Sunland Co-Founders and Their Pasts

When last we spoke, Monte Vista was founded in 1885 and two hotels had been built. The founders of the town, Judge Sherman Page and F. C. Howes, had sold out their enterprise to Frank Barclay. Before we turn the page on Page and Howes, I thought it interesting to share a bit about these two.

Felix Cary Howes was born in 1838 and grew up in Putnam County, New York. At the age of 12 he performed some work and was paid with a check. When he entered the bank, he was taken by the grandeur. The young man resolved to become a banker and soon began working as a teller. He joined his parents in a move to southeast Minnesota at the age of 20.

Sherman Page was born in 1833 and grew up in Cambridge, Vermont. He showed an interest in the law at an early age, attended college in New York and relocated to southeastern Minnesota to begin his career as an attorney. In 1871, at the age of 37, he was elected to the State Senate. Two years later he became a judge of the 10th Judicial District.

Mr. Howes’ banking career was interrupted by the Civil War. He became a clerk for the Commissary Dept. and accompanied General Sherman on his march to the sea in 1864. He then returned to banking, eventually moving to St. Paul, Minnesota. He soon tired of the harsh winters there so in 1875 he began a search for a more genial climate. Finding Los Angeles, he chose to settle here with his wife Clara and their four daughters.

Sherman Page, now Judge Sherman Page, would serve on the bench in Minnesota from 1873 thru 1880 but not without controversy. In 1878, he was impeached for official misconduct by the Minnesota House of Representatives. He was charged with “having an arbitrary and violent temper; treating witnesses, counsel, and litigants improperly; and lacking dignity and decorum.”

Impeachment documents went further: “Judge Sherman Page is corrupt, ever exerting a dangerous influence, whose very breath is poisonous for, like the serpent, he not only covers his victims with slime but breathes his poison into their very existence. He stands before this community, a man noted not for kind deeds and words, but deeds of unkindness and malice. We consider him a man to be feared in any community.”

It didn’t end there; the Minnesota Senate found Judge Page not guilty and he was free of consequences – at least so he thought. Apparently the community was not at all happy with the judge’s acquittal and in August of 1880, while sitting in his library, a would-be assassin took his shot. The judge survived the attempt, the perpetrator was caught and put on trial for attempted murder and was subsequently found not guilty. Not long after this, feeling quite unwelcome at home, the Honorable Judge Sherman Page made his way to Los Angeles.

I’ve found nothing to say that Felix and Sherman knew each other back in Minnesota, although they lived in the same community for a number of years. I find myself wondering what Felix knew of this man. Seems like an unlikely choice for a business partner. Nevertheless, the two men came together on the western edge of the Crescenta Valley and founded Monte Vista in 1885.

The duo sold out to Frank Barclay in 1886. I’ll get back his contributions soon but as I often say, “Too much history, too little time;” so for a bit I’m off to other places of local historic interest. But why is Monte Vista now Sunland? When the population rose to allow for a post office, the residents were informed that a Monte Vista had been founded up north and, while the spelling was slightly different, another name would have to be chosen. The name Sunland became the alternative.