|
Santa Paula History
Santa Paula's wonderful murals
walking tour.
For some then thousand years before European arrival, a
proud and peaceful people lived well on the land and off the waters of
California’s central coast. The lands of the Chumash Indians stretched
over some 7,000 square miles from Malibu to San Luis Obispo. Among their
villages was Mupu, the present day site of Santa Paula.
The Chumash were technologically and culturally advanced,
evolving their own language, music, astronomy and mythology. Chumash rock
paintings remain a source of great mystery and beauty today. Santa Paula celebrates this heritage with a
mural that depicts life in a Chumash Village along Santa Paula Creek.
Oil field workers.
Santa Paula is the product of a remarkable era, a time of
growth and invention at the turn of the 20th century that
produced the automobile and airplane, the electric light and telephone,
movies and radio.
The railroads that opened up the West to new populations
arrived in Santa Paula in 1887. Just as oil was becoming the nation’s
primary fuel, Santa Paula brought in California’s first gusher in 1888.
The railroad, oil and citrus industries - and later, airplanes and movies
- left Santa Paula a rich legacy.
When Mission lands were privatized 170 years ago, a prized
parcel of 17,733 acres along the fertile Santa Clara River became the land
grant of Santa Paula Y Saticoy. Later, as its soils were found to yield
wheat, oranges and walnuts, land values rose to $50 an acre. By the time
the first post office was opened on June 14, 1877, Santa Paula had 200
residents.
Working in the many citrus groves. Among the individuals who saw a great future for Santa
Paula were Nathan Blanchard and Elisha L. Bradley. Their map of the
proposed town was recorded on June 16, 1875; later, they built the town’s
first flour mill.
Blanchard also established Santa Paula’s first large
citrus orchard. Initially 100 acres of orange seedlings, in 1874. The
first profitable crop arrived in 1888, just in time to meet another
relative newcomer, the railroad. The Southern Pacific had itself arrived
in Santa Paula on January 19, 1887.
Memorial to the 1928 St. Francis
Dam disaster.
At the same time, the land around Santa Paula was bearing
another harvest. Adams Canyon Well 16, California’s first bona fide
gusher, roared to life in January, 1888. It was a bare two miles from
Santa Paula post office. The railroad became Santa Paula’s engine of growth,
taking the citrus and oil bonanza to market. A population boom followed
and Santa Paula quickly left behind its dusty past.
Union Oil Company was grounded in 1890, followed three
years later by Limoneira Company, a world-class producer of citrus and
walnuts. Confirming Santa Paula’s status as the county’s second city,
Santa Paula was incorporated on April 22, 1902.
Fillmore History 1888-2000
Fillmore station. Joseph D. McNab, of the Sespe Land and Water
Company, who laid out the town of Fillmore in 1887 prevailed upon the
Southern Pacific Railroad to establish a station in Fillmore and was
instrumental in much of the development of early Fillmore.
The late 1800s were a busy time in Southern California. The railroad
arrived, real estate sales were booming and a pioneering spirit permeated
the air. Every town liked to think of being the best place to live, raise
a family and prosper. Our little Santa Clara Valley, which was sheep and
cattle country, was no exception. The first orange grove was set out on
five acres in 1888 as an experiment, ten years later in 1899 Fillmore was
classified as "a horticultural center for oranges, lemons and
apricots. Apricots proved to be too risky so they were replaced with
walnuts. Walnut groves also required too much work so in the late 40s
walnuts were replaced with navel and valencia oranges. Since 1950 many
acres of avocados have been planted.
The late 1800s oil was discovered and in 1924 the Texaco Refinery was
built east of the downtown, it was shut down in 1950.
When the Southern Pacific railroad came through our valley in 1886-87,
company representatives wanted to promote the area east of Fillmore. The
landowner would not sell any of his property so they went west to an area
where the Santa Clara River and Sespe Creek meet. The Sespe Land and Water
Company joined the Southern Pacific Company in promoting Fillmore, named
after Jerome A. Fillmore, the Southern Pacific General Superintendent.
Santa Clara School House.
On August 1, 1888, a street map of the town of Fillmore was recorded in
the Ventura County Courthouse. Fillmore continued to grow and prosper. By
1900 Fillmore had a population of 150. The first schoolhouse was built in
1874 or 75. It was 20 by 30 feet with three windows on each side. The
first graduating class of Fillmore High School was in 1911 with four
students.
