Old Poway Historical Sites
The Historical Marker Project
About Poway
Poway Valley was an area of plentiful rain and ever-flowing streams. In the early 1800s many families homesteaded here, each receiving a government grant of 160 acres of free land. By 1870 Poway boasted the only post office between San Bernardino and San Diego. It served 20 families, all of whom lived in the Poway Valley. By the mid-1880s, Poway had become a prosperous, well-populated farming community.
Above Top: Lavelli's Winery.
Above Bottom: Frank's Farm.
Featured Image: Aerial view of Poway, from the north, looking southwest.
Approximately 800 people lived in the Poway Valley by 1887, at which time the community boasted a church, store, livery stable, stage coach station, blacksmith shop, and even a Chinese laundry! There was a schoolhouse on Community Road, diagonally across from the Community Church, and a hotel, The Terrace, was located between Adrian and Aubrey Streets on the east side of Midland Road.
Above: First elementary school, 1885.
Featured Image: Poway Post Office, 1915.
Piermont Subdivision
The expectation of a railroad line coming through the Poway Valley, passing just west of today’s Midland Road, caused a real estate boom as two men from England, a Mr. Chapin and a Mr. Baird, laid out a subdivision called Piermont near the present day center of Old Poway.
Street names such as Midland, Adrian, Aubrey, Edgemoor, York, and Temple are remnants of the busted real estate boom that occurred when the San Diego Central and Southern Pacific Railways abandoned plans to lay tracks through Poway and took the railroad through Escondido instead. The inflated prices for Poway property evaporated and, once again, the valley returned to farming.
Map: Baird and Chapin's Piermont subdivision plan. Swipe left or right to compare the plan to current aerial imagery.
Poway of Today
The Poway of today is a grown-up version of the community of 100 years ago, with friendly neighbors, paved streets, electric lighting, and indoor plumbing. But it’s good to look back to that simpler time, and to acquaint ourselves with the men and women whose sweat, tears, and laughter first established Poway - our City in the Country.
Featured Video: Drone footage of Poway, from the business park looking north, 2019.
Historic Buildings and Sites
Poway is proud to feature several historic buildings and sites throughout our community. Scroll down for a map tour of the historic buildings and sites in Poway.
Featured Image: Community Church, 1916.
Templars Hall
The International Order of Good Templars (I.O.G.T.) Hall was built in 1886 as a meeting hall. The group advocated peace, temperance, and brotherhood. From 1895 to 1897 the Hall served as Poway’s first high school, and was later used for social and community events. Methodist Church services were held there regularly. In 1924 the building was purchased, moved, and remodeled by the Christian Science Society. Later it became the St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church Thrift Store. In the 1980s it was known as The Hay Barn, a tack and feed store. The City of Poway purchased the building in the early 1990s, moved it to Old Poway Park and renovated it. Today it serves as a meeting room for various groups and as a social hall for local events.
Porter House
Well-known artist, Julia Porter, used this house as an art studio for many years. It was moved from its original site near Lake Hodges, rebuilt in its present location and enlarged to house Julia, her son, John Porter, and his wife, Helen, after a fire destroyed a portion of it in the early 1960s.
Nelson House
The Nelson House, built between 1915 and 1918 by Norwegian immigrant Niles Nelson on the site of the Nelson-Stone farm on Garden Road, is a wood frame house built in the pioneer style. The house remained in the Nelson family until Helen Nelson, Niles’ wife, died in 1943. It was sold several times before its final purchase by the City of Poway in 1991, when it was moved to Old Poway Park.
Flint Farm
Horace Kent and his son, Lewis, built the original house in 1882 at its present location on Midland Road. The Kents were famous for their peaches, which were grown in the Midland Road area. Horace left the house and 100 acres to his daughter Mary, who left the property to her husband, Ed Flint. In 1947 Stuart Fritzohn purchased the property. Extensive repairs were made to the house and property between 1947 and 1970. The house is an excellent example of a pre-Victorian era farm house, circa 1880.
D.J. Ranch
Formerly known as the Walter Kent Farm, the wooden farmhouse was originally the home of the Walter Kent family, who moved to Poway sometime after 1882 to join Walter’s parents, Lydia and Horace Kent. The house dates from the late 1890s to early 1900. The Johnson family, owners of the present D.J. Ranch, purchased the property in 1963 for use as a horse and cattle ranch. In the early 1970s the Johnsons sold a portion of the property to the Poway Valley Riders Association for use as a horse facility; in 1987 another portion was sold to a developer. The house boasts original stonework on the front porch, an original well and barn, a bathtub, walkway and thick walls.
Dearborn Memorial Park
In 1884, Dr. Louis N. Hilleary, Poway’s first resident physician, donated three acres of land to the community to use as a cemetery. The burial of John Dearborn in 1886, the first person to be interred in the tract, gave the cemetery its name, and in 1950 it was dedicated as Dearborn Memorial Park. The cemetery district expanded to 40 acres in 1967 and today encompasses 90 square miles, with boundaries corresponding almost exactly to those of the Poway Unified School District. The cemetery’s beautiful catalpa trees were planted by Dr. Hilleary. John Dearborn’s headstone is located on the right hand side, near the park’s northern entrance.
Community Church of Poway
Community Church, originally a Methodist-Episopal congregation, was established in July, 1879, by the Rev. Mr. Hough of Los Angeles. The first worshipers met in the local school house. In 1883 Joseph and Amanda Stone and another couple donated land for the present building. Church members and friends provided most of the materials and labor, and Samuel Bowron acted as construction superintendent. The redwood structure, a New England-style church, was completed in 1887. In 1893 the church became the Congregational Church of Poway. In the late 1920s, the name was changed to the Community Church of Poway. The native Daughters of the Golden West designated the sanctuary as a historical site on September 26, 1976, recognizing the 120-year-old chapel as the oldest wooden structure in continuous use as a church in San Diego County.
Baldwin Locomotive
Poway’s steam locomotive was built in April, 1907, at the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia for the Henry Cowell Lime & Cement Company. It was delivered in May, 1907, to Port Chicago, near San Francisco, and was christened Engine No. 3. The engine hauled rock for the company for 45 years, until it was auctioned to the South San Francisco Scrap Metals Company. Fortunately, No. 3 was not scrapped, but was used for many years to haul scrap metals and materials from other engines. The locomotive was next purchased by C.B. Pollard of Vista, who rebuilt it and ran it on the P&H Short Line, claimed to be The Shortest Railroad in California. In 1966 his estate, which included the engine, tender, passenger car, tracks, and railroad odds and ends, was sold to Col. John Porter. Col. Porter loved the railroad and provided train rides for the community at his amusement park on Midland Road. Upon his death, the City of Poway purchased the land and the railroad (now renamed the Poway-Midland Rail Road) and built Old Poway Park.
Credits: City of Poway and the Poway Historical Society