SCV Chronology.
A Timeline of Historical Events.
By LEON WORDEN.

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UP TO 57,000 YEARS AGO

• DNA haplogroups split into haplogroups found in American Indians.

UP TO 33,000 YEARS AGO

• Multiple human archaeological sites in Mexico and South America.

17,500 YEARS AGO

• Beginning of the Holocene (Modern) Epoch.

15,500 YEARS AGO

• Oldest human archeological site identified (to date) in continental United States; DNA suggests arrival by boat from Polynesia.

13,200-12,600 YEARS AGO

• Bering Strait becomes passable. Bering Strait Theory (disputed): Asians traverse the Bering Land Bridge and populate the Americas.

5,000 YEARS AGO

• Earliest known human archaeological sites in Santa Clarita Valley [link].

3,500 YEARS AGO

• Beginning of the Early Horizon period.

1,550 YEARS AGO (c. AD 450-500)

• Tataviam Indians migrate into Santa Clarita Valley from Great Basin.

1,200-650 YEARS AGO

• Medieval Climatic Anomaly, a prolonged period of drought.

c. 1510 to 1602

• Spain sends explorers to California. (Exploration ceased in 1602.)

1542

• June 27: Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo sets sail from Navidád, Jalisco, Mexico; stops for a drink at mouth of Santa Clara River in Ventura.

1738

• April 12: Fr. Francisco Garcés born in Spain; came through SCV in 1776, found Tataviam fighting with Coastal Chumash, observed Santa Clara River flowing by night and dry by day despite the season being spring [link].

c. 1727

• Explorer Gaspar de Portolá born in Catalonia, Spain.

1769

• July 14: Portolá party leaves San Diego; first Europeans to "discover" Santa Clarita Valley 3½ weeks later.
• July 16: Father Junípero Serra establishes Mission San Diego.
• July 28, ~1PM: First recorded L.A.-area earthquake, felt by Portolá party, probably centered 30 miles southeast of L.A. on San Andreas Fault.
• August 8: Portolá expedition crosses Newhall Pass at Elsmere Canyon, camps at Chaguayabit village (Castaic Junction).
• August 10: Father Juan Crespí names Santa Clara River Valley for St. Clare.

1772

• March 6: Captain Pedro Fages arrives from San Diego; camps at Agua Dulce, Castaic, Lake Elizabeth, Lebec and Tejon.

1776

• April 13: Spanish Fr. Francisco Hermanegeldo Garces, seeking short route from Sonora (Mex.) to Monterey (Calif.) enters SCV.

1784

• Father Junípero Serra dies; succeeded by Father Fermin Lasuen.

1788

• Antonio Seferino del Valle born in Composilla, Mexico.

1795

• September 3: Fr. Vincente de Santa Maria, at San Buenaventura, recommends San Fernando Valley over Santa Clarita Valley for a mission.

1797

• September 8: Fr. Fermin Lasuen dedicates Mission San Fernando Rey de España.

1800

• January 6: Teuteu, 34, wife of village captain, baptized (as Tomasa) at S.F. Mission; born at Tochonanga (Newhall area) in 1766, before Europeans arrived [record].

1802

• March 9: Gold discoverer Francisco Lopez born at Mission San Gabriel [link].

1803

• February 19: Indian family members removed from Caamulus (Camulos) village, Piru area, are baptized at San Fernando Mission [link].

1804

• December 3 (?): Estancia de San Francisco Xavier founded at Castaic Junction (contrary to some sources, never raised to asistencia status).

1808

• July 1: Ygnacio del Valle, son of Antonio, born in Jalisco, Mexico.

1812

• December 8: Catastrophic earthquake devastates coast from (at least) Santa Barbara to San Juan Capistrano; San Fernando Mission heavily damaged; aftershocks till April 1813 (Benson 1997:250).

1813

• Bar placed across Newhall Pass in Elsmere Canyon to keep cattle from wandering away from the estancia.
• January 21: "Pathfinder" John C. Fremont born in Savannah, Ga.
• April 14: Birth of '49er patriarch J.B. Arcan of Bennett-Arcan party.

1820

• April 6: '49er diarist William Lewis Manly born in St. Albans, Vermont.

1821

• March 26: California becomes a territory of Mexico in the war between Mexico and Spain.
• September 21: L.A. freighter & hotelier Remi Nadeau born in Canada (grandfather of same-named SCV property owner).

1822

• February 4: Surveyor Edward F. Beale born in Washington, DC.
• April 11: Monterey falls to Augustin Iturbide; reign lasts less than one year.

1824

• Indians at Santa Ynez revolt against Mexican rule.
• June 6: Mexican soldiers track runaway Chumash slaves through the Santa Clarita Valley [link-1] [link-2].

1825

• May 13: Henry Mayo Newhall born in Saugus, Massachusetts.
• July 27: Ygnacio del Valle arrives at Monterey.

1827

• December 24: Colonel Thomas F. Mitchell born in Tennessee.

1828

• May 5: Soledad Canyon settler John Lang born in Herkimer County, N.Y.

1831

• August 11: Death Valley '49er John Burt Colton, writer of the Jayhawker Papers, born in Maine.
• November 20: Sanford and Cyrus Lyon born in Machias, Maine.

1832

• January 1: Early Pico Canyon oil financier & school namesake Charles N. Felton born in Buffalo, N.Y.

1833

• October 12: Lawman William W. Jenkins born in Circleville, Ohio.

1834

• July 17: Sinforosa born at Mission San Fernando; mom from Tejon, dad from Piru; believed to be last speaker of Tataviam language (died 1915).
• August 9: José Figueroa, military governor of Alta California, orders the secularization of the missions.
• October: Mexican Lieutenant Antonio del Valle arrives at Mission San Fernando to dismantle church holdings.

1835

• April 7: Outlaw Tiburcio Vasquez born in Monterey (not August 11 or April 10; see baptismal record).

1837

• March 21: Ysabel Varela born in Placerville; became second wife (and widow) of SCV landowner Ygnacio del Valle [link].
• October 17: Trapper Peter LaBeck killed by grizzly bear at El Tejon.

1838

• August 31: Early Pico oilman & San Francisquito vintner Ramon Perea born.

1839

• January 22: Governor Juan B. Alvarado grants Rancho San Francisco to Antonio del Valle.
• December 17: Judge John F. Powell born in Galway, Ireland.

