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This was the year that Charles (Karl) Wagner was born in Germany. At 37 years old, he married Catherine Betz - she was only 20 years old.

Among the twelve children born to this couple, child number eight was named Michael Wagner. He was born 1834 - and it is he that carried-on the Wagner legacy and brought us to America.

Michael Wagner, as a 13 year old boy and native of Germany, migrated from Luxembourg, thru Antwerp Belgium and traveled by ship to New York. At 50 years old, he packed up his family and found his way to Southern California.

Michael Wagner brought his family thru the Midwest to California, south of what was then known as the Los Angeles City limits - to an area that was but a little pueblo at the time. In a newly purchased horse and buggy and with sons John and Michael (Jr.) and daughter Anna, they toured the Southland. They decided their new home would be in the vast waste land of the Southwest.

Through the heat, dust and overgrown wild mustard weeds stretching for miles in every direction, the Wagner’s saw a future in which they started to carve out chunks of land. The first, was an 80 acre purchase paid with some cash, some gold, some barley and a bank loan.

Click on the Interactive Map to Zoom in on the actual land and how it looks today!

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Apparently, this was not enough, as he then purchased two 320 acre parcels (known as sections) of land (total of 640 acres) in the area now known as Manchester and Normandie Avenue.

Click on the Interactive Map to Zoom in on the actual land and how it looks today!

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Within a year, Michael and his son John had increased their holdings to 1300 acres (not all listed here) – then bound by Crenshaw Blvd and Vermont. Upon payment completion, he was to take possession on November 1st, 1892.

To put all the land purchases in perspective, here is a image of Southern Los Angeles and the respective land purchases made between Michael and his son John.

(1) Michael's first land purchase - 80 acres.
(2) Michael's second land purchase - 640 acres.
(3) John's Wedding Gift - 10 acres.
(4) John's first land purchase - 80 acres.
(5) John's second land purchase - 160 acres.

Los Angeles - Near the intersection of Interstate 110 and 105 .

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At that time, Western Avenue was nothing more than a cow path and it took an hour to ride into town by horse and buggy if the roads were good.

The landscape was spotted with orange orchards and much of the population in Los Angeles lived in temporary tents.

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It was also the time when Anna Herberger (future wife of John Wagner) arrived in the Southland on a train with her parents from Minnesota – a year important in local development through the extension of the Santa Fe Railroad to Los Angeles and the nationally publicized real estate boom.

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It was not long after - a courtship began between Anna Herberger and John Wagner during horse and buggy rides between the city and the country.

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John and Anna's Wedding Gift - Land!

When John married Anna Herberger, his father Michael gave them 80 acres near Crenshaw Boulevard and 10 acres at the Southeast corner of Western and Manchester.

All twelve of their children were born at the old home site on the original 10 acre property in the corner Manchester and Western.

Click on the Interactive Map to Zoom in on the actual land and how it looks today!

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John and family in front of their original home.

10 years later in 1910, the house appears to have had a second floor added!

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John's 1st Land Purchase!

Later John bought 160 more acres near Crenshaw and 80 acres at the northeast corner of Century Boulevard and Western Avenue.

Click on the Interactive Map to Zoom in on the actual land and how it looks today!

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The orignal Wagner Farm!

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John's 2nd Land Purchase!

LOOK CLOSELY - notice two images after selecting "take me there" icon.

1) The round image near the top left is the Los Angeles Forum - The Wagner land runs right thru the middle of it.

2) This is the very same land where the new stadium for the LA Rams is built!


Click on the Interactive Map to Zoom in on the actual land and how it looks today!

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John and Anna have their fourth child (out of 12) and name him Otto, who in time will marry Margaret Rupp and extend the roots of the Wagner family tree.

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Michael Wagner dies at the young age of 58 years old. He was truly an accomplished man and clearly had the foresight to recognize the potential in of land beyond the simple mustard weeds.

A few years later, John and Anna purchased another 320 acres which extended into the Crenshaw district. Hay and grain were the principal products grown.

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Toward World War I, they added lima beans too - whatever they grew, it was dry farmed - meaning they depended upon the rains for water.

Family lore has it that John purchased large portions of land in an area known today as Signal Hill (San Pedro). Turned out the soil was much too rocky to grow those dry farmed lima beans and so the land was sold. As luck would have it, wasn’t 30 years later in the early 1920’s vast oil fields were found lying dormant under the land - just waiting to be discovered!

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Knights of Columbus

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John and Anna started building what then was known as The Great Southwest – now included in the region called Los Angeles.

They aided in the building of the Knights of Columbus hall where John Wagner became known as the father of Manchester Heights Council, Third Degree, Knights of Columbus.

John Wagner, a Knight of the Third Degree, became known as the father of Manchester Heights Council. Knights of Columbus.

It said in the stone:
Built in 1927 Manchester Heights Knights of Columbus Council ?492

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Another large undertaking was the construction of a large 2-story brick building on South Vermont Ave – a general mercantile and the only place Southsiders could buy dry goods.

On the northwest corner of the Vermont and Manchester they then built a frame store that housed the Clark Drug store later replaced by a brick building.

