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Welcome to Mount Lowe Preservation Society
Timeline for the Mount Lowe Incline Railway
1887 Thaddeus Lowe visits California to see about a possible relocation to Los Angeles
1887 Pasadena Railway Company formed by Andrew McNally, Col. G. G. Green and the Woodbury brothers, to bring tracks to Altadenas wealthy residents
1887 Engineer of the Mount Washington Cog Railway, John Horne, brought from New Hampshire to see about a railway to Mount Wilson
1888 Thaddeus Lowe moves to Southern California and forms Citizens Ice Company and the Pacific-Lowe Gas Company
1889 Engineer David Macpherson comes to Pasadena after having worked for the Santa Fe Railway. Begins a solitary look into the possibility of a railway into the mountains
1890 Citizens Bank of Los Angeles formed, Thaddeus Lowe, President
1890 David Macpherson takes a survey team into the mountains above Altadena to look for a route to Mount Wilson, funded in part by Pasadena banker Perry Green
1890 Thaddeus Lowe moves to Pasadena
1890 Perry Green introduces David Macpherson to Thaddeus Lowe
1890 Lowe buys the Pasadena Grand Opera House whose second floor will become drafting offices for the Mount Lowe Railway
1891 Pasadena and Mount Wilson Railway Company incorporated
1891 Mount Wilson terminus not agreeable with landowners and Echo Mountain becomes new focus
1891 Terminal Railroad Depot in Altadena, later known as Mountain Junction, becomes start of narrow gauge tracks to Rubio Canyon
Lowe travels to Pikes Peak, Colorado to view the cog railway and decides the railway back in California should be electrified
San Gabriel Timber Reserve formed, later to become Angeles National Forest
1892 tracks arrive at Rubio Canyon and Incline construction begins
1892 Lowe takes a group of interested patrons to Oak Mountain Peak, later to be renamed Mount Lowe
1892 Cable placed at the incline to aid construction
1893 Lowe offers $100,000. in bonds to ease construction costs
1893 Rubio Pavilion opens
1893 July 4th, Grand opening of the great incline railway and Echo Mountain House (later called the Chalet, after the newer, larger Echo Mountain House was completed
1893 City of Pasadena recognizes Thaddeus Lowe with a testimonial holiday
1893 George Wharton James becomes the Mount Lowe publicist
1894 the Mount Lowe Echo tourist paper is established
1894 the newer, larger, Echo Mountain House is under construction and then opens
1894 Mount Lowe Observatory constructed
1894 Worlds largest searchlight delivered to Echo Mountain from California Mid-Winter Exposition in San Francisco
1894 Sale of construction bonds for the railway reach nearly $400,000. in indebtedness
1894 Construction of the Alpine Division begins
1895 Thaddeus Lowe wins the Valley Hunt Clubs (Tournament of Roses) highest award for the best decorated carriage
1895 Construction bond sales slow and Lowe begins liquidating personal assets to continue construction during nationwide recession
1895 Lack of money brings Alpine Division construction to a halt at Crystal Springs, the new home of Alpine Tavern
1895 Alpine Tavern opens
1896 Thaddeus Lowe borrows money to meet bond interest payments on indebtedness of more than half a million dollars; this is after Lowe pays down the debt by more than $100,000. from proceeds of personal asset liquidation
1896 Mount Lowe Echo publishes its last issue
1896 Lowe turns over all personal real estate to help satisfy creditors
1896 Receivership granted to creditors
1897 Lowe loses control of railway
1897 Pasadena and Mount Lowe Railway incorporated
1898 Railway reconfigured in hands of receiver owners
1899 Suit for foreclosure filed and railway sold on steps of the Los Angeles Court House
1900 Echo Mountain House burns
1900 Astronomer Lewis Swift retires and Edgar Lucien Larkin takes over the Lowe Observatory
1901 Pasadena and Mount Lowe Railway sold to the Los Angeles Railway Company
1902 Los Angeles Railway Company conveyed to the Pacific Electric Railway Company
1903 Trackage into Rubio Canyon standardized
1903 Rubio Pavilion closed to public occupancy
1905 Fire consumes the Casino dance hall, the zoo, the power house and the Chalet
1905 Mr. and Mrs. T. S. C. Lowe celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary
1906 the new power house is erected and the Worlds Fair Searchlight located on top
1908 Mount Lowe Daily News born
1909 Rubio Pavilion destroyed and replaced by the no frills car barn
1910 Pacific Electric boasts 2,800 cars are running daily in Southern California
1911 Pacific Electric Railway sold to the Southern Pacific Railroad and all stock transferred
1911 Pacific Electric adopts the Safety, Comfort, Speed logo
Comfort, Safety, Speed logo adopted by Pacific Electric
1912 Mount Lowe incline cars Echo and Rubio replaced with enclosed top cab design and third car Alpine added
1912 Mrs. T. S. C. Lowe dies
1913 Thaddeus S. C. Lowe dies
1917 O.M.&M. Railway formed
1921 Advances in technology allow three Alpine Division cars to be operated at the same time
1924 Alpine Tavern renamed to Mount Lowe Tavern after extensive remodeling and room additions
1925 Ramada at Inspiration Point completed
1925 Photographer Charles Lawrence named head of Lowe Observatory
1925 Mount Lowe Tavern enlarged
1928 Lowe Observatory demolished by huge wind storm
1935 O.M.&M. Railway demise
1935 Macpherson Trestle burns
1936 Mount Lowe Tavern burns
1936 Passenger service limited to Hygiea, end of the double tracks in the Northern District
1937 Pacific Electric files for abandonment for all Trackage north of Lake and Mariposa Avenues in Altadena
1937 Railroad Boosters takes the last trip up the Mount Lowe Incline
1938 Massive flooding washes out many parts of the Alpine Division
1938 All passenger service ended past Lake and Mariposa Avenues
1940 Echo Mountain ablaze again as vandals burn the power house and Alpine Division Cars
1940 Mount Lowe Incline and Alpine Division disappear as scrappers pay $800.00 for salvage rights
1941 All rail removed into Rubio Canyon as route gets sold
1947 Mount Lowe Tavern, Echo Mountain and Rubio Canyon sold by Pacific Electric to the Angeles National Forest
1959 Mount Lowe Tavern dynamited by the U. S. Forest Service
1962 Power House on Echo Mountain dynamited by U. S. Forest Service
1963 Granite marker placed on Echo Mountain to memorialize the once famous Mount Lowe Incline Railway. Organizations involved were Pasadena Historical Society, Altadena Historical Society, Pasadena Pioneer Association and the U.S. Forest Service.
1964 Former Mount Lowe Incline Railway right-of-way into Rubio Canyon dedicated at MacPherson Parkway by the Pasadena Historical Society, Los Angeles County Supervisors, Pasadena Pioneer Association, Altadena Historical Society and the descendants of engineer David MacPherson.
1979 Altadena Substation #8 of the Pacific Electric Railway on north Lake Avenue placed on the National Register of Historic Places
1993 Mount Lowe Incline Railway placed on the National Register of Historic Places for the Centennial of the opening
1998 Rubio Canyon devastated by landslide from Rubio Canyon Land and Water Company construction work
2000 Mount Lowe Preservation Society formed to preserve remaining landmarks and artifacts of the works of Lowe and Macpherson
Last Updated Wednesday, May 25 2005 @ 10:45 PM PDT 
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