Mystery History

I'm not including a Mystery History photo this week because I'm on vacation beginning tomorrow.

Instead, here's a historic photo of a "Merry Xmas" decorated arch over the Colorado Street Bridge.


And, going back much further, here's a wonderful excerpt recounting the first Christmas in the Indiana Colony from the 1917 book "Pasadena: Historical and Personal" by J.W. Wood.

There came the first Christmas when all made merry as best they could. There was no snow like "back home," of course, and it seemed unreal. It did not seem to the children that Santa Claus could ever come to them away off here; for how could he drive a sleigh where there was no snow? Yet they gathered in each other's homes and recounted memories of past Christmases and told yarns of the old times. Perhaps, this first Christmas, there were some tears shed; but, all in all, the first year of the Colony brought with it encouragement and some content; and certainly the hopes of the settlers were not diminished even if mingled with some alloy.

Have a wonderful holiday, everybody!

I'll be back next week when Mystery History will continue.

Mystery History -- Solved

Mike wins with his 7:37 a.m. Tuesday guess "Looks like an event in preparation to build the new & improved Colorado St bridge in 1951."

In the photo above, a ground-breaking ceremony is taking place in May 1951 for the "new" Colorado Street Bridge, which by the time it opened would be renamed Pioneers Bridge.

Caltrans had called for the Colorado Street Bridge to be demolished because a more sturdy bridge with a larger number of lanes was going to be built. It would be called the New Colorado Street Bridge.

But the people of Pasadena protested vehemently, Caltrans backed off and the beloved bridge was saved.

Caltrans then decided to build a completely separate bridge, parallel to the historic landmark.

By the way, I'm not sure that if this photo were taken today we'd see a little tot playing directly underneath that gigantic earth mover!

Mystery History -- Solved

Tammy wins with her 8:30 a.m. guess on Tuesday: “The freeway bridge being built next to the Colorado bridge.”

When the Foothill (210) Freeway was planned in the early 1950s, the California Department of Transportation made known its intention to demolish the Colorado Street Bridge. But after much public outcry and appeals from the City of Pasadena and other organizations, Caltrans allowed the bridge to stand and built their own bridge parallel to it.

Pasadena Pioneers Bridge is named for the party of settlers led by Dr. T.B. Elliot, a physician who held meetings in his Indianapolis home for people interested in moving to California and settling where the sun would shine year-round. After extensive fact-finding, the party of settlers came by train, then boat, then wagons to what became the Indiana Colony.

Ground was broken for Pioneers Bridge in 1951. By then, daily traffic on the Colorado Street Bridge was causing stress to that structure to the point where traffic was not allowed during peak hours.

Here’s Pioneers Bridge under construction:


It is 1,364 feet long with three spans and is 131 feet tall. More than 41,000 cubic feet of concrete were used on the project, which includes 5.5 million pounds of reinforced steel. Total cost was $6.5 million. At that time it was the largest bridge ever built by the State of California.

The dedication ceremony on Oct. 8, 1953, was spectacular. The 2 p.m. event included a parade, entertainment and plenty of speechifying. What made it particularly monumental was the presence of a handful of surviving pioneers and many descendants.

The opening signal was given by 95-year-old Jennie Hollingsworth Giddings, whose father had been the first to purchase a lot in the Lake Vineyard area of the colony after owner Benjamin "Don Benito" Wilson parceled off his ranch.

Later in the proceedings the ribbon was cut by Alice Eaton Smith, whose father, Judge Benjamin Eaton, had been a pillar of the Indiana Colony. As she cut the ribbon, Mrs. Smith said, “I dedicate this structure as Pasadena Pioneers Bridge to the memory of all Pasadena pioneers, especially to the 27 founders of the city.”

Here's a photo taken that day:


Other second-generation Pasadenans in attendance were Don C. Porter, Sidney A. Bristol, Lola Bristol Edmondson, Mrs. P.N. Giddings, Miss Barbara Baker, Mrs. John B. Johnson and William B. Hutton.

Additional guests, all introduced by Clarence A. Winder, mayor and chairman of the board of city directors, included California Governor Goodwin J. Knight, members of the U.S. House of Representatives, officials from the California Highway Commission and mayors of neighboring cities.

The keynote speech was given by Harrison R. Baker, vice chairman of the California Highway Commission.

