[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 35 (Tuesday, March 12, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E267-E268]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              A TRIBUTE TO BOLTON HALL'S 100TH ANNIVERSARY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ADAM B. SCHIFF

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 12, 2013

  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay special recognition to 
Bolton Hall in Tujunga, California as it celebrates its one-hundredth 
anniversary.
   Shortly after the turn of the century, the Glorietta Heights area of 
Rancho Tujunga came to the attention of Marshall Hartranft, a land 
developer who engaged William E. Smythe to publicize the upper slopes 
of the area. Mr. Smythe was the founder of the ``Little Lands'' 
movement, a utopian movement that believed that families settling on an 
acre or two of land could support themselves and prosper. Settlement of 
the lots by Smythe's ``Little Landers'' began in 1913 and in April of 
that year, Marshall Hartranft donated land and financed construction of 
Bolton Hall for the new colony. The edifice was designed by ``Nature 
Builder'' George Harris, who used rocks gathered from local hillsides 
and the Tujunga Wash to create a building that harmonized beautifully 
with its setting between the Verdugo Hills and the San Gabriel 
mountains. The structure was first called The Clubhouse, but was later 
named in honor of Smythe's friend, author Bolton Hall. Dedicated in 
August 1913, the hall quickly became the center of all community 
activities, including church services, dances, town meetings, socials, 
and the San Fernando Valley's second library.
   Though the ``Little Lands'' movement declined by 1920, Bolton Hall 
continued to serve the community, becoming Tujunga's City Hall and town 
jail after the town was incorporated in 1925. Following the annexation 
of the city to Los Angeles in 1932, Bolton Hall housed Los

[[Page E268]]

Angeles' Department of Building and Safety as well as its Health 
Department and local police. The city eventually built a new municipal 
building, and the old stone structure was boarded up in 1957. For the 
next twenty years, members of the newly-formed Little Landers 
Historical Society and others fought to save the historic building from 
demolition and worked toward restoration. Starr Von Fluss, past 
president of the Little Landers Historical Society served as campaign 
chairwoman to raise funds for the restoration. With the acquisition of 
additional funds by Roberta Stewart and L.A. City Councilman Robert 
Ronka, the campaign to save and restore the building was a success, 
with restoration work beginning in February of 1980 and its official 
re-opening celebration held on June 27, 1981.
   Today artifacts, photographs, documents and memorabilia of Sunland, 
Tujunga and the foothill areas are displayed, ranging historically from 
the village of the Tongva Indians, through the Mission and Mexican Land 
Grant periods, to the development of Sunland Tujunga and the rescue of 
Bolton Hall. The building also serves as the office for the Little 
Landers Historical Society. Along with John Steven McGroarty's home, 
now the McGroarty Cultural Art Center, Bolton Hall is one of ten 
historical monuments in the Sunland Tujunga area and is also included 
in the National Register of Historic Places.
   I ask all Members of Congress to join me today in recognizing Bolton 
Hall's historical importance and celebrating its one-hundredth 
anniversary.

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