Henry Clayton Witmer (1856-1909) grew up in Juda, Wisconsin, where he made his first fortune running a local bank. He came to Los Angeles in November 1884; two months later, he established the Los Angeles Improvement Company, a powerful investment syndicate, and in 1887 he founded the California Bank with Moses L. Wicks and one of Henry Mayo Newhall‘s sons. Various other Witmers came out to live with or near H.C., and he married Alice Petterson in 1898. Of all the land the Witmers owned, they were most associated with their 650 acres around Crown Hill; Witmer Street itself was named in January 1886. It’s been said that it was H.C. Witmer who in 1892 sold the lot at present-day Colton and Douglas to Edward Doheny and Charles Canfield (and the forgotten Samuel Connon), who then discovered oil and kicked off the Southland’s big petroleum boom. I haven’t found proof of this myself, but it’s certainly plausible. Family footnote: Nephew David J. Witmer (1888-1973) was one of the two chief architects of the Pentagon.
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