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| Fairview Farms brochure, 1921 |
Nearby Harper was already a well-established little community when the Bryan & Bradford Company and Hamilton Henry "Ham" Cotton paid more than $290,000 for 1,020 acres of Mary Banning Norris' adjacent ranchland in March 1913. They then dug a well on Henry Meyer's adjoining property, which they also purchased. They subdivided all their property here as the Fairview Farms tract.
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| The Fairview Farms tract map |
The 1150-acre Fairview Farms tract extends from the bluffs above the Santa Ana River on the west, to Newport Blvd on the east. The northern boundary is just above Wilson Avenue. The western half of the southern boundary runs along Hamilton Avenue, and the eastern half of the southern boundary runs along 19th Street. Most lots are ten acres or thereabouts and were intended for small farms.
The Los Angeles real estate firm of E. P. Bryan and Luther T. Bradford had been active since at least 1909. Their partner in this investment, financier and oil man Hamilton Cotton, would later become the namesake of Hamilton Avenue as well as a key figure in San Clemente's early history. (Cotton's beachside home in San Clemente plaid host to the likes of F.D.R. and would eventually become Nixon's Western Whitehouse.)
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| The Fairview Farms Water Co. standpipe on the south side of Victoria on the edge of the bluffs, 1913 |
Bryan & Bradford didn't put the Fairview Farms lots on sale until they'd supplied them all with access to water, which took about six months. They relied primarily on three twelve-inch, 280-foot-deep artesian wells they bored near the Santa Ana River along what's now Hamilton Avenue in today's southeast Huntington Beach. They also constructed a reservoir at the northwest corner of 19th Street and Placentia Avenue and a system of distributing the water. Each lot, as it was sold, would come with shares in the new Fairview Farms Water Co. This foresight regarding water is a key reason Harper and Fairview Farms survived, in contrast to the defunct nearby town of Fairview (1887-1903), from which Fairview Farm took its name.
The Fairview Farms Company incorporated on September 24, 1913 for the dual purposes of tending farms for absentee property owners (investors) and to establish a packing house and a marketing operation to sell produce grown and packed at Fairview Farms. They had capital stock of $10,000 and the directors were fellow Harper pioneers and apple growers Howard B. Woodrough and Donald J. Dodge, and George W. Clemson of Los Angeles. Bryan & Bradford agreed to give the new company a nearby site along the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks on which to build a packing house. Early crops in the area included barley, watermelons, lemons, grapefruit, pears, apples, peaches, plums, apricots, avocados, beans, tomatoes, corn, alfalfa, berries, rhubarb and walnuts.
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| Howard Woodrough in his apple orchard, 1913 |
In 1914, the Fairview Farms Association (not to be confused with the company or the tract) was organized by local landowners and residents looking to improve the community and support each other. The group began at a Sunday school meeting at the home of Charles E. and Ethel D. Greenamyer when the topic of "helpfulness" was raised. The assembled neighbors agreed that Mrs. Greenamyer and another neighbor, Della Rountree, had been "angels of mercy" as they all tried to establish themselves in this remote and desolate area. The idea was put forth to expand upon their spirit of neighborly helpfulness a community organization dedicated to that purpose. Soon, Dr. James William Wherry -- already president of the water company -- was elected president of the new Fairview Farms Association. The group began with about twenty members.
The Association's monthly meetings were held in various members' homes and were half social and half business, including reports on farm and home-related issues and infrastructure development like much-needed road-paving, telephone service, rural delivery and electricity. The members of the Fairview Farms Association even brought in expert speakers on subjects of importance to the community.
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| Real estate ad from Santa Ana Register, 10-23-1920 |
The Association also arranged tours, where members toured each other's farms to take inspiration from their neighbors and to see what farming techniques worked the best in their area. They also organized and attended "out of town" field trips where they learned how other farming communities coped with issues similar to their own. In the fall, they held a fair and free fried chicken dinner where everyone showed off their best produce and livestock in a friendly rivalry. The positive impact of the Fairview Farms Association was such that in 1917 it was an important point of inspiration for a new county-wide cooperative that brought the state Farm Advisor program to Orange County.
