The Gaines and Brown Families of Carbon Canyon, Part 10: Olinda Village Middle School Students, ca. 1913

This coming Monday the 27th marks the first day of school in the Brea-Olinda Unified School District, so this is a good time to highlight another great photograph, courtesy of descendant Joyce Harrington and her collection from the Gaines and Brown families of Carbon Canyon, of students from the original Olinda School.

Dated to 1912 or 1913, the image shows 7th and 8th graders of the school, which served the residents of the Olinda community, largely based around the oil producing areas surrounding the campus.  The view shows 35 students and their teacher Mr. Turley standing (and, in a few cases, seated) at the steps to the open front doors of the school building.

A list of those shown in the photo was also provided and is shown here, including the names of twins Ora and Nora Brown and Aileen Gaines from the two families from which Joyce is descended.  It is interesting to peruse the first names of the students to see how different they are from today's names.  So, we are not likely now to see such examples as Earl, Hattie, Oscar, Herman, Wilfred, Willard, Frances, Myrtle, Bessie, Olive, Edna, Ernest, or Walter!

Reflective of the demographics of the community, only two of the students are Latino with the rest being White.  In 1910, there were just under 1,500 residents of Olinda and 88% were White with 8% being Latino. 

Another demographic point of note is that there were only 14 girls in the class, constituting 40% of the total.  This is a bit lower that the representation of females in the Olinda population at large, which was 44% in the census.  Given that Olinda was an "oil town," this is not that surprising broadly, because many single men worked in the fields, but that doesn't account for the disparity in the student population at the school, so that might just be an anomaly.

It is also interesting to look at how the students were dressed, considering this was probably a very rare "formal" occasion for them.  Note that quite a few of the boys sport ties (one has a natty bow tie) and some have the short pants common for the time.  Yet, a number wear the overalls expected in a working-class and rural community, though some spruced up their look by adding some neckwear.  The young gent at the far right of the top row even thought it good to accessorize his look with his baseball glove on his left hand!

The boys do have some variation in color, but check out the absolute uniformity of the girls, with one notable exception, when it comes to clothing color.  All wear radiant and pure white, while the girl third from the right in the middle row strikes a sartorial note of difference with a long-sleeve dress of a color that is not white.  Hairstyles, though, do vary and a couple of the young ladies did add hair bands to make their appearance distinctive and one girl in the front row set her self apart with her white hose and shoes.

School portraits, from any place in any era, are always interesting to look at in terms of the elements discussed above, but also as comparisons and contrasts to what we see today.

A Turn of Events at Tres Hermanos Ranch

The situation has evolved yet again at Tres Hermanos Ranch, situated in Tonner Canyon just north of Carbon Canyon.  Long owned by the City of Industry's redevelopment agency and subject to a purchase by the City after the dissolution of those agencies by the state, the ranch was then earmarked for a solar farm.

The cities of Chino Hills and Diamond Bar separately filed lawsuits challenging the sale on several grounds concerning this proposed plan without consulting the cities with respect to existing general plans and others.

Recently, however, came news in late July through the San Gabriel Valley Tribune that the City of Industry, which has undergone major administrative changes, has abandoned the solar farm plan, though it is not clear if the concept of some use of the ranch for solar power generation is totally jettisoned.

Yesterday, a new shift was announced in the form of an article in the Tribune that Industry has made overtures on some form of a joint partnership concerning the future of the 2,500-acre ranch, about 70% of which is in Chino Hills and the remainder in Diamond Bar.  The article indicated that discussions have yielded progress with an agreement nearing completion toward a joint powers authority.  There has been a Tres Hermanos Conservation Authority in the past, so it appears this would be a new entity with Industry having a more direct and formal repersentation.

One of the issues is the $42 million price tag which was attached to the ranch when a deal was made to sell the former redevelopment property to Industry and whether it would ask the other cities to help defray portions of that cost.  Industry is seeking to end a lease agreement with a firm hired to develop plans for the now-scuttled solar farm but is being challenged by that company, San Gabriel Valley Water and Power, LLC.

While specifics of the discussions were not provided by any of the cities, Chino Hills City Manager Rad Bartlam called the talks so far "genuine" and found them encouraging, stating that the several weeks of meetings would, hopefully, lead to a result "we can all live with."  Industry leaders have expressed hope for use of Tres Hermanos for a public purpose, with green energy still an interest of some of them.

Jim Gallagher of Save Tres Hermanos Ranch and a recent candidate for a Chino Hills City Council seat, however, expressed suspicion about the latest news, citing the possibility of housing needs assessments leading to Chino Hills and Diamond Bar eyeing at least parts of the ranch for development.  Instead, Gallagher and others with the advocacy group are pushing to preserve the ranch as part of a nature corridor linking the Puente and Chino hills ranges.

As the Tres Hermanos situation continues to develop, look for more here.