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REX
BRAINARD CLARK -
Born 1876, in Detroit, Clark was the son of an actuary, sang in the church
choir and was ambitious. He married Grace Scripps, but did not get along
with his new father-in-law, the powerful, newspaper founder James Scripps.
Barred from the Scripps family business, Rex Clark started a large stationary
store but after some noted success went bankrupt and suffered a nervous
breakdown. To help her husband recover and perhaps escape the glare of her
father, Grace Clark took her husband west to La Jolla, California to stay
with her uncle famed publisher E.W. Scripps. The Clarks loved California
and decided to stay. Upon his recovery Rex demonstrated a talent for land
speculation and development. Eventually Rex and Grace, with their three
children Rex, William, and Ellen, settled in Julian, California to raise
cattle, apples and start a freight company. It was in Julian where Clark
began his longtime affair with Emma "Jimmie" Snyder and her move to Los
Angeles prompted yet another Clark Family relocation to Pasadena and the
acquisition of Norco. |
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GRACE
MESSINGER CLARK - It was likely Grace Clark's Scripps family inheritance
and trust fund that in part or perhaps entirely financed the building of
Norco and the Norconian Resort. An adventurous individual, she was the first
woman to drive an automobile in Detroit and Sierra Street in Norco was so
named for her founding membership in the Sierra Club. |
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CAPTAIN
CUTHBERT GULLEY - "Bert" to his closest friends served in
the Engineers Corps during World War I; afterward he was forever known as
"Captain Gulley". Serving as Norco's Chief Engineer on and off for over
40 years, he was responsible for laying out the streets of fledgling community
and between 1921 and 1923 completely upgraded the area water system installing
new pumps, lines and reservoirs. |
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G.
STANLEY WILSON - Designed the Pavilion, chauffeurs quarters, laundry
and garage. |
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DWIGHT
GIBBS - (on left) Designed main hotel and bath house. |
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A.B.
HEINSBERGEN - Designed interiors. |