1841

• June 21: Antonio del Valle dies.

1842

• January 1: Ygnacio del Valle marries Maria Carrillo, claims Rancho Camulos.
• March 9: Francisco Lopez makes the first documented discovery of gold in California, in Placerita Canyon.
• March 10: Lopez takes samples of the gold he discovered the previous day to Los Angeles.
• April 4: Gov. Alvarado grants rights to F. Lopez and partners to mine gold in Placerita Canyon.
• May 3: State's first mining district established at Rancho San Francisco; Ygnacio del Valle, chairman.
• June 9: Rancho Temescal granted to Francisco Lopez.
• October 1: New York Observer (newspaper) reports on Placerita gold discovery.

1843

• October 2: Rancho Los Alamos granted to Francisco Lopez.
• November 22: Rancho Castac (Lebec-Tejon area) granted to Jose Covarabias [spelling per deed].

1845

• August 25: Rancho del Buque granted to Francisco Chari.

1846

• May 13: Mexican-American War declared by U.S. Congress.
• July 7: U.S. troops land at Monterey, hoist U.S. flag.
• December 6: Mexican Gen. Andres Pico (as in Pico Canyon) routs U.S. Gen. Stephen Kearny in Battle of San Pasqual [link].

1847

• January 9-10: Col. John C. Fremont and troops camp at Rancho San Francisco.
• January 12: Col. John C. Fremont and troops pass through Fremont's Pass.
• January 13: Mexican Gen. Andres Pico surrenders to U.S. Col. John C. Fremont in the Capitulation of Cahuenga.
• March 27: Probable birth date of Pico Canyon oil driller Charles Alexander Mentry.

1848

• January 24: James Marshall discovers gold at Sutter's Mill.
• February 2: Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends Mexican-American War; California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas become U.S. possessions.

1849

• March: Bennett-Arcan party leaves Wisconsin in search of gold.
• June 27: Edward F. Beale weds Mary Edwards, daughter of U.S. Rep. Samuel Edwards (Penn.).
• August 15: Eight-pound gold nugget found in San Feliciano Canyon.
• September 1: Constitutional Convention held at Monterey.
• October 7: Jayhawker party encounters Bennett-Arcan party.
• November 4: William Manly and John Rogers set out from Death Valley to find help for the stranded Bennett-Arcan party.
• November 18: Wildlife painter John Woodhouse Audubon, son of ornithologist John James Audubon, camps at Castaic Junction.

1850

• January 1: William Manley and John Rogers arrive at the Del Valles' estancia, find help for the Bennett-Arcan party.
• January 28: Forty-niner William Robinson dies in Soledad Canyon from drinking too much cool water.
• February 4: Bennett-Arcan party & Jayhawkers (Death Valley '49ers) saved when they reach Del Valle ranch headquarters [link].
• July 6: Henry Mayo Newhall arrives in California.
• September 9: California admitted to the Union as the thirty-first state.

1851

• March 22: Newhall lawman Ed Pardee born in Meadville, Penn.
• May 19: Road from Mission San Fernando to Elizabeth Lake (San Fernando, San Francisquito, Elizabeth Lake roads) declared a public highway.
• June 8: Prohibitionist Henry Clay Needham born in Percival Mills, Hardin County, Kentucky.
• August 2: Los Angeles County divided into six townships [source: Thompson & West].
• December 14: SCV landowner Ygnacio del Valle marries Ysabel del Varela at Church of Our Lady of the Angels, Los Angeles.

1852

• Henry C. Wiley establishes Wiley's Station; partner is Ygnacio del Valle.
• Edward F. Beale appointed superintendent of Indian Affairs, later surveyor-general of California and Nevada.
• September: Ygnacio del Valle files petition for Rancho San Francisco.
• March 18: Wells, Fargo & Co. founded in San Francisco.
• May 4: SCV landowner Ygnacio del Valle elected to first of two nonconsecutive 1-year terms on Los Angeles City Council.
• December 25: Acton gold mine owner and California Governor Henry Tifft Gage born in Geneva, New York.

1853

• Los Angeles mayor Ygnacio del Valle forms the California Rangers, led by Horace Bell, William Jenkins, William Reader and Cyrus Lyon.
• San Sebastian Indian Reservation established at Tejon.
• March 3: Congress authorizes Secretary of War to chart a route for transcontinental railroad, appropriates $150.000.
• March 3: President Millard Fillmore appoints E.F. Beale Superintendent of Indian Affairs for California and Nevada.
• May 6: Party of 14, including E.F. Beale, departs from Washington, D.C., to chart a route for transcontinental railroad.
• Lieutenant R.S. Williamson surveys Santa Clarita Valley during expedition to chart route for transcontinental railroad.
• August 22: E.F. Beale reaches Los Angeles on mapping expedition.
• August 24: Rancho San Francisco willed to Ygnacio del Valle.
• October 16: Sarah Gifford, community leader and wife of Newhall's first railroad station agent, born in England.
• December 30: Boundary established between United States and Mexico [link].

1854

• Moore's Station established in San Francisquito Canyon.
• May 31: Congress appropriates another $40,000 for exploration of a route for transcontinental railroad.
• July: Gold discovered on the Kern River.
• August 5: Congress appropriates another $150,000 to complete exploration and reports on route for transcontinental railroad.
• August 10: Fort Tejon established atop Grapevine Pass.
• December 5: Gen. Phineas Banning drives first stagecoach through thirty-foot-deep cut at Fremont's Pass.
• December 15: Reginaldo F. Del Valle, future state Senate president pro-tem, born in Los Angeles to Ygnacio and Ysabel del Valle, owners of local Rancho San Francisco.

1855

• California Rangers disband.
• General Andres Pico begins harvesting asphaltum from Pico Canyon (disputed).
• January 2: American Land Commission confirms 48,612-acre Rancho San Francisco to Jacoba Feliz, widow of Antonio del Valle.
• June 3: Supply (a ship) leaves New York harbor bound for Tunis to acquire animals for the United States Camel Corps.
• July 11: Severe earthquake felt in Los Angeles County.
• August 8: Surveyor-General Edward F. Beale acquires Rancho La Liebre, then Castaic, Los Alamos, Agua Caliente and El Tejon.
• August 15: Santa Clarita Valley organized into Tejon Township. Later changed to Soledad Township.
• September 11: St. Francis Dam builder William Mulholland born in Belfast, Ireland.
• September 24: Sanford and Cyrus Lyon purchase Wiley's Station.

