Named for a landowner during the two years he didn’t own the land. William H. Ellenwood (1840-1917) was an Illinoisan who came to SoCal in December 1900 after nearly thirty years operating a small farm in Adams County, Iowa. The reason for the move is unclear. It’s possible Ellenwood sought to improve the health of his wife Virginia (1846-1903), as she died just over two years later. Newspapers also suggested that they were following one of their daughters (they had 15 kids altogether) out West. Whatever the case, the Ellenwoods came first to Pomona but settled on 34.5 acres in Eagle Rock in 1902. A year after Virginia’s passing, W.H. took Mary Best (1837-1917), who at 65 had apparently never been married, as his bride. Two years after that, he sold his Eagle Rock land to an investment syndicate. They then named Ellenwood Drive on a tract called Ellenwood Heights. The tract’s namesake bought back 11 acres in 1908, conceding that he couldn’t find an “equally attractive place elsewhere”. W.H. Ellenwood died just three months after Mary.
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