Résumé

Landscape architect and engineer, Harries and Hall, Landscape Architects and Planners, Toronto, ON, Canada, 03/1917-09/1917. Just prior to 09/27/1917. Cornell had worked as a landscape architect and engineer for the landscape architectural and planning firm of William E. Harries and Alfred V. Hall, 71 Bay Street, Toronto, ON, Canada. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Registration State: California; Registration County: Los Angeles Source Information Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005, accessed 06/28/2024.) This firm, later known as Harries, Hall and Kruse, operated offices in Toronto and Buffalo, NY.

Service, US Army, World War I, 1918-1919. He enlisted on 03/29/1918 and was discharged on 05/01/1919.

Principal, Ralph D. Cornell, Landscape Architect, Los Angeles, CA. On 04/25/1942, Cornell's office was located at 3723 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives At St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; World War Ii Draft Cards (4th Registration) For the State of California; Record Group Title: Records of the Selective Service System; Record Group Number: 147, accessed 06/27/2024.)

Supervising Landscape Architect, Pomona College, Claremont, CA, 1919-c. 1959.

Supervising Landscape Architect, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 1937-1972.

Partner, Cornell, Bridgers and Troller, Landscape Architects, Los Angeles, CA, 1955-1969.

Partner, Cornell, Bridgers, Troller and Hazlett, Landscape Architects, Los Angeles, CA, 1969-1972.

Professional Activities

Member, American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA).

Professional Awards

Fellow, American Society of Landscape Architects (FASLA).

Archives

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), managed the Ralph D. Cornell Papers, a collection of 56 linear feet of drawings, photos and professional documents. (See Online Archive of California (OAC).org, "Ralph D. Cornell Papers, Collection Number: LSC.1411," accessed 06/27/2024.)

High School / College

Graduate, Holdrege High School, Holdrege, NE, c. 1904-1908.

Graduate, Long Beach High School, Long Beach, CA, c. 1909. The Long Beach school system did not accept all of Cornell's high school credits from Holdrege High School, so he had to take an extra year of classes in that city. (See University of California, Los Angeles Library.edu, "A TEI Project Interview of Ralph Cornell Tape #1, Side #1," interview recorded on 06/14/1967, accessed 06/28/2024.)

B.A., Pomona College, Claremont, CA, Fall 1909-1914.

Master of Landscape Architecture (M.L.A.), Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 1914-1917.

College Awards

Summa cum laude, Pomona College, Claremont, CA, 1914.

Phi Beta Kappa, Pomona College, Claremont, CA.

Scholarship, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 1914-1917

Relocation

Ralph Dalton Cornell was born in the Phelps County town of Holdrege, NE, on 01/11/1890, the son of Dalton and Maud Cornell. Located in south-central NE, Holdrege incorporated itself on 02/14/1884, and became capital of Phelps County the following year. Founded primarily by Swedish-American immigrants, it became a booming grain production center during the 19th and 20th centuries. The Cornells had lived in Holdrege since at least 1887, and continued to reside there in 1900, at which time Ralph’s father worked as a lumber dealer. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1900; Census Place: Holdrege, Phelps, Nebraska; Roll: 937; Page: 29; Enumeration District: 0151, accessed 06/28/2024.) During the winter of 1905, his parents took a trip to Southern CA, which apparently they liked a great deal. Three years later, in 08/1908, they left Holdrege for good town for Southern CA. Ralph had committed to attending the University of Nebraska, but changed his mind once he got to CA.

