March 7, 1908
Above, an African American church is planted at 37th Street and Denker, The Times says. According to the church's website, Westminster Presbyterian was built at 35th Place and Denker. Below, The Times reports on Los Angeles County's plans for a network of roads. Unfortunately, we didn't run a map so it's difficult to determine the precise routes.
Notice the name of one landmark: "N-word Slough." Early news accounts say the slough, which was fed by overflow from the Los Angeles and San Gabriel rivers, covered 1,500 acres and was slightly south of Gardena. [Aha! Here's a map from 1920]. In 1941, The Times reported that a mile-square oil slick floating on the water in the slough caught fire at 190th Street and Figueroa. The term remained in use in The Times as late as 1949, although in later years it was replaced by "Dominguez Slough."
