In 1887, David Joseph Macpherson (1854-1927), a Canadian-born, Michigan-raised, Cornell-educated civil engineer who had settled in Pasadena two years earlier, established the Pasadena Highland tract. Inspired by New York Avenue (now New York Drive) at the top of his tract, he named the following streets after famous railroads: Erie Street for the New York & Erie Railroad; Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe streets for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway; Denver and Rio Grande streets for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. Of those six streets, only Atchison, Topeka, and Rio Grande have kept their original names. Erie, Santa Fe, and Denver were coopted into Woodbury, Elizabeth, and Howard, respectively. D.J. Macpherson wasn’t just a train buff: an experienced engineer who had patented a railcar brake, he was locally famous for building the Mount Lowe Railway, a now-defunct funicular, in the 1890s. He, his wife Emma (1857-1924), and their four kids lived on Atchison Street.
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