The fame of Pomona as a city not only of desirable homes, but of principled and experienced dealers in realty, desirous at all times of cooperating to provide such home places as must yield the largest percentage of human welfare and happiness, has long and widely been known, and has undoubtedly had much to do with attracting a very high grade of residents from even remote points. Among such dealers must be included Edward D. Bradley of the firm of Bradley & Eells, doing business at 290 South Garey Avenue, in the Hotel Avis Building, who has steadily striven, with his partner, Frank C. Eells, to give stability to land and property values, present everything offered for sale or exchange in its true light, and to insist on the worth of each acre, lot or edifice, especially when that worth has been increased by exceptional natural advantages—thus contributing in the right fashion to a hastening of the day when Pomona must come to its own.
Mr. Bradley was born in Greene County, Ill., on January 19, 1865, the son of John C. Bradley, a native of Manchester, Ill., who is still living. Mrs. Bradley was Miss Temple E. Davis before her marriage, and, like her husband, she was a native of Illinois. She is now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Bradley had five children: Edward D., the subject of our interesting review, and L. R. Bradley, the manager of the Lemon Grove Association Packing House at Uplands, and the daughters, Mrs. Grace Kimball and Mrs. Helen Rodgers, both of Los Angeles, and Mary L., who died in Los Angeles. John C. Bradley came to California from Vernon County, Mo., about April 27, 1884, and located at San Jacinto, in Riverside County. Later, he went to Ontario and Imperial County, where he followed farming; but he now resides, retired, in Claremont.
Edward Bradley was five years of age when the family moved from Greene County, Ill., to Vernon County, Mo., where he was reared on a farm, while he attended the public schools. In 1884, he arrived in San Jacinto, and for a while worked at farming. Then he tried the hardware business, and in 1898 moved to Pomona, where he bought the stock of Louis S. Androus, and for ten years continued to sell hardware. He then entered the real-estate business, and has followed it ever since.
For a long time he operated alone, and later had Harold Dewey as a partner. After about six months he formed a partnership with Mr. Eells, under the firm name of Bradley & Eells, and this has now become one of the leading real-estate concerns in the city, and indeed throughout the Pomona Valley. They make a specialty of improved orange and alfalfa ranches, have put through some large deals, and carry on an extensive business, some individual transactions running as high as $65,000. They also deal in city property and business blocks. Mr. Bradley has himself built and sold eight houses in the Valley. The firm subdivided and put on the market a ranch of twenty acres at Chino; and Mr. Bradley owns a ten-acre orange ranch half a mile west of Claremont, where he makes his home. It is a part of the old Loop homestead, the Loop family having been one of the first to settle in the Valley. His residence, therefore, now remodeled, was originally the Loop homestead, one of the oldest houses in the district. Many of the orange trees on the ranch are forty-five years old, and were originally seedling trees, which were later budded to Valencias and Navels. About $10,000 worth of fruit was taken from this ranch in 1919. Mr. Bradley is president of the Pomona Cemetery Association, in which he has been a director for about fifteen years.
In Vernon County, Mo., on October 2, 1881, Mr. Bradley was married to Miss Helen Roodhouse, a native of Illinois and the daughter of James D. and Lucy L. (Robinson) Roodhouse. Mr. and Mrs. Bradley attend the First Methodist Church of Pomona.
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 11/16/08, Pages 695-696
Los Angeles County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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