Will Chavez
Cherokee Phoenix
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – The historic home of Cherokee humorist, actor and humanitarian Will Rogers burned to the ground as major fires swept through the Los Angeles area on Jan. 8.
The estate, now known as Will Rogers State Historic Park, is located in the Santa Monica Mountains in Los Angeles, in the Pacific Palisades area.
According to news reports, as of Wednesday, more than 1,000 structures have been destroyed by four separate California wildfires that broke out Tuesday in the Los Angeles area. Two people are dead.
“While the loss to the Will Rogers Ranch is devastating, it pales in comparison to the loss of the property and businesses, and more importantly, the lives of those in the surrounding area,” Jennifer Rogers-Etcheverry, great-granddaughter of Will Rogers, said. “The Rogers family is devastated by the loss of the California ranch and the overwhelming loss of the community. Our hearts go out to all those neighbors who have lost their homes. The community of Pacific Palisades has always been a generous supporter of the Will Rogers State Historic Park. It is the hidden gem of the Palisades.”
Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin said the loss of Will Rogers’ home is “certainly a tragedy.”
“The entire Cherokee Nation is sending our thoughts and prayers to great-granddaughter Jennifer Rogers-Etcheverry and family and all those that have committed over the years to preserving this history,” Hoskin said. “Will Rogers’ legacy and the more than 28,000 Cherokee Nation citizens who call California home, make the state a special place in the hearts and minds of the Cherokee people. In times of adversity, our core values are to hold each other sacred, and today we send that spirit of hope and light to all those displaced and affected by these fires.”
Rogers-Etcheverry’s great-grandmother, Betty Rogers, deeded the property to the state in 1944, the year she died, as a memorial to her husband. At the time of his death, the Rogers’ ranch consisted of a 31-room ranch house, a stable, corrals, riding ring, roping arena, polo field, golf course and hiking trails. The donation was made to create a living museum dedicated to Will Rogers.
“The Rogers family has always been actively involved and will continue to be involved as we recover from this disaster. State park officials are there right now assessing the situation,” Rogers-Etcheverry added.
State park employees spent time Jan. 7 getting artifacts out of the house, but the situation is still evolving, and the full extent of the damage won’t be known for a few days, Rogers-Etcheverry explained.
“We are deeply saddened to learn about the fire that destroyed Will Rogers State Historic Park, which includes Will Rogers’ former home and 186 acres of land. This tragedy resonates with the Oklahoma Historical Society because Rogers was born in Indian Territory in 1879, and the Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore is dedicated to honoring and preserving the legacy of ‘Oklahoma’s Favorite Son,’” said Trait Thompson, executive director of the Oklahoma Historical Society. “Rogers moved to California in 1919 and became Hollywood’s most popular and highest-paid actor in the 1930s. Our thoughts are with the Will Rogers State Historic Park staff.”
A private and public partnership between the Will Rogers Ranch Foundation, which Rogers-Etcheverry co-founded in 2008, and the state kept the 186-acre park operating.
As a fundraising measure, the Will Rogers Ranch Foundation established a gift shop in the historic garage next to the former Rogers home. The store included a variety of merchandise that highlighted the interests of Will Rogers. There was an area in the gift shop honoring his Cherokee ancestry and an aviation section because he was an early advocate of flight in the United States.
Following his death, Rogers was buried in Glendale, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. When the Will Rogers Memorial was established in 1939 in Claremore, Rogers’ body was exhumed and moved to a tomb at the memorial. There he rests today with his wife Betty and three of his four children – Mary, Jim and Fred, who died when he was two years old. Rogers-Etcheverry is the granddaughter of Jim.
Rogers is known as “Oklahoma’s Favorite Son,” and his legacy is also preserved at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore and Will Rogers Birthplace Ranch in Oologah.
