Los Angeles Electric Railway Company signed by Moses Sherman was the developer of Sherman Oaks - California 1892

Beautiful certificate from the Los Angeles Electric Railway Company issued in 1892. This historic document was printed by H.S. Crocker Company and has an ornate border around it with a vignette of the company's power plan and a streetcar. This item has the signatures of the Company's President, General M. H. Sherman, President and Secretary, F. V. McDonald and is over 115 years old. John Mckee and D. A. Dorn signed on back as Trustees. 52 unused coupons attached on top. Moses Sherman was the developer of Sherman Oaks. Acutal certificate is in excellent condition and is not cut at bottom as shown in the scan.


Certificate Vignette

Starting in 1894 Moses Sherman and Eli Clark began acquiring the various cities' horse-car and cablecar systems, eventually forming the Los Angeles Consolidated Electric Railway. One of the new company's first project was the University Line, which included the University of Southern California. Until this time, all the systems had operated within cities. But in 1895 the first intercity line opened; an electric rail line that linked Pasadena and Los Angeles. This intercity line was such a huge success that others soon followed: by 1896 tracks ran from Los Angeles through what would one day be Beverly Hills, Hollywood to Santa Monica.

In 1898, financial difficulties forced Sherman and Clark to give up control of their company. A group of investors, including Collis Huntington, president of the Southern Pacific Railroad, and his nephew Henry Huntington took over control of the Los Angeles Consolidated Electric Railway. This period also marked the birth of "Red Cars". prior to Huntington's takeover, the trolley cars had been olive colored, trimmed in yellow.

Sherman Oaks was one of the first Valley communities to heavily develop real estate in the area. Anticipating continued heavy development of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, Los Angeles Suburban Homes Co. purchased forty seven thousand five hundred acres of the southeast Valley in 1910. In 1911, a subdivision map called Tract 1000 was filed with Los Angeles County. From that parcel, one of the partners in the company, General Moses Sherman, bought one thousand acres for himself. In 1927, Sherman subdivided the property (Sherman Oaks) and sold the land for seven hundred and eighty dollars an acre.

In October, 1890, the Los Angeles City Council, consisting of the following members;

Bonsall, Brown, McClain, Shaffer, Summerland, Wirsching, (new President of the Board of Public Utilities), Van Dusen and Frankenfield, the President, passed an ordinance over the veto of the Mayor, H. T. Hazard, with one dissenting vote - Theo. Summerland - granting a franchise for an electric railway to B. O. Carr and his assigns over numerous streets of the city, which later were used by the CONSOLIDATED ELECTRIC RAILWAY COMPANY. The promoters were: M. H. Sherman, J. P. Clark, now of Los Angeles, financial backer, the McDonalds who operated the Pacific Bank and the Home Savings Bank of San Francisco, and James Fair, of the Union Iron Works of San Francisco.

The financing of this road resulted eventually in the failure, in 1893, of the Pacific Bank and the Home Savings Bank of San Francisco, controlled by the McDonalds.

The company who built this road and operated it, was organized in Phoenix, Arizona;

General M. H. Sherman, President;

E. P. Clark, Vice President and Manager,

F. V. McDonald, Cashier of the Pacific Bank of San Francisco, Secretary

Directors:

General Sherman;

F. V. McDonald;

Col. B. O. Carr, Cashier of Peoples’ Home Savings Bank of San Francisco;

R. H. Pratt, Assistant General Superintendent of the Southern Pacific Railroad, San Francisco;

Col. J. M. C. Marble, president California National Bank, Los Angeles;

D. A. Dorn, Attorney, San Francisco;

J. A. Muir, Assistant Division Superintendent Southern Pacific Railroad, Los Angeles;

Captain A. W. Barrett was Superintendent, and

Fred Eaton, Chief Engineer.

Construction was commenced December 17, 1890, by tearing up all the old cable line on Second Street between Spring and Olive Streets. The line was constructed to Westlake Park, terminating at Seventh and Alvarado Streets, and routed as follows — mostly through virgin territory, no streets graded, and where there were no streets there were cuts and heavy fills:

From Second and Spring to Olive; to First; to Bonnie Brae; to Ocean View Avenue; to Westlake Avenue; to Sixth Street, to Alvarado; to Seventh Street. The line was placed in operation July 1, l891.