Here’s an excerpt:

Upon another historic date, Dec. 13, 1913, the beautiful Colorado Street Bridge was completed and opened to use – stately in the artistry of its design and adequate for the traffic needs of its day – another step forward. Another landmark in the march of Pasadena’s progress, this great, graceful structure became one of the best-known bridge structures in the west, and stands today as a tribute to the energy and foresight of the pioneers of that day.

They planned so well that we are now preserving this fine old bridge and incorporating it into the freeway pattern of which the new bridge is a part, for the purpose of carrying a parallel service road across the Arroyo Seco.

Today’s ceremony is more than a dedication of a great new structure – it is a dedication in honor of the spirit of the pioneers – particularly that of the 27 founders of Pasadena, but also of the host of other pioneers whose vision and energy have contributed to the building of the community as we know it today.

As to the physical feature of the new bridge, it will combine a modern, new, functional motor vehicle traffic facility with distinctive architectural beauty in harmony with the old companion bridge and with the community character of Pasadena.

The California Highway Commission has been acquiring right-of-way to extend this freeway westerly from Patrician Way to Eagle Vista Drive in the Eagle Rock section of Los Angeles. We hope to construct this link shortly which will give Pasadena a freeway approach from the west connecting with the four-lane divided highway section of Colorado Boulevard through Eagle Rock extending to Glendale.”

I just love old postcards:



This poem, by James W. Foley, was printed on the back page of the program for the day’s festivities:

To the Pioneers of Pasadena

Let us tell of the Pioneers, of the steadfast women and men
Who dreamed a city that should be fair and went and builded it then.
Let us tell of the Pioneers, who came on a barren place
And grubbed and plowed and planted the earth and gave it a smiling face.

Who made it a garden from scrub and sage.
Let us write the names on a golden page
Of the dauntless souls of the hard, lean years,
Let us tell of the Pioneers.

Let us carve us a stone to stand, where the story of them is told,
And mount upon it a granite hand that shall hold a heart of gold.
The hand that grubbed and planted and plowed and made us a grove to grow,
And the heart that was golden with worth and proud that its Master had made it so,

To dream the city that was to be,
To build the house and to plant the tree,
Let us carve us a stone to stand
In the midst of the garden land.

Let us lift up a song of praise and kneel in grateful prayer,
For those who found but a barren land and dreamed of a city fair,
Where mountains rise to the blue of skies and where valleys stretch afar
To the tides of sea, the city to be, where the groves and gardens are.

And ours with a spirit proud and free
To build the greater city to be,
To cherish through all the years
The dreams of the Pioneers.

Foley had been poet laureate of North Dakota before moving to Southern California. He died in 1939 and is buried at Forest Lawn.



Many thanks to Pasadena Public Library and Los Angeles Public Library.

Mystery History -- Solved

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner! Actually, two.

Mike was the first to log in a guess with "Looks like the Colorado St Bridge. People crossing the bridge by old car. Others crossing by foot, or perhaps preparing to take a leap of faith. 1913, or at least back in the last century."

Minutes later, Liz guessed "it's the opening day celebration of the Colorado street bridge."

The photo above ran in the Los Angeles Examiner in 1913.

It doesn't specify that the photo was taken on opening day, but since the bridge was dedicated Dec. 13, 1913, and there were few days remaining in that calendar year, I figure that for the purposes of Mystery History and Mike and Liz, it's close enough. (Our library researchers are twitching as they read this!)

At that time the Colorado Street Bridge was the longest and highest concrete arch bridge in the world.

Here's the bridge in 1920 (note the tiny Parker Mayberry Bridge that runs below it).

The mighty structure was preceded by the Scoville Bridge, built in 1887.

Here's the Scoville Bridge next to the Colorado Street Bridge (under construction):

J.W. Wood was an eyewitness to the history of the bridge, and you'll find his carefully detailed information on page 389 of his book "Pasadena, California: Historical and Personal":

Perhaps the most notable achievement, outside the Polytechnic High School group, for which the Board of Trade labored was the Colorado Street Bridge. It has not only contributed much to the popularity of the city, making it a link in the splendid automobile driveway that lures thousands of pleasure seekers along the great valley boulevard, but is in itself a thing of beauty. Constructed of reinforced concrete in a substantial way, it has not lost beauty of lines and curves in its substantiality. It is said to be one of the great concrete bridges of the United States, being 1,468 feet in length and 160 feet above the Arroyo bottom at its highest span. The cost was $200,000, with something added for the land approaches. As this bridge was to be part of the county boulevard system, the supervisors appropriated $100,000 toward the cost of construction.*

