Family Dispute Mediator in Midway City, CA

Two miles directly to the east of Midway City was the now-defunct Town of Bolsa, which was established in 1870. Midway City’s northernmost boundary, Hazard Avenue, is named after the great grandparents of Clyde Hazard: early American pioneers Robert Samuel and Betsy Ann (née White) Hazard, who moved from Hitchcock County, Nebraska with their children to the Westminster district in August 1881 and subsequently purchased forty acres northwest of the Town of Bolsa on February 6, 1882. Ann was a direct descendant of the White family, who, in 1620, sailed from England to Plymouth, Massachusetts on the Mayflower. In 1891, Midway City received its post office from Bolsa. In 1915, one of the top United States poultry judges, W. M. Wise, moved from Michigan to perform breeding and service work for Pacific Southwest Poultry Farm in Midway City. Seven years later, Midway City began to take shape in 1922 when John H. Harper purchased 200 acres (0.81 km²) of land based on the location of a local stagecoach stop and needs of the workers in the Huntington Beach Oil Field located west of the stagecoach stop. Harper subsequently his land by laying out streets, building sidewalks, and, in 1923, started selling lots. As the Huntington Beach Oil Field expanded, the homes in that area that stood in the path of drawing oil from the ground were physically relocated to Harper’s lots in Midway City, which “started Midway City.” The area, which currently includes four unincorporated, “anemic” sections as a result of annexation for the Westminster business district, is known as Midway City; the largest section looks like a crooked letter “P”. Midway City is six miles from Santa Ana, six miles from Huntington Beach, and seven miles from Long Beach, giving rise to the Midway City name. Harper Street, which vertically bisects the largest of the four Midway City sections, is named after John Harper.

The four sections that make up unincorporated Midway City.

Prior to 1927, Zenith Corporation manufactured farm implements in Midway City. After learning of American aviator Charles Lindbergh’s famed May 20-21, 1927 first solo transatlantic flight via non-stop fixed-wing aircraft flight between America and mainland Europe, Zenith Corporation owners Charles Rocheville and Albin Peterson formed the Zenith Aircraft Corporation. Three months later, by August 1927, Zenith Aircraft Corporation built a huge, lightweight tri-motor aircraft named Schofield Albatross in a hangar/factory at Midway City Airport. To make its maiden flight some time in the fall of 1927, the Albatross, identified as Zenith Albatross Z-12, had an externally braced wing spanning 90-ft and a fuselage designed to carry 14 passengers and baggage at a maximum speed of 100-mph. With no market for the then-largest aircraft in the world, the Zenith Albatross Z-12 eventually was sold to Hollywood and used to represent a crashed Fokker in the 1928 film Conquest directed by filmmaker Roy Del Ruth. Zenith manufactured a second airplane, the Zenith Albatross Z-6, before the 1930s Great Depression affected the corporation and Zenith went back to manufacturing farm equipment in 1932.

1928 view of the Zenith Albatross Z-12 with people lined up below the aircraft’s wings

In 1928, American aviator Charles Lindbergh and some investors stopped off at Eddie Martin Airport looking for another airfield field in what was to become Midway City to see Zenith’s Albatross. That same year, the politically powerful Ladies Social and Civic Club of Midway City built a community clubhouse at the corner of Bolsa Avenue and Monroe Street from land donated by Harper that the Chamber of Commerce and other organizations subsequently used. The proactive women’s group, which originally met at John Harper’s house and included Harper’s wife, also worked to keep out roadhouses and landfills from the Midway City lands. The next year, 1929, the Methodist Episcopal Church’s Latin American Mission outreach began holding services and marriage ceremonies in Midway City for Mexican field workers who had come to the area after the end of the Mexican Revolution. In 1932, the Ladies Social and Civic Club of Midway City renamed itself as the Midway City Women’s Club. The Long Beach earthquake of March 10, 1933 had such a significant impact on Midway City that it still was a topic of interest for the residents in August 1933. Three years after renaming itself, in 1935, the club established a Midway City branch of the Orange County Public Library and joined the General Federation of Women’s Clubs. The clubhouse for the Midway City Women’s Club eventually was moved in 1989 to Leaora L. Blakey Park at 8612 Westminster Boulevard.

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