Author: Craig Walker

Sharp & Savvy: Charles Millard Pratt (1855 – 1935)
by David Mason

Mr. Pratt was born in Brooklyn, New York on November 2, 1855. His father, Charles Pratt Sr. was, at the time, the richest man in Brooklyn and was a partner in the Standard Oil Company with John D. Rockefeller.

By 1879, Charles M. Pratt had graduated from Amherst College and had received an honorary M. A. from Yale, before joining his father’s company, Standard Oil as the company secretary. At various times he was also president and a director of the oil company.

In 1884, he married Mary Seymour Morris, the daughter of the Governor of Connecticut Luzon B. Morris. The Pratt’s had five children.

Mr. Pratt was appointed as a trustee of Amherst College, his alma mater and Vassar College, his wife’s alma mater. He became president of the board of trustees for the Pratt Institute  in New York.

He served on the boards of the Long Island Railroad, and the Brooklyn City Railroad. He was a director in the American Express Company, the Mechanics and Metals National Bank and the Union Mortgage Company.

His interests varied as he was also a director in the Pratt and Lambert Paint Company, the Self Winding Clock Company, and the Chelsea Fiber Mills.

Mr. Pratt was the first alumnus to donate a building to Amherst College, the Pratt Gymnasium, erected in 1883.

Discovering Ojai, Mr. and Mrs. Pratt purchased acreage just north of the Foothills Hotel with thoughts of building a winter home here.

Their choice of architects was the popular Greene and Greene bothers. Many glowing articles were being written about the Greenes, and the Pratts decided that they should have them design their new home.

The Greene brothers placed less emphasis on a formal entry and spacious living and dining areas. Instead, the entry door opened directly into the modest living room. Despite the informality, however, all details of the Pratt house design were given the Greenes’ strict attention. Mr. Pratt was a shareholder in the Foothills Hotel and, consequently, they entertained at the hotel rather than at home.

In 1916, with the Nordhoff High School in need of additional classrooms, Mr. Pratt donated the money to build two very important buildings for the school. One was for manual training and the other for domestic science and art. These additions to the school cost Mr. Pratt $25,000. In 1917, when the forest fire swept through the valley, the manual training building was burned and Mr. Pratt had it replaced immediately.*

Charles Millard Pratt became an invalid and bedridden in 1925 and spent the rest of his life at the family estate in Glen Cove, Long Island. His important contributions to the Ojai Valley had come to an end. He died in November of 1935.

The Pratt House is a Ventura County Historical Landmark and a Federal Landmark. For all times this building has been one of the Greene and Greene brothers’ masterpieces.

*As a tribute to Pratt, the 1916 Nordhoff Yearbook included the following poem:

Charles Millard Pratt

To the man from out of the East
Who bears choice gifts
To bless us and those who follow,
Gifts of gold, but also
Gifts of character and the spirit
Of plain democracy,
More enduring,
We dedicate this, our annual.

1916 Nordhoff Topa Topa Annual

Sharp & Savvy: Abram Lincoln Hobson (1861 – 1929)
by David Mason

Abram Hobson was born in the seaside town of Ventura in March of 1861. He obtained his early education in the public schools of the county. At the age of 16, he went to work for his father in the meat packing business and four years later, he bought out his father’s interest and entered into a partnership with one of his brothers. The name of the business was then changed to Hobson Brothers Packing Company and through the leadership of these men, the business became known as one of the most outstanding concerns of its kind in Southern California.

For a number of years, along with the meat packing company, they were also interested in the business of street paving. They became one of the leading paving contractors in the west and undertook large contracts in many western cities, even installing the gravity sewer line in Salt Lake City, Utah.

In all of their business affairs, the Hobson brothers maintained their transactions at the highest level of ethics and always enjoyed a splendid reputation for dependability and honor.

With a desire to take a wife, Abram Hobson married Helen Barnard in 1889. Helen’s father was the first president of the Seattle University and he had come to Ventura to engage in the lumber and real estate business.

Mr. Hobson’s love of fine horses was well-known and his stable included some of the best-known show equines in Southern California. An able rider, he was for years a colorful figure in local parades.

