Belle Monti never quite made it

The first subdivision of Belmont was in 1864. It consisted of four blocks on each side of the railroad tracks. The town didn’t attract much attention to itself for many years. There was a suggestion in 1923 to extend the City and County of San Francisco down to the southern border of Belmont, but that idea didn’t get far. Then in 1925 some developers decided to make Belmont into a little Hillsborough.

Lee Monroe, Arthur Lyon and Lawrence Miller followed the Hillsborough example by making a Country Club into the central attraction to their residential subdivision. They formed the Belmont Country Club Properties, Inc. on the northwestern section of town. They hoped to attract upper-middle class people from San Francisco to their new Belle Monti. Nine more tracts were planned over the next two years.

William Dunn laid out a nine-hole golf course. There was to be a swimming "tank,” tennis courts, handball courts, a children’s wading pool and, of course, an elegant clubhouse. The $65,000 clubhouse was built on Alameda de las Pulgas between Arbor Avenue and Alden Street.

The promoters offered free bus rides and refreshments to their San Francisco clients. Ample supplies of beer were included on the picnic. Club memberships cost $100, and were included in the price of the lots.

The plan seemed successful, and hundreds of home sites were sold.

The street names for Belle Monti carried a hint of local history. Besides a street named for former owner Simon Mezes, it seemed all his family’s first names were also to be included. There were Monserat and Mezita and Carmelita. The Cipriani family is also recognized as well as Sharon, Newlands and Pullman. If Ralston had not already been used nearby, it would have been there, too. The three founders also immortalized themselves in the street names.

Unfortunately, the developers spent more money on promotion than they did on paving and utilities. Soon complaints began to come in. The plumbing was backing up. Then the paving and utilities companies put liens on the homes. The corporation opened the Country Club to the public in an effort to raise money. In an unfortunate lack of timing, the stock market crash of 1929 caused many members to drop out and move away. The corporation itself went bankrupt. Belle Monti residents were on their own.

The mortgage on the Club House went into foreclosure. There were rumors that the city might buy the house and pool to convert into a community center on the corner of Ralston and Alameda de las Pulgas. That didn’t happen. The building stood vacant until the Army took it over during World War II. After that there was a series of commercial occupants. The swimming pool was filled in for a parking lot. Finally, the Congregational Church purchased it in the 1950s.

The Hillcrest Golf Course lasted into the 30s before being subdivided. The area then catered especially to employees of the nearby California Sanatorium. There were apartment houses and a shopping area for the convenience of the residents. The post war housing boom finally completed the development of the property. Belle Monti became just a part of Belmont.

Rediscovering the Peninsula appears in the Monday edition of the Daily Journal. For more information on this or related topics, visit the San Mateo County History Museum, 2200 Broadway, Redwood City.