Heritage House

Griffith Compton brought thirty Methodist families down from Stockton in 1867, pledged to temperance, and they bought the northeast corner of the Domínguez rancho from Temple and Gibson at five dollars an acre. The settlement was Gibsonville, then Comptonville, then Compton. A.R. Loomis put up two rooms here in 1869 and later owners kept adding to them. The city bought the house in 1957 because a fire station was going where it stood, moved it off South Acacia Street, and opened it to the public the following April.

What the plaque says

The original house of two rooms was built in 1869 by A.R. Loomis. Other rooms were added by successive occupants. It was marked as the "Oldest House in Compton" in 1955; purchased by the city June 11, 1957; and removed from 209 South Acacia Street to its present site in that year. Restored, refurnished, and renamed by the citizens of Compton as a tribute to early settlers of the community, it was presented to the public April 14, 1958.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Domínguez Rancho Adobe — 1.8 mi
  The first Spanish land grant in California contained the whole harbor, and in 1846 fifty Californio lancers turned back three hundred Marines on it.
• The Banning Museum — 7.4 mi
  The man who made a harbor out of an open bay: freight, dredging, the first railroad in Southern California, and a cupola for watching ships.
• Drum Barracks — 7.7 mi
  The Union Army built its Southern California headquarters in a county that had voted against Lincoln two to one, and stabled the Army camels here.
• Puvungna — 9.5 mi
  The Acjachemen and Tongva place of creation: twenty-two acres of open ground on a university campus, still not in the hands of its people.

More markers nearby

• Domínguez Ranchhouse — 1.8 mi
• Site of the Initial United States Air Meet — 2.2 mi
• Watts Towers of Simon Rodia — 3.3 mi
• Hay Tree — 3.7 mi