an arched opening, contrast with the gable on the west-facing dormer. Other features include the shingling on the upper story, the porch’s unusual design with the pseudo-Doric columns, and the massive pieces of sandstone that sheath the ground level. Building permits indicate that a two-unit apartment building was constructed in 1959 at the rear of the lot. The home has been designated a Significant Property.

At the time of the dwelling’s construction, Fallert was employed as a drayman (wagon driver), but later owned his own transport company. In 1920, he sold the home to Anna and Robert B. Wilson, advertising manager for the Fullerton News, and purchased a citrus ranch on North Richman Avenue. During the Depression, Fallert stayed economically afloat by holding different jobs, including oil field watchman, carpenter, restaurant worker, and kitchen helper for the Civilian Conservation Corp. During World War II, he was employed as a civilian worker for the Station Hospital at Camp Callan, a United States Army anti-aircraft artillery replacement training center in La Jolla.


Hillcrest Park Auto Camp- In 1913, American car ownership topped the one million mark for the first time. Millions of Am...
09/01/2026

Hillcrest Park Auto Camp- In 1913, American car ownership topped the one million mark for the first time. Millions of Americans took to the road, with auto camping at its peak from 1915 to 1922. Known as “tin can tourists”, car owners strapped canvas tents, folded cots. and stoves to their car frames; later they purchased trailers to hold their camp goods, including canoes. To accommodate the motor tourists, auto camps, basically campgrounds with amenities, began to pop up. Hoping to cash in on affluent tourists passing through their communities, municipal governments began to build auto camps with running water along major thoroughfares on the outskirts of towns.

In July 1920, eight months after Fullerton purchased 33.640 acres for Hillcrest Park, the Fullerton Board of Trustees (later the Fullerton City Council) tasked Park Superintendent George Johann Seupelt (1918-1925) with establishing a Fullerton Municipal Auto Camp at Hillcrest Park at the request of the Fullerton Chamber of Commerce. The city had few hotels and officials hoped that the camp would attract tourists. The southwest corner of Valley View Drive and Spradra Road (now Harbor Boulevard) was selected as the site because the land was relatively flat, and Spadra Road, then only a two-lane road, was a major thoroughfare through the still rural town. The Fullerton Municipal Auto Camp, which had water, gas, and electric lights, officially opened in October 1920.

The City Clerk notified the American Automobile Association, and the site was listed in the organization's popular Auto Camp Guide. To attract tourists, Fullerton allowed visitors to stay for free for the first three days, then pay 50 cents per day thereafter. The auto camp was an instant success, and by July 1921, over 300 people were staying monthly, including permanent residents of Fullerton. Fullerton had a severe housing shortage and often people would stay there as they looked for permanent accommodations. Some travelers stayed the entire summer. Over the years, Fullerton businesses accommodated the needs of the campers, and the Camp Grounds Service Station (1020 North Spadra Road) opened nearby. Auto tourists could buy gear at hardware stores, but the local go to place for all types of camping goods was a Western Auto Supply Company outlet. During the peak years of auto camping, newspapers, camping magazines, and sales catalogs were filled with advertisements for the latest camping equipment.

Throughout the 1920s, Fullerton officials approved improvements to the camping accommodations. In 1922, Seupelt designed and constructed two extensive shelters thatched with palm leaves. In the center was a rustic “Swiss Chalet” building that housed men and women’s toilets and showers, a room for the park’s caretaker, a room for tools, and a reading room with a grate for tourists. Several wood stoves were placed around the 1½-acre campgrounds for the use of tourists, with wood furnished for free. New trees were planted around the site. The wooden bridge over the barranca was replaced in 1928, making access easier, and in 1926, a 30- by 48-foot brick caretaker bungalow/office (razed, 1936) was built adjacent to the auto camp. To determine tourist views of the auto camp, Seupelt left a register for campers to record their thoughts and opinions. He was delighted when tourists gave the Fullerton auto camp high marks: “This is a fine camp, fine people, and real outdoor life can be enjoyed”; “Fit for a king!”; “You have a delightful spot for tired, traveling people”.

Auto Club approval was important because the Fullerton auto camp was in competition with nearby municipal auto camps in Anaheim, Buena Park, Santa Ana, and Huntington Beach. Privately-owned auto camps also sprang up in Fullerton, including the Valencia Auto Camp (714 West Commonwealth Avenue) and the All States Auto Camp, located at Spadra Road and Orangethorpe Avenue. During the Depression, orchard owners also set up makeshift auto camps, allowing travelers to camp between citrus trees. The Fullerton Municipal Auto Camp was so successful that several businessmen, including George H. Gobar, Frank E. Copp, and Charles W. Almes, formed a company to build auto camps in California, Arizona, and Texas.

By 1934/1935, Fullerton city officials had applied for Depression-era relief funds for Hillcrest Park, and the municipal auto camp would be replaced by the fountain and Great Lawn area along Spadra Road, although some of the homeless WPA workers did live for a time in the former auto camp. Auto camps would eventually be replaced by auto courts and motels.