Cornell recalled his childhood during an interview in 1967. His recollections of life in Nebraska was lengthy but incisive, underscoring how closely Cornell had, as a child and adolescent. observed Nebraska's natural environment. His preferred mode of transportation was on horseback, a means of travel that further stimulated his observation of the terrain, flora and fauna: "I was born in the little town of Holdrege, Nebraska on January 11, 1890. This period perhaps was transitional from the pioneer background to the more modern and contemporary era into which we have grown and developed in the last seventy-seven years. I was born in an area in that part of the world, which was one vast prairie of short-grass country, so called because of the buffalo grass, which is a very low growing, highly nutritious forage for buffalo, cattle, and horses. The buffalo grass was still common with interspersed areas of bluestem, which is a native grass. There were buffalo wallows as part of the landscape. There still were a few bones and remains; buffalo fur coats and buffalo robes, lap robes for warmth in the open buggies that we drove, were still in use, indicating thereby the fact that we weren't too far behind the period when the buffalo was abundant. You could look as far as the eye could carry to the horizon line across these prairies. And at that time the roads did not follow the conventional section lines because the section lines hadn't been fenced. You'd start off across the country almost in any direction you wished to go. And time was more or less measured by how far a horse could go in a day, either as an animal to be ridden or as an animal to be driven. So I really grew up on a horse, and I rode my first horse at the age of five. I owned my first horse at the age of about ten. And when we finally left Nebraska for California, I had five horses, which I had to dispose of which were my personal property. I spent much of my time alone on horseback. And in that way I became familiar with the country. I enjoyed it, and I knew where the birds lived and where and how they nested. There were coyotes, prairie dogs, and prairie chickens abundantly and bobwhite quail. In the spring and the fall there would be migratory birds which would stop over during our cycles of wet years. We would have a drought period when the crops wouldn't mature. Everything would curl up, dry up, and blow away. The hot winds would blow sometimes for days on end, day and night. These hot winds would blow in from the south. Some years we'd have wet cycles. And what we'd call the lagoons would all fill up with water. The buffalo wallows would fill with water, and the migratory birds followed the water. Those would be the best years. Crops were fine and everybody prospered. Well, within my memory, the sod house was still a common feature in the landscape, houses built from the grass sod cut from the prairies, earthen floors, sod walls, and even sod roofs. The weeds and the flowers and the grass would grow on the roofs. They were nothing but dirt. Those were mostly built, I suppose, by immigrants, people who had come in. I'm not sure about the homesteading law, but it seems to me, as I remember it, that practically all the farms were based on an original homestead. And many of them in the area where I lived were held by immigrants; Scandinavians, for there were lots of Swedish people where I was raised. They were hardworking and thrifty; everything they had as a rule was a quarter-section of land, or it was based around that, so that those things which have now disappeared were cut into the background of my memory. I went to school, naturally, where I was and graduated from high school in Holdrege. The family came to California for the winter of 1905. That was our first experience in California. We returned to Nebraska, and then in 1908 we moved out here permanently. So the first eighteen years of my life were spent in this rural, agricultural, by modern standards, rather primitive environment, but a very wholesome one. We were very conscious in those days of the weather. Everybody had an eye to the sky looking for weather. And when a big dark black cloud rolled up in the northwest and moved in fast and ominously, then we knew something was coming. The cyclone cellar was almost a standard bit of equipment on the farms. The people could duck underground when the heavy winds hit. Weather was severe and sudden, as it is in that Mississippi Valley funnel between the tropics and the arctic areas. And when those two fronts met there were usually fireworks. Farmers would work hard all year to produce a crop of corn, wheat, oats, or what it might be, and have it wiped out in five minutes by a hailstorm, have it wiped out by heavy rains or heavy wind. The weather was vigorous; it was hot or it was cold. And we had blizzards, howling blizzards, and we had hot winds in the summer. It was a rugged climate." (See University of California, Los Angeles Library.edu, "A TEI Project Interview of Ralph Cornell Tape #1, Side #1," interview recorded on 06/14/1967, accessed 06/28/2024.)

By 1910, the Cornells had relocated to Long Beach, CA, where Dalton Cornell was the "promoter of a eucalyptus company", as per that year’s census. The household included Ralph, his parents, two sisters and 83-year-old, paternal grandmother, Frances Cornell (perhaps spelled "Francis," born c. 1827 in NY of Irish ancestry). They lived in a duplex at 436 West 4th Street in Long Beach. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1910; Census Place: Long Beach Ward 4, Los Angeles, California; Roll: T624_85; Page: 16b; Enumeration District: 0042; FHL microfilm: 1374098, accessed 06/28/2024) In 1914, Cornell had a permanent address of 1606 East Olean Avenue in Long Beach, CA. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957; Microfilm Serial or NAID: T715; RG Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; RG: 85, accessed 06/28/2024.)

During most of the 1910s, Cornell attended college in Claremont, CA, at Pomona College, and by 1916, at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, where he graduated in 1917.

After attending Harvard, Ralph returned to Southern CA, moving back in with his parents in 1917, who lived at 2139 1/2 West 16th Street in Los Angeles. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Registration State: California; Registration County: Los Angeles Source Information Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005, accessed 06/28/2024.) The 1920 US Census listed him as the only child living at home with Dalton and Maud, and indicated that he was working as a landscape architect. By this time, Dalton Cornell had become an automobile broker. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1920; Census Place: Los Angeles Assembly District 63, Los Angeles, California; Roll: T625_107; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 191, accessed 06/28/2024.)

Cornell and his wife Ruth rented a small dwelling at 1929 1/2 2nd Avenue in Los Angeles in 1930. They paid $43 per month in rent, on par with neighbors. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1930; Census Place: Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 0232; FHL microfilm: 2339877, accessed 06/28/2024.)

On 04/25/1942, Cornell and his wife lived at 1919 Taft Avenue in Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives At St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; World War Ii Draft Cards (4th Registration) For the State of California; Record Group Title: Records of the Selective Service System; Record Group Number: 147, accessed 06/27/2024.)

