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Gen. Charles S. Farnsworth County Park

Altadena, CaliforniaBotanical gardens in CaliforniaBuildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles County, CaliforniaCounty parks in CaliforniaHistoric districts on the National Register of Historic Places in California
Los Angeles County, California Registered Historic Place stubsNRHP infobox with nocatParks in Los Angeles County, CaliforniaParks on the National Register of Historic Places in CaliforniaSan Gabriel Valley
William D. Davies Memorial Building, Gen. Charles S. Farnsworth County Park
William D. Davies Memorial Building, Gen. Charles S. Farnsworth County Park

Gen. Charles S. Farnsworth County Park, also known as Farnsworth Park, is a Los Angeles County park and National Register of Historic Places district (site #97000027) in Altadena, California. The land was purchased by Los Angeles County in 1921 for use as a nursery. When the County built new nurseries in the 1930s, a movement to turn the land into a county park was spearheaded by General Charles S. Farnsworth and William O. Davies. Farnsworth designed the park and supervised its grading and landscaping. Davies began planning for a community center. Funds for the construction of the community center came from grants from the Public Works Administration. The park was completed in 1934. The park was originally named Altadena Park. The park project included a two-story arts and crafts American craftsman style building that was later christened the William D. Davies Memorial Building. The park was renamed in honor of Farnsworth in 1939.It was placed on the Register in 1997 for its significance as a recreation and architecture site.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Gen. Charles S. Farnsworth County Park (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Gen. Charles S. Farnsworth County Park
North Lake Avenue,

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N 34.200555555556 ° E -118.13111111111 °
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North Lake Avenue 3184
91001
California, United States
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William D. Davies Memorial Building, Gen. Charles S. Farnsworth County Park
William D. Davies Memorial Building, Gen. Charles S. Farnsworth County Park
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Andrew McNally House
Andrew McNally House

The Andrew McNally House in Altadena, California was the home of Andrew McNally (1838–1904), co-founder and president of the Rand McNally publishing company. The Queen Anne Style house is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. McNally was an Irish immigrant who worked as a printer. When he came to the United States, he first worked for the Chicago Tribune when he met William Rand. Together they formed the company that bears their names. In 1880, McNally took his fortune and family and moved west They lived for a time in Pasadena, California before building their mansion in Altadena in 1887. The mansion is located on East Mariposa Street at Santa Rosa Avenue. McNally was a booster of the life in Altadena, and he convinced his friends to move here as well. They also built mansions along Mariposa, which soon began to be known locally as "Millionaire's Row". McNally paid Pasadena architect Frederick Roehrig $15,000 to design the Victorian house. Facing south, away from the street, the house offered vistas of the Los Angeles Basin, the Pacific Ocean, and Santa Catalina Island. The house has a three-story rotunda that allows a view to the San Gabriel Mountains to the north. McNally also built a private rail spur from Altadena Junction to his property to store his private railroad car. The grounds were lavishly landscaped, with an aviary along Mariposa St. His gardener also looked after the deodar cedars that grew along Santa Rosa Avenue. These trees became Christmas Tree Lane, which is also listed in the National Register. In 1904, McNally caught pneumonia while en route to his Windemere Ranch in La Mirada, California. (The ranch headquarters is also listed in the National Register.) He died shortly afterward. The gardens and aviary were neglected, some of the birds escaped. The property was then subdivided.

Mount Lowe Railway
Mount Lowe Railway

The Mount Lowe Railway was the third in a series of scenic mountain railroads in the United States created as a tourist attraction on Echo Mountain and Mount Lowe, north of Los Angeles, California. The railway, originally incorporated by Thaddeus S. C. Lowe as the Pasadena and Mt. Wilson Railroad Co., existed from 1893 until its official abandonment in 1938, and was the only scenic mountain, electric traction (overhead electric trolley) railroad ever built in the United States. Lowe's partner and engineer was David J. Macpherson, a civil engineer graduate of Cornell University. The Mount Lowe Railway was a fulfillment of 19th century Pasadenans' desire to have a scenic mountain railroad to the crest of the San Gabriel Mountains. The Railway opened on July 4, 1893, and consisted of nearly seven miles (11 km) of track starting in Altadena, California, at a station called Mountain Junction. Atop Echo Mountain was a 70-room Victorian hotel, the Echo Mountain House. A short distance away stood the 40-room Echo Chalet, which was ready for opening day. Other buildings on Echo Mountain included an astronomical observatory, car barns, dormitories, repair facilities, a casino and dance hall, and a menagerie of local fauna.For the seven years during which Lowe owned and operated the railway, it was not financially successful, and was eventually sold. A series of natural disasters destroyed the facilities, the first of which was a kitchen fire that destroyed the Echo Mountain House in 1900. Further fires and floods eventually destroyed any remaining facilities, and the railway was officially abandoned in 1938 after a flood washed railway property off the mountain sides. The ruins of Mount Lowe Railway remain. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 6, 1993, a listing that was enlarged in January 2015.