I was talking to a prominent realtor in town yesterday who mentioned that Anson Burlingame's grandson Anson III was here over the weekend to check on some property that the family still owns from the original land grant. The realtor said Anson III was quite surprised by a number of things in town since he had not been here before.
First, he was astounded that there was no statue of his grandfather Anson. He figured with all the wealth that has gravitated to Burlingame someone would have seen fit to put up a nice statue. He was pleased to see the Burlingame Ave. train station in such good shape and being used for such a good purpose as a historical museum.
Anson III was also dismayed to see that after all his grandfather had done to build relations with China, the only Chinese restaurant on the Avenue was Panda Express! He was hoping for something more upscale and refused to count Mingalaba or Narin--and rightfully so. He was pleased to see all of the fine homes that had been built on his family's rancho, but worried that they were slightly overgrown for the modest lot sizes that his grandfather had advocated as being the basis of a strong community. Other than those thoughts, Anson III was pleased with how the city looked and hopes to return soon.
He provided this photo of his grandfather in case anyone was interested in working on a statue in his honor.
HA! The statue isn't such a Foolish idea afterall!
Posted by: hillsider | April 01, 2013 at 06:31 PM
Maybe Anson III would consider funding the statue? I love my town, but would rather give my $$$ to our schools.
Posted by: Anne | April 01, 2013 at 08:39 PM
I hope this is an April Fool's joke ...
Posted by: HMB | April 01, 2013 at 09:42 PM
Ya think?
Posted by: local motion | April 01, 2013 at 10:51 PM
Let's just do a bust with those fabulous sideburns. We dont need the whole guy just his head and whiskers.
Posted by: fauxlishness | April 19, 2013 at 12:16 AM
+1
Posted by: cj | April 19, 2013 at 09:15 PM
That's one handsome dude. Is Rosalie still available?
Posted by: ROM | April 20, 2013 at 12:13 AM
Local guy Kent Lauder did a great write-up on Anson Burlingame and his slim connection to B'game in the Spring issue of the Historical Society newsletter. Check it out in your pile of mail and if you haven't joined yet, now is as good as ever to do so.
You can join here: http://burlingamehistory.org/
Posted by: Joe | May 05, 2013 at 02:56 PM