Written by Kathie Schey, City Archivist.
In this month’s theme of recognizing our City’s founders, we take a look at our first City Council.
In February 1909, an election was held to decide if Huntington Beach should incorporate as a City. In many ways, the issue was the result of growing concern that by remaining unincorporated, the area was being deprived of tax revenues it could otherwise receive, as well as whether the community could best be served by stronger local control. The measure passed 94 to 25.
In the same election, our first Board of Trustees – now called our City Council was decided. Five men were chosen. According to a newspaper account, the election was held in such haste, there wasn’t enough time to print names on the ballots. As one historian has called them, they were a “merry band of write-ins!”
They are shown with this article in the only known photo of them taken together. From left to right, they are D.O. Stewart, Ed Manning, M.E. Helme, C.H. Howard, C.W. Warner.
Ed Manning, the town’s first plumber, led with 107 votes to become our first Mayor. Two of his great-grandsons, Duane and Dave Wentworth Sr., currently serve on the City’s Historic Resources Board.
Charles H. Howard, town grocer, received 80 votes. Years later, he and Manning rode together in a buggy in the City’s Independence Day Parade, honoring their early roles.
Charles Warner received 70 votes. Although his son Willis, suffered defeat at the polls years later, the Warner name still appears prominently in Huntington Beach.
Donald O. Stewart and M.E. Helme were “neck and neck” at 64 and 63 votes respectively. Stewart, a wealthy man who listed his occupation as “having his own income,” was the father of Maude Stewart who’d been named our “Goddess of Liberty” in the previous year by selling the most charity tickets. M.E Helme owned a furniture store. Now an antique shop, his store remains at 517 Walnut St. and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
One of their very first acts was to send a subcommittee to Santa Ana to demand our City’s fair share of the county road tax revenue. It seems they won!