1856

• January 9: Severe earthquake felt in Los Angeles County; 2 killed.
• May 7: SCV landowner Ygnacio del Valle elected to second of two nonconsecutive 1-year terms on Los Angeles City Council; resigned December 15.
• May 13: Colonel David D. Porter arrives in Texas with camels bound for Fort Tejon.

1857

• January 9, 8:13 a.m.: Major earthquake decimates Fort Tejon.

1858

• January 27: Then-Colonel Edward F. Beale drives camels through Los Angeles.
• July 31: L.A. Star reports progress on cut through Newhall Pass, but government funding is insufficient.
• October 7: Butterfield Overland Stage rides into Los Angeles.
• October 8: Butterfield Overland Stage rides through Fremont's Pass and San Francisquito Canyon.

1859

• June 25: Outlaw Tiburcio Vasquez escapes from prison while serving sentence for grand larceny in L.A. County; recaptured in August and sent to San Quentin.
• August 16: Outlaw Tiburcio Vasquez returns to San Quentin to serve one-year sentence for grand larceny in Amador County.
• August 27: Oil industry born in Titusville, Pennsylvania.
• December 2: Early Newhall resident Leonardo Cesena born in Spain or Italy.

1860

• April 7: Los Angeles Star (newspaper) reports string of Army wagons from Fort Tejon traversing Newhall Pass.
• May 24: Colonel Thomas F. Mitchell arrives in Soledad Canyon.

1861

• May 7: Andres Pico and partners granted state franchise to build toll road and cut 50-foot-deep cleft through (Newhall) Pass; they failed; Beale later succeeded.
• June 7: Army officer in San Francisco informs Fort Tejon's commanding officer that the fort, est. 1854, is to close and its garrison transfered to Los Angeles.
• June 28: Incorporation of Central Pacific Railroad.
• October 9: Pioneer Acton rancher & stonecutter George Blum born in Switzerland.
• U.S. Army Camel Corps discontinued.
• Ygnacio del Valle takes up permanent residence at Rancho Camulos, expands hacienda.
• James O'Reilly starts mining in Soledad Canyon.

1861-1865

• Civil War

1862

• January 18: Torrential rainfall washes out cement-walled road through Newhall Pass (future Beale's Cut).
• February 18: South side of cement-walled road through Newhall Pass (future Beale's Cut) repaired after torrential rainfall.
• February 24: North side of cement-walled road through Newhall Pass (future Beale's Cut) repaired after torrential rainfall.
• April 21: C.H. Brinley assigns management of his Soledad Canyon copper mining claim to prominent L.A. entrepreneur Abel Stearns.
• Three-year drought begins, ruining cattle industry.

1862-1864

• General Andres Pico improves road through (Newhall) Pass.

1863

• April 26: Explosion of Phineas Banning's boat in San Pedro harbor, killing Banning's brother-in-law W.T.B. Sanford, who had helped dig first cut through Newhall Pass in 1850s.
• August 30: State Sen. James Russell Vineyard, one of trio (w/ A. Pico) hired to cut road through (Newhall) pass, dies in Los Angeles without doing it.
• September 19: Gen. Edward F. Beale loans $2,000 to A.A. Hudson and Oliver P. Robbins to erect toll house in Newhall Pass.
• December 23: Beale having completed his initial construction contract, Board of Superivsors orders him to keep cutting down the Newhall Pass road to a 20 percent grade.

1864

• Private James Gorman establishes community of Gorman.
• Benjamin Silliman publishes "Rivers of Oil."
• January 11: Henry Mayo Newhall completes rail line between San Francisco and San Jose.
• March 5: Enrique R. Ruiz born; Died with wife and children in St. Francis Dam disaster.
• March 5: Los Angeles Star reports that the Board of Supervisors has accepted Gen. Beale's cut through Newhall Pass as finished.
• July 24: Walker/Reynier family patriarch Jean Joseph Reynier, then 15, arrives in Sand Canyon from France; eventually homesteads 1,200 acres.
• September 11: Fort Tejon abandoned.
• December 6: Actor William S. Hart born in Newburgh, New York.

1865

• March 18: Rancho San Francisco deeded to Thomas R. Bard, agent for Thomas A. Scott's Philadelphia and California Petroleum Company.
• April 29: Rancho San Francisco deeded to Robert H. Gratz.
• May 22: Discoverer Ramon Perea and partner sell Pico Canyon oil claim to Edward Beale & Robert Baker for $300.
• June 24: San Fernando Petroleum Mining District formed by Edward F. Beale, Andres Pico, Vincent Gelcich and others, who then form the first Star Oil Company.
• August 7: Beale, Pico & partners buy up old oil claims in Pico Canyon.

1867

• January 18: Tiburcio Vasquez begins serving 4-year prison sentence for grand larceny in Sonoma County.
• July 4: Stephen T. Mather, founder of National Park Service who made fortune at Sterling Borax Works in SCV's Tick Canyon, born in San Francisco.
• September 4: Harald Sandberg born in Norway; built Sandberg's Summit Hotel on the Ridge Route.

1868

• June 12: Ravenna post office established in Soledad Canyon.

1869

• January 8: Sanford Lyon, Henry Wiley and William Jenkins begin drilling the first oil well in Pico Canyon.
• April 30: Rancho San Francisco deeded to Philadelphia & California Petroleum Co.
• July 2: Sanford Lyon (as in Lyons Avenue) appointed postmaster of Petropolis (today's Eternal Valley Cemetery) [link].
• July 30: The Del Valle family's then-1,340 acre Rancho Camulos is legally separated (partitioned) from the Rancho San Francisco land grant.
• September 15: '49er patriarch J.B. Arcan of Bennett-Arcan party dies at Santa Cruz, Calif., age 56.

1870

• February 15: Toll road through Soledad Canyon becomes public highway.
• March 31: George Gleason, Henry Colson, George J. Clarke apply for patent on gold lode in Soledad Canyon.
• June 14: Tiburcio Vasquez released from prison in Sonoma County.
• July 26: Armantha Thibaudeau, community leader during early 20th Century and co-founder of chamber of commerce, born in Kentucky [link].

