A Pennsylvanian educator who came to California more than a hundred years ago left an enduring legacy for La Verne.

He brought his family here, kept a college going, and built a rather solid home.
The saga began in 1887 when I.W. Lord, a Los Angeles entrepreneur, bought land from Hispanic ranchers, and had it surveyed and divided into building lots. It was the time of ‘boom towns’ sited near the railroad lines

That May, bands went up and down streets in Los Angeles and Riverside telling of a land auction. Potential buyers took a free train ride here to enjoy a barbeque and bid on building lots for the new town of Lordsburg, which Lord modestly named after himself.

Part of the promotion was to build a large hotel on the block south of 3rd and west of D streets. It was, of course, named the Lordsburg Hotel, but as the real estate boom soon collapsed, the hotel never had a paying guest. Lord and his backers were left with a white elephant on their hands.
Several years later, members of a church known as the German Baptist Brethren bought the large building and opened Lordsburg College, actually more of an academy. Teachers and students lived in the large structure where classes were taught.

In 1902, after some ups and downs and great personal sacrifice, the trustees had to close the school. Some income had come from the church, which rented an assembly room for services, but this ended when they built a church at the corner of 4th and E streets.

W. C. Hanawalt, a school superintendent in Pennsylvania, heard about the situation, and took a train to Lordsburg to see if he could help. He saw reopening the institution as a challenge and convinced the trustees that he could do it.

Hanawalt went back to Pennsylvania and resigned his position there, then returned to Lordsburg in September 1902 with his wife, two children, and a young teacher named Grace Hileman, who became famous as Grace Miller.

Hanawalt leased the Lordsburg College for six years. He cleaned and repaired the building, organized a curriculum emphasizing secondary education, and provided dynamic leadership. He revitalized the institution. Without his backing and leadership the school may not have survived.

Hanawalt bought land for a home across from the college. His half-brothers Russell, Ross, and Harvey joined him in Lordsburg and used a cast-iron hand-operated machine to make concrete blocks for construction.

The home was one of the earliest private homes in California to be built of such blocks. It is two-story, with a wide porch to the north and east, and a hexagonal tower at the northwest corner.

Hanawalt enjoyed running the college. He was piqued when the lease ended and trustees decided to turn the work over to the church district. Lordsburg College became La Verne College, and is now the University of La Verne.

Hanawalt rented out the house in 1908 and moved. His wife passed away and he remarried, farmed and served as a federal loan appraiser.

Two similar homes were built in Chino and McFarland using the concrete block machine.

Harvey and J. Ross Hanawalt became leading contractors. Many of the homes here have foundations built of their concrete ‘Hanawalt blocks.’ The two supplied cement and construction expertise when the church group built the enormous Church of the Brethren in 1930.
Hanawalt farmed in Pennsylvania for ten years, coming back in 1945 to retire here. He remained interested in the college, but still rankled at his treatment. He passed away in 1953.

His wife Pearl lived in the home another twenty years, then sold it to the University of La Verne. It served as a child care center, then campus offices.

A bronze historical marker was ready to site when in December 2004, the historic old home caught fire and was badly damaged.

Our community solidly backed the decision of university officials to restore the structure for office use. Restoration is now complete. The building is ready for another hundred years.

Early in May the Hanawalt House is scheduled to be reopened. The bronze marker will be placed to honor the home and its builder.

W. C.’s nephews Wayne, Clair, and Dwight Hanawalt and others of the large Hanawalt clan should be at the ceremony.

It will be a time to look back and pay tribute to W. C. Hanawalt and the accomplishments of the Hanawalt families in La Verne.

– Your La Verne Historical Society is always interested in photos, writings, and memorabilia of historical Lordsburg-LaVerne. Meetings are held four times per year. Contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or (909) 593-5014.

Life was tough during the Great Depression. Jobs were hard to find. People looked for anything to survive and helped each other out. Fred Brunk was one of those without a job. He graduated from La Verne College in 1933 as a teacher, but all local positions were filled. The City of La Verne or the school district could only hire him and another man as playground supervisors.

The co-worker had lost his job as an accountant in Chicago in 1931, and brought his family to California in a house trailer. They camped for months near Hooverville, a town of shanties built on forest land at the East Fork of the San Gabriel River. People lived in ramshackle structures with canvas roofs made water repellent by using gasoline mixed with melted wax. Many panned for gold.

"Camp Bonita" was on the fire road at a bridge across the river. It wasn’t much - a pool hall with a leaky roof and a little general store to the east, and a small Ranger’s cabin to the west.

