Remembering When
by
Jerry Person
Huntington Beach City Historian
Dedicated to the people of Huntington Beach
Lets not forget Two HB Councilmen of Long Ago
I am sure that most residents have read about our present city council in the news, so I thought it would be interesting to remember two councilmen who served long ago.
The first one is Orvil Ray Harris who served our city during the halcyon oil boom days from 1926 to 1930 and it was in Madison, Kansas that Harris was born on July 2, 1896. His family moved to Huntington Beach early in Harris' youth where he attended our local schools. After high school Harris went to work with his father as a local building contractor, to build many of the older homes in our downtown area.
In 1918 when America entered World War I, Harris joined the navy where he remained until the war ended and came home in 1919. When oil, black gold, was discovered in 1920 and and it population grew with hopes of getting rich quick. Harris in 1921 went to work in our oil fields as a rig builder for Standard Oil Company where he remained for the next ten years.
A year after joining Standard, Harris married Ruby Ellen Miller on March 13, 1922 and to this union came four children- Ralph, Leroy, Harold and Thelma. Ruby and Orvil would make their home at 705 Tenth Street in the downtown.
Active in civic matters, Orvil Harris served as a councilman for Huntington Beach for four years between 1926 to 1930. Harris was also an active member of our Masonic Lodge, he was a member of our local American Legion Post and a regular member of our Methodist church.
Not bad to someone in their early thirties, but a long life was not forthcoming for this energetic young man. While on a vacation to the Virginia Lakes region near Bishop, Harris suffered an attack and died on August 20, 1931. The flag at city hall was lowered to half in his memory.
Our second councilman to remember is James W. Mitchell, who along with Harris served on the city council at the same time Harris did from 1926 to 1930.
In Butler County Iowa, James Walter Mitchell was born on June 27, 1865, the year our great Civil War ended. Mitchell attended grade school there and when he was a little older the family moved to Minnesota to farm.
Young Mitchell not only attended school there but also helped his father to till the soil, but farm life was not for Mitchell and after graduation he went on to teach in Minnesota's rural schools.
In 1894 Mitchell married his sweetheart from Sibley, Iowa- Mary O'Keefe and to this union four children were born, Paul, Louis, Mildred and Ruth and these were his greatest joy in life.
In 1897 James and Mary moved to Salem, Oregon and a warmer climate, but after a year they moved to Sodaville, Oregon where Mitchell would become its town mayor. He also ran a general Mercantile business for twelve years and during this time became a Justice of the Peace.
President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Mitchell Postmaster of Sodaville and Mitchell also served on the town's board of Education and from his first days in Sodaville he became a member of the Modern Woodsmen of America.
By 1909 however, the family tired of Oregon and relocated to the warmer climate of San Diego where Mitchell sold real estate until 1917 and in that year he and his family moved to Huntington Beach to live.
All the while here he would continue to sell real estate and as time passed he became more interested in our city politics. He joined and was an active member in our chamber of commerce for many years.
Mitchell was active in helping get the coast highway completed and he was also very active in our local Baptist Church where he was made a trustee and also the church's treasurer.
But as the years passed illness followed and on August 23, 1931, just three days after fellow councilman, Orvil Harris died, James Mitchell passed away.
The flag at city hall flying for Harris was now flying for two of its respected councilmen. Several our our early residents would now be included in both of their services, for Huntington Beach was such a tightly joined family.