1871

• Outlaw Tiburcio Vasquez establishes hideout at Vasquez Rocks.
• Spring: John Lang arrives in Soledad Canyon.
• August 12: Elizabeth Lake School District established.

1872

• March 26, 2:30 a.m.: Major earthquake at Owens Valley; 27 people killed in Lone Pine, 23 of them immediately (Likes-Day 1975:32).
• September 16: Sulphur Springs School District established by Mitchells and Langs.

1873

• August 26: Vasquez gang raids Tres Pinos (San Benito Co.); hotelier is killed, for which Vasquez later hangs.
• October 15: Soledad Judicial District formed; J.H. Turner elected Justice of the Peace.
• October 20: Santa Barbara lawyers Charles Fernald and Jarrett ("J.T.") Richards purchase Rancho San Francisco for $33,000 (75 cents an acre) in a sheriff's sale.
• November: Oil driller Charles Alexander Mentry arrives in San Francisco.
• December 26: Vasquez gang raids Kingston (now Kings Co.); ties up townspeople, makes off with $2,500 in cash and jewels.

1874

• April 8: (Unsuccessful) oil refining operation established at Lyon's Station; predecessor to Pioneer Oil Refinery on Pine Street.
• April 15: Tiburcio Vasquez gang pulls off Repetto Ranch raid.
• April 20: First train out of L.A. to reach new town of San Fernando; Newhall 2 years later.
• May 11: Outlaw Tiburcio Vasquez pens love poem to "La Señorita E.G."
• May 14: Outlaw Tiburcio Vasquez captured in Hollywood Hills.

1875

• January 5: Tiburcio Vasquez murder trial opens in San Jose.
• January 10: Jury finds Tiburcio Vasquez guilty of murder, recommends death.
• January 15: Henry Mayo Newhall purchases Rancho San Francisco in a sheriff's sale.
• February 20: H.M. Newhall's deed to the Rancho San Francisco recorded in Book 36, Page 102 of Deeds.
• March 19, 1:35 p.m.: Outlaw Tiburcio Vasquez hanged in San Jose.
• March 22: Construction begins on San Fernando Railroad Tunnel.
• May 8: John F. Powell, an Irish immigrant, becomes Justice of the Peace.
• July 15: Soledad Canyon homesteader John Lang and 2 cohorts kill 1,600-pound grizzly bear [link]. The rest is legend.
• August 14: Charles Alexander Mentry begins drilling for oil in Pico Canyon.
• August 15: Birth of matriarch Rosaria P. Ruiz; killed in St. Francis Dam disaster.
• September 6: John W. Mitchell born to Canyon Country pioneers Thomas & Martha Mitchell; buried in Mitchell Cemetery.
• November 25: Outlaw Clodoveo Chavez killed by bounty hunters in Arizona Territory.

1876

• January 26: L.A. Evening Express reports that Pico Canyon oil is "unsurpassed in quality."
• February 14: Gen. Andres Pico dies at his home at 203 Main St., Los Angeles.
• June 16: Demetrius G. Scofield forms California Star Oil Works, hires driller Charles Alexander Mentry [link].
• July 14: Construction completed on 6,940-foot long San Fernando Tunnel. First train through a month later.
• July 27: Chas. Crocker announces completion of Tunnel No. 19 in Soledad Canyon at 223 feet — last tunnel to complete rail line from L.A. to S.F.
• August 1: Pioneer Oil Refinery established at Andrew's Station.
• August 12: First train through San Fernando Tunnel into Newhall.
• September 5: Southern Pacific president Charles Crocker drives "golden spike" at Lang Station, linking Los Angeles with San Francisco.
• September 6: Newhall Train Station opens at Bouquet Junction (moves in 1878).
• September 26: Pico (CSO) Number 4 erupts, becomes first commercially productive oil well in the American West.
• October 13: Town of Newhall founded at Bouquet Junction.
• October 18: Southern Pacific begins subdividing town of Newhall.

1877

• January 16: Newhall post office established at original town site; George Campton, postmaster.
• May 10: Newhall School District formed, upon petition of J.F. Powell and 47 others [link].
• June 26: Noted San Francisco photographer Carleton Watkins photographs Pico Canyon oil works.

1878

• Newhall school children taught in a bunk house on the Lyon Ranch.
• John Howe appointed first constable of the Soledad Judicial District (followed by Joseph Leighton).
• William W. Jenkins settles at the Lazy Z Ranch in Castaic, initiates range war.
• February: Henry M. Newhall starts construction on the Southern Hotel at Market Street and Railroad Avenue.
• January 15: Downtown Newhall begins move from Bouquet Junction to current location.
• January 16: Actor and Saugus rancher Harry Carey (Sr.) born in The Bronx.
• February 16: Downtown Newhall completes move from Bouquet Junction to current location.
• August 24: Post office established at Lake Hughes.

1879

• February 12: Mint Canyon School District organized. (Merged into Sulphur Springs Union in 1944.) ([link).
• April 17: Prohibitionist Henry Clay Needham marries Lillie Florence Taylor in Kansas.
• May 7: California voters ratify second (current) California Constitution [link].
• August 19: Newhall civic leader Charles Henry Kingsburry born in Missouri.
• September 10: Demetrius G. Scofield incorporates Pacific Coast Oil Company, forerunner of Standard Oil Company of California.
• September 17: Newhall School erected.
• November 8: King Baggot, director of William S. Hart film, "Tumbleweeds" (1925), born in St. Louis, Mo.

1880

• January 6: Actor Tom Mix born in Mix Run, Penn.
• January 29: Comedian W.C. Fields born in Pennsylvania; lived briefly in Newhall.
• February 24: Prolific early Placerita Canyon film director J.P. McGowan born in Australia.
• March 21: First Western film star, Gilbert A. "Broncho Billy" Anderson, born in Little Rock, Ark.
• March 30: Ygnacio del Valle dies.
• April 19: "Pico Oil Spring Mine Section Two" patented by Robert F. Baker and E.F. Beale.

1881

• "Little White School" erected in Acton.

