One of the oldest thoroughfares in this part of the county, Orr and Day Road was named in late 1885/early 1886 after two neighboring ranchers: William Warren Orr (1833-1915) and James Warren Day (1836-1887). Orr first came to Northern California in 1852; after some years of mining, farming, and running a hotel, he returned to his native Kentucky after the Civil War and married his second (or third?) wife Sarah. They settled in Norwalk – back when it was called “Little Lake” – around 1870. The Mississippi-born Day, who had apparently been a captain in the Confederate Army, brought his wife Margaret and their six kids to this area in 1884. According to their descendants, the Days bought their ranch sight unseen, and only when they arrived did they realize there was no road to it. So Day teamed up with Orr to commission the road. Hipster postscript: Day’s grandson Robert Day (1900-1985) was a longtime New Yorker cartoonist.
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