Highlighting an Altadena Treasure

Highlighting an Altadena Treasure

Owen Brown came to Pasadena in the 1880’s for a reason. He settled with his brother Jason in the foothills above what is now the Meadows in Altadena — seeking a safe space.

By Michele Zack

After participating in, and being among a few fugitives of the failed raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia in October, 1859, Owen had been a man with a price on his head for over 20 years. His father led the raid and had been caught, tried, and hanged for treason; two of his brothers died there along with other comrades.

John Brown, the most famous abolitionist in the country, friend of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, had hoped to arm slaves with weapons liberated from the Armory, and to start a rebellion leading to their freedom. Many historians call it the first (though unofficial) battle of the Civil War, or at least the point after which the war became inevitable. Men marched to battle singing “John Brown’s body lies a mouldering in the grave, but his soul goes marching on!” His execution and Abraham Lincoln’s assassination bookend the war, and many considered both men to be martyrs.

Owen wanted peace and quiet and hoped to be left alone.

Owen (long beard, right) and Jason Brown.

Members of his family, including sister Ruth, her husband Henry Thompson, and his brother Jason, preceded him to Pasadena and assured him the new community fit the bill. It had been established post-Civil War by Union vets and sympathizers who tended to Protestantism and Temperance — two of Owen’s values.

Owen did find like-minded people in Pasadena, however they did not leave him alone. Instead, they threw a parade, wanting to honor him as a living symbol of the cause for which the recent War had been fought. The Civil War was the defining event in their lives, yet as newcomers to the West, far from the battlefields and monuments memorializing it, they saw him as a potent reminder of sacrifices made to move the country closer to its ideals. A steady trickle of pilgrims climbed into the foothills “to shake his hand” as he and Jason worked to create a monument to their father, John Brown the Liberator. When he died in 1889, half of Pasadena, over 2,000 people, attended his funeral, and he was buried in Altadena’s foothills above the end of today’s El Prieto Road, near his and Jason’s cabin.

Today, there are few monuments to the Civil War around here, or to the Abolitionist and Anti-Slavery Movements. Our committee and its predecessor have worked with local and County officials and the La Vina developer (who is funding this project in exchange for permission to build 18 new homes on 5 acres within its gates) to bring this story of national significance to local students. Helping us do this will be a film by the maker of “Can We All Get Along? — the re-segregation of John Muir High School,” Pablo Miralles. We have preserved the gravesite, and are within months of having it put in a land conservancy with County Landmark designation to protect it in perpetuity. Owen’s grave overlooks the La Vina development at the top of Lincoln Avenue. Take a hike up and visit!

Modern-day gravesite, with recently installed bench (Photo – Michele Zack)

We are working with PUSD to create curriculum for all grade levels, and with other partners such as Altadena Heritage and Mountain View Cemetery to bring Owen Brown and his story to the public. We seek more partners. If you or your group would like to help us in this healing work, contact me, Michele Zack, at my email: (Click here).

Michele Zack is chair of LA County Owen Brown Gravesite Committee.