1882

• Pacific Coast Oil Company builds warehouse and office north of the Newhall Train Station.
• January 23: Helen Hunt Jackson arrives at Rancho Camulos, interviews Blanca Yndart for "Ramona."
• March 3: George Campton's Newhall general store explodes.
• March 13: Henry Mayo Newhall dies in the city of San Francisco following a riding accident at Rancho San Francisco (SCV).
• November 30: (Pre-)Newhall pioneer Sanford Lyon dies.

1883

• June 1: Heirs of Henry Mayo Newhall incorporate The Newhall Land and Farming Company.
• July 5: Margaret Jane (White) Newhall, widow of H.M. Newhall, deeds Rancho San Francisco (SCV) to The Newhall Land and Farming Co.
• September 12: One worker killed, 4 injured while erecting 20,000-bbl oil storage tank at Mentryville in Pico Canyon.

1884

• May 2: Brothers McCoy and Everette Pyle discover Tataviam Indian artifacts in Bowers Cave.
• July 13: Hardison & Stewart (who later formed Union Oil Co.) start drilling Star No. 1 oil well in Pico Canyon.
• September 14: Clarence A. Austin, founder and developer of Lake Hughes, born in New Haven, Conn.

1885

• October: Felton School District established in Mentryville.
• October 11: Birth of Hortense Reynier, future bride of Placerita Canyon pioneer Frank Walker.
• November 13: Second-generation San Francisquito Canyon resident Louis Raggio born in Saugus.

1886

• Sulphur Springs School erected.
• February 12: Placerita Canyon pioneer landowner Frank Walker born in Springfield, Ill.
• March 23: Film director Robert N. Bradbury born in Walla Walla, Wash.
• April 27: Legend is born: Article published in San Francisco Chronicle points out connection between Rancho Camulos and H.H. Jackson novel "Ramona."
• May 30: Farmer Joe Gottardi born in Italy; lost wife and five children in 1928 St. Francis Dam Disaster.
• August 28: Peter Mentre, 77, father of Pico oil driller C.A. Mentry, disappears, never to be seen again — until his bones turn up 12 years later.

1887

• February 8: Southern Pacific establishes Saugus station and begins passenger service to Santa Paula. There was no Saugus depot at this time. Click here for an explanation.
• September 1: Town of Saugus founded at SP's Saugus Junction.
• September 1: Castaic Train Station dedicated.
• October 11: Richard E. Nickel, "Father of Acton," arrives from Kansas.
• November 22: Vaudevillian Charles Mack born in Kansas; lived in Newhall.
• December 3: Prohibitionist Henry Clay Needham and others purchase Lyon's Station & surroundings; establish St. John Subdivision as a "dry" colony.

1888

• Pioneer Oil Refinery closed.
• January 24: Acton post office established; Richard E. Nickel, postmaster.
• April 28: First meeting of Union Religious & Moral Society of Acton, predecessor of Acton Community Presbyterian Church.
• May 28: Olympian Jim Thorpe, "America's greatest athlete," born in Indian Territory (probably near Prague, Okla.); later in life, appeared in many B-Westerns shot in Placerita Canyon.
• June 17: Reverend F.W. Pattee forms the Acton Community (Presbyterian) Church; services in the Little White School.
• June 21: Newly completed SPRR Saugus Depot opens [link].
• August 5: Bibles donated for new Sunday school held in Acton's first schoolhouse.
• August 14: SP Lang Station Burns Down.
• August 15: New organ played by minister's wife (Mrs. Pattee) and school teacher Mattie Adams in Acton's first schoolhouse/church.
• October 7: First sermon from Rev. John Robbins at Acton Community Presbyterian Church; served until 1916.
• October 23: Southern Hotel in Newhall burns to the ground.

1889

• March 25: Castaic School District established.

1890

• Newhall School burns to the ground for the first time.
• Soledad School erected in Acton.
• Wallace Hardison and Lyman Stewart found Union Oil Company in Santa Paula.
• February 28: Killing of Dolores Cook and George Walton by William Chormicle and W.A. Gardener.
• March 10: Castaic landowner William Chormicle hunted down and arrested for double murder.
• March 11: Castaic landowner William Chormicle brought to L.A. to stand trial for double murder.
• March 28: Jury selection starts in murder trial of W.C. Chormicle and W.A. Gardner.
• June 17: Eighteen-day murder trial of W.C. Chormicle and W.A. Gardner ends in acquittal.
• June 18: Second, untried murder charge against W.C. Chormicle and W.A. Gardner is dismissed.
• July 13: Gen. John C. Fremont dies in New York City.
• November 24: Harriet Melrose Farmer murdered in Mint Canyon.
• November 26: Gov. Robert W. Waterman offers $300 reward for capture of suspect in Hattie Farmer's murder.
• December 5: San Francisquito Canyon ranch granted to Frank LeBrun.

1891

• April 22: '49er patriarch Asahel Bennett of Bennett-Arcan party dies in Idaho Falls, Idaho, probably 84.
• April 24: President Benjamin Harrison passes through SCV (without stopping) [link].
• May 31: Reverend F.D. Seward forms the First Presbyterian Church in Newhall.
• July 15: Richard E. Nickel first publishes The Acton Rooster newspaper.
• August 5: Post office established at Saugus depot; renamed Surrey in 1906.
• August 22: Future First Lady Lou Henry (Hoover) poses for photograph at R.E. Nickel's Acton store.
• November 2: Richard E. Nickel founds Acton Water Works.
• November 6: Movie producer Trem Carr born in Trenton, Ill.
• December 12: Actor Buck Jones, a Placerita Canyon and Vasquez Rocks "regular," born in Vincennes, Ind.

1892

• April 8: Actress Mary Pickford born in Toronto; starred in "Ramona" (1910), shot at Rancho Camulos.
• August 6: Western actor and Saugus rodeo owner Hoot Gibson born in Nebraska.
• September 2: Placerita movie ranch owner E.R. "Ernie" Hickson born in Ohio.
• October 27: Birth of Robert E. Callahan, owner of Mission Village in L.A. and Old West Trading Post on Sierra Highway.
• December 8: Trick roper Sam J. Garrett born in Oklahoma; established Circle G Ranch in Sand Canyon in 1940s.
• December 20: Benjamin Harrison establishes 555,520-acre San Gabriel Timberland Reserve (Angeles National Forest). First forest reserve in California, second in U.S.

