D. V. Waldron was a businessperson in 19th-century Los Angeles, California. He was the first person, in 1873, to receive a permit for a streetcar line in Los Angeles, and was a member of the Los Angeles Common Council.
Vocation
editWaldron owned a private outdoor park (called a "beer garden" by a 1935 writer) south of Downtown Los Angeles at Washington Avenue and Main Street. In 1873 he obtained a city permit to establish a horse-drawn public carriage between his business and Downtown at Temple and Main Streets.[1] That same year he was issued a five-year permit to dig up Main Street from Alameda Street to Jefferson Street, lay down and maintain "two iron railroad tracks and to run cars thereon, to be propelled by horses or mules." Waldron, however, "forfeited his rights," and the franchise was taken up by Robert M. Widney.[2][3]
Los Angeles Common Council
editWaldron was elected to represent the 3rd Ward on the Los Angeles Common Council, the legislative branch of the city government, on December 6, 1875, and served two terms, until December 6, 1877.[4]
References
edit- ^ Jack Carleton, "Los Angeles Grew With the Tracks," Los Angeles Times, June 2, 1935, page H-11
- ^ "The Street Railway History of Los Angeles," Electric Railway Historical Association
- ^ Ira Berthelot Wood, "The Beginning of Los Angeles," Los Angeles Times, April 10, 1927, page 32
- ^ Chronological Record of Los Angeles City Officials,1850-1938, compiled under direction of Municipal Reference Library, City Hall, Los Angeles (March 1938, reprinted 1966). "Prepared ... as a report on Project No. SA 3123-5703-6077-8121-9900 conducted under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration."