Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Grover Beach
    Grover Beach
    Grover Beach
    Ebook182 pages1 hour

    Grover Beach

    By Anita Shower

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    The city of Grover Beach is nestled in the dunes of the California coastline in San Luis Obispo County. In 1842, Jose Ortego received a Mexican land grant and made the first claim on the area. Ortego sold his 8,838 acres to Isaac Sparks in 1867, and Sparks later sold half to John Price. Price sold his share to Dwight William Grover for $22,982.20 in gold. By 1887, Grover had filed with the county and founded the Town of Grover. Developers John F. Beckett in 1892 and Horace V. Bagwell in 1935 followed. Growing gradually, the city incorporated in 1959, changed its name to Grover Beach in 1992, and received Amtrak rail service in 1996—a permanent connection to the surrounding communities and commerce. The city has come full circle, from D. W. Grover’s dream to reality.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateFeb 20, 2008
    ISBN9781439620083
    Grover Beach
    Author

    Anita Shower

    Author Anita Shower arrived in Grover City in 1974 and started keeping a journal while taking photographs of the area that tugged at her heart. Shower has been a longtime local newspaper columnist, as well as a radio and television personality, community activist, and volunteer. Gathering early images of the city through the years, she has combined these pieces of the city’s history with generous donations from the community, which united to contribute prized photographic reflections for this book.

    Related to Grover Beach

    Related ebooks

    Photography For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Family Tree Forensics

      Apr 8, 2020

      Family Tree Forensics
      5 min read

    • Article

      Colfax Correction

      Aug 24, 2021

      Colfax Correction
      1 min read

    • Article

      Family Trees Online

      May 4, 2021

      Family Trees Online
      5 min read

    • Article

      Labeled hispanic

      May 16, 2022

      Labeled hispanic
      15 min read

    • Article

      Clarence Page: Concerned Parents Aren’t ‘Domestic Terrorists,’ Except When They Behave Like One

      Oct 22, 2021

      I don’t recall much about the first local school board meeting that I ever covered, long, long ago, except the overflow crowd of local citizens who made it hard to get inside. “What’s going on?” I asked the seasoned education-beat reporter who was me

      3 min read

    • Article

      Along Rivers and Through Prairies

      Oct 1, 2023

      Before Dr. Robert Moore (RIGHT) became an educator at Washington University in St. Louis, he was a historian who worked for the National Park Service for 40 years. He enjoys doing historical research and using architectural drawing programs to create

      5 min read

    • Article

      Al Capone, The Original Public Enemy No. 1

      Aug 24, 2017

      The real Al Capone. From Brooklyn kid to Chicago crime boss, a new biography gives the whole story.

      2 min read

    • Article

      Youth Quake

      Sep 8, 2020

      Youth Quake
      4 min read

    • Article

      Find Your U.S. Ancestors

      Oct 31, 2023

      Find Your U.S. Ancestors
      1 min read

    • Article

      Two Slain Men Were Drug Traffickers

      Jan 10, 2021

      THE two men who were shot, beheaded and set alight had worked for alleged drug lord Yaganathan Pillay, also known as Teddy Mafia, until they switched loyalties. This was according to a witness to this week’s triple killing in Shallcross, Durban, whic

      2 min read

    • Article

      What Does It Mean to Let Communities Choose? A New Report by UCS and Soulardarity

      Oct 5, 2021

      UCS partnered with Soulardarity to chart a path toward 100% local, resilient, and affordable clean energy resources owned by the people.

      1 min read

    • Article

      Will Michael Jackson's Legacy Survive The 'Leaving Neverland' Documentary?

      Mar 5, 2019

      When we first saw Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch on television in the late 1980s, a sarcastic friend of mine wisecracked, "Wow, that looks like a pedophile's paradise." I tried not to laugh. Like multitudes of others, I had been following Jackson'

      3 min read

    • Article

      One-name Studies

      Feb 9, 2021

      One-name Studies
      5 min read

    • Article

      Big Jake Vs. Billy Jack

      Oct 19, 2021

      Big Jake Vs. Billy Jack
      3 min read

    • Article

      These Honored Dead

      Apr 20, 2021

      These Honored Dead
      9 min read

    • Article

      No./ 11 SMILEY FACE KILLERS

      Jan 11, 2021

      No./ 11 SMILEY FACE KILLERS
      1 min read

    • Article

      Editor’s Letter

      Jul 6, 2021

      The last of the Apache wars, the final surrender of the Chiricahuas in September 1886 and their long captivity—all these dramatic events remain as closely associated with Geronimo as his people once were with the rugged ranges of what became southeas

      3 min read

    • Article

      Gold Hill, Nevada

      May 23, 2023

      Gold Hill, Nevada
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Parting

      Jul 6, 2021

      The Parting
      10 min read

    • Article

      Texas Prosecutor Drops All Charges In 2015 Biker Shootout That Killed 9

      Apr 3, 2019

      The McLennan County district attorney said he aims to "end this nightmare that we have been dealing with in this county." Prosecutors were not able to win any convictions after indicting 155 bikers.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Hotseat: Dave Meltzer

      Aug 5, 2021

      Hotseat: Dave Meltzer
      12 min read

    • Article

      McCormick’s Denouncement of ‘Structural Bigotry’ Not an Endorsement of BLM

      Apr 15, 2022

      A TV ad from a super PAC backing Dr. Mehmet Oz for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania stretches the facts in an attempt to tie Oz’s chief rival, Dave McCormick, to Black Lives Matter. The post McCormick’s Denouncement of ‘Structural Bigotry’ Not an Endorsem