1893

• Constable Ed Pardee purchases Good Templars Lodge, moves it to Walnut and Market streets.
• April 4: Major earthquake centered in Pico Canyon.
• April 22: Surveyor Edward F. Beale dies in Washington, D.C.

1894

• February 1: Film director John Ford born in Maine.
• July 15: Actor & police officer Thornton Edwards, hero of the St. Francis Dam Disaster, born in Maine.
• September 15: Post office established at Castaic Junction; abandoned in August 1895. (See 1917.)

1895

• June 10: Academy Award winner Hattie McDaniel (Mammy, "Gone with the Wind") born in Wichita, Kans.; entertained in Val Verde.
• July 21: Western actor Ken Maynard born in Indiana.
• October 4: Actor Buster Keaton born (as Joseph Frank Keaton VI) in Kansas.
• November 9: Controversial lawmaker/developer/racetrack owner/water purveyor William G. "Bill" Bonelli born in Kingman, Ariz.
• November 29: Stuntman & SCV resident Enos Edward "Yakima" Canutt born in Colfax, Wash.

1896

• January 31: Actress Olive Fuller (Golden) Carey, wife of Harry Carey Sr., born in New York City.
• February 26: Enid Markey, Hart's occasional leading lady, born in Dillon, Colo.

1897

• February 12: Hart leading lady Vola Vale ("The Silent Man," "Wolves of the Rail," "White Oak") born in Rochester, N.Y.
• April 24: Fillmore constable McCoy Pyle, who discovered important Tataviam artifacts in 1884, murdered in Castaic while pursuing robber [link]

1898

• Spanish-American War.
• Construction of the "Big House" in Mentryville completed - maybe. Maybe 1889.
• May 10: Flossie A. Melrose becomes postmistress at Acton.
• July 23: Placerita oil field (Confusion Hill) con man Milfred R. Yant born in Alger, Ohio.
• October 22: Birth of Mary S. Ruiz, eldest child of Enrique & Rosaria Ruiz of San Francisquito Canyon; all died in 1928 dam disaster.
• October 25: Newhall pioneer Henry Clay Wiley (Wiley Canyon) dies in Los Angeles [link].
• November 11: First deed to Vasquez Rocks recorded, to Bertha Wilkens (160 acres).

1899

• January 4: Acton gold mine owner Henry Tifft Gage sworn in as California's 20th governor.
• January 18: Martin and Richard Wood purchase Tolfree's Eating House and change its name to the Saugus Cafe.
• November 9: Actress Winifred Westover born in San Francisco; estranged wife of William S. Hart & mother of his son.

1900

• January 8: Lifelong SCV resident Harry S. Chacanaca born.
• June 30: Oil man Darius Towsley dies.
• July 1: Frew blacksmith shop established on Spruce Street (present-day Main Street); took over existing building from prior owner.
• July 12: The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Co. establishes the Newhall telephone exchange. SCV gets its first telephone. The second was installed in 1911.
• August 25: New Century Well No. 1 gushes white oil in Placerita Canyon (second productive white oil well).
• October 4: Pioneer oil driller Charles Alexander Mentry succumbs to typhoid fever at California Hospital in Los Angeles.
• December 13: Automobile Club of Southern California founded.

1901

• August 7: Giant meteor seen over SCV skies; possibly makes landfall in Bouquet-Texas canyon area.
• December 5: Movie producer Walt Disney born in Chicago.

1902

• December 16: Beale's camel driver, Hi Jolly, dies at Quartzsite, Ariz.

1903

• January 20: Crown Valley Feud ends as Acton's William Broome is shot down by W.H. "Rosy" Melrose.
• February 5: '49er diarist William Lewis Manly dies in San Jose.
• May 4: President Theodore Roosevelt stops at the Saugus Train Station, Saugus Cafe and Acton Hotel.
• July 17: Crown Valley Feud: Jury exonerates W.H. "Rosy" Melrose in Jan. 20 death of William Broome.
• August 9: Western actor Tom Tyler born (as Vincent Markowski) in Port Henry, N.Y.
• August 23: Actor and Sand Canyon resort owner Horace Truman "Ace" Cain born in Chicksaw Nation, Okla.

1904

• August 21: Bandleader Count Basie born in New Jersey; performs "April in Paris" in Acton/Agua Dulce desert in Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles."
• September 1: Western actor Johnny Mack Brown born in Alabama.
• September 5: St. Francis Dam builder William Mulholland and Fred Eaton dine at Saugus Cafe.

1905

• Saugus Cafe moves out of the Saugus Train Station and across the street.
• February 27: "Ramona" play first performed (at Mason Opera House, Los Angeles); original version runs 5 hours.
• May 31: Native American Lydia Victoria (Cooke) Manriquez born in Castaic.
• August 10: Death of Canyon Country matriarch Martha Taylor Mitchell.
• December 22: County buys property to build Newhall Jail (now next to city's Old Town Newhall Library).

1906

• January 31: L.A. County records deed to property it swaps with station agent James Gifford to build (Old) Newhall Jail.
• February 20: L.A. County accepts Mr. H.C. Register's bid to build (Old) Newhall Jail for $2,237.
• April 25: Bercaw General Store opens in Surrey (Saugus).
• April 26: Bobby Batugo, World Champion Mixologist in the 1970s, born in The Philippines.
• May 7: James Bernard "Bud" Keysor, founder of Keysor-Century Records, born in Salt Lake City.
• June 11: Congress passes Forest Homestead Act, allowing homesteading on farmable forest lands.
• October 4: Standard Oil Company of California formed, Demetrius G. Scofield, president.

1907

• K-8 Saugus School erected.
• January 23: Western actor Bob Steele born (as Robert Adrian Bradbury) in Portland, Ore.
• May 26: Western actor John Wayne born (as Marion Robert Morrison) in Winterset, Iowa.
• September 20: Construction starts in San Francisquito Canyon on south end of Elizabeth Tunnel section of L.A. Aqueduct.
• September 29: Actor and movie ranch owner Gene Autry born in Texas.
• November 1: Construction starts on north end of Elizabeth Tunnel section of L.A. Aqueduct.
• December 29: Mark T. Gates Sr., founder of Eternal Valley Cemetery, born in Nebraska.

1908

• February 17: Sterling Borax Co. incorporates in Las Vegas, issues $2 million in capital stock; mines borates in Tick Canyon.
• November 12: Saugus School District formed from sections of Newhall and Castaic school districts.