At one point, it seemed that the areas surrounding Harper -- Fairview Farms and Newport Mesa on one side of Newport Blvd, and Newport Heights on the other side -- might go their separate ways if ever it came time to incorporate. They had developed as separate entities with separate interests and they still saw themselves that way.
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| Building the reservoir at the northwest corner 19th St. and Placentia Ave., 1913 |
But Dr. Wherry held a meeting at the Harper church of the leading citizens from both sides of the Boulevard. He addressed the crowd with obviously false earnestness. "What manner of people are these that live upon the other side?" he began, with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek. "They come not out against us, neither are they friendly with us." His speech drew laughs, diffused tensions, and laid the groundwork for creation of the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce and arguably for the City of Costa Mesa as we know it. (The town of Harper changed its name to Costa Mesa in 1920.)
Over the years, additional community organizations were spun off from the Fairview Farms Association, including the Fairview Citrus Farm Association, which in turn gave birth to the Fairview Farms Fumigation Association.
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| Real estate ad in Los Angeles Tribune, 10-7-1913 |
But by May of 1923 -- a year after the tract's last lots were sold and as Costa Mesa grew -- the members of the Fairview Farms Association came to the conclusion that their organization had served its purpose. Many of their goals had been met, and it seemed that these spun-off organizations, along with the local Woman's Club and, most importantly, the new Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce, would carry on the Association's "precepts and teachings." The Association disbanded, but it was decided that they would still meet annually for a memorial picnic.
Costa Mesa's incorporation finally came in 1953, on the cusp of Orange County's post-war boom. The new city's boundaries included much of all three long-established (and once divided) tracts. Subsequent annexations soon brought the rest of Fairview Farms under the Costa Mesa umbrella as well. Now largely covered in housing tracts, shopping centers, schools, and other modern development, there's not much farming going on at Fairview Farms anymore. But it's worth recalling the unique story of this corner of Costa Mesa.
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| Harbor Blvd at Victoria Ave., Costa Mesa, April 1975 |
PARTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY:
"At the Courthouse," Santa Ana Register 9-24-1913, pg 3
"Banning Ranch Land Sold for Subdivision," Los Angeles Herald Examiner 2-26-1913, pg 17
Brigandi, Phil. Orange County Place Names A to Z, Sunbelt Publishing
"Camping Trip is Taken by Harper Folk," Santa Ana Register 7-26-1917, pg 9
Cantrell, Don. Two Costa Mesans Take Look Into History of Growing Area, The Register 6-14-1966, pg 13
Carruthers, Mrs. W. W. "Mesa Citizens Review Work of Assn.," Santa Ana Register 5-29-1923, pg 10
"City and County," Santa Ana Register 10-14-1920, pg 3
"Costa Mesa's Chamber of Commerce Celebrates 100 Years," Fairview Register, Costa Mesa Historical Society, Jan-Feb 2023, pg 6.
"Denies Beach Water Levels are Lowering," Santa Ana Register 9-23-1928, pg 4
"Fairview Farms Association Quits," Santa Ana Register 5-28-1923, pg 10
"Farm Ass'n Meeting Hears Fine Program," Santa Ana Register 3-21-1921, pg 12
"Legal Notices," Santa Ana Register 1-11-1921, pg 13
Miller, Edrick. A Slice of Orange: The History of Costa Mesa, Hendricks Printing, Irvine, 1970
"'Paper City' Was 65 Years Ahead of Its Time," The Register, 11-18-1968, pg 37
"Plan of Company for Small Farms," Morning Tribune 9-28-1913, pg 30
"Ready to Put Land on Sale," Santa Ana Register 7-21-1913, pg 6
"Subdividing Irvine Property," Anaheim Gazette, 5-11-1922, pg 4
"Two Prominent Teachers Pay Harper Visit," Santa Ana Register 7-14-1917, pg 3
