Escondido Land and Town Company Records, 1886-1944

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Summary

Title:
Escondido Land and Town Company Records,
Dates:
1886-1944
Creators:
Escondido Land and Town Company
Abstract:
Earl Montgomery Cranston (1863-1933) was born in Middleport, Ohio. He received his law degree at Cincinnati Law School and practiced law for 30 years in the Denver firm of Cranston, Pilken & Moore. He bought stock in Escondido Land and Town Company, later becoming the company's president. The collection consists of by laws, account books, minute books, stock certificate books, record of instruments, bills, receipts, etc. for the Escondido Land and Town Company.
Extent:
12 oversize boxes
Language:
English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Escondido Land and Town Company Records (Collection 292). Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Background

Scope and content:

Collection consists of by laws, account books, minute books, stock certificate books, record of instruments, bills, receipts, etc. for the Escondido Land and Town Company. Also contains a few records of the Home Land Acres Company. Earl M. Cranston directed both companies.

Biographical / historical:

Earl Montgomery Cranston was born December 3, 1863 in Middleport, Ohio; his family moved to Colorado when he was 14; BA, Denver University; received his law degree at Cincinnati Law School; practiced law for 30 years in Denver firm of Cranston, Pilken & Moore; served two terms as U.S. district attorney at Denver; bought stock in Escondido Land and Town Company, later becoming the company's president; he was instrumental in developing Home Land Acres, a large citrus subdivision; director, Escondido Mutual Water Company; retired in Escondido, 1920; died in 1933.

Extended Biographical Narrative

The elder Cranston was born in Middleport, Ohio, December 3, 1863. Parents: Bishop Earl and Martha (Behan) Cranston. Died, June 3, 1933, at Escondido, Calif. Father was a bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he died in 1932, at the age of 92.

When young Earl was 14 years old, the family moved to Colorado. Earl graduated from Denver University, B.A., and tock his law at Cincinnati Law School, where he was a classmate of Charles G. Dawes. After practicing law for thirty years in Denver in the firm of Cranston, Filken & Moore, his interest was drawn to Southern California.

In 1909, he bought stock in the Escondido Land and Town Company, and there in Escondido, he retired in 1920. He became president of the company and was instrumental in developing Home Land Acres, one of the big citrus subdivisions in the area. He also became director of the Escondido Mutual Water Company.

While a resident of Colorado, he served as legislature member, and two terms as U.S. District Attorney at Denver. He married Florence T. Pitkin, daughter of Frederick W. Pitkin, former governor of Colorado for two terms.

His son, John M. Cranston, has given to UCLA the records left from the Escondido Land and Town Company; he has also agreed to confer with his brother in Colorado, concerning the disposition of the residue of Cranston's papers.

[The Colorado Historical Society has obtained the papers mentioned here].

Acquisition information:
Gift of John M. Cranston, 1959.
Arrangement:

Arranged in the following series:

  1. Proceedings and minutes of board of directors, stockholders and executive committee meetings (Boxes 1-3).
  2. By laws and loan ledger (Box 3).
  3. Account ledgers & cash book (Boxes 4-5).
  4. Record book of lots and blocks & trial balance books (Box 6).
  5. Certificates of shares (Box 7).
  6. Stock ledger, transfer journal, cash book and general journal (Box 8).
  7. Record of instruments (Box 9).
  8. Account ledgers, certificates of shares, additions book with correspondence (Box 10).
  9. Stock ledger (Box 11).
  10. Bills, receipts, bank statements (Box 12).

Physical location:
Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Processed by Simon Elliott; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé
Date Prepared:
© 1999
Date Encoded:
Text converted and initial EAD tagging provided by Apex Data Services, June 1999 . Frontmatter gathered from MARC record. Supplementary encoding and revision supplied by Caroline Cubé.

Access and use

Restrictions:

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Advance notice required for access.

Terms of access:

Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Escondido Land and Town Company Records (Collection 292). Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Location of this collection:
A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
Contact:
(310) 825-4988
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
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