The Wagner Post Office

They also owned and then donated the land and where the original Station H Post Office was built. Unfortunately years later it burned to the ground however, a bigger and much more modern Post Office was built a few blocks away. It exists today and is named the WAGNER BRANCH.

The story told is a fire broke out and burned it down and this resulted the building of the new and much larger Post Office (see link).

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Zoom-In and read the sign!

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Saint Michael's School.

As time passed, Anna mentioned one day to the Dominican Sisters “what a trial it was to get her half-dozen school-age children off on the long trip” (more than 3 miles - each way - by horse and buggy). Later as the area became further developed, they all took the Redondo train and walked the last mile to reach the school - St. Joseph’s. The two Sisters (Nuns) from St. Joseph’s proposed a solution. They would make the train ride if a school could be built near the Wagner farm.

John and Anna agreed that as the owners of the farm land in the area, they should arranged to build a school on their property (later they provided the land on which the St. Michael’s church was built).

Together John with his two brothers George and Michael Jr. along with their brother-in-law Michael Mertens - all farmers in the area - constructed the school. It was named St. Michael’s in honor of their father’s Patron Saint and in remembrance of their father, Michael Wagner.

The little wooden two room school house was the first in Southwest history. Forty three pupils turned out on the first day of school, Sept, 8, 1903. Eleven were Wagners, and four were Mertens.

The two Nuns kept riding the train until 1907, when the first Convent was built. Sometime after that, Sister Vibiana - the second daughter of John and Anna, became the principal of St. Michael’s School. In 1953 the school was renovated with a “modern” four-classroom addition to the existing two-room facility.

The little wooden school eventually gave way to a somewhat more pretentious one on the south side of Manchestor where the present rectory stands, and this was succeded in 1926 by the present building on 87th Street.

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Saint Michael's Church

After the building of St. Michael’s School, the community quickly recognized the need for Sunday Mass. Rev. Francis Conaty would come out from the Catherdral each Sunday to offer mass on one of the two class rooms.

It was just 5 years later - on the land donated by the Wagners, St. Michael’s Parish (Church) of Manchester Heights was established.

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Most of the 150 acres (and more) at Vermont and Manchester Ave were disposed-of and the land was subdivided. The land saw homes going up and business districts spring out of nowhere.

For many years, John and Anna Wagner dedicated their lives to the growth of the area and they worked to make the Southwest what it is today. Furthering the growth of the Vermont-Manchester (V-M) business district. It is people like them that have gone down in history as the builders of this great nation. John and Anna took their small corner of America and participated in molding and expanding it into a thriving city called Los Angeles.

The Home

When John Wagner and Anna Herberger married, his father Michael Wagner gave the young couple 80 acres of land near Crenshaw Boulevard - and an additional 10 acres at the Southeast corner of Western and Manchester.

Later in 1892, John bought 160 more acres near Crenshaw and 80 acres near the Northeast corner of Century Boulevard and Western Avenue.

Some years later, they sold the farm and bought built a luxery home at 1100 West Eighty-fifth street.

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$2,500,000

The acreage of land originally purchased by Michael Wagner (~1886) was valued at $2.5M. Can you imagine the value of that land today!

The Gas Station

The Wagner Bros (Otto and Joe) owned a gas station on the corner of Manchester and Western.  It was a first of its kind in that it had a hydraulic lift for working on the underside of the car.  The oil station was separate from the 4 gas pumps and a large tire and battery building.   They sold goods such as tires, batteries and other auto parts.  

I’m thinking, instead of Auto Parts, they should have called it:
“Otto’s Parts”     ; ^ )

Otto’s sons, Jack Sr. and Dick were not really interested in pumping gas  however, Otto would not let them off the hook!

There was an armed robbery at the gas station in the late 1920’s and Otto was grazed by a bullet in the back side.

Next door, there was a cafe and a real estate office and next to that was their house in which all the kids were born.

Margarrett and Otto Wagner (about 1950)

John Wagner, a man focused on the civic growth of Los Angeles, dies at age 72. He was an incredible man who learned from his father the value of giving-back in the form of a school, church and business.

As the years passed, John and Anna managed to raise twelve children. Their fourth child (and first born son) was named Otto Henry. He was tall, stern and steadfast in the old German ways. As time passed, Otto Henry met and married Margaret Rupp and within a few years they had their first born son named Jack Edward Wagner (Papa Jack).

World War II

WWII marked a time of change - and this was true for the Wagner family as well. Being a newly educated college graduate, Jack Edward Wagner (Papa Jack) enlisted and was quickly placed into a leadership position soon after boot camp. It this position he obtained the role of First Lieutenant. Having a degree in Civil Engineering, he spent significant time in a place called Truk Island in the Philippines, where he was tasked to build a hospital in preparation of the upcoming invasion of Japan.

Select his picture below to read stories about his time in the Philippines and see the historic photographs.

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Jack and Mary Wedding!

Jack Edward Wagner (Papa Jack) marries Mary Hoffman and together they raise and educate eight children. Seven boys and a girl!

Their eight children were named:

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As the lineage continues and the tree roots grow even deeper, I’m certain Michael Wagner would have been proud.

If you would like to learn more about Wagner history and the genealogy, be sure to explore the family tree - genealogy tree icon on the main page).

Not the end, only the next beginning . . .

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