Library Program - Mystery Man Henry Wilshire

Description

He has a street, a school and an auditorium in Fullerton named for him, but few people know who he was and why he was accorded these honors.

“He” was Henry Gaylord Wilshire, one of Fullerton’s pioneers, and he would go on to create an even greater name for himself when he moved to Los Angeles and developed a 35-acre barley field that would become one of the most famous streets in the world – Wilshire Boulevard.

It is the unknown Wilshire that will be the focus of “Henry Gaylord Wilshire:  Millionaire Socialist,” a special program to be presented at 7 p.m. Monday, March 12, in the Community Room of the Fullerton Main Library, 353 W. Commonwealth Ave., adjacent to Fullerton City Hall.

Guest speaker Louis Rosen will discuss Wilshire’s years in Fullerton and Los Angeles, and will try to answer the question whether Wilshire was really a man of the people or an unethical charlatan and self-promoter.

According to “Fullerton:  A Pictorial History” by Bob Ziebell, Wilshire was one of the original investors when brothers George and Edward Amerige established the town site of Fullerton in 1887.  “Wilshire constructed, at a cost of about $8,000, the first business ‘block’ in downtown Fullerton” at the southeast corner of what is now Harbor Boulevard and Commonwealth Avenue, Ziebell wrote.

In his presentation, Rosen will also show numerous photos of Wilshire through the years, and will be available to autograph copies of his book “Henry Gaylord Wilshire:  Millionaire Socialist” following the presentation.
The program is free to the public.

Persons requiring special accommodations are asked to notify the library staff at (714) 738-6326 prior to March 12.