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State of California —The Resources Agency Primary #
<br />DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
<br />CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
<br />Page 3 of 3 Resource Name: D.K. Thomas House
<br />*Recorded by Pedro Gomez *Date October 29, 2020 O Continuation ❑ Update
<br />*B10. Significance (continued):
<br />The D.K. Thomas House is located in West Floral Park, a neighborhood northwest of downtown Santa Ana bounded by West
<br />Seventeenth Street, North Bristol Street, North Flower Street, and West Riviera Drive, In 1910, father and son John B. and
<br />Merle Ramsey, who had come to Santa Ana in 1902 and subsequently setup business as plaster contractors, purchased fifteen
<br />acres of the ranch from a Mr. Talcott. By that time, the adobe had been replaced by the present house, estimated to have been
<br />built circa 1895 (Cultural Heritage Inventory, 1983). A barn with an attached bunkhouse was located west of the house
<br />(approximately where Westwood Avenue runs today). The Ramsey's began tending the orange and walnut trees already on
<br />half of the acreage, and planted additional walnut trees and apricot trees on the vacant land. They also developed the `Ramsey
<br />Apple" by grafting cuttings from their home in Ohio onto California rootstock.
<br />At the time of the Ramsey's purchase, the ranch, although located within the city limits of Santa Ana, was `far out in the country,"
<br />reached via dirt roads, with no nearby neighbors. The location of the property was understood to be the vicinity of Baker and
<br />Seventeenth. In 1921, father and son divided the property, with the father keeping the rear portion for farming and son taking
<br />the front in order to take advantage of the expanding residential area of Santa Ana by building houses. City directories in the
<br />1930s list the address of John Ramsey as 1901 North Baker Street and of Merle Ramsey as 1101 West Seventeenth Street.
<br />Westwood Avenue north of Seventeenth, however, was not developed until the post -World War II period, and the first building
<br />permit with the current address was recorded in 1948. Merle Ramsey recalled his life on the A. T. Bates ranch in This Was
<br />Mission County., Reflections in Orange of Merle and Mabel Ramsey, published in 1973, and noted that the house remained
<br />exactly where it had been, only surrounded by streets and houses. Ramsey also recalled unearthing several Native American
<br />artifacts on the property, most notably two stone pots discovered when they installed an irrigation system.
<br />Since the second half of the twentieth century, the neighborhood in which the A. T. Bates Ranch House is located has been
<br />known as West Floral Park. Bounded by Santiago Creek on the north, West Seventeenth Street on the south, North Flower
<br />Street on the east and North Bristol Street on the west, this residential area largely developed after 1947. Prior to that time, the
<br />area was primarily agricultural, and other than Flower Street, which was improved with houses during the 1920s and 1930s,
<br />contained only a handful of residences on Baker and Bristol Streets, the City Water Works pumping plant at 2315 North Bristol
<br />Street, and the Animal Shelter and City/County Pound at 2321 North Bristol Street. Between 1947 and 1950, around two dozen
<br />homes were constructed on Baker, Olive, Towner, and Westwood Streets. Construction boomed during the 1950s, and the
<br />California Ranch.
<br />The D.K. Thomas House qualifies for listing in the Santa Ana Register of Historical Properties under Criterion 1 for embodiment
<br />of the distinguishing characteristics of the Ranch House style; and Criterion 4, for its contribution to the West Floral Park
<br />neighborhood and for its association with prominent local builder, Emmet C. Rogers. Additionally, the house has been
<br />categorized as "Contributive" because it `contributes to the overall character and history" of the West Floral Park neighborhood,
<br />and, as an intact example of the Ranch House style in the West Floral Park neighborhood, "is a good example of period
<br />architecture" in Santa Ana (Santa Ana Municipal Code, Section 30-2.2). Character -defining features of the D. K. Thomas House
<br />include, but may not be limited to: materials and finishes (brick, stucco, vertical plywood siding); low pitched, hipped roof. wide,
<br />overhanging, open eaves with exposed rafters; brick chimney; metal casement windows; and front entry porch.
<br />*B12. References (continued):
<br />Ancestry.com. California, Death Index, 1940-1997 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000.
<br />Ancestrycom. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry. com Operations Inc, 2002.
<br />Harris, Cyril M. American Architecture: An illustrated Encyclopedia. New York, WW Norton, 1998.
<br />Marsh, Diann. Santa Ana, An Illustrated History. Encinitas, Heritage Publishing, 1994.
<br />McAlester, Virginia and Lee. A Field Guide to American Houses. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1984.
<br />National Register Bulletin 16A. `How to Complete the National Register Registration Form. " Washington DC: National Register
<br />Newspapers.com (Santa Ana Register)
<br />Branch, National Park Service, US Dept. of the Interior, 1991.
<br />Office of Historic Preservation. "Instructions for Recording Historical Resources. " Sacramento: March 1995.
<br />Whitten, Marcus. American Architecture Since 1780. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1969.
<br />Santa Ana and Orange County Directories, 1920-1979.
<br />Year., 1930; Census Place: Santa Ana, Orange, California; Page: 6B; Enumeration District: 0080; FHL microfilm: 2339917
<br />DPR 523L L 5 ^'CFO 8
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