Toluca/Lankershim Postmaster Left Stamp

In 1890, Wilson C. Weddington decided to visit his sister Mollie, who four years before had moved to a home on what is now Vineland Avenue in North Hollywood.

Although the area was sparsely populated and had no running water, lights or gas, Weddington and his wife, Mary, bought property and moved the family out from Iowa.

It wasn’t long before Weddington, who was in his early 40s, was making an indelible mark on the community, then called Toluca/Lankershim. In 1893, President Grover Cleveland appointed him the community’s postmaster, a position he held for 22 years. Three years later, residents successfully petitioned him to rename the area Lankershim.

Soon after, Weddington purchased a general store and renamed it Weddington Bros., which drew customers from throughout the Valley. In 1911, he helped drive the gold spike that marked the arrival of the Red Car rail service to the Valley.

A polite man full of conviction, Weddington was widely mourned when he died in 1923. Even the business district shut for an hour.

Weddington’s offspring, Guy and Fred, were also immersed in North Hollywood affairs. Around 1907, Guy Weddington bought Bonner Fruit Co., a major canning operation, and upon his father’s death, became president of Weddington Investment Co., a family partnership that is operated today by Wilson Weddington’s great-grandson, Guy Weddington McCreary. In 1927, Guy Weddington headed a petition drive to change the name of Lankershim to North Hollywood.

Weddington’s other son, Fred, served as the area’s first constable in 1903 and also was president of the Bank of Lankershim, which his family established in 1910. He later served as vice president of North Hollywood’s Security Pacific Bank until his retirement in the late 1940s.

Guy Weddington died in 1941; his brother, Fred, in 1967. In 1960 Fred donated the land for Weddington Park. Weddington Street is also named for the family.