owensmouth, california was a town founded in 1912 in the western part of the san fernando valley. owensmouth joined the city of los angeles in 1917, and was renamed canoga park on march 1, 1931. owensmouth was named for the 1913 owens river aqueduct's terminus in current canoga park. the town was started by the los angeles suburban homes company as part of an extraordinary real estate development in southern california. los angeles suburban homes company was owned by a syndicate of rich los angeles investors, developers, and speculators: including harrison gray otis, harry chandler, moses sherman, hobart johnstone whitley, and others. on april 2, 1915 h. j. whitley purchased the suburban home company so that he would have complete control for finishing the development. it anticipated possible connections to but was planned independent of the soon to be completed (1913) los angeles aqueduct from the owens river watershed to the city of los angeles through the san fernando valley in los angeles county.the newly built sherman way double drive and the pacific electric street cars, opened on december 7, 1912, gave new access to the town and to the other new towns in the valley van nuys (1911) and marion (now reseda);