Page "Piru, California" Paragraph 4

The town was founded in 1887 by David C. Cook, a wealthy publisher of Sunday School tracts and supplies from Elgin, Illinois, who bought the Rancho Temescal Mexican land grant from the sons of Ygnacio del Valle.

Wanting to establish a " Second Garden of Eden " in this part of the Santa Clara River Valley, Cook specified, tradition says, that the acreage be planted with fruits identified with the Biblical garden — apricots, dates, figs, grapes, olives and pomegranates.

That same year, he built his first home, a Colonial Revival structure, at the southwest corner of Main and Center Streets.