The “Flint” in Flintridge comes from Frank Putnam Flint (1862-1929), the U.S. Senator (R-CA) whose country estate would form the basis of this city. The Massachusetts-born Flint moved to San Francisco with his parents and little brother Motley(!) when he was seven. He dabbled in paper sales and farming until he moved to Los Angeles in 1887 to take up law – first as a deputy U.S. marshal, then as an attorney once he passed the bar in 1892. Flint’s career then ascended rapidly: by the time he was elected to the Senate in 1905, he had already served as an L.A. County Superior Court judge, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of CA, and counsel for several major oil companies. He openly bemoaned the oil profits he was missing out on while in Washington and opted not to run for a second term. Flint had initially purchased 100 acres of Rancho La Cañada in 1905; in 1911, after returning to private practice, he purchased an additional 1,400 acres. Here he built his 14 acre home and had the rest subdivided as Flintridge in 1914, when this street was named. (Flintridge’s owners did not explicitly include the ex-Senator but rather a shell company – “Oak Lodge Land and Water” – incorporated by his law partners.) Flint married Katherine J. Bloss in 1890 and had two children with her. He died suddenly while he and Katherine were one month into an around-the-world cruise.
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