By Mary O’KEEFE

It was an exciting day for the Historical Society of Crescenta Valley on Aug. 4 when it finally received a unique piece of Montrose history.

In 1915, the citizens of the newly-formed town of Montrose honored the man who was responsible for their town’s existence. Robert Walton was a local real estate agent who, along with his partner J. Frank Walkers, co-founded Montrose. Walton was given a silver cup that was engraved with the message “Presented to Robert A. Walton by the Citizens of La Crescenta, Oakdale and Montrose as a token of their appreciation for his service July 15, 1915.” Walton moved away from the area, taking the cup with him. Though it seemed that the cup would be gone from the area forever, recently an antiques dealer in Maine came across the cup. He contacted the Historical Society and offered the cup for a price of $1,650.

“It’s probably the earliest tangible historical artifact that we have,” said Michael Morgan, president of the Historical Society of the Crescenta Valley.

There was a fundraising effort to raise the money by the Historical Society, but not all the funds were raised in time for the purchase, so the purchase was charged on a personal credit card with the hope that more funds would be donated. Word has come that the balance of the funds will be donated by the Valley Automotive Group, founded by Bruce Bartels of Bruce’s Automotive, a local businessman. It is a consortium of local independent auto repair specialists.

  Mary Okeefe