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- Category: The History
- Published on Monday, 05 March 2012 23:51
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events and effects that have become a part of the historical recur of the district. This indeed is a most difficult task for which no clear-cut method, procedure, or philosophy can be devised. But by examination, re-examination, reference, interview, correspondence, comparison of data, and evaluation, a system was set up to filter the copious material for use in this report. In any case, a clear, concise, unabridged accept of history can hardly be classified as anything but fantasy. Objectivity and reliability have been constantly observed, however, in the preparation of this study. Moreover, if one look sat history without prejudice or without regard to the injections of the influence of his mores, he would probably be really too uniformed to prognosticate or give an opinion.
It is only with a sincere desire to preserve that which has gone on before for the benefit of those in the future, that this report was undertaken. Even with this in mind, some of the information written here will probably be classified as predilection by some future historian.
Source of data
It was necessary to investigate many sources of information. The following list was followed in the preparation of the history of the district:
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1. Wiseburn School District Board of Trustees' minutes and records.
2. Mr. Don Smith, Superintendent of the Wiseburn School District.
3. Dr. Gene Graves, Assistant Superintendent of the Wiseburn School District.
4. Present and former trustees of the district.
5. Present and former teachers of the district.
6. The County Superintendent's office.
7. Hawthorne School District.
8. P.T.A. minutes and records.
9. Many residents and former students.
10. Inglewood Daily News, Inglewood.
11. Advertiser Press, Hawthorne.
12. Teachers' registers and lesson plans.
13. Wiseburn Faculty Association minutes.
14. Del Aire Improvement Association.
15. Wiseburn Citizens COuncil for Better Schools.
16. Campaign literature.
17. The County Auditor.
18. The County Assessor.
19. The County Board of Supervisors.
20. Land leases, maps, and deeds.
21. Minutes of the Wisburn Improvement Association.
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22. Annual reports of the County Superintendent.
23. Taxpayers guides.
24. Personal experience.
Whenever possible, a personal contact was made with the party concerned. It was necessary in some cases, however, to telephone and correspond.
Organization of the Remainder of this Study
Chapter II deals with the early history of the district before it became a school district. Chapter III discusses the first year of operation for the district. Chapter IV gives the history of the district from 1897-1925. Chapter V covers the period of from 1925-1940. Chapter VI takes in the period that was influenced by the war from 1940-1957. Chapter VIII reports on the period of time when the district experienced a change of attitude between the trustees and the administration of the district, from 1957-1959. Chapter IX concludes with the period of political turmoil in the district, from 1959-1960. The last chapter of the study summarizes the activities that inspired in the district in it's sixty-four years of existence.
Chapter II
THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE WISEBURN AREA
The Colorful Past
The Wiseburn area abounds in a rich lore that follows the colorful development of the state of California. Some of history's most famous people have been associated with the land on which the Wiseburn School District now rests.
The first settlers
Indians lived here before the Spanish arrived. Many artifacts have been found to verify this point. Indian objects such as movable granite mortars and pestles, stone hammers, and arrowheads have been plowed up by the modern farmers sin the area.
Theese Indians were the Gabrieline strain of the AShoeshonian linguistic group. The Shoeonians inhabited much of the area of the Los Angeles basin, and roughly from the desert to the coast, south of the Tehanchapi Mountains. These people were the richest in the state and one of the most advanced groups south of the Tehachapi Mountains.
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The Gabrieline Indians ate a variety of food. They were the first ones to use movable stone mortars to acorns and plant foods, at least in historical time. They existed on clams, grasshoppers, roots, wild cats, eggs, birds, and jack rabbits.1
They were Asiatic in appearance and have been classified as Yang-nae. Their clothing was simple. Their men wore loin clothes and women wore grass skirts.2
Ho major Indian village as such has been found within the present boundaries of the district, but from the many artifacts found here, the region must have been inhabited by scatterers groups. The nearest major Shoshanian village was a few miles north-east of Redondo Beach. It was called Engva. The nearest Indian burial grounds have been found in Manhattan Beach, formerly Wiseburn District property.3
The coming of the white man
The first white man to come near the area was Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, Spanish explorer, who was sent
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1.A.L. Kroeber, Handbook of the Indians of California (Berkeley: California Book Co., Ltd., 1953), p. 631.
