The first postmaster of Talbert

A LOOK BACK

This week we’ll learn about one member of the Talbert family that was

so important in the early history of both Fountain Valley and

Huntington Beach: Tom Talbert.

It was on March 5, 1878 that Thomas Talbert was born in far off

Illinois. In 1891 the Talbert family -- Tom, his father James and his

two brothers, Henry and Samuel -- moved to California to live.

Tom’s father started a dairy business in Long Beach. The first job

that Tom had outside the dairy was as a cook on the Bixby ranch in

Long Beach.

In October 1891 the Talberts moved to Orange County into an area

that one day would bear his family name of Talbert.

By 1893 Tom and his brothers had built up a small community near

Talbert Avenue and Bushard Street and they wanted to name it Fountain

Valley, but the Post Office in Washington D.C. didn’t like cities

with two names for some reason and so the name Talbert was chosen.

James rode on horse-back around to the various farms with a

petition requesting their community be named Talbert. In 1896 the

Talbert family purchased 320 acres in the area. The petition was

granted and President William McKinley appointed Tom as postmaster of

Talbert in 1899.

Tom was only 21-years-old and was the youngest postmaster in the

country. In those early years, all the mail that was to be delivered

to Pacific City and later to Huntington Beach, came to Talbert first.

Tom helped form the Talbert drainage district and floated $20,000

in bonds to help drain the swamp land in Talbert in 1899. Tom

purchased a general store in town from John Corbett for $200 cash,

$600 in debt and put up a note for $700.

Talbert sold that store in 1903 to B.F. Taylor of Glendale for

$10,000.

Now, as a respectable farmer, Tom helped form the Newbert River

Protection District. This name came from the first syllable of

Newport and the last syllable from Talbert.

At the urging of William Newland and W.D. Maateer, Tom sold his

ranch and moved to Huntington Beach in 1904 to open a real estate

office here with his partner George O. Leatherman.

In January of 1909 Tom was appointed to a committee to help fix

the boundary lines for Huntington Beach’s incorporation as a city on

Feb. 17, 1909.

In August of 1909 Tom was appointed a supervisor for the Second

Supervisorial District by California Governor James Gillette to

replace George Moore who resigned that office.

Tom was elected to that office in the 1911 election and became the

chairman of the board of supervisors and held that position until he

retired in 1927.

He became the first stock holder in the Smeltzer Telephone &

Telegraph Comp. that brought communication from Santa Ana to the

northern area of what is Huntington Beach today. It was quite a sight

to see these lines strung along fence posts and tree trunks and cost

each subscriber a dollar a month.

After Tom’s election in 1911 he chaired our pier committee that

raised $70,00 in bonds to build our concrete pier in 1914.

In 1913 Tom became the first Ford dealer in Huntington Beach and

sold many of Henry’s tin lizzies to our residents. He ran that agency

until he sold the business to W.D. Young in 1921.

Tom succeeded in bringing the Holly Sugar factory here and in 1914

and built the Pacific Oilcloth & Linoleum factory, which he was

president and general manager of for many years. These two businesses

brought needed employment to many of our new residents coming into

the area.

Tom owned and operated a roller skating rink on 5th Street and the

music for those early skaters was supplied by a windup Edison

cylinder phonograph.

Tom watched as the automobile become the transportation of choice

and he and William Newland championed a Coast Highway system for

Southern California. He would later serve on a state legislative

committee that would draft the first vehicle act in California.

He was also president of the Supervisors Assn. of California

during from 1922 to 1923.

His real estate interests prospered in the 1920 during our great

oil boom days. He was a director in our local bank, First National

Bank and was an agent for the Huntington Beach Company.

In 1933 Tom was elected to the City Council to serve out the

unexpired term of another councilman and in the April election of

1934 was re-elected to council.

He served as mayor of Huntington Beach for two years from 1934 to

1936.

Tom and his wife Margaret lived at 108 6th St. and like most of

our historical structures, was demolished for redevelopment in the

mid 1990s.

For many years the Talbert Real Estate office was located at 219

Main St. and in the early 1950s he had two associates, Carlos Reeves,

Sr. and J.K. McDonald.

A couple years later Reeves would open his own successful real

estate office at 213 Main St. Talbert’s building burned down in the

1960s and today a small plaza with fountain reminds us of the man who

spent so much of his energy in making our town so wonderful.