| Anaheim Excessive College, 1929 |
Immediately marks an enormous level in my profession as a historian and investigative journalist. The truth is, it appears like I’ve come full circle in many alternative methods. You see, I used to be born and raised in Anaheim. That is my hometown. My love of historical past started right here. My love of analysis started right here in our Anaheim Library. My love of fixing mysteries or attending to the foundation or origins of a narrative started right here. You can say, all that I’m as a historian got here to be, due to this excellent city.
So immediately, I submit what’s going to in all probability be probably the most essential weblog posts I’ve posted on right here up to now. Why? As a result of I’m going to make my greatest effort to elucidate to the world the historical past of Anaheim Excessive College’s “Colonists” origin and settle the talk over the “Colonist” identify as soon as and for all.
One would possibly marvel, “How can that be topic be that essential?”
Oh, however it’s.
Their petition was so emotionally pushed with hate, the truth is, the art work they posted was not solely debase and degrading, however downright slanderous, accusing our early settlers of Anaheim of such heinous acts similar to rape, homicide, racism and looting.
After I first learn their petition, I used to be instantly upset that anybody may come to that conclusion when there’s completely no foundation the truth is to again up such a declare. I can’t deny it, I used to be angered by the disrespect they had been displaying not solely to the college itself, however to our forefathers who based Anaheim.
I began a counter-petition and inside solely 2 days, I managed to not solely match however surpass the variety of signatures that took their petition 8 days to succeed in. To this point, my petition continues to be main strongly by a minimum of 1,000 or extra signatures.
Nonetheless, that’s not sufficient, so, I’m right here immediately to provide the details. To share with you the explanations that the Colonist identify was chosen, and to present you a run down on the historical past of the mascot over time so you’ll be able to come to your personal conclusions and kind an informed opinion your self.
The Beginnings of Anaheim
In Anaheim, the time period “Colonist” has at all times represented the early settlers who based the “Mom Colony” of Anaheim. The Los Angeles Winery Society which was established particularly for this objective, despatched George Hansen to the realm to buy a small quantity of land (1,160 acres) from Juan Pacifico Ontiveros in 1857. Ontiveros owned the Spanish Land Grant “Rancho San Juan Cajón de Santa Ana” which consisted of 35,971 acres in its entirety. The Ontiveros household had been deeded that land from Mexico, by Governor Juan Alvarado in 1837.
From its very beginnings, Anaheim consisted of German, European and Hispanic settlers, many intermarrying inside the neighborhood. instance was Petra Ontiveros, daughter of Juan Pacifico Ontiveros, who married Augustus Langenberger. Langenberger got here to the USA from Germany in 1849. In 1850, Augustus married Petra. He additionally turned the very first service provider in Anaheim’s historical past.
One other instance is the Rimpau household. Theodore Rimpau additionally got here from Germany, arriving to California in 1848. He traveled from San Francisco to Los Angeles, the place he ultimately turned superb mates with the Alcade of Los Angeles, Don Francisco Avila, who was additionally one of many richest ranchers in Los Angeles. A local of Sinaloa, Mexico, Don Francisco owned the “Rancho Las Cienegas” and the the Avila Adobe on Olvera Road (which is the oldest standing home in Los Angeles).
Anaheim’s First Faculties
Again in 1860, the primary faculty opened in an adobe construction that was situated on rather a lot owned by Augustus Langenberger, considered one of Anaheim’s earliest Colonists. The primary group of scholars had been as follows: Ernesto Guillermo Frederico “Fred” Langenberger and his two sisters, Carola and Regina; Tomas and Felipe Yorba; Elmina and Louise Lorenz; and Pifanio and Antonio Burreuel. Anaheim’s first faculty trainer was Fred William Kuelp.
