Fillmore Historical Museum

Do you remember the earthquake? For most in Fillmore that question would seem to refer to the 1994 Northridge Earthquake which devastated our downtown area, leaving vacant lots seen even today. But that was by no means the only quake to cause damage to our town. July 12, 1952, at 4:52 am, the Tehachapi Quake hit in a series of waves which lasted in diminishing strength for nearly 45 minutes. The damage here in Fillmore was noticeable but relatively light. There was firewall... damage on roof at 340-340 1/2 Central Avenue (formerly Ragtyme Station). Ballard Furniture at 348 Central Ave. was also damaged. The train line through Fillmore suddenly became important once more after the Tehachapi quake. Train tunnels were caved in, the Ridge Route was blocked by a king-sized landslide. Trains were diverted through Fillmore for a time while the tracks were repaired. Fifty years ago, on February 9, 1971, a strong earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter Scale occurred in the Sylmar area of the San Fernando Valley. The shocks caused the upstairs wall of the Briggs Hardware Building (first known as Chili Franklin’s Pool Hall and Dance Hall when it was built in 1910) at 340 Central, to ripple and a large 70-foot chunk of bricks fell onto the roof of Martha’s, a dress shop just north at 344 Central (now Genesis Hair). An eye-witness later said when the brick mass hit Martha’s, the impact collapsed the roof and blew out the front windows. The store at 344 Central had to be rebuilt. The second story of 340 Central was so badly damaged it was removed. The second story had been a dance hall. The floor was left intact and is believed to still be there to this very day as part of a double ceiling. As expected, all the grocery stores in town had major clean up to do after the 1971 quake. Aisles had to be cleaned as jars were thrown from shelves and damaged canned and boxed goods had to be disposed of. Enterprising high school students picked up some spare pocket money helping the store owners. The Fillmore Hotel on Main Street and the Fillmore Citrus Association Packing House at A and Sespe had cracks in walls, but nothing major. Although the Fillmore Hotel survived the 1971 quake, in the 1994 quake it was destroyed. Luckily, and perhaps surprisingly, none of the school buildings suffered and damage from the 1971 quake. Several had already been taken out of service as class rooms under the Field Act which had been passed in 1933 after the Long Beach Earthquake, mandating that school buildings must be earthquake-resistant. Even these were not significantly damaged. Neither of these earthquakes were as devastating to our community as the 1994 Northridge Quake, but it’s good to remember that the 1994 quake was not an anomaly. We live in earthquake country and we are sure to have another one. The question is just when.

Something to do this weekend!

Those Magnificent Men (and Women) in Their Flying Machines After the first World War, a new phenomenon swept the United States Barnstormers. Men who often had learned to fly during the war, traveled the country doing aerobatics, showing the skill of the pilot and the sturdiness of the airplane. Frequently these barnstormers were employed by aircraft manufacturers. That was the case in August of 1919 when the first barnstormer came to Fillmore. Lieut. Arnold Popic was an ...Continue reading

This is a teaser for tomorrow's weekly post. The question is, who is Betty Lund and what is her connection to Fillmore?

CHURCH BEGINNINGS THE METHODISTS Religion and spiritual support were always a major factor in the lives of our earliest pioneers. Those first brave settlers initially looked to itinerant circuit riders who had also moved west as the United States expanded. Most of Fillmore’s early churches were organized under the live oak trees of Kenney Grove. Thus Sespe may be regarded as the birthplace of the churches in the east end Ventura County. In 1873, the first Sunday School i...Continue reading

The April 14, 1944 headline in the Fillmore Herald reads Thirty-Three Cadets Are Entertained Here During Easter. Air cadets in training in Lancaster, far from home over the holiday spent a weekend at the homes of generous local citizens. Fillmore families adopted them for the weekend. They were entertained with an open house, the key to the city, a house party and dance at Camulos. Church services and a round of informal activities including picnics, horseback riding, and ...Continue reading

1933 - Edith Jarrett, Fillmore High School Spanish teacher, leaving school on her bike. Times have changed.

Thank you to everyone who supported our poinsettia sale. We sold out entirely.Thank you to everyone who supported our poinsettia sale. We sold out entirely.

By the 1870s more and more settlers were arriving and claiming land along the Santa Clara and Sespe rivers. These were families who had come from all over the United States looking for a new place to call home, settle down and raise their families. In 1871, the Frederic Sprague family arrived at the Sespe from Placer County. The family included his wife, Clare, a son, Hartley, who drove one of the wagons, and daughters, Iva and her twin, Inez, and younger sister Nellie. T...Continue reading

In prior articles you’ve read how families like the Peytons and Atmores came to our community, there are many other ways folks got here. Some came directly here because they already had friends or family, but many had more convoluted journeys. How did they get here? Based on interviews by Charles Jarrett in 1934 Tommy Arundell, who was a well-known beekeeper in Pole Creek, started out in Dubuque, Iowa. He left at age 10, traveling down the east coast and across Central Amer...Continue reading

History of Richard Stephens, Part 2 By Ellen Finley, 1988 In the years before Stephen built his new store, the old-time lock boxes for the patrons of the post office were located on the outside of the building. The arrival of the mail was an exciting event. Rain or shine, everyone gathered outside the store to get their mail and exchange the latest news with their neighbors. On September27, 1907, the big topic of discussion was the electric light Stephens had strung across...Continue reading

Don't forget to pick up the poinsettia's you've ordered Saturday, December 5, between 10 am and 2 pm. It will also be a great time to pick up books you've ordered from our website giftshop, https://www.fillmorehistoricalmuseum.org/shop. We will also have some books and a limited supply of Santa Crate Labels available for purchase curbside without pre-order. Come by and do your holiday shopping early!.

