SCV Historical Society Saving History for Half a Century

So, what have you being doing over the last 50 years? In the summer of 1975, a handful of local people concerned about saving our history started a group dedicated to preserving buildings and artifacts that told our community’s story. People like Art Evans, Jerry Reynolds, LaVaugh Yetter, Carl Boyer III and Lloyd Houghton signed legal papers to launch the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society, which is getting ready to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
At the beginning, the area wasn’t crazy busy, but this dedicated group – which soon included Cynthia Neal Harris, Ruth Newhall, and Mimi White, women who didn’t take “no” for an answer very easily – started bringing attention to issues that would change the course of the Santa Clarita Valley.
One of the first things they did was ask Standard Oil to support making Mentryville (the birthplace of the oil industry) a historic landmark. Their efforts were successful and a year later, the state landmark plaque for Mentryville was in production. Less than a month after that, Jerry Reynolds, who was then president of the Society, appealed to Southern Pacific Railroad to donate the endangered Saugus Train Station (located across the street from the Saugus Café). Patience had to prevail in that case, but the Society put the issue on the front page of people’s minds, so that one night in 1980, the station lumbered down then-San Fernando Road to its new home within Hart Park.
The site of the St. Francis Dam disaster was landmarked thanks to efforts led by the Society; and a yearly tour of the site has grown from small groups to multiple busloads who learn about one of the worst disasters in California’s history. Unfortunately, the state marker for the dam was stolen for the first time in 1978, but the ever-vigilant Society made sure that reasonable replacement(s) have been in place ever since.
The Society started history clubs in local schools, displayed important artifacts in various community buildings like the Newhall-Saugus-Valencia Chamber of Commerce building at the corner of Market and Walnut Streets (now known as the Pardee House and part of today’s Santa Clarita History Center) and became defenders of accurate historical presentations.
A hot button issue was making sure people knew that the first gold was discovered in Placerita Canyon, not Sutter’s Mill in Northern California – letters were sent demanding corrections from radio stations and newspapers and they even reached out to John Wayne, who voiced an “erroneous” commercial for Great Western Savings and Loan. Wayne wrote back that he knew better and offered to re-record the narratives. We made him an honorary member of the Society in gratitude.
The group provided collaboration so meaningful structures would have a safe haven around the train station in Hart Park. The Newhall Ranch House from an overflow parking lot at Magic Mountain, but in fact the headquarters of historic Rancho San Francisco was saved. Brick by brick, the Mitchell adobe was reconstructed on site. A small village comprised of two single-family homes, the Kingsburry House and the Edison House (named because it was originally located on Edison Curve on Magic Mountain Parkway near the golf course), and two structures from Callahan’s Old West up Sierra Highway – the little red schoolhouse and the Ramona Chapel – provide a glimpse into the past.
And of course, no train station would be complete without its own steam engine, which Gene Autry donated after the move in 1980. All of these treasures are preserved and available for our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren thanks to the efforts of a concerned and determined group of volunteers who made history their number one priority a half-century ago.
The Society is launching its Golden Dream Campaign to provide funding for immediate finishing work on the Saugus Train Station Museum (a new roof and museum infrastructure) and endow the rest of the History Center so we can continue the work started by that determined bunch of movers and shakers. To donate, visit www.scvhs.org.

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