By Bill Pumford, Image from the ROWHS Collection
TITLE: ORIGINAL LAKE ARROWHEAD VILLAGE – 100TH ANNIVERSARY: In June of 1922 the original Lake Arrowhead Village was completed and ready for use. This week’s image is a 1923 photo of the early village. In 1921 a group of investors from Los Angeles that included Morgan Adams, A.L. Warmington, A.J. Salisbury Jr., and Harry Lee Martin purchased Little Bear Lake and adjoining property from the Arrowhead Reservoir and Power Company. One of the first things done by the new owners was to change the name of the lake and the local post office to Arrowhead Lake with the new company’s name being Arrowhead Lake Company, often shortened to Lake Company. The name change for the post office was rejected as potentially causing confusion with Arrowhead Springs, so the post office and lake became Lake Arrowhead. The Lake Company did not waste much time after the acquisition of the property, and within six months had begun the upgrading of the local infrastructure by tearing down some of the Little Bear Lake resort structures and building what became the original Lake Arrowhead Village. As an early newspaper article described, the development of the village took place first, forming a common congregational or community center around which homes would be built in the forest surrounding Lake Arrowhead. The village itself was designed in an early Norman English architectural style. Rains and snow during the winter of 1921 and 1922 slowed progress of the building of the original village; however, in April 1922 the construction feverishly began once again. Eight camps housing 600 men built structures and the rock retaining wall. Work on the pavilion was also started. There were also a number of resorts built around the village such as Camp Fleming, the Village Inn and Arlington Lodge. Part of the infrastructure changes included increasing the height of the dam and creating a road to Hesperia which became the 173.