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| Matilda Rimpau c/o APL Archives |
The primary individual to earn a highschool diploma in Anaheim historical past in 1880, was none aside from Matilda Rimpau, daughter of Theodore Rimpau and Francesca Avila. By 1901, the funds had been appropriated to assemble and end an precise faculty devoted solely to the older grades, making it the very first Anaheim Excessive College constructing on the town. The primary location was situated at 608 W. Middle Road (later Lincoln Avenue). The constructing was later bought to the elementary faculty district in 1911, and even later one in 1937 it was demolished and have become the positioning of Fremont Junior Excessive. The newer website, the place AHS at the moment is situated at 811 W. Lincoln Avenue was in-built 1912.
Going again to the topic at hand, as you’ll be able to see, from Anaheim’s very beginnings it was a combination of European and Hispanic tradition and lots of the descendants of the unique settlers had been of blended heritage being each of Hispanic and European (primarily German) descent.
Why the Colonists?
At no level in any respect was the time period Colonist meant to signify the New World Colonists or Pilgrims who got here to America within the 1600’s.
The Latin phrase colere, from which the phrase Colonist is derived, merely means : “to inhabit, have a tendency or guard.” In English, the definition of a Colonist is “a settler or inhabitant of a colony.” It will probably additionally imply, “a gaggle of individuals of 1 nationality or ethnic group dwelling in a international metropolis or nation.” There is no such thing as a point out of oppression, racism, genocide or theft wherever in these definitions.
What folks won’t know is that initially the mascot for the college was really known as the “Mom Colonists,” as you’ll be able to plainly see by my connected images beneath of varied information clippings from the early 1920’s. From the start of utilizing the time period Mom Colonists, main as much as the mid 1920’s, it stayed the identical.
Based on “One to Twenty-Eight: A Historical past of Anaheim Union Excessive College District,” written by Louise Sales space (1980) it states, “The college formally adopted the Colonist image and flag (designed by Clayes*) in 1928, in line with the Mom Colony heritage.”
* very long time Principal, Joseph A. Clayes
One other lesser recognized tidbit of historical past is that though many highschool’s all through the nation had nicknames per se, it wasn’t till the mid to late 1920’s that faculty’s began really adopting mascots or logos.
It seems that it was in 1928, when the performing Principal Joseph A. Clayes introduced the eye to the college as to why the Mom Colonists had been so essential to our historical past when he says:
“The spirit of the true Colonist nonetheless lived, when in 1857, a gaggle of fifty males set out from San Francisco Bay and crossed the mountains to the Santa Ana River, bringing the nucleus of the Mom Colony. This later developed into town we love, whose romantic identify was developed from the linking of the beloved phrase “House” and “Ana”, the patron saint of the river. How acceptable, then, that we, the descendants of those sturdy males, ought to undertake a title which means a lot to each true American coronary heart and resident of our Mom Colony- The Colonist.”
This is similar 12 months they launched the brand on the within of the yearbook. By the mid to late 1920’s the college dropped the “Mom Colonist” identify and shortened it to only “The Colonists.”
By 1929, the Colonist additionally seems on the duvet. Based on Melvin Aguilar, aka. “Mr. Colonist”, (Scholar Physique President, Class of 1975) who has been amassing Anaheim Excessive College yearbooks for many years, the 1929 yearbook’s foreword explains the reasoning behind the identify “Colonist.” (The connected images beneath got to me to make use of by permission from Melvin Aguilar.)
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| Foreward: 1929 Yearbook |
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| AHS 1929 Yearbook |
The Foreward reads:
“We’ve chosen “The Colonists” as our faculty identify. We’d now take into account the importance of this identify and discover what’s our proper to bear it.
It’s true that Anaheim was based by colonists who braved the risks and hardships of the desert, males who regardless of untoward circumstances overcame all obstacles and established properties and constructed our city. These males are our forebearers, and we stand in reverence as we ponder their struggles and their victories.
Their work is completed. It now stays for us to hold on. Are we keen to endure hardships, to endure deprivations, for the great of others? Have we in us the qualities that make for noble, trustworthy, sturdy character? Have we that persistency that surmounts all obstacles?
