Osborne Street

The erstwhile Lincoln Street was renamed (in 1917) after Sherrill Blasdel Osborne (1873-1949) and/or his brother Henry Zenas “Harry” Osborne Jr. (1875-1948). A 1916 newspaper article noted that Sherrill was subdividing his land in the Pacoima hills, yet nearby Montague Street surely borrows the maiden name of Harry’s wife Lilian, so perhaps the brothers co-owned the land. At any rate, the Osbornes were both born in New Orleans, raised in Los Angeles, and graduated from Stanford; Sherrill was an attorney who later became mayor of Eagle Rock while Harry was chief engineer at the Los Angeles Board of Public Utilities. Their father Henry Zenas Osborne Sr. (1848-1923) was an itinerant newsman, originally from New York, who brought his family to L.A. in 1884 and soon began a 13-year tenure as editor of the Los Angeles Evening Express. Well-liked and well-connected, Papa Osborne was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (R-CA) in 1916 and served until his death.