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Historic Name

Charles Ruedy House

Address

511 E 9th Street
Upland, CA 91786

Evaluation

Building
5/4/2007

Construction Date

1911

Current Owner

Charles M. & Ethel E. Ashley

Current Owner Address

531 Lido place
Upland, CA 91786

Description

Set on a slightly elevated lot on the north side of Ninth Street near Fifth Avenue, this is a two-story Craftsman residence. The building is side-gabled with a large front-gabled dormer centered over the facade. Shaped beams and rafters detail the eaves while latticed vents occupy the peaks of the gable ends. The building is sheathed in clapboard and trimmed by endboards. A porch is recessed across the facade, originally wrapping the southwest corner; it is enclosed at the west end by a band of six-over-one double-hung sash. Beams with arched soffits span the openings. A similar beam links the cluster of four, two-above-one light, casement windows in the dormer. Tuscan columns set on a low, clapboarded porch wall define the space. The entry is offset to the west while a tripartite window overlooks the east section of the porch. All of the openings have label moldings. The house is raised six steps on a masonry foundation.

An imposing house due to its larger scale than most of its neighbors, this residence derives its significance from its association with Charles Ruedy. Ruedy became the assessed owner of the parcel in 1904. The house appears for the first time on the 1912 Sanborn and the 1912-13 directories located Ruedy on East B near Sixth. A notice in the Los Anaeles Builder and Contractor (11/30/11, p. 12) announced that Ruedy was building story and a half residence on West Ninth to cost $4000; it is likely that this is that house despite the mistaken location. Ruedy arrived in Upland in 1891, leaving a successful mercantile business in Illinois in order to seek a drier climate for his wife's health. Initially he entered the citrus industry purchasing two ten-acre groves. In 1894 he sold the groves and started a feed and fuel enterprise, which he ran until 1901.

In good condition, the house occupies a lot with an 87 foot frontage bordered by a low retaining wall and cypress trees. The house is largely intact and in good condition.

He helped to organize the North Ontario Packing Company, and served as a director of what became a large and thriving force on the industry. Other enterprises in which Ruedy engaged included the presidencies of the citizens Land and Water Company and the Magnolia Mutual Building and Loan Association, a directorship of the Citizens National Bank, and ownership of numerous commercial properties in downtown Upland, including the Ruedy Building, a roller skating rink and the packing house occupied by the G.A. Hancon Fruit Company. Ruedyls energies were also focused on the civic development of Upland: he was on the first Board of Trustees after incorporation of the city in 1906 and served as the first mayor from 1906 to 1908. In the 1922 volume History of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties (pp. 1134-36), Ruedy was described as "a real town builder, and has probably been responsible for as much constructive work in Upland as any other citizen."