2.Ella A. Ludwig, Harbor District of Los Angeles (California: Historical Record Co., Inc., 1927), p. 32.
3.Kroeber, op.cit., insert map.
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to explore the north coast of New Spain to find suitable harbors for Spanish ships. Cabrillo sailed past the coastline of El Segundo in October, 1542. It is disputable whether he landed in this vicinity.4
Thirty years later, another famous sailor by the name of Sir Francis Drake made his appearance off this coast, He had plundered many Spanish ships, and was on his way to the San Fransico area in his famous ship, :The Golden Hind," when he saw our coast. Upon his return to England, he was knighted by the queen for his exploits.5
Cermonho, a Spanish galleon captain, he'd orders to look for good harbors in California for ships returning from trading with the Philippine Islands. After his ship was wrecked in Drake's Bay, he proceeded south past the coast in 1595.6
In 1602, another early Spanish explorer, Sebastion Viscaino passed our coast. He sailed north in search of good harbors.7
It was 160 years later when the next white man
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4Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of California, Vol. XVIII, 1542-1800 (San Francisco: The History Company Publishers, 1886), p. 71.
5Charles E. Chapman, A History of California: The Spanish Period (New York: Macmillan Co., 1926), p. 97.
6Ibid., p. 117.
7Hancroft, op.cit., p. 100.
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arrived. captain Portola, a Spanish solider, made a march from San Francisco in 1769-1770 and passed through the Los Angeles area. He gave the Los Angeles River it's name, from which the city was named. he made this march to establish the Spanish influence in California and help this missionary movement.8
Juan Bautista de Ansa, another Spanish captain, led a company of soilders and their families from Tubac, Mexico, in 1775-1776, to settle the San Francisco area. He passed through the Los Angeles area after a difficult journey through the desert.9
The great ranchos
The present property that the Wideburn School District resets upon, was once the rancho of a California Don. His name was Don Antonio Ygnacio Avila.
Before Don Antonio acquired the land as a rancho, he was given permission to graze his cattle here in 1822. This right was given to him by Captain Noriego, military commander of Santa Barbra.
During the Spanish regime from 1769-1822, no absolute ownership of the land titles existed in California. The Indians had held the land under
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8Ibid., p. 148.
9Ibid., p. 221.
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suzerainty of the King of Spain.
Don Antonio was a native of Fuerta, Mexico, in the state of Sonora. He lived in the Pueblo de Los Angeles for number of years. The home of his family still stands on Olvera Street and is known as the Avila House. The house was built in 1818.11
While Don Antonio grazed his cattle here, another famous sailor, Richard Henry Dana, sailed into the Los Angeles area. He helped to load the hides onto his ship from the great ranchos. Richard Henery Dana had left Harvard University in 1834 because of impaired vision. He stayed at sea for two years before returning to his studies. He wrote a book about his travels called Two Years Before the Mast.12
In the year 1837, Don Antonio was granted this lan as his rancho. The grant was made by the Govener af Alta California, Juan B. Alvarado. The grant amounted to 25,00 acres and covered much of the land known as the Centinela Valley. He called his rancho El Sausal Redondo, or in English, the Round Clump of Willows.13
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10.C. J. Shneffer, Early History of Redondo Beach (Redondo Beach: By the author, 1934), p. 21.
11Helen Bauer, California Rancho Days (Sacramento: California State Department of Education, 1957), p. 110.
12Hancroft, op.cit., XXIII, p. 412.
13Roy Rosemberg, History of Inglewood (Inglewood: Arthur H. CAutson, 1938), p. 5.