The couple from Chicago now lived in La Verne at a home on 5th Street. Reatha, Fred’s fiancé, lived next door. She was hanging out clothes with the co-worker’s wife one day when mention was made of a possible teaching job at Camp Bonita. It was in the La Verne Heights school system, but the road was unsafe for a bus. School had been held in the pool hall the winter before.

Way back in 1884 American writer Helen Hunt Jackson wrote a novel of the waning Spanish days of California, a heart-tugging Victorian romance. She named it "Ramona" after her heroine.

 The establishment of a Protestant church in the largely Catholic Hispanic community in Lordsburg came about with the help of a much appreciated lady we know as Grace Miller.

 She had a long, abiding commitment to helping people in our town and made a special effort each Christmas.

 As Grace Hileman, she was told never to return to her father’s home in Pennsylvania.  He was a staunch Presbyterian and had found that while taking a  teacher training course she had joined the local Brethren church.  She came to what was then Lordsburg in 1902 to possibly teach in the Lordsburg Academy/College.

 Grace found employment as a clerk in J. L. Miller’s general store.  She married him in 1904 in a ceremony conducted by W. C. Hanawalt.

 Grace Miller was soon a pillar of the Lordsburg  church of the German Baptist Brethren, and became Sunday School superintendent.  The church - now our Church of the Brethren - strongly supported missions, not only in foreign countries, but at home and had a Chinese mission in Los Angeles.  Grace had the mission spirit and held English classes in her home for many Japanese grove workers. 

 She was particularly interested the immigrants who lived in “Mexican Town” south of the Santa Fe railroad tracks. It was not a wealthy neighborhood.  She did her home mission work here, and each Christmas went to homes taking toys and games, one for each child.

  ‘Grandma’ Francisca Rodriquez held Bible study in her home.  In 1917 Grace Miller helped her start a church.

 All the ministers in town helped with donations for an old home which was remodeled. Services in this Emmanuel Presbyterian Mexican Church were held by Rev. Sotero Mageno for three years. When it was destroyed by fire, the Millers provided a house they owned at 1835 2nd St. for Rev. Mageno and the church services.
 
 Every December a Christmas party was held at on the porch and front yard of this “Mexican Mission.”  Students of the Mission Band at La Verne College helped.
 
 The Christmas festivities of 1920 were described by Rev. Mageno, whom Grace Miller quoted in an magazine article.

 “I thank our great God for this Spanish-American Christmas.  Once more the Mexican and the American Christians of La Verne united their activities to serve the Lord.  It was 1:30 P.M. when the good sister, Grace Miller with the assistance of Senor Mageno began to distribute Christmas treats and toys to the Mexican children.  There followed pinataes, baseball, and supervised play.  Next we served a supper of Mexican and American dishes.  Some of our American brothers, for the first time in their lives, ate Spanish bunuelos.  An American girl noticed that some of the Mexicans were too timid to come up for their plates, and carried supper to them.

 “At last the Christmas program, came, which pleased very much the spectators, who were over 300 in number.”

 “The program was given in Spanish from the front porch of the mission, workers represented being Senor Juan Rodriquez, Senorita Marina Lopez, Senorita Elvira Lira, Senorita Maria Mageno. Senor Lupe Alvarez, Senor Salvador Villasenor. Senorita Josefina Lira, Senorita Ines Vargas, Senor Francisco Elias, Lucifa Romero, Senor Jose Alcala, Senor Isidro Rodriquez, Senor Bartolo Estrella, Lorenzo Mageno and Senorita Eva Rodriquez.”

 “Later it was a surprise to the Mexican people when they heard the American young people sing the Angel Chorus in Spanish.”

 “Another thing which the Mexicans admired was the Christmas star which flashed intermittently from the mission roof.  They also liked the words ‘Dios es Amor’ (God is Love) which appeared in the cradle instead of a baby.  The designing and lighting of the cradle were the work of our brother Eulugio Perez, who comes far to assist in the Mexican Mission.”

 “The treats were furnished by the Beginners and Primary Departments of the Sunday-School and the Intermediate Christian Workers.  The toys were the gifts of Bro. and Sister Chas. Eshelman.  Pauline Shirk led out in supervised play.  Approximately one hundred and seventy Mexican children were present during the afternoon.”

 Mrs. Miller took pride in relating these Christmas activities, and summed up with “The King of Glory only knows who was the happier – the Americans or the Mexicans.”
 
 We have long since become one community - no longer termed the ‘Americans,’ or ‘Mexicans.’

Grace Miller has passed on, but memories of her goodwill such as this Christmas of 1920 are why  we now have a school named after her.