1909

• January 4: Deputy Constable Charles A. De Moranville shot to death after responding to a Newhall bar fight.
• April 10: Oil Pioneer Wallace L. Hardison killed in collision with train [link].

1910

• Horseshoe Ranch house built (later owned by William S. Hart).
• April 1-2: D.W. Griffith shoots film "Ramona" with Mary Pickford at Rancho Camulos.
• May 23: D.W. Griffith film "Ramona" released; shot at Rancho Camulos.
• June 10: Trick roper Montie Montana of Agua Dulce born (as Owen Harlan Mickel) in Wolf Point, Mont.
• July 16: Lifelong Newhall resident and community volunteer Gladys Laney born to local movers & shakers Bert and Armantha Thibaudeau.
• December 21: Newhall (Auto) Tunnel opens; cut away in 1938 for Sierra Highway expansion.

1912

• February 12: Birth of Piru museum owner Harry Hazzard Lechler.

1913

• March 8: Castaic Range War: Chromicle ally Billy Rose shoots, wounds landowner William W. Jenkins.
• November 5: Grand opening of Mulholland's L.A. Aqueduct as the first water arrives from Owens Valley.

1914

• Newhall School burns to the ground for the second time.
• Albert Swall establishes the Swall Hotel on Spruce Street; other businesses follow his lead.
• January 21: Newhall lawman Ed Pardee dies at 62.
• January 21: Signal newspaper owner Scott Newhall born in San Francisco.
• July 5: Rev. Wolcott H. Evans named pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Newhall.
• September 13: Early Pico Canyon oil financier & school namesake Charles N. Felton dies in Menlo Park.

1915

• January 17: First Catholic parish mission church dedicated in Newhall.
• January 19: Dry goods merchant and hotelier Albert Swall is appointed Newhall postmaster.
• January 21: Stephen T. Mather, who made fortune at Sterling Borax Works in SCV's Tick Canyon, named assistant to U.S. Interior Secretary; starts National Park Service.
• January 25: Early Pico oilman & San Francisquito vintner Ramon Perea dies.
• April 21: Actor Anthony Quinn born in Chihuahua, Mexico; starred in "Man from Del Rio" shot at Melody Ranch.
• June 15: Construction begins on the Ridge Route.
• July 1: Town of Castaic founded.
• October 12: Name of Surrey post office changed to "Saugus".
• October 17: U.S. release of William S. Hart film, "The Disciple."

1916

• March 1: Newhall County Library established inside Robert F. and Christine Woodard's ice cream parlor; Christine Woodard, custodian (librarian), salary: $5 per year. Library later moves to Hardison and Stewart building, then the Swall Hotel.
• March 5: U.S. release of William S. Hart film, "Hell's Hinges."
• May 6: Val Verde leader Miriam Canty born in Georgia.
• June 14: Jesse Doty buys White Star Garage; later renames it Doty's Garage and becomes Newhall's first Ford dealer.
• June 25: Triangle Film Corp. release of "The Apostle of Vengeance" starring William S. Hart.
• August 25: Woodrow Wilson signs act creating National Park Service; its first director is Stephen T. Mather, who had made his fortune with the borax mine in Tick Canyon [link].
• August 29: Actor George Montgomery, 1991 Newhall Walk of Western Stars honoree, born in Montana.
• October 15: U.S. release of William S. Hart film, "The Return of Draw Egan."
• November 17: Newhall Parent Teacher Association (PTA) organized.
• November 26: A score of Wobblies bust up Newhall Jail after commandeering SP freight train.

1917

• March 1: Country music producer Cliffie Stone born in Stockton.
• April 3: Castaic post office established inside Sam Parson's general store.
• August 23: Future Western recording artist & Newhall resident Tex Williams born in Illinois.
• August 27: U.S. release of John Ford film "Straight Shooting," partially shot in SCV.
• December 30: U.S. release of William S. Hart film, "The Narrow Trail."

1918

• February 1: U.S. release of William S. Hart film, "Blue Blazes Rawden."
• April 1: U.S. release of William S. Hart film, "The Tiger Man."
• September 19: County supervisor Warren Dorn born in Pasadena.
• October 3: Box-office superstar William S. Hart promotes 4th series of Liberty Loan (World War I) bonds, which went on sale Sept. 28 [link].

1919

• February 7: Edward H. Brown first publishes the weekly Newhall Signal newspaper, $2 a year.
• March 18: Fire destroyes now-abandoned second Southern Hotel, built 1878 as an outbuilding to the first Southern Hotel [link].
• April 20: "The Money Corral" (a motion picture) starring William S. Hart premieres at the Rialto Theater on Broadway.
• June 27: Vasquez Rocks homestead deeded to Henry Krieg [link].
• July 7: Mike Shuman, Placerita Junior High School principal, born in Fitchburg, Mass.
• August 9: Charles Kingsburry (Kingsburry House at Heritage Junction) arrives in Newhall to work on Power House No. 1 construction in San Francisquito Canyon [link].

1920

• April 15: U.S. release of William S. Hart film, "The Toll Gate."
• May 11: Warrant issued for actor Tom Mix to appear in Newhall Judge J.F. Powell's courtroom on reckless driving charge.
• May 11: Actor Denver Pyle born in Colorado; played Uncle Jesse on "The Dukes of Hazzard," shot in SCV.
• May 12: Judge John F. Powell fines actor Tom Mix $50 for reckless driving in Newhall.
• August 17: Actress Maureen O'Hara born in Ireland; 1961 "Parent Trap" partially shot at Disney's Golden Oak Ranch.
• September 1: Movie stuntman Richard Farnsworth, 2000 Newhall Walk of Western Stars inductee, born in Los Angeles.
• September 19: U.S. release of William S. Hart film, "The Cradle of Courage."
• December 31: Singer-actor Rex Allen, Newhall Walk of Western Stars inductee (1982), born in Arizona.

