Back in spring 2010, this blog featured a post (see http://boyleheightshistoryblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/historic-houses-of-boyle-heights-joseph.html) on the 1882 house of Joseph M. Workman, cousin of Boyle Heights founder William H. Workman. By 1895, however, Joseph Workman lost the house, located at 451 South Boyle Avenue, to foreclosure and the home was occupied by others, including saddler Allan Ball and…
The Los Angeles County Crematory Cemetery
t is little understood but, at 1st and Lorena streets at the southeast corner of the original grounds of Evergreen Cemetery, which is operated by a private company and has been since 1877, there is a separate parcel operating as the Los Angeles County Crematory Cemetery and which has served indigent residents interred at the…
Evergreen Cemetery: The First Corporate Cemetery in Los Angeles
Although settled in 1781, the pueblo of Los Angeles did not have its own cemetery until the establishment of the Plaza Church. Prior to that, the denizens of the sparsely populated hamlet, were interred at Mission San Gabriel, ten miles east. The first recorded burial “in the cemetery of the church in the pueblo” was…
Historic Photos of Boyle Heights: Hollenbeck Park
Easily the most photographed and publicized part of Boyle Heights from the 1890s onward was Hollenbeck Park, a twenty-one acre City of Los Angeles park created in 1892. Following national and international trends, the city actively embarked on a park development program starting in the 188os. Hollenbeck followed such early parks as Central (created as…
Occidental College: Born in Boyle Heights!
s Los Angeles experienced its first large-scale development boom, known as the “Boom of the Eighties”, between 1886 and 1888, Boyle Heights was part of the hysteria. Though founded by William H. Workman, Isaias W. Hellman and John Lazzarovich in 1875, the community stagnated for a decade following the collapse of the city’s first growth…
Boyle Heights and the Mexican-American War
America’s first war of imperialism, the Mexican-American War, reached Los Angeles in August 1846 when forces led by Commodore Robert F. Stockton (for whom the Central Valley city is named) quietly entered on the afternoon of the 12th and took possession of the town. Stockton remained in Los Angeles until September 3 when he departed…
Workman Family Papers
The Department of Archives and Special Collections, William H. Hannon Library, Loyola Marymount University, holds the Workman Family Papers, an archival collection of importance to all persons interested in the history of Boyle Heights. William H. Workman was the chief developer of Boyle Heights in the late nineteenth century, and the records of his development…
Historic Photos of Boyle Heights: The Robert and Carlota Wirsching House
Still standing at 539 Brittania Street, although stuccoed and significantly altered, the Robert and Carlota Wirsching House is one of the older houses of Boyle Heights that dates to the late 19th-century. Like many houses, the Queen Anne-style structure has an interesting story relating to its original owners.
Historic Photos of Boyle Heights: The Joseph M. Workman House
As has been stated previously on this blog, Boyle Heights was developed in the 1870s and afterward with an eye to attracting well-to-do residents of Los Angeles. Boyle Avenue, in particular, had a number of large, well-appointed “Victorian” houses built among it, many of which survive. In some cases, some of the early houses became…
Historic Photos of Boyle Heights: The William H. Workman House
Last month’s post concerned the 1858 brick home of Andrew Boyle, namesake of Boyle Heights. After Boyle’s death in 1871, the house passed on to his daughter, Maria (pronounced Mariah) and her husband, William Henry Workman. Four years later, Workman subdivided much of the Boyle property and created the community of Boyle Heights.