Main Street was originally the street that businesses built on, but in
1903 a fire burned most of the businesses. A building spree in 1910 on
Central Avenue took place, along with streetlights. Much of the land was
owned by the Sespe Land and Water Company, which gradually sold off
parcels to ranchers who began raising lemons and oranges. After 1910,
large parcels began to be subdivided for housing. Other later tracts have
been developed but have not detracted from the small town image Fillmore
still wishes to retain.
In 1914, Fillmore was incorporated as the City of Fillmore in Ventura
County. On January 13, 1935, the last passenger train stopped here, ending
a colorful era. Many changes have taken place and will continue to take
place in the future as we continue to grow as a mid-western type town
located in the very heartland of bustling Southern California.
Fillmore's Neo Classical City Hall.
Since the city’s incorporation in 1914, Fillmore City Hall has been
in six locations. The sixth building is the beautiful Neo Classical
building, built in 1997, and located at the corner of Central Avenue and
Santa Clara Street.
Fillmore has now grown to almost 14,000 population and still can
proudly say agriculture is the main source of income. The railroad is back
in operation as a tourist train, downtown still has the 30s look and the
city still boasts that it is "The Last Best Small Town in Southern
California.
Piru History
Piru—“This word is derived from the Indian term for a reed
that grew along the creek banks, and was used in basket-making. They
pronounced it much like ‘peet hoo’ according to the oldtimers; and it
gradually became sounded ‘pee roo’, spelled piru. “However”, Joe
Paul wrote, “train conductors shouted out ‘Pie roo’; and a
restaurant operator erected a sign proclaiming that he had put the ‘Pie’
in Piru; and little by little it became ‘Pie roo’, except for the
oldtimers and natives who knew better.”
Ventura County Historical Society Quarterly, (Winter,
1972)
Piru, a part of the 14,000 acres of the Piru Fruit Rancho, is situated
near the base of the mountains where the Piru Creek and the Santa Clara
River meet. It is in the upper end of the Santa Clara Valley, in the
eastern section of Ventura County. The name Piru was derived from the
grass or reeds that grew in the Piru Creek which were used for basket
weaving by the Piru Indians, members of the Haminot tribe. The property,
which was patented to the Temescal Land Grant, was purchased in 1887 from
the Del Valle brothers by David C. Cook of Elgin, Illinois, the proprietor
of the greatest publishing house in the United States. This was quickly
followed by the founding of the town of Piru City, as it was once called,
owned and controlled by Mr. Cook.
Soon Piru City became known as a flourishing horticulture center. This
was due to Mr. Cook’s influence since he had come here not only for his
health but to establish a community that would duplicate in its groves and
orchards of fruit trees, those of the Holy Land in Biblical times. Piru
City was often referred to as the Second Garden of Eden. When David C.
Cook bought the Piru Fruit Rancho in 1887, he acquired with the land a
valuable water right, allowing him to appropriate the waters of the Piru
Creek for irrigation purposes. The water system, consisting of 30 miles of
pipes, flumes and canals, had been planned in order to properly irrigate
the mammoth orchards extending from Piru City westward, a distance of one
and a half miles, and up the Piru Canyon, a distance of six miles.
Besides being prominent as a horticulture center, Piru City enjoyed
prosperity due to the immense freight business caused by the large orders
of the Piru Fruit Rancho as well as by the numerous oil wells in the
vicinity and on the Rancho. In the winter of 1887-88, the large Methodist
Church was erected and on June 1888, the post office was opened with four
daily mails. The Piru Rancho Gold Mining Company, which was that portion
of the Piru Rancho located in Los Angeles County and was included in the
old Temescal Land Grant, was still being worked in 1899 having been
extensively mined from 1810-1840 before the discovery of gold at Sutter’s
Mill in 1848.
David C. Cook, founder of Piru, developed his Second Garden of Eden for
15 years before regaining his health and returning to Elgin, Illinois to
resume his position as head of the publishing house. Since Mr. Cook was a
strick prohibitionist he was disappointed with many of his employees who
were supposed to abstain from swearing and liquor.
Piru is a quiet little community, a favorite location for all of the
movie companies. One of the largest citrus packing houses in located here.
Piru Lake, controlled by the United Water Conservation District, is a
recreational area for water skiing, fishing, and camping.
