San Bernardino County

The San Bernardino County office of what since had become one of the nation’s top three title insurance firms has a unique combination of beginnings at Santa Ana, California, in 1889 and, later, locally in 1948. Land Title Company of San Bernardino was incorporated on October 9, 1948, by two prominent area businessmen-Roy Chalmers, president of Arrowhead Title and Guarantee Company, and Walter Blount, owner of the Escrow Company. With 15 employees, the start-up venture began business in leased quarters at 369 Court Street, now in the mainstream of San Bernardino’s downtown financial district.

Nearly 60 years earlier, however, First American Title Insurance Company had been born in neighboring Orange County when two small, but historically significant, companies were created. Their merger, brought about in 1894 by C.F. Parker, would produce Orange County Title Company, true forerunner of the present-day, nationwide giant.

In 1958 what by then had become First American Title acquired controlling interest in the 10-year old Land Title Company of San Bernardino, and the name was officially changed two years later.

Before this change, the growing San Bernardino firm had moved a short distance from its original location to what was known as the old Montgomery Ward building near the intersection of Arrowhead and Court streets. This structure was leveled in 1965 to provide a parking lot adjoining First American Title’s current four-story, million-dollar center which was under construction at 323 Court Street across from the county courthouse, once the site of a Mormon council house.

Throughout the years, the firm’s principal objective has been to protect the ownership of real property against losses resulting from any defect in title. Microfilm, electronic indexing, computerized title plates, and all the latest technology are used to assure the accuracy of this process and replace the laborious task of manually searching files at the hall of records.

Among the seemingly countless local projects in which First American Title has been involved are several that serve to substantiate the company’s stature in the history of the area. Perhaps most noteworthy are Campus Crusade for Christ, which now occupies the famous, old Arrowhead Springs Hotel; Inland Center and Central City shopping malls; nearly all of the downtown redevelopment project; the new San Bernardino County super-block; the massive Rancho Mediterrania development of the Cooley Ranch property; and the Spring Valley Lake community in the high desert.

Commitment to the county has further been demonstrated by the opening of branch offices in Big Bear Lake, Rancho Cucamonga, Victorville, and Yucca Valley.

To quote the firm in 1965, “We’re proud of our pioneer past and the part we have played in the development of San Bernardino County. Our new home, located on land which has served as the center of county activity for more than a century, is a reflection of our faith in the community.”

Taken from Edited copy by Windsor Publications for the San Bernardino History Book.