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The years after the bank failure were
difficult ones for the families of William Workman and F. P. F.
Temple. Baldwin sold the family homes and small amounts of acreage
to the families in 1880 and 1881, but financial problems continued.
Even lands that were held by other family members and, therefore,
excluded from the bank mortgage were difficult to keep.
William Workman’s son, Joseph, was given over 800 acres on
La Puente by his father in 1870. In 1881, he leased the La Puente
property and moved to Boyle Heights with his wife Josephine
Belt (1851-1937) and their six children, living next to Joseph’s
cousin, William Henry. In the early 1890s, however, Joseph mortgaged
his lands, which were lost in foreclosure in 1895. An interesting
sidelight to the Joseph Workman family is that daughter Josephine
(1882-1977) was a popular silent film actress, using the stage
name Princess Mona Darkfeather, in some seventy short and full-length
films between 1909 and 1917.
After William Workman’s death, the Homestead, then reduced to seventy-five acres, was owned by his grandson, Francis W. Temple (1848-1888), who raised walnuts and practiced viticulture. After Francis’ death, his brother, John H. Temple (1856-1926), owned the Homestead but it was foreclosed upon by the turn of the century.
At La Merced, Antonia Margarita Temple nearly lost the family homestead through another loan with Baldwin. The fifty acre parcel was saved, though, and passed on to her youngest sons, Walter (1869-1938) and Charles (1872-1918), after her death in 1892.
In contrast to the above difficulties, the last quarter of the nineteenth century was a period of ascendancy for the Los Angeles branch of the Workman family. Elijah Workman continued in the saddlery business until the 1880s, owned a prosperous farm, and served several terms on the city council between 1866 and 1876 and on the board of education. He also was instrumental in the founding of Pershing Square and planted trees at the old Plaza that still survive. He lived a quiet retirement in Boyle Heights and died in 1906.
William
Henry Workman became one of Los Angeles’ most prominent citizens. He served
several terms on the city council between 1872 and 1880, was a proxy delegate
at the 1872 Democratic National Convention in Baltimore, was mayor in 1887 and
1888, and served as city treasurer from 1901 to 1907. His mayoral term occurred
during the years known as the “Boom of the Eighties” during which
several parks, including today’s MacArthur Park, were established and a
new city hall was built. During his term as treasurer, he assisted in the transfer
of municipal water control from private to public ownership and initiated the
financial dealings for the early stages of the monumental Los Angeles Aqueduct
project. He also served on the city parks commission in the 1890s. Workman,
who married Maria E. Boyle (1847-1933), inherited valuable and productive
vineyards and orchards from her father, Andrew Boyle, and started a subdivision
there in 1876 that was named Boyle Heights. He maintained a successful real
estate office for many years, was president of the American Savings Bank, and
continued to work until his death in February 1918.
William
H. Workman’s prominence in business and public life was followed by several
of his children, including sons Boyle (1868-1942) and William H, Jr.
(1874-1951) and daughter, Mary Julia (1871-1964). Boyle Workman served
as his father’s assistant during the mayoral and treasurer’s terms
and was a member of the Public Service Commission from 1913 until 1917. Two
years later, he was elected to the city council and became its president, a
post he held until 1927. In 1929, he made a run for the mayoral seat, losing
in a close election. Boyle was also involved actively in business, including
ownership of the Monarch Brick Company, the fire insurance firm of Garland and
Workman, and the vice-presidency of the American Savings Bank. Boyle’s
legacy was ensured by the 1935 publication of The City That Grew, a popular
semi-autobiographical narrative of Los Angeles. William Henry, Jr. was the assistant
superintendent of the Edison Electric Company in Los Angeles after the turn
of the century, and later worked as an electrical engineer. He also was part-owner
of the McGilvray-Workman Company, a real estate firm, and was with the Los Angeles
Morris Plan Company during the 1920s, serving as its president.
Mary
Julia Workman, the only woman in the families to have a conspicuous public presence,
began her career as a teacher in Los Angeles public schools. She was best known,
however, as the founder of the Brownson House Settlement, an organization that
assisted underprivileged families in Los Angeles. Her activities with the Roman
Catholic Church were honored by Pope Pius X in 1925. In addition, she also entered
the political sphere as president of the Public Service Commission from 1925
until 1928 and continued her activism in labor issues, politics, and other areas
until her death at age ninety-three.
