A bit of history of some of the early residents of Montclair from the 1920s.
In 1918 Mr. and Mrs. Otto H. Darmsted bought three and a half acres from Villa Site Sales in the Pinehaven Tract for $1800. The land was cleared of pine trees, and the logs were advertised as free giveaways to the buyers to build a log cabin.
The Darmsted’s were married in 1911 and raised five boys in the home on Pinehaven.
The Darmsted’s lived at 8 Pinehaven Road, which was later changed to 6515 PInehaven Road. One of their sons lived at 6501 Pinehaven.
On Leo Way
George and Sadie Davidson and Dellos Miller (Sadie’s brother) jointly purchased a lot on Leo Way in the Glenwood tract of Montclair in 1921. At that time, there were only two other homes in the neighborhood.
They completed building their home in 1925.
In a 1970 article in Montclarion, Mrs. Davidson said they “really pioneered.” She cooked on a wood stove since they had no gas, phone, or mail delivery. They had to walk down Broadway Terrace to pick up their mail.
They lived at 1011 Leo Way until the mid-1970s, over 50 years.
On Thorn Road
George and Edith Mullen moved to Montclair in about 1922. When they moved there, Thornhill Drive was still called Thorn Road, and it went straight instead of turning right by the swimming pool like it does today.
In a letter shared with the Montclarion in 1960, Mrs. Mullen shared that
“Merriewood was a solid mass of trees… planted ages ago so taxes would be on forest land.”
She also said real estate developers planted Thorn Road with Royal Ann cherries and Gouldin Road with apricots.
They lived at 570 Thorn Road, which was later changed to 6022 Thornhill Drive. George died in 1933, and Edith lived there until the late 1950s. They were the members of Montclair Presbyterian Church, Improvement Club, and Montclair Women’s Club.
I couldn’t find any current photos of 6022 Thornhill. The last time it sold was in 1989.
Glenwood Tract
In 1921, George and Marie Annereau purchased two Glenwood Tract lots that spanned from Glenwood Glade and Duncan Way. Their house at 212 Glenwood Glade was the second one built in the tract. Dave Duncan, for whom Duncan Way was named, was the first. The Duncans live in a tent on their property while they built their home. There was no electricity then, and they cooked on a wood stove. They lived at 132 Duncan Way.
Mr. Annereau was a founding member who helped build the Montclair Improvement Club House at Thorn Road (now Thornhill Drive) and Mountain Blvd. The Montclair Women’s Association ended up buying the clubhouse and used it until the early 1990s.
The Annereau’s created a beautiful garden on their large double lot; each had a separate hothouse. They opened their garden each year for tours, and they had many blue ribbons for their exhibition entries.
More Info:
- Robert Darmsted – The Union October 4, 2007
- Douglass Darmsted – The Sacramento Bee July 2017
- 6515 Pinehaven – Zwillow
- 1011 Leo Way – Realtor.com
- 212 Glenwood Glade – REDFIN
How interesting—thanks, Dorothy! My mom and dad were good friends with Clint and June Darmstead—Dad probably knew all the Darmstead boys, growing up in Montclair. In 1991, Clint and June were living in Murphys CA and hosted a reunion of Montclair School grads from the 1930’s. There was an article about it in the Montclarion August 2, 1991—”Share Old Memories.” I’d sure like to have a better copy of that article and photo, mine is very pixillated—could you find one? Might be the basis of another article. Anyway, thanks for all your work on this article and all you do! Best, Bob
Glad you enjoyed it. Thank you for reminding me about the article and I posted it again in Forgotten Montclair. Dorothy
Thank you Dot for bringing up the memories.
One of the Darmstead boys, Clint and his wife June, would open their basement up as a polling place for election day back in the day. I remember going there and hiding under my mother’s coat, I was so shy! Clint was a fabulous wooworker and crafted beautiful redwood shelving in my childhood home. Clint and June had a son, David, and the last time I saw him was in 1975 (?) at the Feather River Family Camp in Quincy. I think there was an older sister, too.
Pinehaven was a great place to live or hang out and full of charm. Ruth King Hok, the piano maven, lived just a few homes away from the Darmsteads ( she was a scary one, for Halloween one year impersonating a hijacker with a real gun, even!) and just at the first turn heading up the hill was the ‘ little farm’. Sigh.
I don’t recall anything but wet winters growing up there. Wet, wet, wet. No droughts that I remember. Lots of Monterey pine trees that would come down and shut off our power for a day or so while the lines were restored. The roads would just flood with run off and even in the summer when the street department would clean out the fire hydrants, the run off was quite audible.
There were century plants, adobe soil, ‘sour grass’, (always trying to find 4 leaves to make a lucky day 🍀) eucalyptus trees and pods everywhere (so aromatic!), those beautiful oaks we could climb so easily and occasionally, the years of oak moth infestation, bee swarms and all that wonderful poison oak. Deer, garter snakes and an occasional rattler, scorpions, crickets and argiope spiders and their beautiful webs, possum, raccoons, mourning doves, titmice, Stellar and scrub jays, the basic brown towhee, cedar waxwings, the annual mocking bird in spring. Lots of natural history, too.
It was a wonderful place to be raised.
Yes, it was a great place to grow up and I miss that feeling. I sent you an email.
I remember the Annereaus. I loved their garden and Avery with birds. I lived just a few doors down at 188 Glenwood Glade. Mrs Annereau thought me about the history of the many species of trees in that neighborhood and how to care for many of the plants in her garden. Next door to her was Mrs Cameron. Later Mrs Ruth Brugh built a home between Mrs Cameron and our house. My parents were Elmer and Roslyn Grose. I was born there and lived there until 1967 when I went away to college. My father died in 1970, and my mother sold and moved away in about 1975. I have a sister Claudia. Our parents were active in the Montclair Presbyterian Church.
awsome yes michael simms
My husband and I Charles D. Goodman and Jacqueline lived at 25 Westwood Ct. Across the street from Lupe Slater’s family Pat, Kelly, Tom and Jennifer. Our children Paul, Cynthia and Bruce Goodman born 1958, 1960, 1962. had the best time with all the friends they made in Montclain, and at the Montclair swim club. If you are interested the home we lived in was just completed remodeled and sold for $1,250,000. I was shocked. But we enjoyed our home there and wonder what the prices are like now, 2023. Charles died 1974 I am now 92 and living in Rio Vista CA in a over 55 community Trilogy.