In 1905, Michigan transplant Mary Lucinda Kathan (née Baxter, 1848-1946) purchased an 80 acre parcel here and soon laid out the following streets: Caswell, Matteson, Mitchell, Moore, and Wade. Four of these five namesakes remain mysteries but Matteson is for the British-born, Michigan-raised Angelina Matteson (née Harrison, 1847-1947), Kathan’s longtime companion. Was their relationship romantic or platonic? There’s no way to tell. Each had a husband – indeed, Mary and William Kathan were residing with Angelina and Eugene Matteson in Grand Rapids, MI in the 1880 census – but Mary, abandoned by William in 1897, moved in with Angelina shortly after Eugene’s death in 1915 and from then on the two women were inseparable. (Their house on Hoover was located near the shortest street in L.A.) Also in the mix was Angelina’s sister Mary Spires, whose husband Joseph was a wealthy real estate man. Mary Kathan had lived with them for a while as well. They all knew each other back in Grand Rapids, but it’s unknown how Mary Kathan – apparently an only child orphaned at the age of 8 – came into this family’s embrace.
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