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“I sure wish folks could have held on to their ground. It was good old ground, and now it’s all covered with houses,” lamented then-octogenarian Myrtle Wardlow, wife of Fountain Valley pioneer Ray Wardlow, in an interview 20 years ago.

If Myrtle Wardlow had regrets about tract homes sprouting up like renegade mushrooms two decades ago, she would be horrified that nearly every square inch of her precious farmland is covered today with homes, strip malls and fast-food joints. While the ranches and farms may be a thing of the past, a history as rich as her farmland remains.

There was a time near the turn of the century when the area was one big seemingly uninhabitable swamp. The area was overgrown with lush vegetation nourished by Santa Ana River floods, free-flowing springs and artesian wells.

In spite of the unyielding nature of the swamp, several families--including the Talberts, the Wardlows, the Bushards, the Callenses and the Courregeses--migrated to the area. Eventually these pioneers figured out how to dredge the swamps and tame the overflow from the river. The result was some of the most fertile farmland in the county.

As the town grew, so did conveniences. By 1900, in what was more or less a great-grandparent’s rendition of a mall, the village of Talbert formed the hub of the township at the corner of Talbert Avenue and Bushard Street, sporting a post office, a general store, a blacksmith and a school. In 1910, the Japanese School, which mainly taught judo and the Japanese language, was built near the popular intersection to accommodate that growing minority community.

Like many Asian farmers in the area, Kyutaro Ishii was a Japanese national prohibited from owning land by the Alien Land Law of 1913 and further barred from becoming a citizen by another set of laws. However, where there’s a will, there’s a way. Ishii sharecropped until he could afford to buy his own property. When the time was right, he put the property in the name of his American-born sons.

“My father grew crops on land leased from Robert Wardlow,” said Ishii’s son, Charles, now 74. “When Mr. Wardlow died, he deeded the property to his daughter and arranged it so we could stay on the land. Eventually we did buy our own land, and we put the first parcel in the name of my brother, Joe.”

And so the Ishiis became a normal, everyday American family growing up on their farm on Bushard Street. Charles Ishii went to Fountain Valley Grammar School and was class valedictorian, went on to high school and college and briefly helped on the family farm until he was drafted in March, 1941.

He was sent to Camp Roberts for basic training, then joined the 115th Engineers of the 40th Infantry Division in San Luis Obispo. When war broke out, he was sent back to Southern California. While Ishii was serving his country, the FBI had taken his father to Tujunga Canyon for questioning.

“It was so ironic,” he said. “Here I was walking guard duty in North Hollywood Park, not 10 miles away from my father, as the crow flies, and I couldn’t help him.”

The senior Ishii was questioned in conjunction with his affiliation with the Japanese School, which the government presumed to have had ties with the Japanese military. Ishii’s father was eventually released and evacuated to a dusty, desolate internment camp in Poston, Ariz., with the rest of his family.

Meanwhile, 1st Sgt. Ishii was denied visits with his family and sent to fight in Italy, France and Germany.

Ishii does not talk about his war experiences too much, except to say he first saw combat near Anzio in Italy and to quip about a famous river: “You ever heard of the Blue Danube? It’s muddy when it rains.”

After the war, the Ishiis made their way back to southwest Fountain Valley to return to farming.

“We were one of the lucky ones,” Ishii said. “Some people had their property sold out from under them. But our family knew the right people--attorneys and good friends--and we got everything back.”

During subsequent years, the Ishii family accumulated more land. In 1957, when Fountain Valley incorporated, Charles Ishii was elected to the first City Council.

“I ran for self-preservation,” he chuckled.

A farsighted businessman/farmer, Ishii wanted to delay the inevitable disappearence of farmland for tract housing as long as possible. But with the number of people moving into the area, he knew it was just a matter of time.

In case after case, developers would build homes downwind of a farm. Residents would move in and soon complain about “farm smells.” Farmers would eventually be zoned or inconvenienced out of their property.

Still, cruising down the maze of cul-de-sacs and cloistered neighborhoods that have become vintage southwest Fountain Valley, it’s hard not to remember people such as Charles Ishii, who fought to maintain the community’s farming identity, and such as Myrtle Wardlow, who could only shake her head at the predictable onslaught of tract housing.

It was good old ground, indeed.

Population Total: (1990 est.) 5,660 1980-90 change: +6.2% Median Age: 35.2

Racial/ethnic mix: White (non-Latino): 76% Latino: 7% Black: 1% Other: 16%

By sex and age: MALES Median age: 32.8 years FEMALES Median age: 37.8 years

Income Per capita: $16,580 Median household: $48,861 Average household: $49,365

Income Distribution: Less than $25,000: 24% $25,000-49,999: 28% $50,000-74,999: 30% $75,000-$99,999: 13% $100,000 and more: 5%