A prominent real-estate operator of Pomona who has put through many important deals of direct bearing on the future of both the city and the Valley, is Ethan G. Bangle, who is a native son, born near Rivera, in Los Angeles County, on September 26, 1884, the son of John and Mary (Buchanan) Bangle, natives of North Carolina and Tennessee, respectively. Mary (Buchanan) Bangle comes of prominent old American stock on her paternal side, being a second cousin of President James Buchanan; on the maternal side she is a descendant of the Monroe family and a third cousin of President James Monroe. Mr. and Mrs. Bangle crossed the plains to California in the stirring fifties. He settled at length near Rivera, and became one of the earliest walnut growers of Southern California, engaging in that line for many years. Mr. Bangle experimented with different varieties of walnuts, and in order to secure the best nuts obtainable he brought in walnuts from different countries, and so has the distinction of introducing the soft-shell English walnuts in California, which has become the most popular and profitable variety grown here. In time he came to own the largest walnut orchard in the state, and his exhibit of walnuts at the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893 brought the first prize, so it is easily seen what a prominent part he took in forwarding the horticultural interests of the state.
Ethan began with the ordinary school advantages at Rivera, and topped off his studies at the Southern California Business College in Los Angeles. Then he learned the trade of a brick mason, and in partnership with his brother, James A. Bangle, followed brick, cement and concrete contracting in Los Angeles, Pasadena and Sierra Madre. Later, alone, he continued contracting until 1909, when he located in Pomona, and entered on his career in real estate. He has made a specialty of buying and selling alfalfa ranches in the Chino district of the Valley, and has also dealt largely in orange and lemon ranches. In 1912 Ira Neibel became his partner, which was continued until Mr. Neibel's death in 1915, and a year later he entered into a partnership with L. M. Mills. Mr. Bangle has been very successful, and during his eleven years' experience he and his partners have a record second to none, and it is the consensus of opinion of those qualified to judge that he has sold more real estate than has any other firm during the same period.
On August 22, 1906, at Los Angeles, Mr. Bangle was married to Gertrude Martin, a native of Illinois, who was educated in Whittier and Los Angeles. Three children have been born to them: Carl Orville, Harold E. and Wilma. Mr. Bangle is an active member of the Chamber of Commerce and belongs to the Knights of Pythias of Pomona, in which order he is past chancellor commander, and there is no more welcome member in that flourishing order.
History of Pomona Valley, California, with Biographical Sketches
of The Leading Men and Women of the Valley Who Have Been
Identified With Its Growth and Development from the Early Days
to the Present
Published in Los Angeles, Cal., by the Historic Record Company
1920
Transcribed by Linda Jackson 10/24/08, Pages 604-605
Los Angeles County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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