This Company soon acquired title to the DAVIES line to the Santa Fe Station, to the VERNON line, to the old PICO STREET ELECTRIC LINE and with the new and extensive franchises which had been granted them were in a position to proceed with the work and soon constructed what is now known as the UNIVERSITY line. Construction gradually extending up North Broadway to the River, across the River, on Pasadena Avenue to Pasadena Avenue and Daly Street; from Second Street and Spring by way of Spring, Fourth, San Pedro, and Fifth Street to Southern Pacific Station at Central Avenue.

The fast moving electric cars were serious competitors to the slow moving cable cars and drained the financial resources of this Company to such an extent that it was soon in serious financial difficulties. Foreclosure of the property on October 19, 1893 resulted, and the purchase of same by the Consolidated Electric Railway Company, who took over all the cable lines & the horsecar lines. There were being operated at this time 31 cable cars and 19 horsecars, a total of 49 cars.

Street railways in Los Angeles in those days were anything but a safe investment, and although we find that almost all the lines of the city are now (1921) under one control they still were not successful financially.

On March 24th, 1895, M. H. Sherman and associates turned the property over to the care of Morris Tremble, a broker of Chicago, Ill. of the firm of Peabody, Houghtaling & Company, for the benefit of the bondholders. Mr. Trumbull was only in charge of the road a short time and the property was placed in the hands of Mr. F. W. Wood on April 4th, 1895. In August 1895, the property of this Company was sold under foreclosure proceedings and was purchased by the bond holders, who organized a new Company called the LOS ANGELES RAILWAY COMPANY to take over the properties. Mr. F. W. Wood was continued as General Manager.

W. S. Hook came here from Illinois in 1895 and organized the LOS ANGELES TRACTION COMPANY, and commenced to build a system of car lines. The first line starting at the Santa Fe Station, then by way of Third Street to Hill Street, Hill to Eighth Street; Eighth to Figueroa Street; Figueroa to Eleventh Street; Eleventh to Georgia Street; Georgia to Sixteenth Street; Sixteenth to Burlington Avenue; thence on Burlington Avenue, Hoover, Twenty-fourth and Vermont Avenue to Vermont Avenue and Thirty-ninth Street. This line was put in operation from the Santa Fe Station to Sixteenth Street and Burlington Avenue on the 29th day of August, 1895. The construction continued and in a few months the line was completed and in operation to Vermont Avenue and Exposition Boulevard and a year later was extended to Thirty-ninth Street.

Franchises were obtained by the Los Angeles Traction Company, as follows:

From Eighth Street, Lake, Seventh and Commonwealth Avenue to First and Virgil Streets.

From Twenty-fourth Street and Vermont Avenue by way on Twenty-fourth, Normandie and West Adams to Western Avenue.

From Jefferson and Wesley Avenue (now University Avenue) west on Jefferson to Fourth Avenue.

On East Fourth Street and connecting streets from Third and Stephenson Avenue to First and Fresno Streets,

All these lines were built and in operation by 1898.

The Hooks sold their interests in the Los Angeles Traction Company to the Southern Pacific Company who continued to operate these lines until 1910 when they were transferred to the LOS ANGELES RAILWAY.

In January 1896, a Committee representing the Bank of California, William Alvord, Houghtaling & Co, of Chicago, and the Pacific Rolling Mills, Purchased the controlling interest in the MAIN STREET & AGRICULTURAL PARK RAILROAD COMPANY from W. J. Brodrick and Francisco Jesurun, and built a line on San Pedro Street from Fifth south to Thirtieth Street.

The Main Street rolling stock and rails were scrapped and the line entirely rebuilt, and new cars purchased and operation by electricity started on April 1, 1897.

The line built on San Pedro Street was placed in operation on August 1, 1898.

Both the Main and San Pedro Street Lines were transferred to the LOS ANGELES RAILWAY October 1, 1898.

The Los Angeles Railway purchased the Mateo Street Line in April, 1901.

The operation of the cable lines was discontinued in 1896 to be put into operation as electric lines.

Mr. H. E. HUNTINGTON acquired the stock of the Los Angeles Railway Company and took possession of the property on October 1st, 1898. He proceeded at once to re-construct the entire system. In fact, scrapped it all, tearing out all cable lines and the road-bed of all the electric lines, replacing them with new rails and ties and new cars throughout; and extended the lines in every direction where needed and built new lines, and new car houses.