      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Grover Beach

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Grover Beach - Anita Shower

      Shower

      INTRODUCTION

      Grover Beach is a coastal city, one of several in San Luis Obispo County, California. In 1842, the area was claimed by Jose Ortega; he had a Mexican land grant. In 1867, the Ortega Land Grant was claimed by Isaac Sparks; it was 8,838 acres of the South County (of San Luis Obispo County). Sparks named the area El Pizmo Rancho. Twenty years later, Sparks sold half of the acreage to John Michael Price. In April 1887, Price sold 1,149.11 acres of the Pismo rancho to D. W. Grover and his associate, George Gates, for $22,982.20 in gold. They called it the Town of Grover and Huntington Beach. They were banking on the Southern Pacific Rail Road going from where it ended at San Miguel in San Luis Obispo County all the way south past the town of Grover.

      Dwight William Grover was a lumberman from Santa Cruz, who was born on November 10, 1852. He purchased the acreage from Price on April 8, 1887. Grover hired a San Francisco–based firm of Carnall-Hopins Company to take care of sales. The land auction took place in August 1887, which drew more than 1,000 people. The promotion was enticing; a souvenir advertisement for Grover City from the Bennett Loomis Archives touted:

      Great Auction Sale—of—Choice RESIDENCE AND BUSINESS LOTS! AT GROVER! The new seaside resort, Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo County, Cal.,—on—TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2D AND 3D, 1887. At 12 o’clock N, each day.—Also—Villa Tracts of 5 and 10 Acres—Adjoining the—TOWN OF GROVER!

      Grand Avenue, being grand, was laid out to stretch from Arroyo Grande to the Pacific’s seashore. The areas, roads, and lots were staked on the hills of Grover when that first auction took place. The auctioneer was C. C. Thayer, and he accompanied the contingency from San Francisco to Port San Luis. When they arrived in Arroyo Grande for the auction, the townspeople were out in force. There was local produce for sale, buggies everywhere, people waving, and businessmen. After the barbecue, Thayer began selling the lots. Once a deal was struck, lumber was available for delivery.

      In addition to C. C. Thayer, there were four clerks to handle the paperwork. The auction started at noon; by the time the sun set, 133 lots were sold for a total of $15,000. Many of the visitors thought the price was too high; the average cost of a lot was $112.

      On August 10, 1887, D. W. Grover and a couple of his friends registered the paperwork for their land endeavor corporation. It was called the Southern Land and Colonization Company of San Luis Obispo, California. The money and shares in the corporation were as follows: D. W. Grover, George Gates, John M. Duke, Samuel Rosener, and J. M. Lesser each paid $100,000 and each received 1,000 shares; and Clarence C. Thayer paid $50,000 for 500 shares. According to the county clerk’s office in San Luis Obispo County, the records indicate the purpose of the corporation was to buy, sell, barter, exchange, on commission or otherwise, or at auction of private sale real estate to buy and loan money on, as and receive mortgages from and colonization land and etc. The capital amount totaled $500,000.

      In the 1890s, D. W. Grover set out to make the train station a reality. Grover felt the depot would attract tourists and investors. Unfortunately, the Southern Pacific Rail Road decided to construct the depot in the San Luis Obispo County area known as Oceano, thus crumpling Grover’s dream. Grover returned to Santa Cruz, where he is buried.

      One

      DWIGHT WILLIAM GROVER TO JAMES F. BECKETT

      Although the Grover family left Maine in 1848 for California and the promise of gold, the family made its fortune in lumber. Dwight William Grover, pictured with a mustache, was born on November 10, 1853, to James Lyman and Hannah Elsmore Grover. Dwight and his wife, Mary Emma Halstead Grover, set out from the Santa Cruz area for the coastal area of El Pizmo in 1887 when he was 35. He purchased the land now bearing his name and filed papers with San Luis Obispo County in the same year. His tagline was, Where the tidelands and the rails meet. Grover had high hopes that the railroad would quickly be added onto the end of the line in San Miguel, California, and travel on its way south past his new Town Site of Grover and Huntington Beach. (Courtesy Mr. and Mrs. Paul Hammock.)

      Developer John F. Beckett, photographed here in 1900, was from Polk County, Iowa. In 1859, his family moved from Oregon to California, and in 1869, he moved to San Luis Obispo. He taught public school, established the first commercial nursery in the county, and became the county’s superintendent of schools. He also held real estate in Arroyo Grande, including Oso Flaco, Chimeneas, Tar Springs, Tally-ho, and the Verde Colonies (One, Two, and Three); the Crown Hill addition; the Corbett tract; and E. W. Steel’s re-subdivision of the Corral de Piedra Ranch. Beckett considered purchasing and developing the 1,200 acres of Grover his greatest real estate accomplishment, which he named Beckett Park and the Beckett Place subdivision tract. Beckett named the streets. This last tract was situated near Pismo Beach and ran 3 miles east from the ocean. (Courtesy Mr. and Mrs. Paul Hammock.)

      The San Luis Obispo newspaper noted in 1891, We understand that Mr. Beckett is to have the handling of the Grover property, and that is the secret of the opening of the Avenue (Grand). John F. Beckett and his son ventured into a business called Beckett and Beckett, and their tag line

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1