After arriving to the area, Dr. Lovern Lee Moore bought the quarter section that Moses Bush had settled on in 1869, which Bush received the “patent” on in 1874. This would be the North East quarter of Section number 10 in Township number 19 South, Range number 20 East from the Mount Diablo Base and Meridian containing 160 acres according to the deed. This quarter section became known as “Moore’s Addition” on the 1877 subdivision map.
Bush had paid $1.25 an acre, or $200, and Moore paid him $3,500 for it, anticipating the railroad and a new town. The deed was dated March 4, 1875. The official map was recorded by Tulare County on December 3, 1877, but by that time sales were already underway. Dr. Moore named the northern boundary street Bush and the eastern boundary street Lemoore avenue.
On July 10th , 1877 Albert Champion and Clarence Copeland bought property in blocks O and P in the southwest corner of Moore’s Addition. On August 13th the entire block of H south of what would become Larish Street, was sold to Henry Larish, a carpenter for $250. On the same day the sale of lots 19 and 20 in block 5, later to be known as Hamlet Street, for $50 to Eliza Hamlet was recorded. Along with Hamlet Street, the subdivision map of December 13, 1877 also listed named streets of Bush, Champion, Skaggs, Toomey and Larish. The image to the right is from the 1892 Historical Atlas of Tulare County.
Dr. Moore kept the north east corner at Bush and what is now Vine streets for his own home. He and Ellen lived there until his death in 1898. The house is believed to be situated where the Lemoore Elementary School playground is now located.
The North West quarter section of Section 11, to the east, is where Lemoore High School would be opened in 1924