This street was named in 1906 by novelist/entrepreneur/con artist Willis George Emerson. Its honoree has got to be attorney Paul Harris McPherrin (1876-1932), who was listed as a guest at Emerson’s 1907 wedding and worked with him in the development of Imperial Valley, mostly through mutual connections Anthony Heber and brothers Frank and David Chaplin. Born in Clarinda, IA, McPherrin obtained his law degree at the University of Nebraska in 1900 and moved to Los Angeles the following year with his older brother Roy, also a lawyer. McPherrin soon owned 320 acres of the Imperial Valley and would prove himself instrumental in the advancement of that region (as would Roy and a third brother, Arthur). In fact McPherrin and the Chaplins were indicted for defrauding the government of Imperial land in a complicated 1908-1910 case that ultimately fizzled out. McPherrin married Lulu Cooke (1879-1960), a fellow Iowa transplant, in 1904. They had one daughter: Frances.
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