You’d think Kingswell was just one of those generically English-sounding street names, but it was in fact the surname of the star-crossed couple who laid out this street in 1903. William James Kingswell (1865-1920) was a carpenter originally from Ontario, Canada. At some point he moved to the Detroit area, where in 1891 he married local girl Kate W. Hastings (1874-1943). They came to Los Angeles five years later. Along with subdividing the Edgemont Terrace tract here (with co-owner Horace A. Bourne: see Melbourne Avenue), William briefly ran a combination barbershop/pool hall(!) downtown. But the Kingswells’ marriage deteriorated and William wed Hilda E. Balling (1888-1980), a young Napa woman, in March 1910 – five months before Kate filed for divorce. (Whoops.) William and Hilda soon had a daughter, Juanita, and settled in San Diego. When the First World War broke out, William attempted to enlist with the U.S. Army, but was denied due to his age and/or nationality. So he went to Vancouver in June 1917 – his marriage to Hilda was kaput by then – and joined the Canadian Infantry, subtracting ten years from his age on his application. A shrapnel wound received while fighting in France would eventually lead to stomach cancer and William died back home in Ontario after an unsuccessful surgery.
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