As colonists, we’ve chosen because the motif for the artwork work of our 12 months e-book the desert and its symbolism. Our forefathers knew each the wonder and the risks of the desert, and we will however marvel how a lot their contact with and conquering of the desert needed to do with the sturdy character they revealed.
We observe of their wake, having fun with the fruits of their labors, however we, too, would have that sturdiness of objective, that dependability of character for which they had been acknowledged. As they overcame the desert and made it blossom because the rose, thus would we overcome the difficulties that lie in our means, and so form our lives that we could also be of the best service to mankind.”— Miss Bella J. Walker, Yearbook Advisor.
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| Inside the 1929 AHS yearbook |
Apart from the orange groves, Anaheim’s early settlers had success with chili peppers, sugar beets, walnuts, cabbages, potatoes and strawberries. Had it not been for Timothy Carroll, Anaheim’s first nurseryman, most of all our bushes wouldn’t be right here immediately, together with the well-known Moreton Bay Fig tree that stands tall at Founder’s Park on West Road, actually backing as much as the property of Anaheim Excessive College. Timothy Carroll introduced that tree over from Australia in 1876, and it was planted by the Horstmann household. Each the tree and the Mom Colony home, the oldest home in Anaheim, sit on the identical land simply behind the highschool.
The Anaheim Gazette, dated August 5, 1926 states:
“Earlier to laying out the colony, in 1858, there have been no bushes about Anaheim besides a collection of scrub oak…..among the old-timers planted sycamore bushes and in a while eucalyptus bushes.”
So, Ms. Walker’s rationalization of the Colonists conquering the desert makes absolute sense; They made the land stunning with vegetation!
The Brand
There was at instances by the years “logos” or artist interpretations of the Colonists which were portrayed on emblems for the college on banners, yearbooks and such, a few of which painting what seem like a pilgrim, however this was not the origin of the namesake for the highschool.
So one would possibly ask why have the person on the duvet of the yearbook (emblem) seem like a “Pilgrim” as an alternative of a German vinyardist?
On the time of designing the mascot for the college the USA had simply completed the primary World Warfare with Germany. It’s the author’s perception that the college board did not need to offend anybody, given the time interval and the potential of residual anti-German sentiment that was nonetheless prevalent within the nation, so that they opted for what would have been a “safer alternative” for a design. If the artist’s depiction had seemed like a German man in lederhosen, it may need sparked severe controversy on the time. We additionally need to consider that it wasn’t till the late 1920’s that they even thought-about bringing again instructing the German language, so there was an anti-German sentiment occurring there, little question.
The college wished to honor the German Colonists of the 1850’s, not the Germans of that point interval, thus once more, that’s the reason I consider they used a safer alternative on the time, a seventeenth century trying man in a hat with a musket.
Last Ideas
In conclusion, I hope that every one of this data I’ve fastidiously offered to you proves that the time period Colonist in Anaheim historical past had nothing to do with white supremacy, racism, genocide or some other cause. Historical past proves that these settlers who got here and established Anaheim didn’t participate in any type of genocide towards the native peoples of this space, or some other teams of individuals for that matter.
It might be a whole shame to take away that identify and dishonor the blood, sweat and tears they put into shifting midway internationally, coming to a brand new nation to begin a brand new life, and dealing arduous collectively as a neighborhood to ascertain a brand new city out of actually nothing.
I believe that the youthful era who believes within the hateful rhetoric unfold by these petitioners, particularly those that come from immigrant backgrounds, must be ashamed of themselves for disregarding this a part of Anaheim’s historical past simply because they need to change a reputation to appease their cries for “social justice,” a topic that actually has nothing to do with this faculty or its mascot.
I don’t consider that we must always take away our historical past primarily based on the assumptions and misinformation of the youthful era immediately, who suppose it’s okay to take away one thing if it offends them, even when they’re utterly blind to the true historical past to start with.
The Colonist identify doesn’t signify something destructive in Anaheim historical past in any respect, and I hope that the Anaheim Union Excessive College District will dismiss the nonsense of Ms. Luevano and Daniel Allatorre De-Liva’s claims.
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