Fullerton Local Landmark No. 98: Sans Souci Court (501 W. Whiting Avenue), 1923- Around 1912, farmer Adolph D. Carpenter...
08/26/2026

Fullerton Local Landmark No. 98: Sans Souci Court (501 W. Whiting Avenue), 1923- Around 1912, farmer Adolph D. Carpenter (1878-1976) and his wife, Julia (1881-1975), moved from Silverton, Oregon, to Fullerton, with their four children (a fifth would later be born in Fullerton). The couple purchased eight acres on the northeast corner of Nicholas (later Euclid Street) and Commonwealth Avenues where they built a home and started a citrus grove. In the 1920s, the Carpenters would develop the citrus orchard into housing (Tract 460) that now includes dwellings in the 100-200 blocks of North Roosevelt Avenue.

In April 1923, Adolph and Julia Carpenter, who had married in 1900, separated, and Julia filed for divorce in July, accusing Adolph of abuse, possessing a “morose temperament”, and begrudging her the use of his car. She and her five children moved into 141 West Brookdale Place. She quickly commissioned notable local contractor Jesse E. Ellis (1889-1962) to design and construct a “modern stucco bungalow court” for $35,000 for her and her children to be called Sans Souci Court. An expert card player, Mrs. Carpenter was a member of the Sans Souci Card Club, which is most likely where she took the name for her new housing complex (sans souci is French for “without care” or “carefree”). West Whiting Avenue was selected because it was within both walking distance of the downtown area and local schools. Adolph Carpenter later reconciled with his wife, but Julia remained the manager of the bungalow court. Sans Souci Court would be one of the few bungalow courts constructed in Fullerton in the 1920s.

Jesse Ellis had developed an early housing tract in Fullerton, the J. E. Ellis Subdivison (1914) – both Ellis Place and Ellis Lane are named for him – and constructed numerous dwellings around Fullerton, but he had never designed a bungalow court. He drove to Hollywood and Los Angeles to inspect bungalow courts in search of inspiration. He created a plan that included six apartments within a "H-shaped" two-story building at the rear of the property, with a street address of 501½ West Whiting, and four bungalows in front with a street address of 501 West Whiting. To enhance the Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, Ellis added many Spanish features, including Juliet balconies, arched entryways, and terracotta-tiled shed roofs.

The rear portion of the building closest to Chapman Avenue, which contained a five-stall garage and three units on the second floor, was demolished when Chapman Avenue was widened in 1967. The city arranged a 25-year lease agreement to allow tenants to park their cars in nearby privately-owned garages. Situated on a corner lot on a street of single-family dwellings constructed in the 1920s and 1930s, the Sans Souci Court now consists of two attached bungalows on each side of a narrow central courtyard, with a two-story three unit building on the rear (north) side. One of the bungalow court’s most distinctive features was a decorative fascia supported by round columns that connected the two single-story buildings. Ground settling caused the columns to sink resulting in the removal of the fascia for safety reasons. The current owner is currently seeking a way to restore and return the fascia/street signage above the entryway into the courtyard.

The Carpenters lived in Sans Souci Court from 1923 to 1932, changing the name to Carpenter Court in 1930. Julia and Adolph sold the complex to Rex and Ethel Connley in 1932, who renamed it Rex Court. Julia and Adolph returned to Silverton, Oregon, where they remained for the rest of their lives. The Carpenters’ son, Oral Leroy Carpenter (1903-1993), working out of Sans Souci Court, later became a Fullerton building contractor. He constructed several speculative homes along North Euclid Street and North Roosevelt Avenue (e.g., 115, 208, 215 N. Roosvelt Ave.) that had once served as the family’s citrus orchard. When Tract 460 opened to the public, several just married couples purchased their first homes in the new subdivision, which was nicknamed “The Newlywed Tract”. Roosevelt Avenue was named for President Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt.


Orange County BoosterismA decade after Orange County incorporated in 1889, the Industrial and Publicity Department of th...
08/18/2026

Orange County Boosterism

A decade after Orange County incorporated in 1889, the Industrial and Publicity Department of the Orange County Board of Supervisors began publishing colorful promotional literature highlighting the natural scenery, infrastructure, and economic opportunities of the new county in the hope of attracting tourists, businesses, and new residents. In the 1900s, Orange County covered a vast area of land, but most of it was taken up with cattle ranches, oil wells, citrus groves, and other types of farming, and officials wanted to supplement what little manufacturing there was while retaining major money makers. There were only 19,636 Orange County residents. Like Fullerton, County officials initially posted advertisements in popular magazines, but by 1908, were shipping out promotional brochures across the country. Emphasis was placed on the scenic coast, wonderful weather, ready availability of water, and family life (fresh air, recreation, schools, hospitals).


Address

Fullerton, CA
92834

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Fullerton Heritage posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share