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Antioch’s leaders come and go
over the years, but one thing some of them leave
behind is their name on a city street.
The next time you drive along Belshaw, Worrel,
Stamm, James Donlon, Reimche, Beasley, Lipton,
Desry or Verne Roberts, doff your cap toward
City Hall, because those routes all are named
after former Antioch mayors.
Here’s more trivia: 37 people have served as
mayors of Antioch, six were elected to the
position, two were women and James Donlon served
the longest at 15 years.
You can find out more about these early leaders
in the Antioch Historical Society Museum. The
photographs and artifacts in its City Hall room
showcase 37 former mayors.
As a kickoff for this new display, five of the
seven living Antioch mayors – Louise Giersch,
Pete Lopez, Barney Parsons, Len Herendeen and
current Mayor Donald Freitas – posed for a
picture in the museum on Sunday. Former mayors
Joel Keller and Mary Rocha were unable to make
the shoot.
“To be among a distinguished group of
individuals that established the foundation that
Antioch built on is an honor,” said Freitas.
Pete Lopez, now 81, arrived in an Antioch with a
population of only 6,500. He served as mayor in
1967 and ’68. “Back then, I was working on
getting rapid transit here,” Lopez said. “It was
disappointing because they always treated the
East County as a bastard county.”
He added that the lower-cost eBART train,
planned to connect Bay Point BART to Hillcrest
Avenue, is just a bone the state gives out to a
“barking dog. I will die and not see rapid
transit come to this side of the county.”
In 1970 and ’71, Louise Giersch was Antioch’s
first woman mayor. She was then re-appointed in
1975 to serve out Fred Kline’s term. “I think my
biggest contribution then was getting a new
Antioch Bridge when CalTrans said it wouldn’t
happen,” said
Giersch. “We worked with the federal government
and got the funding.”
Giersch subsequently moved to Washington, D.C.
and then to Sacramento to set up a statewide
hazardous waste program, and was also on the
State Water Board for nine years. She now lives
in Sonora. “I just quit last year,” she said.
“Now I have more time to paint and do the things
I like.”
Giersch was on the City Council with Barney
Parsons, mayor from 1973 to ’74. Parsons’
council bought the Sears Center, now the Nick
Rodriguez (also an Antioch mayor) Community
Center. He also voted to establish the Antioch
Development Agency.
“I think Antioch needs slower growth today,”
said Parsons, who keeps busy with several
organizations.
Len Herendeen, now 78, served as mayor in 1994.
After spending 25 years with the Los Angeles
Sheriff’s Department, he moved to Antioch in
1979 to become police chief, serving in that
capacity until 1991. He is credited with
acquiring and modernizing the Antioch Police
Station. “There was already some growth then,”
said Herendeen. “But the freeways were not yet
crowded.”
He now spends his time playing golf, traveling
with his wife, Barbara, and visiting their kids,
grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
“(With regards to development) there has been
too much, too fast,” Herendeen said. “A lot of
the small stores might not make it out there
with the coming of the giant malls.”
According to Freitas, “The most important action
of my mayorship is to slow the rate of growth.
We have cut residential growth by 85 percent. We
are now focused on retail and development.”
Museum Director/Curator and former City
Councilwoman Elizabeth Rimbault knows a lot
about the history and people of Antioch.
“It feels good to say, ‘We’ve preserved
something,’” she said. “The Mayors’ City Hall
(room) is a tribute to them. I think it’s sad
when people leave politics; their works are
forgotten. History is important so we can learn
from our mistakes, to give people in the
community a sense of belonging and pride in the
community – so we can work to preserve it and
honor our beginnings amidst all these changes.”
You can experience City Hall at the Antioch
Historical Society Museum, 1500 W. Fourth
Street. The museum, which is open Wednesdays and
Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m., will be opening a
Sports Legend Hall in October.
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