A propaganda for bonds to pay for this project was undertaken by the Board of Trade. Harry Geohegan was president of the board and A. Bertonneau secretary. I must give these men the credit of organizing an effective campaign. President Geohegan appointed a committee of twenty-five members of the board to determine whether this bridge should be built on a level with Colorado Street or at a lower level. Some objections had to be met, for certain residents near by believed their property would be damaged by the nearness of the bridge. These urged the "low" structure, but the committee decided upon the "high," and determined, with the assistance of the engineer's office and architect, the place of beginning, its course and landing spot. Its completion vindicated their judgment. W.F. Knight was chairman of the campaign committee, and to his insistence and determination many opposing opinions were overcome and to his diplomacy belongs much much credit for placating the strenuous ones. It required a hard campaign to induce the voter to accept the proposition, but it was accomplished by a vote of 5,270 for and 813 against. Upon the adjustment of a case where condemnation proceedings were found necessary the Colorado Street approach to this bridge will be widened to double its present width, and this approach will then be beautified and parked and made much more attractive than it is now. At this same election the purchase of Monk Hill and Carmelita for park purposes were beaten.

* Suggestive plans had been voluntarily made by the engineering firm of Williams & Nishkian and submitted by them for approval. Mayor Thum, however, appointed Fred E. Wilcox as his architectural adviser and Waddell and Harrington was employed to make others. These differed little from the Williams & Nishkian plans, however, but were accepted by the Mayor, and everything arranged for a vote upon the project.

Engineer John Alexander Waddell and contractor John Drake Mercereau collaborated on the phenomenal feat.

The bridge was constructed between July 1912 and December 1913 -- a quarter century before the Golden Gate Bridge. Up to 100 workers at a time were paid $2 to $4.50 a day to do the construction work. It wasn't without personal cost, though: Four men lost their lives after falsework on which they were standing collapsed.

(There's a popular ghost story -- total urban legend -- that goes like this: A worker on the Colorado Street Bridge fell head-first into wet concrete that had been poured into one of the bridge pilings. The other workers, realizing they'd never reach him in time to save him, left his body in the quick-drying cement. On very dark nights, his howling soul can be heard pleading to be released from the bridge's confines.)

I've always liked this 1940 postcard:

The aerial shot on this undated postcard shows the dramatic curvature of the Colorado Street Bridge (the one to the south):

The Colorado Street Bridge was named a historical civil engineering landmark in 1975 by the American Society of Civil Engineers, a cultural heritage landmark by the Pasadena City Council in 1979 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.

The bridge has had almost as many lives as that proverbial cat! It was set to be demolished in 1935 to make way for a freeway that never happened (at that time, anyway). Then in 1951, when the Foothill (210) Freeway became a real possibility, Caltrans called for the bridge to be demolished, but the public outcry was so loud that Caltrans finally backed off and built their own bridge right next to the historic structure.

The Colorado Street bridge was closed in 1989 due to safety hazards, two years after the Whittier Narrows earthquake.

With the dedicated leadership of Pasadena Heritage, officials in the Pasadena Public Works Department and citizens in the community, funds were raised and spirits were lifted as plans began to take shape for total rehabilitation of the bridge. It was stripped down to its 11 arches, the entire superstructure was rebuilt and the underground supports were strengthened. It reopened in 1994 with great fanfare.

For many years Pasadena Heritage has held an annual summer celebration on the Colorado Street Bridge. This year a smaller yet no less important celebration was held. I'm told the major event will return next summer.

St. Paul, Minnesota, also has a Colorado Street Bridge listed on the National Register of Historic Places:





Many thanks to Pasadena Public Library.

It's Positively Prophetic

One of my favorite local history books is the 565-page "Pasadena, California, Historical and Personal: A Complete History of the Organization of the Indiana Colony" by early Pasadena historian and newspaperman J.W. Wood, published in 1917.

The subtitle is "Its Establishment on the Rancho San Pascual and Its Evolution into the City of Pasadena, Including a Brief Story of San Gabriel Mission, the Story of the Boom and Its Aftermath, and the Political Changes and Personages Involved in this Transformation. Churches, Societies, Homes, etc. Brought Down to Date and Fully Illustrated."

I encourage you to visit the book (there are several copies) in the Centennial Room at Pasadena Central Library. You can't check it out and take it home, but why would you want to when that wonderful room beckons you to sit down and stay awhile?


I love every single page of this detailed, fascinating book, but I want to share with you the final passage titled "A Prognosis."