Richard Stephens, Fillmore Pioneer - From The History of Stephens’ Store by Ellen M. Finley, July 1988 The northwest corner of Main and Central, now the location of the new Segovia’s Fillmore Market (2020 - Estrella’s), is one of Fillmore’s most historic sites. Before the city was recorded in Ventura in 1888, one of the oldest of its few buildings stood on this corner, a large two-story rooming house operated by E. Bailey Turner. Since Turner was Fillmore’s first postmaster...Continue reading

We did so well with the Fillmore Citrus Assn crew last week, lets try the Mutual Orange Distributors (MOD) Packing House from 1960. I'm posting two versions - one with numbers. Please identify people by the number - it helps with accuracy.

We have fantastic volunteers. A special shout out to Annette Ross who has reorganized our reference library. I don't think Annette is on Facebook, so if you see her, be sure to thank her for the work she does for your Museum. One of the results of Annette's work is we've discovered we have multiple copies of some books. We always want to have one and a spare, if possible, but in some cases we have more than we need. Because we have limited storage space we are offering some of these copies for sale as used books on our website. There are only one or two copies of each so when they are gone they are gone. If you want to see what is available go to https://www.fillmorehistoricalmuseum.org/shop

The last few month's you've read stories about local history. Now you can read about the history of the Museum! The Fillmore Historical Museum, founded by Edith Moore Jarrett, will soon be celebrating its 50th anniversary. Edith was born in 1898 in Sespe. She attended the University of Southern California and then returned to Fillmore where she taught high school Spanish for decades. As she taught, she saw a need for Spanish textbooks for high school students. El Cami...Continue reading

Fifty years ago, this week, our community almost came to an end. Southern California was ablaze with the largest wildfire in its history to date. The Clampitt Fire had started on the morning September 25, 1970, in the Newhall Pass and within a few hours the winds pushed it to Malibu. The fire crested the ridge into the Santa Clara River Valley and soon was threatening homes and ranches along Guiberson Road and as well as Newhall Ranch, Camulos and Piru. At the peak of the ...Continue reading

What Piru Has...1930 Continued from last week In 1930, the Piru News ran a series of articles entitled, What Piru Has. The paper described the series as a series of weekly articles describing the various industries, products, organizations, schools, business houses of Piru and vicinity. Two of the articles addressed the businesses that were in Piru. Below is the second of the two articles....Continue reading

In 1930 and 31, the Piru News ran a series of articles entitled, What Piru Has. The paper described the series as a series of weekly articles describing the various industries, products, organizations, schools, business houses of Piru and vicinity. Two of the issues addressed the businesses that were in Piru. Below is the first of the two articles. You can read more of the Piru News at https://cdnc.ucr.edu/ Piru News, Volume IV, Number 40, 13 November 1930...Continue reading

If you enjoyed Susan French's story about Harriet "Petey" Weaver (https://www.fillmorehistoricalmuseum.org/harriett-petey-wea), then you might enjoy reading what Petey wrote about her time with the California Park Service. We have a limited number copies of two of her books, "Me and the Mother Tree", $10, and "Them Were They Days," $5, available for order on our website. https://www.fillmorehistoricalmuseum.org/shop

We will deeply miss Marie Wren. She often shared her knowledge with us and we enjoyed helping her with her research. Marie Wren was an early and devoted supporter of the Fillmore Historical Museum. Her record number started "001". Marie lived a full and busy life who gave joy to all she met.

As we begin the new school year I thought it might be interesting to look back at schools at the beginning of development in the area now known as Bardsdale. The history of the Bardsdale School is really the history of Bardsdale. In 1888, Mr. Thomas Bard of Hueneme bought land from the More brothers. His partner, Royce Surdam, laid this property out in farming tracts around a Community Center. To this settlement he gave the name of Bardsdale. There were no citrus orchards...Continue reading

Does anyone have photos from the PTA Grammar School Halloween Carnival they used to have in the 60s and 70s ? We would love to have some copies!

WE’RE BACK!!! Fillmore & Western returns this Weekend (Saturday & Sunday) departing at 10am both days for Santa Paula for a 4hr Trip! Join us as we roll d...own the rails again and bring our unique sound back to the Heritage Valley! Advanced Reservations are required online or by phone, No walk up sales will be processed on the day or ride. All seating will be on Open air flat cars. COVID-19 procedures are in place for your safety and social distancing will be enforced! Face masks are required at all times while in the station, as well as onboard the train! Please Visit www.FWRY.com to book your spots! Seating is limited!

Here's the second half of Ellen Finley's 1988 History of the Fillmore Post Office. If you want to read the entire story, go to https://www.fillmorehistoricalmuseum.org/the-history-of-the website, Now the fourth home of the post office was the same as it is first the west corner of Main and Central where Turner’s rooming house had stood. Stephens soon purchased more property adjacent to the corner and announced plans to erect a new building on the same site. Completed...Continue reading