Workman & Temple Family Homestead Museum

06/19/2026

The concluding third part of a post on The Homestead Blog delving into the 1907 pamphlet "A Stainless Flag" by the Rev. Ervin S. Chapman, a Los Angeles pastor and temperance leader, examines his assertions that a universal and unchanging divine law was an imperative for the United States Supreme Court to permanently ban the trade in alcoholic beverages: https://homesteadmuseum.blog/2026/06/18/a-luster-undimmed-by-the-tears-of-the-innocent-victims-of-the-earths-greatest-curse-prohibition-as-patriotism-in-the-rev-ervin-s-chapmans-a-stainless-flag-1907-part-three/

by Paul R. Spitzzeri “A Stainless Flag,” a 1907 pamphlet by the Rev. Ervin S. Chapman, who also held a law degree, employed the argument that an eternal and immutable divine law forced …

06/18/2026

The second part of a post on The Homestead Blog looking at Anti-Saloon League figure Rev. Ervin S. Chapman's 1907 pamphlet, "A Stainless Flag," features more of his argument that an eternal divine law required legislators and judges to make decisions about moral issues as he called for a national ban on alcoholic beverages. The concluding third part is next: https://homesteadmuseum.blog/2026/06/17/a-luster-undimmed-by-the-tears-of-the-innocent-victims-of-the-earths-greatest-curse-prohibition-as-patriotism-in-the-rev-ervin-s-chapmans-a-stainless-flag-1907-part-two/

by Paul R. Spitzzeri As we continue with our deep dive into the Rev. Ervin S. Chapman’s 1907 pamphlet, “A Stainless Flag,” with the cleric and trained lawyer seeking to justify a …

06/18/2026

It's All Relative- A Genealogy Workshop
Jun 27, 2026, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM

Sign up here: https://www.homesteadmuseum.org/event-details/its-all-relative-3

EXPLORE YOUR ROOTS!
At this in-person, hands-on free workshop you will be introduced to the basic tools and techniques to begin researching your family tree.

06/16/2026

The concluding fourth part of a post on The Homestead Blog about the Gainsborough Heath subdivision in San Marino traces its ambitious aims and dramatic decline in the late 1920s, as the audacious efforts to advance the elite tract failed to yield expected results but are reflective of real estate development and promotion during the Roaring Twenties: https://homesteadmuseum.blog/2026/06/15/ascending-spanish-steps-with-a-postcard-of-the-gainsborough-heath-sales-office-san-marino-postmarked-11-june-1929-part-four/

by Paul R. Spitzzeri As 1928 dawned, the J.B. Ransom Corporation, with financing from the Bradbury Syndicate, began plans to issue its first unit of the Gainsborough Heath subdivision, a nearly 300…

06/16/2026

Jun 20, 2026, 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM

Sign- up here for free: https://www.homesteadmuseum.org/event-details/storytime-adventures-inventors-innovators

Calling all curious kids ages 4–12! Step into a world of imagination, creativity, and discovery as we explore the amazing inventors and innovators that changed history. Each session brings stories of brilliant thinkers to life through engaging read-alouds and craft activities.

The program is free and space is limited, please RSVP only for the number of children attending.

In Mack Made Movies, learn about film pioneer, Mack Sennett who invented the Keystone Kops, filmed the first pie-in-the-face skit, and introduced Charlie Chaplin to the movies. In the story, author Don Brown tells the tale of this American movie genius, from his beginnings as a Vaudeville actor to his triumph as the "King of Comedy".

Mack Made Movies

06/14/2026

On this Flag Day, the newest post on The Homestead Blog features a new acquisition to the Museum's collection, the Rev. Ervin S. Chapman's patriotic prohibition publication, "A Stainless Flag," issued in 1907, and which is his detailed legalistic and moralistic argument for banning alcoholic beverages. Part one examines the legislative aspect and we'll return with a second part soon: https://homesteadmuseum.blog/2026/06/14/a-luster-undimmed-by-the-tears-of-the-innocent-victims-of-the-earths-greatest-curse-prohibition-as-patriotism-in-the-rev-ervin-s-chapmans-a-stainless-flag-1907-part-one/

by Paul R. Spitzzeri On this Flag Day, which became a national day of commemoration by a proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson in 1916, we highlight a recent acquisition to the Museum’s ar…

06/14/2026

The third part of a post on The Homestead Blog detailing some early history of the San Marino subdivision, Gainsborough Heath, examines the contents of a 1928 pamphlet about it and "the old adobe" that was used as an administrative office for the tract. We'll return with a closing fourth part: https://homesteadmuseum.blog/2026/06/13/ascending-spanish-steps-with-a-postcard-of-the-gainsborough-heath-sales-office-san-marino-postmarked-11-june-1929-part-three/

by Paul R. Spitzzeri Today the Homestead participated in the third annual Adobe Days event at the Andrés Pico Adobe Park in Mission Hills, being one nearly 20 historic sites sharing their adobe str…

06/13/2026

Part two of a post on The Homestead Blog looking at the development of the Gainsborough Heath subdivision in the tony San Gabriel Valley burg of San Marino traces the transition of the land from the Dew Drop Ranch of Luther H. Titus to ownership by the Bradbury family to the acquisition and early work to prepare the tract for the market. That takes us to part three next: https://homesteadmuseum.blog/2026/06/12/ascending-spanish-steps-with-a-postcard-of-the-gainsborough-heath-sales-office-san-marino-postmarked-11-june-1929-part-two/

by Paul R. Spitzzeri When, in 1887, during the height of the Boom of the Eighties, Luther H. Titus sold his Dew Drop Ranch, just northeast of the Mission San Gabriel, to the San Gabriel Valley Land…

06/12/2026

The latest post on The Homestead Blog looks at the establishment of the Gainsborough Heath subdivision in San Marino, with part one tracing some of the history of a previous owner of much of that land, Luther H. Titus of the Dew Drop Ranch, through the Boom of the 1880s. Part two is tomorrow: https://homesteadmuseum.blog/2026/06/11/ascending-spanish-steps-with-a-postcard-of-the-gainsborough-heath-sales-office-san-marino-postmarked-11-june-1929-part-one/

by Paul R. Spitzzeri With median home prices topping $3 million, the city of San Marino is the most expensive place in which to buy a residence in the San Gabriel Valley (three decades ago, it was …

06/11/2026

The newest post, featuring a recent acquisition to the Museum's artifact collection of a ca. 1924 photo by R. Thornton Smith of the Temple Pharmacy and Temple Hardware building, looks at some of the early commercial history of the Town of Temple, renamed Temple City in 1928, as well as its Chamber of Commerce and Smith's involvement in the town founded by Homestead owner Walter P. Temple and associates: https://homesteadmuseum.blog/2026/06/10/through-the-viewfinder-with-a-photo-of-a-temple-city-business-building-ca-1924/

by Paul R. Spitzzeri When Walter P. Temple, with associates Milton Kauffman (also his business manager), George H. Woodruff (his attorney) and Alhambra sheep rancher Sylvester Dupuy, launched his T…