1913 Petition to Establish a Library in Yorba Linda
By: Norma Storrs Keating
© 2020. All rights reserved
© 2020. All rights reserved
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As people began settling in Yorba Linda, they brought with them the desire to create familiar places for education, learning and cultural enrichment. In other words, schools and libraries. By 1913, just 3 years after the first pioneer families moved to town, most of the inhabitants realized that a library would be of great benefit to the growing community.
To that end, they petitioned the Orange County Board of Supervisors to allow them a special election. This list can serve as a time capsule to reveal the names of the people living and working in town, and of those who had a financial interest or property but lived elsewhere. Almost all of the households were represented by the signers of the petition. In some cases both the husband and wife signed. The list includes ranchers, merchants, housewives, clerks, doctors, carpenters, hotel keepers, garage mechanics, realtors, insurance agents and more. Many of these families became long-time residents, while others moved elsewhere within a few years.
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Yorba Linda Public Library, 1916.
Photo: Yorba Linda Public Library |
The petition was granted and a special library district, the first in California, was established on 3 March 1914. The Yorba Linda Library District operated under the direction of a Library Commission. This was one of two special library districts in California until July 1985 when it was dissolved and became a department of the city and renamed the Yorba Linda Public Library. For a more complete history, go to the library website at www.ylpl.org/history.
The original spelling and punctuation is followed. We thank the Yorba Linda Public Library and the City of Yorba Linda for permission to use this information. The original petition can be found at the library.
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Yorba Linda, California
August Twenty fifth,
1913
HONORABLE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
Orange County,
Calif.
Gentlemen:
We, the undersigned, tax payers and residents of the district of Yorba Linda, recorded as per Map in Book Five (5), pages 17 & 18, Miscellaneous records of Orange County, California; do hereby petition your Honorable Body, and pray that you grant us a special election providing for a free library district as provided for in Act-1249, approved April Twelfth Nineteen hundred Nine, by the Legislature of the State of California;
Respectfully,
Yorba Linda, California
August Twenty fifth,
1913
HONORABLE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
Orange County,
Calif.
Gentlemen:
We, the undersigned, tax payers and residents of the district of Yorba Linda, recorded as per Map in Book Five (5), pages 17 & 18, Miscellaneous records of Orange County, California; do hereby petition your Honorable Body, and pray that you grant us a special election providing for a free library district as provided for in Act-1249, approved April Twelfth Nineteen hundred Nine, by the Legislature of the State of California;
Respectfully,
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N. Niswander
B.S. Bemis Henry A. Starr S.A. Hanson J.A. Smith E. H. Huston Frank Huston Chas. R. Selover G.W.Corbit R.A. Steer R.D. Bosworth J.T. Hanley J.W. Park C.L. Castle R.K. Thing Page 2: E.J. Hubert W.V. Marshburn Thos. B. Welch H.T. Brewer Wm. Fassel J.M. Quigley W.E. Hileman L.F. Quigley A.L. Hughes W.R. Ware Jos. N. Vanstrum A.J. Vanstrum A.C. Pickering H.P. Turner W.A. Vetter |
Homer J. May
R.S. Shafer J.F. Prather J.H. Barton J.A. Buckmaster Joe Dobashi Lee Vernon A.L. Drews F. A. Nixon J.F. Cole W.A. Walker E.M. Buckmaster Marion Vernon J.S. Beal N.E. Trueblood Ben Moore R.L. Shook L.E. Shook Walter Hope C.H. Seamans J.A. Logsdon W.H. Holloway Frank J. Lynn P.S. Amstutz A.W. Miller E.D. Jacobs G.C. Kinsman Abbie D. Kinsman E.N. Gage |
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