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John Steven McGroarty
McGroartyc. 1930
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia's11th district
In office January 3, 1935 – January 3, 1939
Preceded by	William E. Evans
Succeeded by	John Carl Hinshaw
Personal details
Born	August 20, 1862 Luzerne County, Pennsylvania
Died	August 7, 1944(1944-08-07) (aged 81) Los Angeles, California
Political party	Democratic
Profession	Politician, Journalist, Author, Poet

John Steven McGroarty (August 20, 1862 – August 7, 1944) was a poet,Los Angeles Times columnist, and author who also served two terms as aDemocraticCongressman from California from 1935 to 1939.

Born at Buck Mountain, inFoster Township,Luzerne County, Pennsylvania (nearWilkes-Barre), McGroarty was the youngest of 12 children. He was educated at public schools and Harry Hillman Academy in Wilkes-Barre, and was employed as treasurer of Luzerne County from 1890 to 1893. He later studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1894. He practiced in Wilkes-Barre.

McGroarty moved toMontana and held an executive position with the Anaconda Copper Mining Company at Butte and Anaconda from 1896 to 1901. Afterward, he moved toLos Angeles, California in 1901 and worked as a journalist. In 1909, McGroarty edited aLos Angeles Times centenary edition of Lincoln's birth with an introspective on black people in Los Angeles. He became a "beloved figure in black Los Angeles" for his broad-minded views.^[1]

McGroarty authored numerous books and dramas, one of his best-known works beingThe Mission Play (1911), a three-hour pageant describing theCalifornia Missions from their founding in 1769 through secularization in 1834, ending with their "final ruin" in 1847. The play opened on April 29, 1912. McGroarty also pennedCalifornia: Its History and Romance in 1911 andMission Memories in 1929. In his book theCalifornia Plutarch, 1935, he detailed the lives and histories of Northern and Southern California's early pioneers such as the Crocker, Carrillo, Van Nuys, Stanford, Avila, Estrada, Sepulveda, Baldwin and Mulholland families. Besides, he was also the long-time editor ofWest Coast Magazine.^[2]

McGroarty was designatedpoet laureate of California by the state legislature in 1933. He served in the74th Congress from January 3, 1935, to January 3, 1937, where he played a significant role in introducing theTownsend Bill to the legislature. McGroarty was reelected to the75th Congress from January 3, 1937, to January 3, 1939. In 1937, he introduced a successful bill that enabled the federal government to purchase a large timber holding from theYosemite Lumber Company, bringing the land within the boundaries ofYosemite National Park.^[3]

In1938 McGroarty left his seat to run forCalifornia Secretary of State; he was defeated in the Democratic primary by incumbent RepublicanFrank C. Jordan. After his brief stint in politics, McGroarty resumed the profession of journalism inTujunga, California. McGroarty died in St. Vincent's Hospital inLos Angeles, California on August 7, 1944, at the age of 81, and was interred atCalvary Cemetery.

He lived in Tujunga, California, in a house known as Chupa Rosa, that he built himself and completed in 1923 in what was at the time the unincorporated community of Sunland. It became a part of the City of Los Angeles in 1932.^[4][5][6] The building, located at 7570 McGroarty Terrace, is now Historic Cultural Monument No. 63 of the City of Los Angeles and is known as the McGroarty Arts Center.

• "The plays could be made most touching and instructive at the same time, without connecting the Fathers in anunholy way with everlasting, silly femininity, as some would-be poets have done with no foundation in fact, but merely as a manifestation of their own unclean dreams, Godspeed to your work in that line."
  — FatherZephyrin Engelhardt to John S. McGroarty regarding his work onThe Mission Play, 1910.^[10]
• "The story of Junipero Serra and the Missions for dramatic purposes has been lying around since 1833, at least, for anybody to grab. But no one grabbed it until I did so in 1912. Now it is mine."
  — John McGroarty toCharles F. Lummis regardingThe Mission Play, 1916.^[10]
• "Both as Business and Art, it is intolerable to have in your beautiful pageant some of the frightful anachronisms now there. The Babbits don’t realize them; but every once in a great while someone will go to see the Mission Play who will know that Father Serra didn’t teach the California Indians to weave dam [sic] bad Navajo blankets!"
  — Charles F. Lummis to John McGroarty regardingThe Mission Play, 1926.^[10]
• "One of the countless drawbacks of being in Congress is that I am compelled to receive impertinent letters from a jackass like you in which you say I promised to have the Sierra Madre mountains reforested and I have been in Congress two months and haven't done it. Will you please take two running jumps and go to hell."
  — Letter from John McGroarty to a constituent in 1934. Quoted by President John F. Kennedy inProfiles in Courage, 1956.^[11]

• United States congressional delegations from California
• M.V. Hartranft, speaker at the dedication of Mount McGroarty

Wikimedia Commons has media related toJohn Steven McGroarty.

• John Steven McGroarty: A Biographical Sketch
• The Mission Play
• McGroarty Arts Center
• United States Congress."McGROARTY, John Steven (id: M000462)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. (U.S. Congress)
• Works by or about John S. McGroarty at theInternet Archive

• 1862 births
• 1944 deaths
• Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from California
• Poets laureate of California
• Poets from California
• People from Sunland-Tujunga, Los Angeles
• Los Angeles Times people
• 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives

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