Crank House

Crank House, also known as Fair Oaks Ranch, is a National Register of Historic Places structure (site #97000751) in Altadena, California. The house sits on land once owned by Eliza Griffin Johnston, the widow of Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston. Following the death of her husband at the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862, Eliza and her children came to Southern California at the urging of her brother, Dr. John S. Griffin. Griffin had large ... more

Crank House, also known as Fair Oaks Ranch, is a National Register of Historic Places structure (site #97000751) in Altadena, California. The house sits on land once owned by Eliza Griffin Johnston, the widow of Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston. Following the death of her husband at the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862, Eliza and her children came to Southern California at the urging of her brother, Dr. John S. Griffin. Griffin had large land holdings in the Los Angeles area and was a business partner of Benjamin D. Wilson, a local land speculator and politician (Wilson is also the maternal grandfather of General George S. Patton). Griffin sold her the property for $1,000. Eliza named her ranch "Fair Oaks", after her native city in Virginia and also for the stands of coast live oaks in the area. When Eliza's son, Albert II, was killed in a steamship boiler explosion at Wilmington, California in 1864, she left California and returned to Virginia. The ranch was taken over by... less