PioneerDays

Mrs. Powers & Girls Photo
Mrs. Powers, Marganne, Lindsay, and Heather

After the Kumeyaay Indians, the pioneers were the next settlers to come to Poway. They farmed and raised cattle. A wonderful way that we learned about Poway's history was to interview Mrs. Delora Powers, a volunteer at our history museum. She told us what it was like to live in Poway when she was a little girl. She moved here with her family in 1924 when she was six years old. As a little girl she walked to school. It took her 45 minutes. A story that she told us was that there was a school bus that passed her house every day to pick up kids that lived farther down the road than her family! She thought it was funny because it never stopped to pick her up.

Kids back then made their own fun like playing at the creek. They also had lots of chores to do every day as soon as they got home from school. Mrs. Powers had a dog, a cow, and a horse for pets when she was little. The first sound she heard when she woke up in the morning was a rooster. Also, if you think that your family does not make a lot of money each day you are totally wrong. Mrs. Powers' father was paid $3.00 a day. Can you believe that? Mrs. Powers' family owned a Model T Ford which she drove down Poway Road when she was only 12 years old!

We learned that in Poway of long ago water was hard to find. Mrs. Powers remembers a man who bought five gallons of water just to take a bath. Mrs. Powers' home did not have any electricity or running water. They used kerosene lamps. Eventually they had electricity to one light bulb that hung down from the center of the ceiling. They had to go outside to pump their water ... when there was water. Heather Holding Milk Bottle

Mrs. Powers' husband owned a dairy farm in Poway. You can see a picture of her son feeding the cows on our Then and Now Pages. Here is a picture of Heather holding a milk bottle Mrs. Powers saved from the old dairy.

While doing research at the library, we found a cookbook with lots of recipes from Poway of long ago. Here is one that was from Mary Frank Van Dam, a teacher in the Poway schools.

German Coffee Cake
(Basic Sweet Dough)
By Mary Frank Van Dam

5-6 cups all-purpose flour ½ cup butter or margarine
2 pkgs. active dry yeast ½ cup sugar
1 ½ cups milk 1 ½ tsp. Salt
2 eggs

Combine 2 cups flour and yeast in large mixing bowl. In a 1-quart saucepan combine milk, butter, sugar and salt. Heat until warm (120 degrees). Add to flour and yeast. Add eggs and beat ½ minute at slow speed, then high speed about 3 minutes. Add 1 cup flour and beat 1 minute longer. Use enough of remaining flour for a soft dough. Knead 5-10 minutes until smooth. Place in greased bowl in warm place to rise until doubled (45-60 minutes). Dough is ready to be shaped into coffeecakes or cut for doughnuts.

Pat in pan for coffee cake and let rise again until light. Spread top with thick cream and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. (Raisins may be added to dough). Bake 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees.

For doughnuts pat dough out about ½ inch thick and cut with a doughnut or biscuit cutter. Let rise again until light. Make hole in center and fry in deep fat. When cool, roll in confectioner’s sugar.

Cinnamon rolls may be made from same basic dough.

Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Frank, brought Mary Frank (Mrs. Ed) Van Dam to Poway, in 1893. The family lived on a ranch in the western section of Poway Valley. Mary Frank became a teacher in the Poway Schools and in 1919 married Ed Van Dam, who later became Superintendent of County Roads. During W.W. II, Mrs. Van Dam returned to teaching and continued until 1954.

Both Mary and Ed Van Dam have given generously of their time and effort to the benefit of the community of Poway, and are active in the affairs of the Poway Historical and Memorial Society.

The land where our school is built was once part of a ranch. At the end of Garden Road was a huge orange orchard. Houses have been built at the end of Garden Road but some of the orange trees are still there today. Poway now has many more buildings, roads, and houses than long ago but there are still a lot of beautiful hills and fields. The creeks are full of water because of El Nino.

"I would have liked to live long ago in Poway so I could enjoy running barefoot everywhere, feeling the soft warm grass." .....Marganne

"I like the great schools that we have now and having lots of my friends close by.".... Lindsay

"Even though we are better off because we have better doctors and schools now, I would have liked to live in Poway long ago because there were not so many people living here and you were safer." ... Heather

We hope we have convinced you that Poway has a very exciting history and is a special town in which to grow up.

By Heather, Lindsay and Marganne