A return to wealth and prominence came to the Temple family in 1917. Walter P. Temple was a struggling walnut farmer on the family homestead at La Merced, where he lived with his wife, Laura Gonzalez (1871-1922) and their four children. In October 1912, however, he purchased land on the rancho from the estate of Lucky Baldwin (from which Temple also executed a mortgage) which had once belonged to his father. It appears that a friend of Temple’s, Milton Kauffman, worked for Standard Oil Company and recent discoveries in Fullerton had led to speculation that oil might be found in the Montebello Hills area. In April 1914, Thomas Temple, eldest child of Walter and Laura Temple, made a discovery of oil in a pool of water found after a rain. By 1916, a lease agreement had been made with Standard Oil and, after a test well proved successful on Baldwin land, drilling commenced on the Temple lease. The first well was brought into production in June 1917, followed by some twenty-five other wells. Several gushers led to tremendous profits for the family. In November 1917, the family bought a home in Alhambra and purchased the Workman Homestead, which had been lost by Walter’s brother, John, eighteen years before.
The
Temples embarked on an ambitious development program for the ranch, including
the restoration of the badly damaged cemetery; renovation of the Workman wineries
into an auditorium, cafeteria, and garage; the construction of a reservoir/swimming
pool and tennis court; the remodeling of the Workman House; and the construction
of homes for Walter’s sisters, Lucinda Zuniga (1860-1928) and Margarita
Rowland (1866-1953). The centerpiece of the Temples’ plans, however,
was the construction of La Casa Nueva,
a Spanish colonial revival residence rich in architectural crafts and numerous
references to regional and family history. Original designs by the Temples and
contractor Sylvester Cook were drawn up by prominent Los Angeles architects,
Walker and Eisen, and revised by architect Roy Seldon Price. Construction commenced
in the summer of 1922, but was halted by the sudden death of Laura Temple just
after Christmas. After dedicating the home to her, the family resumed construction,
which was completed in 1927.
Unfortunately,
the family’s occupation of the home was short-lived. Mirroring many of
the activities of his father fifty years before, Walter Temple used his oil
income to embark on real estate and construction projects during another of
Los Angeles’ fabled booms. These included office buildings, movie theaters,
post offices and stores in Los Angeles, Alhambra, El Monte, and San Gabriel
and the purchase of land holdings in Puente and Monterey Park. He also continued
oil developments in Whittier, Huntington Beach, Ventura, Texas, and Mexico.
Temple’s most prominent project, however, was the founding in the spring of 1923 of the Town of Temple (renamed Temple City in 1928.) A 285-acre parcel, formerly owned by his father and William Workman that was sold to Lucky Baldwin in October 1875 during the suspension of the Temple and Workman bank, was developed into a community initially envisioned for 5,000 people. Advertisements targeted a middle class clientele and touted the benefits of easy transportation access, via the Pacific Electric Railway, to Los Angeles with the rural atmosphere of the San Gabriel Valley. Construction of a downtown business block, town park, rail depot, and homes soon led to steady sales of town lots.
The
combination of the great expense of developing the town, the cost of the other
Temple projects, and the lavishness of La Casa Nueva, soon led Temple into financial
difficulties. In the spring of 1926, Temple began mortgaging his various holdings
to the California Bank and Farmers and Merchants Bank. Attempts to restructure
his holdings and sell off certain parcels to save the Workman Homestead were
unsuccessful. The mortgage on the Homestead was due on 29 October 1929, just
after the crash of the stock market in New York City. Although unrelated to
those events, the timing led to Temple’s loss of everything. By 1931, the
family left the Homestead, which was later occupied by a boys’ military
academy and a convalescent facility.
The Workman and Temple family history
is preserved in the lives of their descendants and in the names
of streets, parks, and schools throughout southern California.
Today that history is shared with the thousands of visitors who
come to the Workman and Temple Family
Homestead Museum each year. As vanguards
in the development of southern California, the Workman and Temple
families’ place in the history of the region is assured.