Broadmoor Village

Dave Crimmen

• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781439625132
• Topic: Storia
• Subtopic: Storia nordamericana

Broadmoor Village, the little community that embodies the American ethic of independence, survives despite neighboring annexations, budget crises, and even Mother Nature. This subdivision was built in San Mateo County by the Stoneson Company just after World War II, targeting returning veterans and their families. Established before Henry Doelger made neighboring Westlake, Westmoor, St. Francis, and other communities since annexed by Daly City, Broadmoor has repeatedly chosen to stay unincorporated and independent. This attitude has shaped Broadmoor through the years to assert its autonomous stature while surrounded by larger cities.

Five

“UNINCORPORATED COLMA”

In 1941, the U.S. Postal Department informed Lawndale to change its name because there was another Lawndale in Southern California. The northern Lawndale then changed its name to Colma, and now there are two Colmas: the incorporated town and the other area being unincorporated. As irony would have it, the Lawndale in Southern California did not incorporate until 1959. (Courtesy Chief Love, Broadmoor Police Department.)

The trolley car or streetcar on the previous page was part of the San Francisco Municipal Railway and operated in San Mateo County from 1903 to 1949. It ran through Daly City and Colma down Mission Street. Here is Mission Street in 2010, close to where the picture on the previous page was taken. This portion of Mission Street is still Unincorporated Colma.

Here is evidence of the tracks once used by the streetcars. Daly City and Colma have done their best to wipe out this memory with street improvements. These tracks can be found on Mission Street, south of San Pedro Avenue, at the Daly City welcome sign, and north of A Street at the Colma welcome sign. In other words, these tracks in 2010 are in Unincorporated Colma.

Here is a local newspaper from the early 1950s that was distributed to many of the unincorporated communities. Listed at the top are Broadmoor Village, Winston Manor (which eventually was annexed by the city of South San Francisco), Garden Village, and Sterling Park. Broadmoor got the headlines in local newspapers, even though all of these communities will be mentioned as separate well into the 1980s. (Courtesy Colma Historical Association.)

This 1947 aerial photograph shows Broadmoor Village still being built. Junipero Serra Boulevard and the farms of Unincorporated Colma are east, at the top of the picture with Alemany Boulevard running down the left side of the photograph. To the north, west, and south of Broadmoor is only farmland that land developers and Daly City wanted to get at. (Courtesy HJW Geospatial Inc. and Pacific Aerial Surveys. Oakland, California.)

Here is an article from the Viewpoint, a local newspaper, that reports on January 8, 1953, that there are plans by, not Daly City, but San Francisco to annex Broadmoor Village. This kind of subject matter can be found in newspaper articles with an even earlier date than the one posted here. (Courtesy Colma Historical Association; 55/10,046)

The entire area described in this letter to the San Francisco Examiner was indeed at one time part of San Francisco. This letter was printed in 1953; perhaps the writer of the letter was unaware of the separation 100 years prior to his suggestion. (Courtesy San Francisco Public Library.)

This map from 1949 has been slightly modified to prove a point. In 1947, the shaded area in the upper right corner is Daly City. The shaded area in the lower right is Incorporated Colma. The white in between is Unincorporated Colma; the white area to the left is also Unincorporated Colma including Broadmoor Village. (Courtesy San Francisco Public Library.)

This aerial photograph, taken on April 20, 1962, shows Daly City almost completely surrounding Broadmoor Village. Even the Lake Merced Country Club will eventually be annexed in October 1976. In all, there were some 52 annexations of Unincorporated Colma and Broadmoor Village by Daly City. (Courtesy HJW Geospatial Inc. and Pacific Aerial Surveys. Oakland, California.)

This is Junipero Serra Boulevard facing north in the early 1950s. On the left (west) side is, at this time, Unincorporated Colma. The house on the left belongs to Marie and Mario Feno on the co...