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El Sausal Redondo was visited by the dons from the other ranchos from time to time. Don Jone Sepulveda, Los Palos Verdes would often stop off at the Rancho El Sausal Redondo on his way to the Pueblo de Los Angeles. it was the custom to include in an itinerary, a sojourn at all the ranchos that happened to lie on the trail. When Don Jose left for the Pueble, a day's trip usually took between three to five days because of the friendly visits.14
Meanwhile, in the northern part of California, a man from Tennessce, Peter Burnett, became active in California politics and eventually became the first American governor of the state. This took place in 1850, during the time when Don Antonio was the owner of the land.15
When the Civil War broke out in 1861, the United States established a fort in Redondo Beach named Fort Latham. Since several cannon balls have been found in the fields of the district, it is presumed that this shot came from the Redondo Beach Fort.16
Don Antonio used his land for a cattle ranch for
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14Ludwig, op. cit., p. 113.
15Banecroft, op. cit., p. 643.
16.Shaeffer, op. cit., p. 62.
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about thirty years, then financial troubles plagued the Avilas to that it became necessary to sell. On may 5, 1868, at a public auction, Sir Robert and Lady Matilda Burnett of Crates Castle in the county of Kincardino, Scotland, purchased the ranco.17 These people were not directly related to Peter Burnett who became governor eighteen years earlier.
The 25,00 acres were purchased for $32,500 or about $1.28 an acre. It proved to be good investment for the owners.
When Sir Robert Burnett purchased El Sauseal Redondo, he also acquired another small rancho called the Rancho Aguaje de Centinela, or in English, the Water of the Sentinel. The adobe ranch house was located in Centinela Park for the small rancho. The Rancho Centinela had originally been a part of the Rancho Sausal Redondo, but a squatter by the name of Don Ygnacio Machado acquired it as a rancho, much to the disasisfation of Don Antonio.
It seems that the Spanish and the Maxican governments both failed to conduct regular land surveys. It was because of this that Don Ygnacio Machado was able to acquire the lands around the Centinela Park. The
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17Palmer Conner, Romance of the Ranchos (Los Angeles: Title Insurance Co., 1936), p. 10.
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Alcalde f the Pueblo of Los Angeles declared that the boundaries of Don Antonio's rancho were not clear enough, so in 1844, the Department of California Government of Mexico granted the rancho to Don Ygnacio Machado.
In order to get the rancho back into the family from Don Ygnacio Machado, Don Bruno, Don Antonio's brother, traded his house in the plaza for the Rancho Aguaje de Centinela one year after Don Machado acquired it. Don Bruno had poor luck with the rancho. It was sold prior to the sale of Rancho Sausal Redondo.
Sir Robert Burnett bought the two ranchos separately, paying $29,500 for Sausel Redondo, and $3000 for the Centinela Rancho. When the two ranchos were combined, the rancho Sausal Redondo lost its identity and became known as the Centinela Ranch. Sir Robert Burnett occupied the Avila Adobe on the Centinela Ranch. It was from here that he managed the 25,00 acres as a sheep ranch for thirty years.
In 1873, Sir Robert Burnett returned to Scotland. His successor to lease the land for $7,500 with an option to buy. He eventually purchased it from Burnett for $140,000. The final title was received in 1885. A portion had been purchased for $22,243 in 1882, however.
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Dan Freeman became a great benefactor and was responsible for the development of Inglewood and the surveying of Redondo Beach area. he planted more than 13,00 trees on the rancho. Most of the trees died, however, due to a lowering of the water level. Dan Freeman's estate was located in Inglewood at Redondo Boulevard (Florence Boulevard) and Hilcrest.16
The year after Dan Freeman acquired the rancho, a prolonged drought of two years hit the area. That was from 1874 to 1876. Many of the sheep died. Yje ranch was faced with financial ruin. It was decided to abandon the livestock and turn to dry farming. The area was then converted into an enormous 25,00 acres barely ranch. Four years later, in 1880, the ranch was producing a million bushels of barely a year which was shipped all lover North America.
