That old-time racism that once marked Fullerton is rearing its ugly head right now over at the Friends for Fullerton's Future blog, in the comments section in a simple post about the future of the Chicano murals near the Lemon Street overpass. Of course! As we've noted before on this blog, Fullerton had a much-more-active, much-nastier Klan than Anaheim, so we might as well add another Fullertonian to the list: James W. Newell.
Both Newell Avenue and Place in Fullerton are named after the man, a jack-of-all-trades who is alternately listed in Orange County directories as a miner, a farmer and a subdivider.
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Those same directories also list him with different addresses–Fullerton has the streets named after Newell, but Placentia is where he kept a home, and it was in Yorba Linda that Newell decided to join the Masons, becoming the lodge's first Worshipful Master. What was it about Newell and secret societies?
What else? This James Newell is NOT Iggy Pop. . . .
Tune in every Monday around 5 p.m. for the latest entry exposing Orange County city fathers who were Klan members!
Previous entries:
Garland C. Ross, Santa Ana dentist, batted against Walter Johnson
Ferris F. Kelley, San Juan Capistrano Postmaster
Clyde Fairbairn, Longtime Olive resident/nice guy
Charles McClure, Brea's first police chief
John F. Pieper, Tustin feed-store owner, councilmember
William Starbuck, Fullerton school trustee, druggist
Hoyt Corbit, Yorba Linda pioneer, fan of Richard Nixon
Lucien Proud, La Habra mayor/school trustee
Albert Hetebrink, Fullerton rancher
Henry W. Head, Orange County godfather
Dr. Roy S. Horton and Marshall Keeler, Santa Ana Unified trustees
Sam Jernigan and Jesse Elliott, Orange County sheriffs
Herman Hiltscher, Fullerton bureacrat
