Glendale, California Biographies

E. D. Goode

E. D. Goode. If we should term Mr. Goode the “Father of Glendale,” there are few, if any, of the old timers who would dispute his right to the title. He was not as early on the scene as a few of the pioneers who still survive, but from the time of his arrival in the community from Eagle Rock, where he first located, he was fore most in every movement for the upbuilding of the city, and with him originated the idea of incorporating the City of Glendale, and he was probably more instrumental than anyone else in getting up petitions and doing the necessary preliminary work in the creation of a legal municipality. He secured the greater part of the right of way for the Interurban Railway Company (now the Pacific Electric) between Los Angeles and the Tropico Line, and did his share in securing the remainder of it from that point northward. He built the Eagle Rock Road, and the extension north into Verdugo Canyon, almost unaided. He was chief booster for the organization of a High School district and with three or four other Glendale citizens secured the original site for the school building on the southeast corner of Fourth (Broadway) Street and Brand Boulevard, becoming one of the first trustees of the district. He was Road Commissioner of the county for twelve years, having some two hundred miles of road under his control. Always prominent politically, although it was his misfortune to be a Democrat in a strongly Republican district, which resulted in his failing to be elected when he was nominated for the Legislature and again when he was candidate for Supervisor, although in the last instance he cut down the majority of his opponent (Mr. R. W. Pridham) to a perilously close margin. In that contest his popularity in his own city was shown by the fact that he carried it by a vote of 849 in his favor as against 544 for his opponent, although Glendale was at that time Republican in its political complexion by a two to one vote. He was a Democrat county central committeeman for twenty years, and in the contest mentioned above, was in both cases the unanimous choice of his party convention.

The ancestry of Mr. Goode furnishes in itself an interesting history. It has been traced back for six hundred years to Richard Goode, of Cornwall, England, who was born about 1360. His direct descendant, “John Goode, Gentleman,” came to Virginia in 1661. One of his descendants owned the site of Monticello and married an aunt of Thomas Jefferson. One of the great grandfathers of the subject of this sketch fought in the Revolutionary War and endured great hardships in the Block House Wars with the Indians. Morgan Goode, grandfather of E. D. Goode, was born in Kentucky, moving to Crawford County, Indiana, where he married Elizabeth Schoonover, whose father came from Holland about 1760.

The maternal grandfather, William Bennett, was born in New York, going west to Illinois and marrying Katy Jackson, a first cousin of Andrew Jackson. He was a soldier in the War of 1812 and received a government land warrant for his services; this he placed on land that afterwards became a part of the City of Jacksonville. Morgan Goode was teacher in the first public school in Christian County, Illinois, and at the time of his death was treasurer of the County. His brother, Daniel Goode, owned, at one time, the most of the land that on which the city of Taylorsville is located. He built that big hotel of the town where Abraham Lincoln was often entertained. From an interview with Mr. Goode, published in a local paper in 1911, the following interesting item is taken: “ I cite the fact that seven years ago we purchased the two and one half acres at the corner of Fourth and Brand for the purpose of erecting thereon a $10,000 High School building, paying only $750 for the same. We sold the same land more than a year ago for $13,000. We now have a larger site and a $50,000 building. Seven years ago when the high school was organized there were seventeen pupils. This year 250 are enrolled. Building lots that were being sold seven years ago for $40 and $50 are now selling for from $500 to $1,000 each, and business lots that sold then for $300 to $400 each are now bringing $2,000 to $3,000.”

Mr. Goode was born at Taylorsville, Indiana, in 1859, living on a farm and following a farmer’s occupation until 1882, when he came to California, and settled for a short time at Santa Barbara; from there to Ventura County and later to Eagle Rock, coming to Glendale in 1894. In 1882 he was married, just before coming to California, to Miss Alletia Suttle of his native town. They are the parents of three boys and two girls, now grown to manhood and womanhood. One of the daughters, Fay, now Mrs. Milton P. Robinson, was one of the class of four, the first graduating class of the Glendale Union High School. The other daughter, Pearl, now Mrs. Livingston, is also a graduate of the same institution. One of the sons, Ray, after graduating at the Glendale High School, attended the University of Southern California, where he graduated in law. The youngest son, John Donald, served two years in the World War, taking part in some of the heaviest engagements. In 1913 Mr. Goode left Glendale and returned to farm life in Imperial Valley as a cotton raiser. He remained there for six years with varying fortunes and is now located near Palms, where he has recently put a new subdivision of half acres lots on the market.

From “History of Glendale and Vicinity” by John Calvin Sherer. The Glendale Publishing Company, c. 1922 F. M. Broadbooks and J. C. Sherer. Pgs. 472-475. A photograph of E. D. Goode appears on page 472.