By Lafayette C. Hight Jr., Staff Writer
Pasadena Star-News
Posted: 09/03/2009 11:16:27 AM PDT
Six months of research by two local historians has led to the release of the new book, "Images of America: Duarte," that was released on Aug. 24.
Irwin Margiloff, 78, a New York native and retired chemical engineer, has served as curator of the Duarte Historical Museum for more than 15 years, where he has become an expert on all things Duarte.
The Rev. Neil Earle, 62, a Canadian native, has lived in Duarte for about a decade. The senior pastor of Grace Communion International in Glendora is also host of the DCTV monthly program "A Second Look," which focuses on public affairs, news, history and archaeology from a local perspective.
Together, during a six-month period, they did the research that resulted in the $21.99, 125-page paperback published by Arcadia Publishing. They completed their first draft in January.
"Images of America: Duarte" covers the period between the baptism of Andres Duarte in San Juan Capistrano in 1805 through 2008.
"We have a copy of the baptismal entry in book one of the Mission's records," Margiloff said.
There are also copies of pictures and documents related to the original land grants, settlers, development of local institutions, schools and citrus industry.
Earle credits Margiloff with 70 percent of the project. He became involved after a suggestion that the pair work together.
"Irwin's the detail man and I'm the overview man," he said. "That, I think, made this a great working relationship."
There are also little tidbits of eras past. Like how exterminators would use hydrogen cyanide gas as a pesticide in the 1890s, the former Southern Pacific Railroad station in Duarte, and an Episcopal mission.
It is Margiloff's first book.
"I've always been interested in history," he said. "Wherever I've lived I've chased around and been interested in the locality."
Upon his arrival to Duarte he visited the museum and met his predecessor.
"Shortly thereafter I found myself curator," he said. "There wasn't much competition for the job."
It has been about 33 years since the last book on the city was published. "On the Duarte" by R. Aloysia Moore and Bernice Bozeman Watson was released in 1976. The first book about Duarte, "The Sequent Occupance of the Rancho Azusa de Duarte," was written by Ida Mae Shrode in 1948
After the two partnered, Margiloff and Earle worked on different avenues of research.
"I worked from the beginning to the present and he worked from the present backwards, so we met somewhere in the middle," Margiloff said.
The most difficult item to procure was a map from national archives – a copy of the original rancho map, circa 1858.
"That was a very long procedure," Margiloff said. The National Archives has contractors that do the work. The one we had was very slow. It got in just under the wire, and we were able to put it in the book.
Earle wrote his first book "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in American Pop Culture" in 1994 and co-authored "Mending Broken Relationships" in 2004. He has also had hundreds of articles and essays printed in different books and textbooks over the years.
The most surprising element that Earle discovered about Duarte were the qualities of the early residents.
"These were fairly educated, professional-type people," he said. "I was really intrigued that the old Victorian elite got Duarte off to a very stable start. In so many of the pictures in the book, they're having picnics; they're playing tennis."
Pictures from the old schools show classrooms with African American and Latino students.
"They really stressed culture," Earle said. "They really stressed education. Even to this day, Duarte's most distinctive building is The Old Spaghetti Factory. This was the progressive era. I see Duarte as `The Three Cs: Continuity, Community and Culture'."
At the Old Spaghetti Factory on Sept. 15, Margiloff and Earle will be present at a book signing and banquet.
The restaurant – a piece of history in itself – is the former Third Duarte School, built in 1909 to replace the second schoolhouse that had burned down. It cost $16,000 in 1909. In 1993, it cost $2 million to convert it into a restaurant.
Tickets are $25 and include dinner. For reservations, send checks to The Duarte Historical Society, c/o Claudia Heller, 277 Opal Canyon Road, Duarte. Proceeds will benefit the Duarte Historical Society and Museum.