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Early development

In 1867 two wealthy developers, Prudent Beaudry, a French-Canadian Immigrant, and Stephen Mott purchased land on the hill. Beaudry's land purchase ranged from present time Hill St. to Olive St. and 4th St. and 2nd St. Mott's land purchase ranged between 4th St. to Temple and Figueroa and Grand. It is reported, Beaudry bought the land for a total of $517. Beaudry employed surveyor George Hansom to help divide up the land into 80 plots to sell to individual buyers. He sold them for a $15 down payment. (LA Mag) As the streets and roads became paved and laid out, this made his plots more enticing and easier to advertise to potential buyers. Beaudry's started to build his house on the top of the hill, a modest two-story structure. He needed the infrastructure set up to reach the top of the hill, such as the water pipes. He asked the Los Angeles Water Company, to help build the water pipe up the hill. When they denied this plea, due to the nature of the hill and their initial concerns about the plan they denied his plea. As result, he built his own pipes and also formed the Canal and Reservoir Company (LAMag) As people came and settled onto the hill, they slowly created a very fashionable and exclusive community. The geography of the Hill allowed these residents escape the hustle and bustle of the city as it slowly grew around at the flatland at the bottom of the hill. Some notable residents during these times are:

• Prudent Beaudry - 13th Mayor of Los Angeles, developer of Bunker Hill
• L.J. Rose: Arrived from Iowa, due to the death of his son to serious bronchial trouble during a harsh winter. Wine maker and entrepreneur
• Dr. Edmund Hildreth: Retired Clergyman from Chicago
• D.F. Donigan: Self-made man. Own his own contracting business, which later was the contractor for the construction of the first railroad which led from Los Angeles to Pasadena. He became an indispensable adviser to Beaudry when it came to the beginning development of Bunker Hill in it's early development.
• Colonel Louis W. Bradbury and his wife - Made their fortune from a silver mine in Southern California. Original owner of the Bradbury Building in Downtown LA
• Judge Robert M. Widney - Founder of University of Southern California. Helped create the first transportation for the residents up the Hill, a horse drawn carriage.

The dominant architecture of the community of the houses of Bunker Hill was Queen Anne and Eastlake style. Eventually after the introduction of the horse carriage to the Bunker Hill neighborhood, the iconic Angel's Flight was proposed. Colonel J.W. Eddy petitioned the Los Angeles City Council to establish an electric cable railway, which was approved ten days later signed by the mayor at the time, Meredith P. Snyder. The first railways which was established and operational was on Third St, from Hill st. to Olive st.

"Blighted Community"

Around the 1920's and the 1930's, with the advent of the Pacific Electric Railway and the construction of the freeways, the city expanded westward into areas which are now known as Beverly Hills and Hollywood. The long time elite residents of Bunker Hill left the city for these areas, which they were able to seclude themselves even more from the growing city. These fleeing residents sold their mansions and extravagant homes to landowner, who then subdivided the homes into rooms to rent out for those drifters/transients who passed through the city. Slowly these tenements became more prominent, and apartment buildings started being built on along side these houses. As more and more people crowded into these cheap housing units, the population of the hill increased 19%. The increase was due to these new residents that landed on the lower income spectrum, which had moved into the existing living accommodations. As the once extravagant and elaborate Victorian buildings began to fade and deteriorate, the community then had an uptake of crime which led to the community being called blighted and the slums of downtown Los Angeles. Which gained it's notoriety in the genre of Film Noir.

Redevelopment

Around the mid-1900's, there were a couple of major political events which led to the "removal of the blight" and redevelopment of Bunker hill. The California Community Redevelopment Law of 1945, the Federal Housing Act of 1946 and 1949, the creation of the Community Redevelopment Agency in 1948, and also the Bunker Hill Urban Renewal Project in 1959. (KCET) The California Community Redevelopment law of 1945 allowed counties and cities to create and implement these agencies to help deal with the redevelopment of local cities. Until 2011, these Agencies held much power and were still around, until Governor Jerry Brown signed into law two bills to dissolve these agencies.

Along with those political factors, some of the factors which led to the conclusion of the blighted neighborhood came from some of the government offices. The LAPD called the area a "high frequency crime area", due to the fact that the area's apartments catered to known offenders. The Health department of Los Angeles also called the area a health hazard for it's city. It wasn't until the CRA had won an ongoing court case against the residents of Bunker Hill. This loss for the residents of Bunker Hill led to the displacement of many families and removal of many of the low income residents of the area. This victory for the CRA led to them being able to buy land to redevelop as they see fit. Within the plans for the redevelopment, there was a section for the rehabilitation of the buildings of Bunker Hill. The section was slated to preserve the historical buildings of Bunker Hill, but instead were demolished since there was no actual rehabilitation planned.

The development of Bunker Hill caused much controversy. The creation of the Public Works Administration and the 1949 U.S. Federal Housing Act helped quickly to clear and acquire the land on which "slum and blighted" areas of Downtown's Bunker Hill were situated on. The city cleared the land and sold this land to private and public (re)development according to the plan made by the CRA.