Horn Avenue

Named in 1906 on the Horn tract, owned by Hilda Horn, Mira Hershey (see Genesee Ave.), and Lizzie Chaffee. Hilda Horn (1857-1925) was born Hilda Wilberg in Oslo (then Christiania), Norway. She immigrated to America, married a fellow named Molander, and had her only child Oscar (1887-1944) in Norwalk, CT. What happened to Molander is unclear, but we know that Hilda moved to San Francisco and married Indiana-born shoemaker Charles Brewster Horn (1856-1930) in 1890. Charles adopted Oscar and the Horns were in Los Angeles by 1895, when they purchased a 5 acre lot from one Melbourne W. Sinnott. They purchased 5 more acres from him in 1896 and I believe the Horn tract was laid out on these 10 acres. Sinnott and the Horns spent years fighting over land: Charles even accused Sinnott of assaulting him in his buggy in 1901. The 80-year-old Sinnott perished in 1917 when ashes from his pipe burned down his Cynthia Street home. The Horns separated sometime in the 1910s but never divorced.