The saga of an old LA family
William Workman shot himself in the head at age 76. No note was left. It was 1876. Once wealthy, he died penniless. The Los Angeles Herald reported he was “driven to desperation” knowing that he was left “without means” and that his home would be “swallowed in the vortex.”
Originally from England, Workman settled on the eastern edge of Los Angeles and began to successfully raise cattle for tallow and leather. He and his wife built a simple three-room adobe. In the late 1860s, it was remodeled to look like a country home. The renovation literally ensconced the thick adobe walls with new construction.
Info
Address 15415 E Don Julian Road, City of Industry, CA 91745, +1 626.968.8492, www.homesteadmuseum.org, info@homesteadmuseum.org | Getting there Free on-site lot | Hours Guided tours: Wed–Sun 1pm & 3pm (Workman House), Wed–Sun 2pm & 4pm (La Casa Nueva). Tours last up to 45 minutes each. There are no self-guided tours. Admission is free.| Tip Visit the Buddhist Hsi Lai Temple (3456 Glenmark Drive, Hacienda Heights, CA 91745), where you can enjoy a free tour and a vegetarian buffet lunch.
The combination of flood, drought, and the end of the Gold Rush hit the region hard economically. Reinventing himself, Workman went into dry agriculture, planting crops that required little water; his farm thrived. But his investment in the bank of his son-in-law, F. P. F. Temple, led to his ruin. The financial Panic of 1873 struck and the bank ran out of cash. Facing crippling debt, the family turned to “Lucky” Baldwin, a Wild West business tycoon, and struck an ominous deal, wagering their land for a loan. Temple blew through the borrowed money in two weeks, leaving Workman destitute and suicidal.
Some 30 years later, one of Temple’s grandsons accidentally discovered oil on his parents’ land. Rich again, the Temple family bought back Workman’s original homestead and built La Casa Nueva right next door. Today, you can explore both fully restored buildings, which are open to the public and provide a unique portal into the past. Of particular interest in La Casa Nueva is the homage paid to native and Mexican culture through detailed and colorful painted glass, created at a time when people of Mexican descent were forced to leave the United States in numbers ranging from 500,000 to two million, despite the fact that many were US citizens.
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