FRANKLIN THOMAS, Pasadena–Thomas was the founding chair of the engineering department of Caltech, where the engineering laboratory bears his name. He served almost 20 years as vice chair of the MWD board, and also organized some of the earliest inspection trips of the Colorado River Aqueduct.
HARVEY E. BRUCE, Burbank–A Burbank city councilman, Harvey E. Bruce was considered familiar with water and water rights, storage, transportation and the “construction, operation and maintenance of the works, facilities and improvements necessary or convenient for the development of water in Southern California.”
A.W. FRANZEN, Anaheim–Anders W. Franzen was a last-minute replacement for the city mayor, who begged off the time commitment. Franzen was a building contractor who had built much of downtown, and who was part of a reform slate that ousted a cabal of Klan sympathizers who had staged a city council takeover in 1924.
W.P. WHITSETT, Los Angeles–Founder of the town of Van Nuys and once described as a “godfather” of the San Fernando Valley, Whittsett was a L.A. city water commissioner at the time of his appointment. He served 18 years as MWD’s board chairman. The Intake Pumping Plant at Lake Havasu bears his name.
WILL O. HARRIS represented the city of San Bernardino, which withdrew in 1931.
S.H. FINLEY, Santa Ana–With partner Phillip A. Stanton, Colonel Solomon Henderson Finley bought 1,500 acres in 1901 and laid out the city of Huntington Beach. He also built the Modjeska Reservoir in Santiago Canyon, served on the first Santa Ana school board and was city engineer for Newport Beach, Huntington Beach and Seal Beach. In 1934, he served as one of the original trustees for the Bower Museum.
W. TURNEY FOX, Glendale–Fox had only arrived in Glendale the year before and a few years later, he would play a key role in rebuilding Glendale Community College after the 1933 earthquake. As a judge, his cases ranged from wrestler Gorgeous George to Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Later named an appellate court judge, his 1968 death was widely mourned by the legal community.
GEORGE H. HUTTON, Santa Monica– Fifty-eight at the time of his appointment, George H. Hutton was a noted orator who had already argued cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and had been appointed to the Los Angeles Superior Court in 1906.
PAUL SCHWAB, Beverly Hills–Paul E. Schwab became a member of O'Melveny, Fuller and Meyers in 1920, the youngest person to join the firm, and came to Beverly Hills in 1921. He joined the city attorney’s office shortly after his arrival and helped negotiate the city’s purchase of the local water system. Elected to the city council in the mid-1920s, Schwab served as mayor from 1929 to 1933, overseeing a new city hall, post office, parkway, and electric fountain on Santa Monica Boulevard.
C.A. HUTCHINSON represented the city of Colton, which withdrew in 1931.
JAMES H. HOWARD, Pasadena–Howard served as Pasadena City Attorney and a trustee of the Colorado River Aqueduct Association and also drafted the Metropolitan Water District Act. He served as Metropolitan’s general counsel from 1932 to 1957.
HIRAM W. WADSWORTH, Pasadena–A Caltech trustee and the first chairman of the Pasadena City Board of Directors, Wadsworth was the founding chairman of the Colorado River Aqueduct Association, the multi-city group that advocated a regional aqueduct project. Wadsworth is known as “the father of the MWD.” A pumping plant at Diamond Valley Lake is named in his honor.
CLAYTON R. TAYLOR, Chairman of the Pasadena Board of Directors–Taylor had served as a Pasadena school board member and a foreman of the L.A. County Grand Jury before being elected to the Pasadena Board of Directors in 1927. As board chair (equivalent of the city mayor today) he convened the meeting at the Huntington Hotel. He passed away in 1941, shortly after completion of the Colorado River Aqueduct.
