Long Beach is full of historic areas, including one of the most picturesque---Carroll Park.
Carroll Park, like most of the other real estate developments in early Alamitos Townsite, got its start in 1902. The announcement of the coming of the Pacific
Electric railway into Long Beach set off a tremendous real estate boom along the proposed rail
lines. Along these routes various housing tracts sprang up on former farm
land. Wherever the PE cars led,
subdividers, development, and growth soon followed. Just as the railroads had brought excursion
trains into Southern California during the earlier boom years of the 1880s, so
now the Pacific Electric ran special excursions to beach towns along its route,
including Long Beach. A beach boom of
real estate speculation resulted. Contracts flew from hand to hand so fast that
no one knew where the chain of title ran.
Many of Long Beach’s early residents made money in subdividing their
original land purchases, tract names such as Johnson, Kenyon, and Tutts reflect
names of those who were wise enough to have bought early and sold later at a
substantial profit. Not so lucky, however, was John Carroll.
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| Carroll Park layout |
First, Carroll hired Hervey Shaw,
who later became City Engineer, to lay out the subdivision. Shaw, who had farmed the Carroll Park area
since 1897, laid out the center of the tract in an ellipse entirely surrounded
by a driveway. These driveways swung out
to surrounding streets in such a way as to preserve the curves and at the same
time divide the outside sections.
On Monday, January 19, 1903, the Carroll
Park tract was placed on the market.
There were fifteen lots, each 50 x 200 feet, with cement curbs and
sidewalks, and graded streets. Lots were
priced between $300- $1100. In order to
protect the property from cheap buildings, Carroll placed a $1500 (about $41,000 in today's money) building
restriction on each lot. Carroll Park
was advertised as having every convenience: pure water under pressure, electric
lights, gas, telephones, and a streetcar line within one block.
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| Carroll home |
Pehaps the most notable resident
of Carroll Park was Lily Fremont, daughter of General John C. Fremont and
Jessie Benton Fremont, who purchased lot 12 at 338 Junipero in 1905. There she
built her house, which still stands, before moving in 1908. Her ties to Long Beach went back to 1851 when
her father offered Abel Sterns $300,000 for the Rancho Los Alamitos. The deal didn’t go through; if it had she would
have been a wealthy woman owning half of Long Beach instead of a 50 x 200 foot
section.
Carroll was 48-years-old when he
moved to Long Beach for his daughter's health.
A native of Ireland, he entered the United States in 1894 and soon left
for Singapore where he managed one of the largest tin smelting plants in the
world. In Long Beach he became vice
president of the First National Bank and served on several boards. In 1907, whether for business reasons or his daughter's
health, the Carrolls were living in Victorville. Bad luck and debts followed. He was forced to deed certain properties to
the First National Bank; his house was sold, and on July 6, 1909, he deeded the
small planted section of the Park to the city for $130 in back taxes. During the Depression of the 1930s he died at
the Riverside County Hospital at the age of 83.
According to Nichols, his wife, Elizabeth Jane, died six months later;
she had been reduced to receiving welfare and the State asked permission to
sell her personal effects to defray funeral expenses. Regardless of whatever happened to the
Carrolls in later years, Carroll Park still stands as a tribute to their
vision.
For more on the history of this area click Alamitos Subdivisions
For more on the history of this area click Alamitos Subdivisions