Remember, this was in 1917:

But of the future? It may require no prophetic vision to see it. Invention and genius, well applied, will confer their magic, and we can in our horoscope, discern clearly a rehabilitation that will give to this community a new fame. There will be no trolleys nor tracks to impede traffic or mar the landscape; no unsightly poles to create objurgations. A great city will fill the valley and the foothills, from Altadena to Los Angeles, and there will be one ambition besetting its inhabitants -- that it will be the best of all cities! Noisy trolley cars and nerve-wrecking gasoline autos will be replaced with a wonderful new motive power vehicle -- an invention by a genius educated at Throop. A new library, a new Parthenon, will rear its classic walls above a grassy Acropolis. Within its doors endless stacks of books will lure the reader from far and wide, and in it the student will have his cozy corner to browse at his content. A city hall of splendid architecture will adorn the proper spot and cause the citizen to glow with pride at its mention. In one of the parks will be a heroic bronze representing, in allegory, the Pioneer and the things he wrought. A casino, the forum where civic affairs are discussed by the citizens, and where the city band of forty-eight pieces will play each day, will be an accomplished fact -- at last! Children's playgrounds everywhere; public baths in various convenient sections in the city will add to the good cheer of the people, and there will be citizens filled with wisdom -- the wise men of the town -- who will be ready at all times to devote their spare time to the betterment of the community -- men whose highest aim is patriotism and civic pride. Colorado Street will become the real Via Crucis and Appian Way of a better age, and there bazaars of trade and the rounds of fashion will call the men and women in daily parade -- bent upon errands of business and display of styles. There will be a municipal theater where talent of the highest will tempt both wise men and busy women to relaxation and enjoyment and fortify them for sterner duties.

The coming New Zealander (or New Englander) who will pause, leaning upon the parapet of the Colorado Street bridge, will gaze with eager appreciation upon a city throbbing with joyous existence -- the epitome of civic problems wrought to happy conclusion, and a citizenry filled with purposeful ideals. And thus the dreams of the civic idealist will have been accomplished! So mote it be!

Many thanks to Pasadena Public Library for use of the Centennial Room photo.

Mystery History -- Solved

Nobody got it right on the money but Ben came closest with his answer "first bridge over the Arroyo Seco." He wins a fabulous prize! (Ben, I don't have an email address for you, so please email me at aerdman@cityofpasadena.net and I'll let you know what you've won.)

From the late 1880s to 1913 the Scoville Bridge served as the first and only reliable link between the west and east sides of the Arroyo Seco. It stood within a few yards from where the Colorado Street Bridge is today.

The bridge connected Arroyo Drive (now Arroyo Boulevard) on the east side to a country road that ran along what is now Colorado Boulevard on the west side.

The opening of the bridge represented a whole new world to people who wanted to get from Pasadena to Glendale and vice versa.

The privately owned trestle bridge was part of the Scoville Dam, Bridge and Water Works (you can see the bridge at center left below, peeking out from the trees).


James W. Scoville was a real estate developer, businessman and philanthropist in Oak Park, Ill. (near Chicago), who came to Pasadena along with many other captains of industry in the late 1800s. In suburban Chicago he had been vice president of the Elgin Watch Company and president of the Prairie State Bank. After moving to Pasadena, he was an early trustee of Throop University, which would later become Caltech.


Before the existence of the Scoville Bridge, the only way to get from one side of the arroyo to the other was by riding a horse or walking along trails down the steep embankments, crossing the stream and climbing up the other side. The area was prone to landslides and floods, so it was often a precarious proposition.

The Arroyo Seco was not public land at the time. A land boom in Pasadena in 1886 -- the year the city was incorporated -- was followed by a depression during which James W. Scoville and his son, Charles Burton Scoville, hired workers to construct the dam, bridge and pump house. This project kept otherwise unemployed workers busy for some time.

The pump house sent water from the pond behind the dam up the banks of the Arroyo Seco to irrigate the Scoville family's orange and avocado groves.

The bridge was washed away by storm waters in 1914. The good news was that the mighty Colorado Street Bridge had opened for traffic in 1913.

For the sake of perspective, here's the mighty Colorado Street Bridge under construction near the Scoville Bridge.


The Scoville bridge, dam and pump house are included in an application submitted two years ago by Pasadena Heritage in hopes of having the Pasadena Arroyo Parks and Recreation District included on the National Register of Historic Places. It became official in November 2008.

Remnants of the Scoville project can be seen to this day under the Colorado Street Bridge.

Many thanks to Pasadena Public Library and Pasadena Museum of History for use of the photos.