Although it looks French, Le Droit Drive’s name actually comes from Washington, D.C.’s LeDroit (rhymes with “Detroit”) Park – that’s where Caroline W. Dobbins (1839-1935), who christened this street in 1920, grew up. The D.C. neighborhood was founded by Amzi Barber, who named it after his father-in-law John LeDroict Langdon but excised the “c”. As for Caroline Dobbins, she was born Wilhelmina Caroline Emmert to German immigrant parents. She tied the knot with Richard James Dobbins (1832-1893), a prominent builder, in 1861 and had five surviving children with him. The Dobbinses had relocated to Cheltenham, a pastoral Philadelphia suburb, by the time their third child was born in 1866. Hoping to soothe Richard’s failing health with some SoCal sunshine, the family started wintering in L.A. in 1887. They eventually purchased eleven acres here in 1892 and erected a mansion on Garfield Avenue, technically in San Marino. Alas, Richard passed away just months later. Family trivia: daughter Florence’s husband Thaddeus Lowe Jr. was the son of Mount Lowe‘s namesake, and their daughter was aviation pioneer “Pancho” Barnes. Florence and Caroline also named Chelten Way and Ashbourne Drive after their old stomping grounds in PA.
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