Places of interest include Rancho Camulos, which Helen Hunt Jackson
selected as the home of her heroine in her novel, Ramona and The Mansion,
the beautiful house Mr. Cook built for his bride, an historical monument,
now owned by Ruth and Scott Newhall. Rancho Camulos
The present 1,800 acre Camulos Ranch, established by Ygnacio del Valle in 1853, was carved out of the 48,612 acre Rancho San Francisco, granted in 1839 to Ygnacio's father Antonio del
ValIe, majordomo and administrator of Mission San Fernando. Camulos was located at the western boundary of the rancho and was originally a Tataviam Indian village known as Kamulus. The
San Fernando Mission used the area as early as 1804 for raising small animals and crops grown by the Indians, who numbered 416 when visited by Inspector General of the Missions in
1839.
Antonio del Valle and his family lived at the eastern edge of the ranch near Castaic in the former San Fernando Mission granary adobe building. After Antonio's death in 1841, the land
was divided among his second wife and the children from his two marriages. Ygnacio received the western portion of the ranch known as Camulos and built a corral and stocked it with
cattle in 1842. He bought back some of the Rancho San Francisco acreage from the other del Valle heirs and also acquired Rancho Temescal, north of Piru. Ygnacio's first wife died in
childbirth in 1842. He was married a second time to Ysabel Varela of Los Angeles, who was only 15. They settled in Los Angeles near the Olvera street plaza. The following year he built
the first four rooms of what became the main adobe at Camulos, which was at first occupied by Ygnacio's majordomo (foreman).
Ygnacio and Ysabel lived in Los Angeles for almost a decade, during which time as Ygnacio held a number of elected positions. Between 1853 and 1861, five children were born to the.
After the birth of their fifth child, Josefa, in 1861, the family moved permanently to Camulos and added three new rooms and a basement to the original adobe. Many of the Kamulus
Indians continued to live and work at the ranch and helped to make the adobe blocks used in the construction - some of these Indians are buried in the del Valle family cemetery.
Between 1862 and 1870, seven more children were born at Camulos. Of twelve children total, only five lived to adulthood.
The drought of the 1860s took its toll on del Valle cattle and crops, forcing the del Valles to sell most of the Rancho San Francisco in 1865. However, Camulos continued to evolve into
a diverse agricultural operation. By the time of Ygnacio's death in 1880, the ranch had grown from a few hundred head of-cattle in the 1840s to a thriving, virtually self-contained
ranch. It consisted of approximately 1290 acres of citrus, vineyards, almonds, grain, and vegetables, and supported close to 200 residents. In addition to the del Valles, large numbers
of Mexicans and Indians, were employed on the ranch. The single four room adobe built in 1853, grew into a twenty room adobe surrounded by numerous other buildings-a brick winery,
chapel, barn and workers' housing, The isolation of the Santa Clara Valley was broken with the arrival of the stagecoach in 1874 and the railroad in 1887.
Throughout its long history Rancho Camulos has had a diverse and rich agricultural history. The first oranges grown and shipped commercially from what is now Ventura County were from
the Camulos Ranch in 1876. In addition to the annual crops of citrus, almonds, walnuts, apricots, peaches, wheat, corn and barley. Grapevines were also cultivated at Camulos for the
production of wine and brandy. It was the wine grape that brought the first real commercial success for the del Valle family in the 19th century, Camulos wines and brandies enjoyed a
good reputation throughout Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. During the 1860s, ninety acres of wine grapes were planted, a brick winery built, and a license obtained for brandy
distilling. The federal industrial census for 1870 records the Camulos Ranch winery as the largest of the four vintners in the San Buenaventura Township of Santa Barbara County, with
45 tons of grapes resulting in 6,000 gallons of wine and 800 gallons of brandy.
In 1908 the ranch was incorporated as the del Valle Company by Ulpiano and his remaining brothers and sisters for the purpose of raising crops and livestock, acquiring water rights,
and developing oil resources. Eventually, friction within the family and the death of several family members forced the sale of the ranch in 1924 to the August Rübel family. At the
time of the sale, writer Charles Lummis, a close family friend of the del Valles, appealed to the State of California to purchase Camulos as a historic park. Lummis had long been an
active preservationist. He founded the Landmarks Club, which contributed substantially to preserving the missions. His magazine Out West, more than any other publication, promoted the
heritage of Southern California.
|
