Hesperia

Gary "Old Town Griz" Drylie

• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781439625170
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

Set at the top of the Cajon Pass in the High Desert of Southern California, Hesperia was built on the spirit and strength of character of American frontiersmen. From the time of the first documented travelers through the area in the late 1700s and continuing into the 1900s, the region has been a place of innovation and magnificent feats, where men have traveled through to new lands for a new start, striking it rich or making that big business deal in a new frontier. Named for Hesperus, the Greek god of the evening star in the West, Hesperia has proven to be a place of resilience and perseverance. The second largest land purchase in the western United States became the original Hesperia land holdings. In many areas, the people of Hesperia might be considered trendsetters, and Hesperia a land before its time.

Seven

THE NEW ERA

In the 1950s, a series of events jump-started Hesperia’s growth. F. X. McDonald remembers when he first saw the area in 1946 at the age of 17. His father brought him and his brother up to Hesperia to learn how to handle a shotgun and hunt rabbits. Little did he know that he would be involved in Hesperia’s new growth in the 1950s. Just a few years later, F. X. and his brother built a shack on the outskirts of Hesperia with spare lumber from a building their father had built in Los Angeles. The shack had no water or electricity. McDonald remembers cold nights around the campfire doing what he loved, singing folk songs with a group of friends.

When McDonald heard that M. Penn Phillips planned to start a large development in Hesperia, he took his real estate license in hand and headed for the sales office. Phillips’s purchase was said to be the second-largest land purchase in the western United States since the William Wrigley family had purchased Catalina Island.

The first day’s property sales were very slow. McDonald had an opportunity to appear on the Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts show, so he flew to New York. When asked where he was from, McDonald proudly told Godfrey and his 3 million viewers that he was from Hesperia, California—the “New Frontier,” where a major land boom was happening. McDonald won the contest and spent the following week in New York. When he returned to Hesperia, people were heading into town to look and buy property. His father, Dr. F. X. McDonald Sr., who had no musical talent, wrote the song, “Headin’ for Hesperia,” sung to the tune of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” M. Penn Phillips liked the song and asked F. X. Jr. to record it. Four thousand copies of the single were pressed, to be given to property buyers. Over the years, many have told McDonald that either his mentioning Hesperia as the “New Frontier” on Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts or hearing his recording of “Headin’ for Hesperia” had helped spark their interest in the town. And so began the new era.

F. X. McDonald, shown here in the early 1950s, says, “Today at the age of 81, I look up at the photograph of the shack on my bedroom wall before retiring, and I can go right back into the shack in my mind’s eye and remember everything—the bat-and-board walls with no insulation, the potbelly stove, the old carpet and furniture. It was like a shack in an old Roy Rogers Western movie.” (Courtesy FXM.)

This was the shack that F. X. and his brother Chad built about 1.5 miles east of old Route 66 and 2.5 miles south of Main Street. In some ways, F. X. says, he felt that he had nothing at that time, but he realizes now that he had everything. A peaceful home under the beautiful star-filled skies of Hesperia, the shack was burned down by high school students in the 1980s. (Courtesy FXM.)

Headin’ for Hesperia (lyrics by Dr. F. X. McDonald)

He was a huffin’ and puffin’, comin’ fast along the trail
With a snort’n sneeze, he cut the breeze, his shirt tail was a sail
As he passed me I asked him why, he hollered, “I can’t hear ya.”
But there’s not a doubt, I heard him shout, “I’m “Headin’ for Hesperia.”

(chorus) Headin’ for Hesperia, I’m gettin’ out of here
I’m leavin’ my gout and headin’ for California’s new frontier
Where there’s no smog, no smoke, no noise, and freedom from hysteria
I’m tellin’ ya Mac, I’m ballin’ the jack. I’m headin’ for Hesperia.

Out where common things are handy, sold in the general store
Calico eggs and candy, ...