Robert Newcombe

Montrose (Images of America) Robert Newcombe

On February 22, 1913, the Holmes-Walton real estate agency hosted a huge barbecue to promote its new community of Montrose. It had purchased 250 acres of mostly sage brush in the foothills north of Glendale and held a contest to name the development. Or was this contest just a stunt? No matter where the name Montrose came from, Holmes-Walton thoroughly embraced the mountain rose theme, laying out the streets in the fanciful pattern of a rose with the planned town center at the heart of the flower. The construction of the 210 freeway in the 1960s pruned off the top of the rose, but the remaining curved roads still confuse drivers today. Though the town center formed two blocks south of the intended location, Montrose has as much heart and remains as charming today as when it blossomed 100 years ago.