Wilson Island Stories of the Early 1900s The Deacon/Eilert Home at 660 E. Carmen Avenue

operation was absorbed by another local Early 1900s Fresno brewer concern. and state activist

Long-time residents of the Wilson Island Historic District have passed down a legend that long ago Mafia bootlegging was associated with the home of William J. Eilert. The house was indeed a trend setter as the home of one of Fresno’s well-known 660 E. Carmen Avenue capitalists, sportsmen, and industry leaders of the early 1900s whose specialty was brewing Perhaps in anticipation of retirement, Eilert beer. Many of the homes in this unique purchased the house in 1924, in a neighborhood have interesting pasts, but the neighborhood designed to attract Fresno’s rumor associated with this one is elite. He enlarged and fortified the basement questionable. the following year, contributing to rumors that illegal beverages were stored there. This William J. Eilert, born July 23, 1870 in would not have been out of character for Wisconsin, owned and operated the Fresno Fresno which was generally suspected of Brewing Company, founded by him and his being a hub for illegal bootlegging. father in 1900 at the foot of M Street. The Later, Eilert added a boat house in back. As only plant of its kind in the Central Valley, it a member of the Fresno Motor Boat was located at the confluence of several Association, he was an avid racing enthusiast. railroad lines which facilitated receiving grain His obituary in The Fresno Bee (8/24/34) and shipping products. reported that “He devoted himself to outdoor sports, especially golf, hunting, and fishing. He was interested in trap shooting and was one of the top notchers. He was also an expert rifle and pistol shot and a member of the old Raisin City Gun Club… He played a first rate game of billiards and took a keen interest in horse racing and baseball.” In addition to his primary residence on Carmen, he owned summer homes at Huntington and Bass Lakes. He was also a member of the Fresno Lodge Fresno Brewing Company of Elks (#439), the University-Sequoia Club, and the Shaver Lake Fishing Club. Other After the death of his father in 1902 he members of his social circle who had continued operations until Prohibition began purchased homes in this up-and-coming in 1920. In 1918, in anticipation of the new neighborhood undoubtedly influenced law, the plant was converted to produce soft Eilert’s decision to locate there. drinks and renamed Eilert Products. He later Around the corner, on Echo Avenue, was the organized an auxiliary business, the Sierra Ice new home of the widow of Charles B. Shaver, Cream Company. Prior to his retirement in an influential lumberman, who lent his name 1928, he sold the Eilert Products Company to to Shaver Lake where Eilert fished. Next door Los Angeles interests, and the ice cream to him to the west was W. O. Blasingame, a

1

Wilson Island Stories of the Early 1900s The Deacon/Eilert Home at 660 E. Carmen Avenue fellow member of the Pacific Southwest Bank firm designed and built that bank building Executive Board. was Richard Felchlin who moved into his new Prior to 1919 Eilert arranged to have the home right across the street at 665 E. Carmen house built by Roual O. Deacon, a lumberman Avenue in 1935. from Lemoore and President of the nearby was perhaps best known as a Deacon Lumber Company. Deacon had pitcher for the Cubs. Born and raised acquired the large lot from the developer of in Visalia, Overall was their winning pitcher the Wilson’s North Fresno Tract, Rosanna in the final game of the 1908 , Cooper Wilson. She included the following the last time the Cubs were in a World Series conditions in the deed: “… no dwelling house until their recent 2016 victory. He was also a shall be built on said property at a cost of less good friend and golfing partner of Archie than $20,000, and [Deacon] further agrees not MacAlpine who lived next door to the west. to build any part of said dwelling house within Archie was the manager of the Fresno 25 feet of the front line of said property, and Brewing Company after Prohibition ended agrees not to build a garage within 75 feet of and the brewery on M street once again the front line of said property.” And finally, produced beer. Deacon had to agree “… not to sell or lease said property, or any part thereof, nor to convey by deed or otherwise, any portion of said property excepting to persons belonging to the Caucasian race; and agree not to lease, sell or convey, or otherwise dispose of the whole or any portion of said property to any person born in the Turkish Empire, nor to any lineal descendant of such person or persons, nor shall any person or persons other than those of the Caucasian race be permitted to occupy said property.” It was a restrictive covenant common in that era that fortunately no longer exists. Deacon sold the finished house to Eilert and his wife Mae in 1924 for about $23,000. The sale was front page news, reported to be Orval Overall, circa 1910 , December 14 “one of the biggest sales of residential property Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, in Fresno that year.” Local realtors LC-DIG-ppmsca-13526 considered it an indication that Fresno was (digital file from original print) coming out of the agricultural depression and Paul Thompson, photographer “back into her own.” Today, both Eilert’s house on E. Carmen Avenue and his brewery Stories of the home’s connection to Mafia are registered historic buildings in Fresno. bootleggers were fueled by Mae Eilert’s sale Eilert lived in the house for about ten more of the home to Lou Segal in 1945. Though years. He died there on August 23, 1934 pronounced the same as the name of the after being wounded while hunting doves. notorious bootlegger and alleged murderer, Following his death, Mae continued to live in Bugsy Siegel, Bugsy didn’t have a brother the house for another decade, taking in named Lou, despite statements to the occasional guests. In 1935, then Vice contrary in subsequent sales brochures. The President and Manager of Fresno’s Security- Segals sold the home the year after Bugsy was First National Bank, Orval Overall, and his murdered in Beverly Hills. wife Ethel were her guests for a while. Nonetheless, some of the facts led curious Interestingly, the architect/engineer whose minds to speculate that 660 E. Carmen might

2

Wilson Island Stories of the Early 1900s The Deacon/Eilert Home at 660 E. Carmen Avenue have a kinship with Mafia. Bugsy was sent to Los Angeles to expand bootlegging. Eilert owned a brewery when Prohibition went into effect, and sold it to a Los Angeles based company around that time. Eilert was arrested on felony charges in 1909 (but later acquitted), along with the largest liquor dealer in San Francisco, for illegally registering voters to defeat an ordinance to close saloons. He was very active as a Director in California’s Brewers’ Association, addressing “wet and dry temperance” issues across the state well before Prohibition. He expanded and fortified the basement of his new home for storage during Prohibition. Fresno was known for violations of the liquor laws and was a suspected hub of bootlegging activity. Urban myth? In any case, this son of a German immigrant beer brewer, who first settled in Wisconsin before moving to Fresno, had an impact on statewide legislation regarding fermented brews from about 1910 until his death twenty-four years later. At least one of his neighbors in the Wilson Island was also a business colleague. Collectively, their Orval Overall presence reflected the goal of the developer, Rosanna Cooper Wilson, to create a neighborhood that would attract Fresno’s ______wealthy people of influence in Fresno in the Sources include the original deed, Sanborn maps, early 1900s. public records, newspaper articles of the period, and the National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form at: https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/4d9a4110- 5a0f-40ab-90a5-06befb37c5d6

Prepared by Jeannine Raymond, Ph.D. Updated April 2019

3