Glendale, California Biographies

David Henry Imler

David Henry Imler, who passed from this life March 12, 1913, was a brilliant scholar and a successful businessman. He was remarkable for his wise judgment and keen foresight. He led a very active and useful life, giving freely of his time and substance to all worthy causes.

Mr. Imler was born October 31, 1863, at Bedford county, Pennsylvania; son of Henry and Elizabeth (Harcleroad) Imler. His parents were American born. His father was a farmer and enlisted in the Civil War at the age of twenty-eight, serving with valor, and meeting death in action at the battle of Gettysburg. David H. Imler was reared by his grandfather, Henry Imler, a merchant and farmer at Bedford. He graduated from high school at the age of fourteen and then went to South America with a party of men, where he engaged in the cattle business for three years. When a rebellion broke out in Argentine, the party returned with less than they had when they started out. He then came west, and at St. Joseph, Missouri, entered the employ of the Chicago & Rock Island railroad, and was with the civil engineers in construction work all the way to Colorado Springs. His services as an engineer proving valuable, he was retained for four years in different capacities, and was one of the engineers connected with the building of the railroad on Pikes Peak. Later he worked on the construction of the Colorado Midland railroad and tunnel.

During all this time he was interested in grub staking and prospecting and met with the usual experiences of miners in alternate successes and reverses. With John Lane and J.E. Hunter as partners, they located the Orphan Bell group on Bull Mountain, Cripple Creek. Four claims were located and developed, and were sold for $450,000.00. They formed a company of which Mr. Imler was secretary, and developed other claims, maintaining an office in Colorado Springs. He was also interested in a brokerage business before he left for California in the fall of 1897. Some time previous to his coming to California he purchased a three-acre tract of land in Tropico, without really knowing what the property was. There was a small house on the acreage, and one year prior to his coming, his father-in-law, James B. Hickman, with his daughter Cora Hickman, came and took possession of the place. Mr. Imler built a modern two-story residence on the property at 336 West Park Avenue, which was named “Palm Villa,” and is now the home of his widow.

In California, Mr. Imler led a very useful and active life until his untimely death. Soon after coming here he became interested in mining at Cadis, California, and at Parker, Arizona. In 1900, when the Tropico Improvement Association was organized, he became its first president. He was an important member of the committee of Tropico and Glendale in the early agitation for the Pacific Electric railway. For a few years prior to 1908, Mr. Imler maintained an office in Los Angeles to take care of his mining, real estate and oil interests. In the fall of 1908, he made an extensive business trip East, attending to many matters of importance, disposing of some of his mining and other interests, returning the following fall. Soon thereafter, he went to the Imperial Valley where he became prominently identified with the growth and development of that locality. He was one of the organizers and a director of the Farmers and Merchants Bank at Imperial; helped organize and was the first president of the La Verne school district; was president of a water company; and owner of several hundred acres of land which he improved and used for the growing of cotton, alfalfa and barley. From the time he first went to the valley until his death, which occurred suddenly while directing his employees, he spent most of his time there, returning home only at intervals to be with his family.

Mr. Imler was a Scottish Rite Mason. He was made a Mason at Colorado Springs, later demitting form that lodge to become a charter member of Unity Lodge, No. 368, at Glendale. He was a Past Patron of Glen Eyrie Chapter Order Eastern Star. In 1905 and 1906 he was superintendent of the clay department at the Art Tile Company, at Tropico. He was a Republican, very active in the ranks at Colorado Springs, but not as an office seeker.

At Los Angeles, California, on November 27, 1895, Mr. Imler married Adelaide Hickman, a daughter of James Bailey and Eugenia Adelaide Louise (Wilson) Hickman; a native of Evansville, Indiana, where she graduated from high school and taught school. In Glendale, Mrs. Imler has been prominent and active in lodge and club life. She is a Past Matron of Glen Eyrie Chapter Order Eastern Star, a Past President of the Women’s Relief Corps, a member of both the Tuesday Afternoon Club and the Thursday Afternoon Clubs, and Eschsleholtzia Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Of all these orders she is a charter member. She also belongs to the Women’s State Patriotic Institute.

There are two children: Eugene Henry and Marjorie Adelaide. Eugene is a civil engineer in the employ of the Standard Oil Company at Bakersfield. He graduated from the California Institute of Technology, with the class of 1917, having previously graduated from the California Military School at Los Angeles and the Los Angeles High School. He is a member of the Fraternity Sigma Alpha Pi. On May 17, 1917, he enlisted in the Radio Transmission Service while a student at college, and after his graduation was sent to Camp Alfred Vail. He remained in the service until September 26, 1920, and was stations in many different places and serving most of the time in the Signal and Engineering Corps. At Camp Humphries he was assigned to the work of re-surveying the old Fairfax estate, which was originally surveyed by George Washington. Many of the old stakes were found and the original survey found correct. At Marshfield, Oregon, on February 22, 1920, he married Florence Flannagan. They have a baby girl, Adelaide Jeanne Imler.

Marjorie Adelaide graduated with the class of 1922 from the University of California, at Berkeley, h having taken the political science and education course. She had previously graduated from the Tropico Grammar and the Glendale Union High Schools. She is a member of the Sigma Kappa Sorority.

From “History of Glendale and Vicinity” by John Calvin Sherer. The Glendale Publishing Company, c. 1922 F. M. Broadbooks and J. C. Sherer. P. 331-335.