(First of a series of articles
celebrating our 30th anniversary)
By Guy Ball
<Second
Article> <Third Article>
In October of 1973, the Santa Ana
Register reported “Progress Threatens Historic OC Home.” The article
spoke of the City of Santa Ana’s plans to widen what was then Seventh Street
to make it part of Civic Center Dr., East. In order to do that, the plans
included the demolishing of an aging, two-story Victorian-style manse built
in the same year Orange
County separated from Los Angeles County, 1889. The 12-room home was built
for Drs. Alvin and Willella Howe and was situated in what as termed the “Nob
Hill” section of town.
In
that same Register article, a member of the city cultural heritage
committee lamented that too few of these pre‑1900 homes were still left.
This committee member, Adeline Walker, noted that recently “another
home in the area came down without a murmur from anyone.”
Adeline would soon take this challenge to
heart. She, her friend Betty Biner, and a few others formed the Friends of
the Waffle House which later would become the Santa Ana Historical
Preservation Society. For the next year, these ladies worked relentlessly
to enlist volunteers and donors in their fight to save the house. They
spoke to whoever might help – politicians, businessmen, architects,
historians, everyday citizens.
With a city government that was at
times working with them but often working against them, they fought
difficult odds to save the house from demolition and eventually convinced
the city fathers to help them preserve this piece of Santa Ana history. The City
furnished the money to move the house to its current location at Sycamore
and Civic Center Dr. West, on the condition that the Society pay for a
foundation and to restore the house.
Adeline and friends raised the thousands of
dollars and received thousands of hours of donated time and work from
residents, businesses, and unions. The Society had succeeded in saving this
beautiful old home for the benefit of those in the future who would enjoy
looking back at a different time, at a different lifestyle.
Adeline
Walker
Adeline was born on July 10, 1904, the
daughter of Edward Cochems
and Emma Glaser.
(more photos showing Adeline)
<Second
Article> <Third Article>
