How Heil Avenue got its name

Vernon C. Heil in the 1940s.

Heil Avenue – which runs through Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley -- was named for local rancher, World War I veteran and civic leader Vernon Chester Heil.

Heil lived on what is now Beach Boulevard from the 1920s until his death in 1951. He was elected president of the Orange County Farm Bureau in 1942. Heil also served on the boards of the Orange County National Farm Loan Association, the Orange County Production Credit Association, and the Smeltzer Lima Bean Growers association and was a longtime board member for the Orange County Water District. He was active in Rotary, the Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce, and the First Presbyterian Church, and he served as a county highway foreman. He was also a big supporter of 4-H. During WWII he was active in the civil defense program and was on the local rationing board.

Heil Avenue acquired its name sometime between 1924 and 1932. (Yes, that’s well before WWII taught us all another connotation for the word “heil.”) The avenue’s name had previously been Gerhart Street. People probably started calling the street Heil simply because Vernon was one of the more prominent citizens whose property fronted the road. This wouldn’t have been uncommon. Many of our streets’ names honor those who laid the groundwork for the development of our communities: from Yorba to Newland to Kraemer to Spurgeon.

Approaching Heil Ave. in 1966, possibly on Brookhurst St. or Beach Blvd. (Brookhurst Dairy in foreground)

Vernon was born in Talbert (now Fountain Valley) in 1895 to Louis and Elizabeth Heil, who were themselves both children of German immigrants. Louis had fought for the Union during the Civil War.

Vernon grew up working alongside his parents on a farm near Westminster. In those days, it was hard to tell whether to count some of the unincorporated farmlands in the area as Westminster, Talbert, or Smeltzer.

Vernon Heil married Ruth Elizabeth Allen in Santa Ana in 1923 and they purchased property on Beach just south of Edinger Avenue in 1924. There, they raised beans and two sons: Robert (1924-2010) and William (1927-1975). Vernon Heil lived at this location, near today’s Heil Avenue, until his death in 1951. His son Robert later wrote a book about their family, entitled, One Heil of a Family.

WEIRD QUASI-RELATED SIDEBAR: Another local Heil was Vernon’s uncle, Frank J. Heil. Frank was a brick mason from Gospel Swamp who ran unsuccessfully for the office of County Assessor in 1894. In fact, he finished last in the race, behind candidates Jacob Ross Jr. and David F. Greenleaf, and far behind the winner, incumbent Frank Vegely. However, the three losers in that long-forgotten election each have a modern Orange County street bearing their name: Ross and Greenleaf Streets in Santa Ana, and Heil Ave in Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley.