Chaffy Garcia House
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click photo to enlarge |
This house is about 6 or so miles from where we live and it has taken 12 years
to finally get there. <grin> It is only open one Saturday a month and between
volunteer work and other things we just never seem to get there. It was the
first house built in Etiwanda in 1874 and was owned by a retired Sea Captain,
Joseph Garcia. In 1883 the Chaffy brothers George and William went by
horseback from Riverside to Etiwanda to purchase the house and the 560 acre
sheep farm. Being on an alluvial fan meant there was fertile soil and water. |
click photo to enlarge |
On this site George built a tower with an arc light, the first in Southern
California. He also installed a telephone connected with San Bernardino,
Redlands and Colton. This was the longest telephone wire in SCAL at the
time. After the brothers developed Etiwanda they went on to lay out Ontario.
The northern part of Ontario became Upland and it still goes by that name
today. |
click photo to enlarge |
On the back of the property they have built a replica of the barn that
used to be there. In this barn they have a lot of historical displays and
in one room they have built a reproduction of what the Etiwanda General
store looked like, complete with many replicas of items that would have
been for sale. The Historical Society is presently working on the
restoration of the Chaffey-Isle House, a sister house built by George
Chaffey Jr. for his mother and sister in 1884. This is the picture
directly below. |
click photo to enlarge |
click photo to enlarge |
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