Orange County Branch Newsletter

April 2012

History and Heritage

A Visit to the Kellogg House


By: Bill Lawson, P.E., F.ASCE

It all started with an inquiry received by Carl R. Nelson, PE, from Ms. Patty Boardman (Haines) of the Heritage Museum of Orange County (HMOC) who was doing research on Hiram Clay Kellogg, Civil Engineer [b.1855 - d.1921], and his contributions to Orange County.  Ms. Boardman also expressed interest in having an event in honor of Civil Engineering at the Kellogg House in Santa Ana as part of the ASCE Los Angeles Section's Centennial celebration in 2013.

Very briefly, Mr. Kellogg's biography reads that he was a native Californian born in St. Helena, Napa County.  He was the oldest of nine children born to Benjamin and Mary Orilla (Lillie) Kellogg.  The Kellogg family moved to a farm in Anaheim when H. Clay was 13.  He attended the short-lived Wilson College in Wilmington and graduated as a Civil Engineer at the age of 24 in 1879.  Until 1883, he laid out vineyards in Anaheim, Placentia and Pasadena, and then, in his first important engineering job, he laid out the town of Elsinore in 1883.  He was Chief Engineer of the Anaheim Union Water Company and of the Santa Ana Valley Irrigation Company (both of which are now local ASCE OC Branch Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks).  He was also the Deputy County Surveyor of the County of Los Angeles, which at the time included the area that is now Orange County.  He planned the streets of downtown Corona, with its circular main street, Grand Boulevard, and then became Engineer of the Corona Water System during which time he also supervised construction of the Pacific Electric railway between San Bernardino, Riverside and Colton.  At some point in time he also served as the Engineer of the Anaheim Irrigation District.  From 1894 to 1899, H. Clay Kellogg was the Orange County Surveyor responsible for many of our roads and bridges, and then became Santa Ana's City Engineer.  Following his work on a dam construction project in Oahu, Hawaii, which started in 1903, he was appointed Engineer of the Newbert Protection District in 1906, making him responsible for flood control of the Santa Ana River from Santa Ana to the ocean.  Mr. Kellogg was married twice, first to Victoria Schultz who passed away shortly after birth of their first child, and then to Helen Vianna Kellogg with whom he had four children.  Mr. Kellogg passed away in 1921 at the age of 66.

The Kellogg House was designed by H. Clay Kellogg in 1898, and was home to three generations of Kellogg's prior to the family's donation of the home to the Heritage Museum of Orange County (formerly the Centennial Heritage Museum).  The house was originally constructed at 122 Orange Street in Santa Ana, and was moved to its present location at the Museum in 1980.  The Heritage Museum of Orange County is located at 3101 West Harvard Street, Santa Ana, next to Mitchell School and shares parking facilities with the school.

As a result of communications between Ms. Patty Boardman (Haines) and members of the OC Branch History & Heritage Committee and Co-Chair Andy Machen of the Los Angeles Section History & Heritage Committee, we were invited to participate in a tour of the Kellogg House on February 17, 2012.  HHC members Carl R. Nelson, Steve Chiu, Bill Lawson and Andy Machen participated in this tour.  The interior and exterior of the house have been restored to resemble its appearance in the early 1900's and many period antiques were found throughout the house, including many family photographs and drawings, including architectural plans of the house that were drawn by H. Clay Kellogg.  Two features of the house that really stood out were the circular staircase supported by an 1800's sailing ship mast, and the oval dining room with an intricate wooden flooring design.  Not to be missed is the large brass surveyor's transit mounted on the roof of the house which serves as a weather vane.

Following the tour of the house we met with Ms. Boardman in the oval dining room and perused a number of original hand-drawn (ink on linen) maps of Orange County, many dating back into the late 1800's. We also discussed other historical memorabilia and artifacts that may have ties to the Kellogg house and/or family and how they might be incorporated into a display at the Kellogg House during the 2013 ASCE LA Section Centennial celebration.

As a follow-up to the tour of the Kellogg House I also attended a special event at the Heritage Museum on March 10, 2012, which was called "Create a Bit of History: Art & Artifacts".  This event gave me a chance to visit the other buildings at the Heritage Museum, including the Maag House, Gift Shop, Blacksmith Shop, Wagon Camp, Carriage Barn, Quilter's Cottage, gazebo, rose gardens and citrus grove.  Yes, they actually have some producing orange trees in the grove!  A few photos of the Kellogg House and surroundings are provided in the photo album following this article.

The biographical information provided in the above article was obtained from the HMOC website, http://heritagemuseumoc.org/.  A schedule of upcoming events and classes that will be held at the Heritage Museum is also available on this website.  Anyone interested in learning Blacksmithing take note! - See http://www.ocblacksmith.com/.  The Heritage Museum is open to the public only on Fridays and Sundays; special group tours of the Kellogg House can also be arranged by appointment.

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