Named for – and no doubt by – Paul Battelle Fletcher (1887-1946), the young contractor/developer who subdivided Andrew Glassell‘s land as Glassell Park between 1910 and 1913. (Three nearby streets are named for Glassell relations: Toland, Andrita, and Drew.) Born in Kansas City, MO, Fletcher came to L.A. with his family in 1896. He graduated from Los Angeles High and entered USC, but when his realtor father William became too ill to work, Paul had to drop out and enter the real estate trade at twenty. The year 1910 was a momentous one for him: he married his first wife Ruth (1884-1923), his father died from heart disease, and he went into business for himself. Fletcher Drive was named in 1912, midway through the development of Glassell Park. Paul Fletcher went on to build the Gaylord Apartments on Wilshire, among other edifices, but he inherited his father’s weak heart and died at 59.
Find it on the map:
