North Willow Glen History Part 6 of 15: The 1920s

After the Great War and the Spanish Influenza epidemic come the boom times of the '20s. Many lots sell, and more of the farmland is subdivided, especially the cherry orchard that becomes the "Cherry Grove" subdivision of west Hull Avenue and Atlanta. Lots of Craftsman, Mission and other eclectic homes built in North Willow Glen (for a guide to vintage home styles, go here).

When the Southern Pacific railroad proposes to run its line down Willow Avenue and into Willow Glen, residents of the area gather together to figure out how to prevent this. The town of Willow Glen (see map) is formed expressly to prevent the railroad from going through the community. Instead, the railroad goes through North Willow Glen, effectively cutting it off from the Gardner area to the north. The railroad causes some homes on the north side of Fuller to be relocated to adjacent streets such as Hull.
Milestone
1927: The City of Willow Glen is formed

Leading up to the September 21st Willow Glen Founders Day Parade on Lincoln Avenue, NWGNA is providing readers with history about the evolution of our neighborhood, largely excerpted from Ken Ecklund's North Willow Glen Neighborhood Association Page.

We view this as our history and encourage you to share. Stories and photos of North Willow Glen are very welcome and with your permission and credit we would like to archive this information to improve our understanding of life in our neighborhood throughout the years. Please post here or reach us via e-mail at board@nwgna.org.