With such an outstanding background it was no wonder that the small town of Nordhoff welcomed this highly successful family to its community.

The Hobson home was built in 1907 in the popular Craftsman style. It was constructed entirely of wood with a peaked roof and wide overhanging eaves.

Upon entering the spacious bungalow, your attention was directed immediately to the striking fireplace, it had its own individual character with beautiful handmade tiles.

In the dining room, a traditional arts and crafts feature was the built-in sideboard with its long serving surface and china cabinet. The house had a welcome feeling that greeted visitors.

The Hobson daughter, Grace, loved living in the Ojai Valley. The Nordhoff Union High School, which started in 1909, was the center of her life and she would be the valedictorian of the first graduating class in 1912.

With the transformation of the town of Nordhoff by Edward Drummond Libbey, Ojai’s greatest benefactor, to a Spanish-style city during the years of 1916 and 1917, it was only natural that the Hobson family would want their home to match the new design that was being built all over the valley. Architect Richard Requa, who was doing so many of the Spanish buildings, agreed to help the Hobson’s to change their Craftsman-style bungalow into a striking Spanish-style home.

As each room was being transformed, the family vacated that room until it was finished. Most of the work was to the exterior of the building. The interior remained generally the same.

A smaller house, also in Spanish design, was constructed a short distance from the main house, and the walkway between the two buildings was shaded by a wisteria covered pergola.

Completed in 1925, the estate with its two houses, tennis court, miniature golf course and formal gardens, was definitely a beautiful Ojai showplace.

When Abram Hobson died in 1929, daughter Grace and her husband Fred Smith moved into the smaller house to be near her mother, Helen Hobson, for the rest of her life. Grace continued her father’s charitable work in the valley, and throughout the county of Ventura.

After the death of Grace Hobson Smith, her husband presented the estate to the city of Ojai as a gift from the Hobson-Smith family. In 1976, the historic Hobson home became City Hall for the community and today it is one of the most attractive and unique government buildings in the state of California.

The generosity and support of the Hobson and Smith families continues through the present day, under the auspices of the Smith Hobson Foundation, directed by Gregory and Jeffrey Smith, the great-grandsons of Abram Lincoln Hobson. Beneficiaries include Ojai Valley Museum, Ojai Valley School, Ventura County Museum, Claremont Colleges, Ventura County Symphony, New West Symphony among many other worthwhile recipients.

Sharp & Savvy: Abram Blumberg (1836 – 1898)
by David Mason

Mr. Abram Blumberg was a very successful business man, town promoter and builder. His wife, who was quite sickly, had spent a considerable amount of time reading about California in the books written by the notable author; Charles Nordhoff, and encouraged her husband to give up his business affairs and leave Iowa to seek a better climate in the west.

They traveled first to the town of Los Angeles in 1872, but still Mrs. Blumberg’s health did not improve. After traveling around California, looking for a place where the weather might help her, they happened to read of a new town being promoted by a Mr. R.G. Surdam, in the Ojai Valley.

The Blumberg’s arrival in the valley did much to help settle Mr. Surdam’s town. They arrived in 1873 and almost instantly, Mrs. Blumberg began to recover from her illness. Deciding to stay, Mr. Surdam offered Abram Blumberg 20 acres in the center of town on which to build a small hotel, it was completed in 1874 and called the Ojai Inn, however most of the valley habitants referred to it as the Blumberg’s Hotel.
The Ventura newspaper printed glowing reports on the progress in the valley; “No time should be lost by the Ojai people in making their little valley as attractive as possible. It can be made a most delightful resort.” January 1874.

However, the town did not have a name, some were favoring the name “Topa Topa”, but Mrs. Blumberg felt that because of the wonderful books written by Charles Nordhoff, which was responsible for so many of the valley’s first settlers, they should name the town Nordhoff in his honor.

Meanwhile, in the hotel, the first child was born in the new town of Nordhoff. Irene May Blumberg on September 29, 1874.

Abram Blumberg was killed on the streets of Los Angeles while bicycle riding with his wife, hit by a Trolley Car in 1898.