Rossmoyne the ‘showplace of Southern California’

KATHERINE YAMADA

Judge Erskine M. Ross was one of the first Americans from east of the

Rocky Mountains to acquire a sizable piece of the Verdugo land grant.

His 1,100 acres, which he bought in about 1870 from his uncle,

Capt. Cameron E. Thom, were bordered by Verdugo Road and the village

of Casa Verdugo.

Ross immediately planted orange trees, which bore fruit well into

the 1920s, when the trees gave way to subdivisions. He also planted

deciduous fruit trees and olives and built a mill for making olive

oil.

Ross married Ynez Hannah Bettis in San Francisco in 1874 and they

had a son, Robert Erskine Ross. They joined the Episcopal Church and

Ross was a member of the California Club of Los Angeles.

An 1885 clipping from the Los Angeles Daily Times noted that

Judge Ross, of the state Supreme Court, had begun work on a “handsome

$10,000 residence in Verdugo Valley; a two-story, Queen Anne-style

structure with all the latest conveniences.”

For years, only two board (as distinguished from adobe) houses

were in Glendale and Ross’ home (which he named Rossmoyne) was one of

them. Glendale then had only a few stores at the corner of Glendale

and Wilson avenues.

Ross served seven years on the Supreme Court and more than 30

years as a federal judge. He was one of the investors in the old

Glendale Hotel and helped lay out the town of Glendale in 1887.

But by the 1920s, the Ross property was prime Glendale real estate

and eventually, he began selling portions. A large tract went to L.C.

Brand, who placed it the market as the Brand Boulevard Tract.

The sale of another 800 acres to Haddock & Nibley company in 1923

was one of the biggest and most important real estate deals of the

decade. The developers paid more than $2 million for the property,

which extended for about one mile on either side of Glendale Avenue

and Verdugo Road, including the point where Verdugo Road intersects

with Glendale Avenue, according to a 1923 Glendale Daily Press

account. “Engineers were quickly at work dividing the property so

that the many property seekers who are besieging the owners for

reservation privileges may be accommodated.”

The first portion sold was west of Glendale Avenue. High-grade

street improvements were put in and a scenic drive was constructed

around the foothill section of the property and down onto the

gradually sloping stretches. All of the lots were more than 50 feet

wide and prices started from $2,000.

“We intend to make this tract the showplace of Southern

California,” said Haddock. “The name Rossmoyne (the happy land) has

been applied to it because we believe it will be just that.”

Next time: During the Depression, Bob Wian Jr. went to work.

* KATHERINE YAMADA’S column runs every other Saturday. To contact

her, call features editor Joyce Rudolph at 637-3241. For more

information on Glendale’s history, contact the reference desk at the

Central Library at 548-2027 or visit the Special Collections Room at

Central. It is open by appointment only.