COMMUNITY PROFILE : Whittier

Statistics Population: 71,694

Area: 12.32 square miles

Incorporation: Feb. 25, 1898

Median household income: $25,464

Median home value: $86,183

Median age: 33.8 years

Racial/ethnic mix: white, 86.7%; black, 0.6% ;

other, 12.8%; Latino, 24.8%

City Services City Hall 945-8200

13230 E. Penn St.

Police (business) 945-8200

7315 S. Painter Ave.

Fire (business) 698-6009

7733 Greenleaf Ave.

Post Office 698-9921

8520 S. Michigan Ave.

Community Center 699-9122

7630 S. Washington Ave.

In Emergency, Dial 911 Government City Council: Gene H. Chandler (mayor),

Sabina Schwab (mayor pro tem), Myron Claxton,

Victor Lopez, Thomas Sawyer

City Manager: Thomas G. Mauk

Fire Chief: Morris Gregory

Police Chief: James Bale

Area Lawmakers Congress: David Dreier, Republican, 33rd District; 112 N. 2nd Ave., Covina, 91723; (818) 339-9078

State Assembly: Frank Hill, Republican, 52nd District; 15111 E. Whittier Blvd., No. 385, Whittier, 90603; 945-7681; Charles Calderon, Democrat, 59th District; 1712 W. Beverly Blvd., No. 202, Montebello, 90640; 721-2904

State Senate: Paul B. Carpenter, Democrat, 33rd District; 5400 Orange Ave., No. 203, Cypress, 90630; (714) 952-3201

County Supervisor: Peter F. Schabarum, 1st District; Hall of Administration, Room 856, Los Angeles 90012; 974-4111

FOCUS

Quaker Beginnings

In a city filled with history, the Bailey House stands as the sturdiest testament to this town’s Quaker heritage. Built in the 1870s, the simple, wood-frame ranch house and hundreds of acres around it was acquired for $69,850 in 1887 by a group of Quaker pioneers including Jonathan Bailey, the first to settle on the slopes of the Puente Hills. He helped found the city named for John Greenleaf Whittier, the most widely known Quaker of the day. The city incorporated in 1898, but residents still commemorate the day that Bailey and his wife moved into their five-room house as the beginning of Whittier. Next year is the 100th anniversary of Bailey’s arrival on May 11, 1887. The house, one of six city landmarks on the National Historic Register, was bought by the city in 1976 and restored by private citizens. Said city historian, Joe DaRold, of the house: “Few places evoke such memories.”