This 1887 street honors Edward Fallis “E.F.” Spence (1832-1892) – not because he’d been mayor of Los Angeles for two years but because he and his wife owned land around here: “Spence’s Tract, Boyle Heights” was cited in the press in November 1884, just a month before Spence was elected mayor. Born in Enniskillen, (Northern) Ireland, E.F. Spence came to America in 1852 and settled in the mining town of Nevada City, CA the following year. There he became a pharmacist and married his first wife Marietta; sadly, she and all four of their children would die before their time. Spence briefly went back to Ireland in 1869 to wed Anna Maria Spence (1851-1937; Spence was indeed her maiden name), and after a few years in San Jose and San Diego, where Spence forged a lucrative new career as a banker, the couple came to L.A. in 1875 and raised four kids of their own. By 1887, Spence was president of no fewer than three banks and two railroad companies. He also cofounded the city of Monrovia and named its Shamrock Ave. as a tribute to his heritage.
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