Editing Bostonia, California (section)

==History==
===Agriculture===
Former [[State of Virginia|Virginia]] agriculturalist Eugene Halstead of San Diego planted a crop of [[tobacco]] in Bostonia in 1896 and said later that the tobacco was "superior in some respects to that of the Cuban plantations," one "serious drawback" to cultivation being the scarcity of rain in the area.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/380083487/?terms=Bostonia&match=1 ''Santa Barbara,'' quoted in "Tobacco," ''Los Angeles Times,'' April 23, 1899, image 61]</ref>

===Civic events===

In 1898, David G. Gordon was appointed postmaster in Bostonia to replace Joseph Donald, who had resigned.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/380641129/?terms=Bostonia&match=1 "Postmaster and Pensions," ''Los Angeles Times,'' September 24, 1898, image 3]</ref> C.O. Graves held the office in 1903.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/678233387/?terms=Bostonia&match=1 Marilyn Kimball, "'Unofficial Historian' Sparks Stories With Human Interest," ''The Life News,'' La Mesa, November 10, 1976, image 29]</ref> In 1914, William M. Wright was appointed postmaster to replace R.W. Foffland, who had resigned.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/380160196/?terms=Bostonia&match=1] "Postmaster at Bostonia," ''Los Angeles Times,'' January 26, 1914, image 66]</ref>

In 1928, Murray Wright was president of the Bostonia Chamber of Commerce.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/568089659/?terms=Bostonia&match=1 "Loyalty to Home Town Gave Escondido Benefit," ''Times-Advocate,'' Escondido, April 10, 1928, image 3]</ref>

In that same year, civic leaders in Bostonia planned to name a local observation as "Grape Day" which led some in neighboring Escondido to complain that their city already had an event under the same name. They were mollified when Bostonians said they would call their event "Home Products Day" instead.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/568088290/?terms=Bostonia&match=1 Percy Evans, editorial, ''Daily Times-Advocate,'' Escondido, February 22, 1928, image 2]</ref><ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/568089490/?terms=Bostonia&match=1 "Bostonia is O.K. on Grape Day," ''Times-Advocate,'' April 2, 1928, image 1]</ref>

===Crime===
"[[Arson|Firebugs]]" believed by Sheriff Conklin to have been members of the [[Industrial Workers of the World]], "German sympathizers" or "disgruntled employees," torched the Meridian School building, a large packing house and two stables of the Bostonia Fruit Growers and Packers Association on October 6, 1917. Waste soaked in oil or [[phosphorus]] was found in what remained of the buildings, which burned to the ground.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/609993976/?terms=Bostonia&match=1 "Firebugs Busy in Sou. California," ''Bakersfield (California) Morning Echo,'' October 7, 1917, image 5]</ref><ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/71711526/?terms=Bostonia&match=1 "Warned, Watch for Approach of I.W.W.'s Saturday," ''Santa Register Register,'' October 8, 1917, image 1]</ref><ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/622617733/?terms=Bostonia&match=1 "Statewide Conspiracy of Firebugs," ''The Pomona Progress,'' October 8, 1917, image 1]</ref><ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/457970254/?terms=Bostonia&match=1 "Four Packing Plants Fired Near San Diego," ''The San Francisco Examiner,'' October 8, 1917, image 2]</ref>

====Shoot-out====

[[Sheriff's deputies]] engaged in a short gun battle in Bostonia and captured a suicidal man who had threatened a bank in [[Lakeside, California]], with ten pounds of [[dynamite]] and fled with his loot.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/616769699/?terms=Bostonia&match=1 "Lone Bandit Had Dynamite Supply to Blow Up Bank," ''The Sacramento Bee,'' March 28, 1924, image 4]</ref><ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/689377134/?terms=Bostonia&match=1 "Tubercular Veteran Is Identified as Bank Bandit," ''The Modesto Evening News,'' March 28, 1924, image 13]</ref>

===Annexation===
In May 1953 residents of the southern portion of Bostonia approved annexation to the city of [[El Cajon, California]], by a vote of 315 to 271.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/385505177/?terms=Bostonia&match=1 "Annexation Favored," ''Los Angeles Times,'' May 28, 1953, image 44]</ref><ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/567752721/?terms=Bostonia&match=1 "South Bostonia Votes to Annex to El Cajon," ''Weekly Times-Advocate,'' Escondido, May 29, 1953, image 4]</ref>

===Swap meet===
In 1981 a group of Bostonia residents organized to complain about the disruption caused by historic El Cajon Swap Meet, reputedly the "granddaddy of all the nation's [[swap meets]]. They said the weekend operation had grown beyond the "small-time affair it once was," turning the usually quiet area into a "mob scene."<ref name=SwapMeet1>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/387307507/?terms=Bostonia%20swap%20meet&match=1 "Swap Meet in El Cajon Under Fire," ''Los Angeles Times,'' November 28, 1981, image 9]</ref>

===Fire district and fires===
A petition was submitted in 1977 by owners of 112 acres within the 480-acre Bostonia Fire Protection District to secede and join the [[Santee, California|Santee]] district. It was denied by the [[Local Agency Formation Commission]].<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/645206788/?terms=Bostonia&match=1 "Bradley to Stay in Bostonia," ''Life News,'' La Mesa, California, image 1]</ref>

In 1986, a fire in nearby [[El Cajon]] killed two and injured five residents at a home for the aged despite the fact that it broke out only a hundred yards from a station within the Bostonia Fire Protection District.<ref name=JurisdictionalIssue>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/401892566/?terms=Bostonia&match=1 H.G. Reza, "Jurisdictional Issue Raised in Fatal Fire in El Cajon," ''Los Angeles Times,'' February 8, 1986, image 27]</ref><ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/570347557/?terms=Bostonia&match=1 Associated Press, "Nearby Station No Help in Fatal Fire," ''Times-Advocate,'' Escondido, California, February 9, 1986, image 1]</ref>

The Bostonia firefighters were prevented from battling the blaze because the district had no mutual-aid agreement with El Cajon, whose firefighters arrived three minutes after the fire was reported. El Cajon Fire Chief Art Melbourne said that Bostonia firefighters did give help but declined to say exactly what it was.<ref name=JurisdictionalIssue/>

El Cajon Fire Chief Roger House said that Bostonia was not part of any agreement because it did not meet the requirements for belonging, including round-the-clock staffing and a certain kind of equipment.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/402031634/?terms=Bostonia&match=1 Carla Rivera, "Alarm: Switched-Off Horns May Be Linked to 3 Deaths in Blaze," ''Los Angeles Times,'' February 11, 1986, image 37]</ref>