Looking north on Spadra (now Harbor) in the 1920s with the newly-built California Hotel (now Villa Del Sol) and orange groves in the distance.
Photo courtesy of the Fullerton Public Library Local History Room.

Building Boom

Fullerton’s population doubled from 4,415 in 1920 to 10,860 by 1930. This prompted a building boom with iconic new buildings being built, such as the Fox Theater (1925), the California Hotel (1922), the Chapman Building (1923) and the Masonic Temple (1920). New housing subdivisions were being built, most of which had racially restrictive housing covenants that prevented non-whites from purchasing or renting property in them.

As Fullerton was building new homes, it also built separate residential facilities for its Mexican farm workers. On the Bastanchury Ranch, six small villages of some 30 families each were scattered about the property. Another Mexican camp was built near downtown on Balcom.

Education

In 1924, Fullerton had three grammar schools: one on Wilshire and Lawrence (now a Fullerton College parking lot), Ford School (now senior housing next to Ford Park), and Chapman School (on Lemon and Chapman, now a Fullerton College sculpture garden). Maple School opened in 1924.

Separate schools were built in the migrant camps for Mexican farm workers and their children.

Fullerton High School was built in its current location after the previous high school building burned down in 1910.

Industry

In the 1920s, Fullerton’s two primary industries were oranges and oil. Citrus was king. The Bastanchury ranch (the Sunny Hills area today) was touted as the largest orange grove in the world, at 2,600 acres. The 376 oil wells in the Fullerton fields in the northern part of town produced a monthly average of 325,000 barrels.

Culture and Leisure

Fullertonians saw movies at the Rialto Theater downtown for culture and entertainment. The Chapman Theater (later called the Fox Theater) was under construction and would open in 1925. Clubs and fraternal organizations (many of which still exist today) were popular, including the Ebell Club, the Masons, the Odd Fellows, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), the American Legion, Kiwanis, the Woman’s Club, and the Rotary Club.

Fullerton had three parks: Santa Fe Park (now the parking lot behind the train station), Commonwealth Park (now Amerige Park), and Hillcrest Park, which also served as an “auto camp” for tourists.

Sports

By far, the biggest local sporting event was a fundraising game in Brea featuring baseball legends Walter Johnson (who went to Fullerton High School), Babe Ruth, and other big-league players, which drew around 15,000 spectators.

Local athlete Glenn Hartranft placed second in the shot put at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Immigration

Calvin Coolidge was president of the United States and signed into law the Immigration Act of 1924 (the Johnson-Reed Act), a profoundly racist law celebrated by eugenics proponents and white supremacists that barred immigrants from Asia and created quotas that severely limited immigration from countries that weren’t northern European (i.e., white).

Interestingly, the law excluded Western hemisphere countries. Mexicans, then, were still allowed to cross the border quite easily, as they were seen as indispensable to agriculture and other industries and tended to be more temporary migrant workers.

Local Politics/Ku Klux Klan

In 1924, the Ku Klux Klan saw a major resurgence, had around five million members, and was a major political force outside the South, including in Orange County.

A 1979 UCLA doctoral dissertation entitled The Invisible Government and the Viable Community: The Ku Klux Klan in Orange County, California During the 1920s by Christopher Cocoltchos states, “Councilman W.A. Moore, Judge French, and Superintendent of Schools Plummer joined the Klan in the latter part of 1923…Civic leaders were especially eager to join. Seven of the eighteen councilmen who served on the council between 1918 and 1930 were Klansmen.”

Ku Klux Klan rallies drawing thousands took place throughout Orange County in 1924, including at least two large meetings at what is now Amerige Park, across the street from what is now City Hall.

Local businessman Dan O’Hanlon, who was Irish Catholic, attended one of these rallies and was unhappy with the Klan speaker’s denunciations of Catholicism, so he shouted “Liar!” during the speech.

To protect O’Hanlon from mob violence, police held him briefly at the city jail. That night, a cross was burned on his lawn.

Meanwhile, the Fullerton Rotary Club passed a resolution condemning the Ku Klux Klan.

Prohibition

Prohibition was in full effect in 1924. Local officials struggled to prevent bootlegging. Jail records indicate numerous arrests for selling liquor, and raids on bootleggers were not uncommon.

This is a summary of Jesse La Tour’s talk at the Fullerton Public Library on September 21. To learn more about local history, visit his website: www.fullertonhistory.com and the Fullerton Public Library’s Local History Room, open Tuesday- Friday, 11 am-1 pm.

Pacific Electric train bridge welcoming visitors to Fullerton on Spadra (near Berkeley) was torn down in 1964.
photo courtesy of the Fullerton Public Library Local History Room

Pacific Electric train bridge welcoming visitors to Fullerton on Spadra (near Berkeley) was torn down in 1964.
photo courtesy of the Fullerton Public Library Local History Room

Fullerton Grammar School on Wilshire and Lawrence is now a Fullerton College parking lot.
photo courtesy of the Fullerton Public Library Local History Room

Commonwealth Park (now called Amerige Park) across Commonwealth from City Hall, the 1920s.
photo courtesy of the Fullerton Public Library Local History Room

1923 photo of oil fields north of town.
Photo courtesy of the Fullerton Public Library Local History Room