In the meantime, Mr. Huntington had also developed The Pacific Electric Railway Company. In 1910 he disposed of his interests in the Pacific Electric Railway Company and the Redondo Railway Company south of Hawthorne and Vermont Heights, to the Southern Pacific Company; and he acquired the Los Angeles Traction lines within the city and the Temple Street line.

Numerous extensions of lines have been made; a cross-town line built; new car barns constructed; extensive plans of rerouting carried out, in order to keep pace with the demands of the growing population of Los Angeles.

History from the The Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California.

PICO STREET ELECTRIC RAILWAY, known as the LOS ANGELES ELECTRIC RAILWAY

Commenced on Los Angeles Street at the Plaza; south on Los Angeles to Third Street; east on Third to San Julian; south on San Julian to Seventh; west on Seventh to Maple Avenue, Maple Avenue to Pico Street and thence west on Pico to Lorde Street (now Harvard Boulevard)

Another branch continued south on Maple Avenue to West Adams Street, terminating in the center of an orange grove, (trees being grubbed up to make way for the rails.) The Los Angeles Electric Railway Company built this line in 1886 and 1887 – Chas. H. Holland being President and General Manager, and W. H. Best, Superintendent. (Col. Holland is now deceased. Mr. Best is living (1921) in Brooklyn, N.Y.; he visited Los Angeles in 1915.)

These lines were being operated only intermittently and frequently one had to wait two hours for a car. Operation was discontinued in the Fall of 1888.

From "The Science of Burning Liquid Fuel ~ Introduction" "The author of this book began the study of liquid fuel while Master Mechanic and Superintendent of the Los Angeles Electric Railway in the year 1887. We use the Daft system of electricity. This system had previously operated an electric railway in Boston, Mass. They, however, did not have the overhead wire, but used the third rail system. Ours was the first overhead system of electric railroad in the United States, if not in the world. A view of the electric motor car then used on the system is here given. You can also see the first electric locomotive with two trailers attached.

It may be of interest to here state that after building the Myrtle Avenue branch of this road (which was a branch of the main line to Pico Heights), I reported to the Board of Directors that we should purchase motor cars for the branch line and not use the electric locomotive and trailers, because the latter was more costly to operate, but I also made the statement that in a few years electric locomotives would be used instead of steam locomotives in certain branches of work and for that service they would be better than electric motor cars. This portion of my report caused considerable merriment as there were grave doubts in the minds of many as to the fulfillment of this prophecy."

Mr. William Newton Best Los Angeles, CA 1913

In 1890 the LAERy Co. was acquired by the Electric Rapid Transit Company which attemped to rebuild the lines and acquire new electric cars. Sixteen new cars were ordered, 10 motors and six trailers. When the cars arrived in Los Angeles the investors could not pay the freight bill and so turned to General Sherman for help. For his $56,000 investment he received one-half interest in the ERTCo. By September 1st 1890 he had secured full ownership.

Sherman had the unfinished powerhouse completed, purchased the West 2nd Street cable route and proceeded to have the rails electrically bonded. Sherman also kept the 3'-6" cable car gauge and reduced the Pico line from standard 4'-8˝" thus establishing the narrow gauge for Los Angeles city streetcars until the end came in 1963.

On July, 1st 1891 the first sucessful electric railway began operations covering a circuitous route beginning at 2nd and Spring Streets. Sherman called it The Belt Line Railway Company, and it was the immediate predecessor to The Los Angeles Consolidated Electric Railway Company.

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Walking Tour Highlights Cultural and Architectural History of West Hollywood

As part of "Preservation Month," the City of West Hollywood and the Historic Preservation Commission will celebrate the City's unique cultural and architectural history with a Walking Tour of "Old Sherman" on Wednesday, June 30, 2004 at 6 p.m. The tour will meet at West Hollywood Elementary School Auditorium, 970 Hammond Street, in West Hollywood.

The walking tour will focus on the origins of West Hollywood, "Old Sherman." For nearly thirty years, from 1896 until 1924, West Hollywood was known as Sherman. Named after real estate and transportation entrepreneur, General Moses Sherman, the area was the cornerstone of the electric streetcar system he developed. Old Shermanis located in the general area of San Vicente Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard.

Fun Sherman Facts:

By July 1895, the first electric car was running on Santa Monica Boulevard.

By 1912 Sherman had been nicknamed "Queen of the Foothills."

History from Wikipedia and OldCompanyResearch.com.