Parents

His father was Dalton Talbot Cornell (born c. 08/1857 in MI-d. 02/10/1925 in Los Angeles, CA), his mother Maud Augusta Phillips (born 11/10/1863 in Oswego, NY- d. 03/20/1945 in Los Angeles County, CA). Dalton was born in MI, but by 1860, his parents ran a farm in Nebraska City, NE. His parents, Edward Cornell (born c. 1827 in NY) and Francis (born c. 1828 in NY), owned about $775 worth of assets according to the census, quite a bit less than most of their neighbors. The town in Otoe County, NE, where Dalton's family lived was called "Syracuse, NE," in 1880, suggesting, perhaps, that it was founded by transplants from NY state, like his parents. Many of his neighbors in NE were also of Swedish descent. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives in Washington D.C.; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M653; Residence Date: 1860; Home in 1860: Otoe, Nebraska Territory; Roll: M653_665; Page: 365; Family History Library Film: 803665, accessed 06/28/2024 and Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1880; Census Place: Syracuse, Otoe, Nebraska; Roll: 753; Page: 386a; Enumeration District: 195, accessed 06/28/2024.)

Although his parents started out with modest means, Dalton Cornell earned a good deal of money while living in NE. In his 1967 interview, Cornell said this of his father's work: "Well, my father and mother had been out here [to CA] several winters, and they liked it. After all, the amenities were rather few, certainly weather wise, in Nebraska at that time. I think the family just liked California and wanted to come out. Father had prospered. He was in the lumber and coal business in Holdrege. He had lumber yards in three different towns, and he had some farms that he called ranches. He had accumulated enough which, in his opinion, justified a gamble and a break. We would visit these "ranches" once or twice a week, and I would go with my dad on many of the trips." (See University of California, Los Angeles Library.edu, "A TEI Project Interview of Ralph Cornell Tape #1, Side #1," interview recorded on 06/14/1967, accessed 06/28/2024.)

Maud's family traced its roots in the US before the Revolutionary War. According to the 1900 US Census, she had had four children, three of whom survived. They included Ruby Maud Cornell (born 01/01/1887 in NE-d. 08/17/1973 in Glendale, CA), Ralph and Vesta Maud Cornell Coke (born 03/28/1895 in NE-d. 03/02/1987 in Humboldt County, CA). (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1900; Census Place: Holdrege, Phelps, Nebraska; Roll: 937; Page: 29; Enumeration District: 0151, accessed 06/28/2024.)

Ruby Cornell wed Dr. Edward Elwood Brostrom (1884-1956) on 03/27/1912 in Long Beach, CA. Younger sister Vesta married Theodore H. Coke (1892-1937) in Orange County, CA, on 05/14/1917.

Spouse

He wed Ruth Iva Dyar (born 02/10/1890 in MN-d. 1962 in CA) on 09/17/1928 in Los Angeles County, CA. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation California Department of Public Health, courtesy of www.vitalsearch-worldwide.com. Digital Images, accessed 06/28/2024.)

Ruth's father, Louis Herbert Dyar (born 01/01/1862 in ME-d. 03/31/1907 in MN) married her mother Etta Vera Gerrish (born 09/08/1858 in MN-d. 02/06/1942 in Los Angeles County, CA) on 08/28/1883 in Winona County, MN. Ruth was the younger of two daughters had by Etta and Louis. At the end of her life, Etta, who was a widow, lived on her own in Los Angeles, near her daughter. (See Los Angeles, California, City Directory, 1941, p. 676.)

Ruth's younger sister Edna Gerrish Dyar (born 03/17/1887 in MN-d. 02/03/9167 in Phoenix, AZ) attended the University of Wisconsin, Madison (c. 1915) as an undergraduate, as well as Cornell University (1925-1927), and trained as both a nurse (in 1925, studying at the Kahler Hospitals' School of Nursing in Rochester, MN, the home of the Mayo Clinic) and a physician. (See Keiter Directory Company's Rochester, Minnesota, City Directory, 1925, p. 124.) She spent most of her career in RI and MD working as a psychiatrist. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: Bethesda, Montgomery, Maryland; Roll: 2547; Page: 6; Enumeration District: 16-43, accessed 06/28/2024.) Edna bequeathed some of her money to the University of Wisconsin's Chazen Museum of Art to set up a purchasing fund.

Biographical Notes

After graduating from Pomona College in 1914, Cornell took a trip, sailing aboard the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, Ltd.'s SS Panama traveling between Cristobal in the US Canal Zone and New York, NY, during the period 09/09/1914 and 09/15/1914. Cornell was likely on the SS Panama to get to Boston, to start at Harvard. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957; Microfilm Serial or NAID: T715; RG Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; RG: 85, accessed 06/28/2024.)

As per his World War II draft card, Cornell was Caucasian, with a light complexion, hazel eyes and gray hair, at age 52. He stood 6-fett tall, and weighed 160 pounds. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives At St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; World War Ii Draft Cards (4th Registration) For the State of California; Record Group Title: Records of the Selective Service System; Record Group Number: 147, accessed 06/27/2024.)

SSN: 558285408.