By Earl Schrader, Catalina Realtors
The Catalina Islander recently asked me to do a monthly real estate column as an Avalon broker of over 30 years. I thought there would be no better place to start than a brief history of Catalina Island, it’s occupants and ownership.
The island’s first known inhabitants of over 7,000 years were Native Americans of the Gabrielino/Tongva tribe as well as Pimunga or Pimu. The Pimugnans biggest villages were at the Isthmus, Avalon, Shark/Little Harbor, and Emerald Bay.
On October 7,1542, Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez claimed the island for Spain. Over half a century later, another Spanish explorer, Sebastian Vizcaino, rediscovered the island on November 24,1602.
The colonization of California by the Spanish coincided with the decline of the Pimugnans. They suffered from the introduction of new diseases to which they had little immunity and by the 1830s, the island’s entire native population were either dead or had migrated to the mainland to work.
Hunters from the Aleutian Islands, Russia, and America set up camps on Santa Catalina and the surrounding Channel Islands to hunt otters and seals around the island for their pelts.
Smuggling also took place on the island as Pirates found that the island’s abundance of hidden coves, as well as its short distance to the mainland and its small population, made it suitable for smuggling activities.
Mexican land grant
Governor Pio Pico made a Mexican land grant of the Island of Santa Catalina to Thomas M. Robbins in 1846, as Rancho Santa Catalina. Thomas M. Robbins sold it in 1850 to Jose Maria Covarrubias for $10,000. A claim was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1853, and the grant was patented to José María Covarrubias in 1867. Covarrubias sold the island to Albert Packard of Santa Barbara in 1853. The Island then went through a complex phase of ownership changes and divisions until it was acquired by James Lick in 1864. By 1867, Lick had entire ownership of the Island but sold the entire island for $200,000 in 1887 to George Shatto. Eventually lost the island due to debt and foreclosure.
By the 1890, the island was almost uninhabited except for a few cattle herders. At that time, Los Angeles had reached the population of 50,000 and was undergoing a period of enormous growth—a major factor that contributed to the development of the island into a vacation destination.
The first owner to try to develop Avalon into a resort destination was George Shatto, a real estate speculator from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Shatto purchased the island for $200,000 from the Lick estate at the height of the Southern California real estate boom in 1887. Shatto created the settlement that would become Avalon so named by Shatto’s sister-in-law Etta Whitney.
Shatto laid out Avalon’s streets, and introduced it as a vacation destination to the general public. He did this by hosting a real estate auction in Avalon in 1887, and purchasing a steamer ship for daily access to the island. Despite Shatto’s efforts, in a few years he had to default on his loan and the island went back to the Lick estate.
The Lick estate sold the island to William Banning in 1892 for $128,740. The Banning’s established the Santa Catalina Island Company in 1896 and transferred ownership of the island to the company. The Banning brothers fulfilled Shatto’s dream of making Avalon a resort community with the construction of numerous tourist facilities.
After a devastating fire burned down a quarter of Avalon in 1915, the Banning’s faced financial difficulties and sold the Island Company to William Wrigley Jr. in 1919.
Wrigley ownership (1919–1975)
One of the main investors to purchase shares from the Bannings was chewing-gum magnate William Wrigley, Jr. Preceding his purchase, he traveled to Catalina with his wife, Ada, and son, Philip. Reportedly, Wrigley immediately fell in love with the island and, in 1919, bought out nearly every share-holder until he owned controlling interest in the Santa Catalina Island Company. Wrigley devoted himself to preserving and promoting the island, investing millions in needed infrastructure and attractions. Wrigley built a home overlooking Avalon on Mount Ada, named after his wife, so he could oversee his work.
Wrigley purchased an additional steamship, the SS Virginia. With some adjustments, it was renamed the SS Avalon. He also foresaw the design of another steamship, the SS Catalina, launched on May 3, 1924. These steamships would deliver passengers to Catalina for many years.
Wrigley also sought to bring publicity to the island through events and spectacles. Starting in 1921, the Chicago Cubs, also owned by Wrigley, used the island for the team’s spring training. The Cubs continued to use the island for spring training until 1951, except during the war years of 1942–45. Following the death of Wrigley, Jr. in 1932, control of the Santa Catalina Island Company passed down to his son, Philip K. Wrigley, who continued his father’s work improving the infrastructure of the island.
During World War II, the island was closed to tourists and used for military training. The U.S. Maritime Service set up a training facility in Avalon, the Coast Guard had training at Two Harbors, the Army Signal Corp maintained a radar station in the interior, the Office of Strategic Services trained at Toyon Bay, and the Navy did underwater demolition training at Emerald Bay.
On February 15, 1975, Philip Wrigley deeded 42,135 acres of the island from the Santa Catalina Island Company to the Catalina Island Conservancy that he had helped to establish in 1972. This gave the Conservancy control of nearly 90 percent of the island.
Throughout the term of the Wrigley family stewardship, the interest in conservation increased. In 1972, members of the Wrigley family established the Santa Catalina Island Conservancy as a nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation and preservation of Santa Catalina Island. On February 15, 1975, the final step was taken to ensure the protection of the majority of Santa Catalina Island when Mr. and Mrs. Philip K. Wrigley and Mrs. Dorothy Wrigley Offield, through the Santa Catalina Island Company, deeded 42,135 acres of the Island to the Conservancy. With this gift, the conservation and preservation of most of Catalina’s interior and 48 miles of its coastline were given permanent status in perpetuity. Prior to this, in 1974, the Santa Catalina Island Company entered into a 50-year open space agreement with Los Angeles County, guaranteeing public recreational and educational use of 41,000 acres of Santa Catalina Island, consistent with good land conservation practices. When the Conservancy received land title to most of the Island a year later, it took over the responsibility for the County easement of 41,000 acres of the Conservancy’s 42,135 acres.
Sources; Wikipedia, Catalina Island Museum
Earl Schrader, Catalina Realtors
(310) 510-1811
