Raymer originated as the name of a Southern Pacific Railroad station built in the north Valley in 1904-1905. (An article in the March 18th, 1905 Railway and Engineering Review showed it as a stop on the SPRR’s “new line”.) Then came the Raymer tract in 1913. Raymer Street was named four years after that and traces the old SPRR route. So who was this Raymer? No one knows. The most prominent Angeleno by that name was Amos Raymer (1853-1928), an insurance man who speculated in real estate and mining. Those qualifications would make him a no-brainer namesake in those days, yet he had no apparent connections to the Valley or to the railroad. A distant second would be George Raymer of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, but only because the tiny Colorado town of Raymer was named for him in 1888. He may have never come to California – his railroad didn’t – so he’s a stretch. Yet no other Raymer comes close. It may well be that some Southern Pacific exec named it after one of his buddies. Showbiz trivia: Talk show host Conan O’Brien unsuccessfully lobbied to get a portion of Raymer Street named for himself in 2011. I don’t think he was very serious about it.
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