I have been researching the origin of Commerce street names. Many have a nautical origin, such as Atlantic, Harbor, Pacific Way (south of Washington Blvd.) , Jardine (a term related to a large 1800s sailing company) and Flotilla (over by the Citadel). However, the street LEONIS AVE. has an interesting story behind it. ... In 1905, Vernon was incorporated by ranchers James J. and Thomas J. Furlong and John B. Leonis, a merchant. Vernon was incorporated to promote industrial development along the railroads in the area. John Leonis, of Basque origin, had come to Southern California in 1880 to work for his Uncle Miguel Leonis and later established his own ranch on unincorporated county land southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. Recognizing the importance of the three major railroads running through the area, he persuaded railroad executives to run spur tracks off the main lines and incorporated the adjacent three miles as the first exclusively industrial city in the Southwestern United States. He named the new city after a dirt road, Vernon Avenue, crossing its center. Leonis created an enticing attraction, leasing property to the founders of the city, for a baseball stadium, a 7,000-seat boxing arena and the worlds longest bar, 100 feet long with thirty-seven bartenders. As industrialists from the East Coast traveled to Vernon for heavyweight matches, Leonis sold many of them on locating their West Coast factories in his village. By the 1930s Owens-Illinois, Studebaker, and Alcoa had opened there, purchasing subsidized electricity from the new utility, Vernon Light & Power. When Leonis died in 1953, he left an estate reportedly worth $8 million, including several parcels of land, to his grandson Leonis Malburg. Pic of John Baptise Leonis below linked immediately below. Your Friend, Bill Lussenheide boryanabooks/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/john_b_leonis.jpg
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 20:04:37 +0000
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