How our local schools and communities got their names
Local beauty queens at the Los Angeles County spring fair in 1951. (Photo by Los Angeles Examiner/USC Libraries/Corbis via Getty Images)
In 1875, Civil War veteran Nathaniel Robinson organized the Artesia School District in a two-story building with one classroom on each floor at 183rd Street and Alburtis Avenue. The schoolyard was split down the middle to separate the boys from the girls. In 1965, the Artesia district, the Bloomfield Elementary School District and Carmenita School District merged to form the ABC Unified School District.
Bellflower schools unified in 1956, five years after Bellflower High opened. Downey High opened in 1929 but the city didn’t form its own unified school district until 1961. Four years later, the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District was established following aunification election.
Disaster hit schools – Long Beach’s first high school burned down during Christmas break in 1918. Dozens of area schools were heavily damaged in the 1933 earthquake. Ruth Smith, who was then a student at Poly High, was eating dinner at home when the quake struck. Her family’s house survived but she was heartbroken when she saw that much of her school had collapsed.
Pioneers of the dress code for schools from the 1900s through the mid-1930s, Long Beach junior high and high school girls also wore uniforms, consisting of black or navy blue skirts and “middie” blouses. The stiffly starched white and navy blue blouses, which looked like sialor shirts complete with a neck kerchief and a striped flap in the back, were named after midshipmen. No one remembers the genesis of the uniforms, but they speculate that the choice of attire stemmed from the city’s reputation as a Navy town.
The girls complained that the middie blouses, which fell to their hips, were shapeless, so some of them tucked them in their skirts. Others rolled the blouses up and pinned them to create a sash-like effect across their waists.
■ How did the towns around Downey grow? In 1897, the hamlets or communities were little more than widely scattered spots in the road. Farmers hauled their crops by wagon to railheads in Downey and Norwalk. They watered their livestock at Artesia’s wells. Bellflower was a quiet farm town called Somerset and the tiny communities of Clearwater and Hynes were still a long way from uniting as Paramount.
Downey had a bumper crop of watermelons in a farm north of Florence Avenue near Gallatin Road about 100 years ago, as stated in the Press-Telegram on May 29, 1997. Lakewood was all sugar beets, alfalfa and livestock, as were Cerritos, Cypress, Hawaiian Gardens, Los Alamitos and Rossmoor.
■ Some questions we get at the History Center are how other cities got their names.
Avalon, founded in 1887 by George Shatto, took its name after King Arthur’s mythical paradise.
Artesia was named in 1870 by the Aresian Co., which drilled water wells in the area.
Bell, founded in 1898, was named for developed A. and J.G. Bell.
Bellflower, founded in the 1880s as Somerset, was renamed in 1909 for the bellefleur apples that grew locally.
Bell Gardens was settled in 1930 by Japanese-American tenant farmers and named for nearby Bell.
Carson was named for pioneer George Henry Carson, who owned Rancho Dominguez in the 1800s.
Cerritos, incorporated in 1956 as Dairy Valley, was renamed Cerritos in 1967.
Compton was founded in 1869 as a Methodist church colony by namesake Griffith D. Compton.
Cypress incorporated in 1956 as Dairy City and was renamed Cypress in 1957.
Downey was founded in 1873 by former California governor and namesake John Gately Downey.
Hawaiian Gardens was named for a popular fruit juice stand that stood at Norwalk Boulevard and Carson Street in the 1920s and 30s.
Huntington Park was founded in 1903 by developer E.V. Baker, who named it after his business partner, railroad and oil baron Henry E. Huntington.
Lakewood was named by Clark J. Bonner, owner of the Montana Ranch, in 1934, when he laid out his Lakewood Village and Lakewood Country Club subdivision, later developed into a planned suburban community from 1950-53 by Lakewood Park Co.
La Mirada was given the Spanish name for “glance” or “gaze” when it was founded as a train depot in 1888 by the Santa Fe Railroad.
La Palma, incorporated in 1955 as Dairland, was renamed La Palma the following year.
Long Beach was founded in 1882 as Willmore City by namesake William Willmore and it was renamed Long Beach in 1884 by pioneer Belle Lowe.
Los Alamitos was founded and named in 1897 by the owners of the Montana Ranch, who built a sugar mill and workers camp at the site and named it for the nearby Rancho Los Alamitos.
Lynwood was named in the late 1800s for Lynn Wood Sessions, the wife of the owner of the Lynwood Dairy.
Paramount was founded in 1886 as the communities of Clearwater and Hynes. It was named in 1931 by businessman Fred Petterson who won a contest that renamed Ocean Avenue as Paramount Boulevard. Hynes and Clearwater united in 1948 under the name Paramount.
Norwalk was founded in 1877 as Corvallis and renamed Norwalk in 1879 after North Walk, a trading trail that followed the San Gabriel River to the sea.
San Pedro was named by Spanish explorers who arrived in San Pedro Bay on Nov. 26, 1602, the feast day of San Pedro, or St. Peter. Founded in 1854 and incorporated in 1885, it was annexed by Los Angeles in 1909.
Santa Fe Springs was founded in 1873 by J.F. Fulton as the Fulton Sulphur Springs and Health Resort. It was renamed Santa Fe Springs in 1886 by the Santa Fe Railroad which bought the resort.
Seal Beach was settled in the 1870s as Anaheim Landing and later named Bay City. It was renamed Seal Beach in 1915 by developer Philip A. Stanton.
Signal Hill was named by 1800s smugglers who lighted bonfire signals on its heights. The site of the Southland’s first major oil strike in 1921.
South Gate was founded in 1918 and named for the azalea gardens that once graced the south gate of the Cudahy Ranch.
Wilmington was founded and named in 1863 by pioneer Phinneas Banning, a native of Wilmington, Delaware. Incorporated in 1905, it was annexed by Los Angeles in 1909.
Hope you learned something today. Don’t forget to visit the Downey History Museum.