Los Angeles in 1877
Floating some 9,000 feet above the city in a hot-air balloon in 1887, Edwin H. Husher took what may be the first aerial photo of Los Angeles.
By 1887, the City's population had grown to over 20,000 people with most of the new development having taken place south of the original Pueblo and LA Plaza as seen in the above photo.
Aerial photo of Los Angeles looking East on June 27, 1887 taken from a balloon. Note the farmland south of Second Street and east of Main Street to the Los Angeles River. The circular form of the Plaza is visible to the center left.
William J. Seymour is Baptized
William J. Seymour is baptized at the Church of the Assumption (Roman Catholic) in Franklin, Louisiana.
Bible Study becomes a Church
Biddy Mason establishes a bible study in her home in Los Angeles, California, that becomes Stevens African Methodist Episcopal Church and is currently know as the First African Methodist Episcopal Church. The picture on the right is an image of Biddy Mason's home on First Street in the 1870s, which is a few block away from Azusa Street. In the late 1800s, it was common to for bible studies to form, grow, and transition into a congregation that founds a church site.
William J. Seymour is Born
William J. Seymour is born to Simon and Phillis (Salabas) Seymour in Centerville, Louisiana.
Los Angeles’s Population in 1870
In 1870, the population of Los Angeles was 5,730. The panoramic view of 'the Plaza' (La Placita) and the 'Old Plaza Church' (Mission Nuestra Senora Reina de Los Angeles). The square main brick reservoir in the middle (partial view) was the water reservoir builit by William Dryden and his LA Water Works Co. to collect water from the 'mother ditch' (Zanja Madre). The image was taken in 1869.
Biddy Mason is Born
Bridget ("Biddy") Mason was born a slave on a Mississippi plantation. When her owner, Robert M. Smith, became a Mormon convert in 1847, Mason and her three daughters joined his family on a 2,000-mile trek to the Utah Territory during which Mason was responsible for herding the cattle, preparing the meals and serving as midwife. Four years later, Smith moved his household to San Bernardino County, Calif., where Brigham Young was starting a Mormon community. California being a free state, Mason and her daughters petitioned the court for their freedom, which was granted in ...