1921

• January 15: Construction starts on Lebec Hotel, aka Hotel Durant.
• February 5: William S. Hart purchases the Horseshoe Ranch in Newhall from Babcock Smith [link].
• April 15: Hollywood stuntman Jack Williams, of Agua Dulce, born in Butte, Montana.
• May 16: Western character actor Harry Carey Jr. (aka Dobe) born at his parents' ranch in Saugus.
• May 21: Grand opening of Lebec Hotel, aka Hotel Durant.
• June 30: Juan José Fustero dies at Rancho Camulos.
• August 16: Lyman Curtis and Lillian Dorsett marry in Bakersfield and live below St. Francis Dam; Lyman and daughters Marjorie and Mazie die dam disaster.
• August 18: Los Angeles City High School District absorbs Newhall, Saugus and Castaic for grades 9-12. Students attend San Fernando High. (SCV approved for separate high school district in 1945.) [link].
• December 7: William S. Hart marries actress Winifred Westover.

1922

• March 24: Wyatt Earp's wife thanks William S. Hart for defending her husband's honor.
• May 10: The date William S. Hart considered his formal separation from Winifred Westover.
• September 6: William S. Hart Jr. born to actors William S. Hart and Winifred Westover (Hart).
• September 28: Farmer Mike Yurosek, founder of Bunny-Luv carrots, born in Burbank.
• November 5: U.S. release of Fox film, "Tom Mix in Arabia," shot in Newhall.
• December 11: Jenks Harris gang robs Piru bank, kidnaps banker and daughter [link].

1923

• Newhall County Library moves into its own small building.
• January 8: Port C. Miller becomes Justice of the Peace.
• February 12: Onetime Benny Goodman pianist & Pulitzer prize-winning composer Mel Powell, founding dean of CalArts Music School, born in New York.
• February 21: Newhall Chamber of Commerce Organized. Albert Swall elected president.
• February 26: U.S. release of Charles Chaplin film "The Pilgrim," partially shot in SCV [link].
• March 25: U.S. release of John Ford film "3 Jumps Ahead" starring Tom Mix, shot in SCV [link].
• March 28: Lawman Jack Pilcher and rodeo owner Bob Anderson added to Newhall Chamber of Commerce board.
• March 30: Newhall Chamber of Commerce forms committees to attract new residents and pursue sidewalks for the boulevard.
• April 25: Newhall Chamber of Commerce votes to ask So. Cal. Edison to provide electricity to Happy Valley.
• May 9: Newhall Chamber board appoints J.R. Moore to allocate and maintain the town's fire extinguishers.
• May 26: Actor James Arness ("Gunsmoke") born in Minneapolis.
• June 1: Construction begins on new First Presbyterian Church in Newhall.
• June 5: Valencia resident & Western leading lady Peggy Stewart born in Palm Beach, Fla.
• July 2: Realtor-engineer-pilot Harry Bell, 2011 SCV Man of the Year, born in Freeland, Saginaw County, Mich.
• July 11: Newhall property owners start circulating petition calling on county to make street improvements.
• September 22: Newhall Chamber of Commerce organizes community cleanup day [link].
• October 10: Newhall merchants debate taxing themselves for county to pave Spruce (Main) Street; state does it three years later.
• October 31: Newhall Chamber of Commerce petitions state to pave Spruce Street (now Main); it happens three years later.
• November 16: Ella Carey (aka Cappy) born to actors Harry and Olive Carey at their ranch in Saugus. Younger sister to Harry Carey Jr.

1924

• January 16: Actress Katy Jurado born in Guadalajara, Mexico; starred in films shot at Melody Ranch.
• March 31: Death of Rev. John Robbins, preacher at Acton Community Presbyterian Church from 1888-1916.
• June 4: Actor Dennis Weaver (Gunsmoke, Duel) born in Joplin, Missouri.
• July 19: Sherman Block, L.A. County's 29th Sheriff (1982-1998), born in Chicago.
• August 28: U.S. premiere of John Ford film "The Iron Horse," partially shot in SCV.
• August 28: Ex-Governor and Acton gold mine owner Henry Tifft Gage dies.
• August 10: Reginaldo del Valle sells Rancho Camulos.
• September 14: Saugus Deputy Constable Ed Brown Killed in Shootout with Gus Le Brun.
• November 12: Baby Nicolene born to 1922-39 Mentryville residents Milford & Mary Cheney.
• December 1: Construction work begins on St. Francis Dam (source: L.A. Times, 7-25-1926).

1925

• March 9: A.B. Perkins becomes Justice of the Peace.
• March 9: Workers begin pouring concrete for St. Francis Dam (source: Van Nuys News, 3-16-1926).
• March 11: U.S. release of Buster Keaton film, "Seven Chances," partially shot in SCV.
• June 4: Newhall Constable Jack Pilcher killed in the line of duty in handgun accident.
• June 14: Rebuilt First Presbyterian Church dedicated in Newhall.
• June 18: Newhall lawman Jack Pilcher buried.
• July 3: Wyatt Earp implores his friend William S. Hart to portray him in a movie, to correct the "lies about me." Hart never did.
• July 16: Actor Harry Carey files patent on the original 160-acre homestead he'd purchased in 1916.
• August 17: Newhall School Board announces meeting to determine fate of 3rd consecutive Newhall School at Lyons & Kansas Street (it was cut up and turned into homes) [link].
• December 20: New York premiere of William S. Hart's final film, "Tumbleweeds."
• December 27: Full U.S. release of William S. Hart's final film, "Tumbleweeds."
• December 29: Retired Judge John F. Powell dies at home in Newhall.

1926

• January 16: Newhall Community Hospital, est. 1922, opens in larger, more modern hospital building at 6th & Spruce streets.
• March 1: The first Owens Valley water arrives at the St. Francis Dam.
• April 11: Annual Saugus rodeo (Baker Ranch Rodeo).
• April 18: Release of Pathe's "The Seventh Bandit" starring Saugus resident Harry Carey. Lost film.
• May 4: Construction of St. Francis Dam completed.
• June 1: Dr. Peters opens offices which become the Newhall Community Hospital.
• June 28: Film director Mel Brooks born in Brooklyn; shot "Blazing Saddles" at Vasquez Rocks and "Robin Hood: Men In Tights" in Sand Canyon.
• July 12: Hart tells L.A. architect Arthur Kelly he is "contemplating building a Spanish style home" in Newhall.
• July 27: Backwoods Inn restaurant owner Bob Ohler born in Lincoln, Neb.
• August 23: Sheriff's Substation No. 6 dedicated in Newhall.
• October 17: Newhall saloonkeeper Nick Rivera murdered; buried in Ruiz Cemetery.
• December 27: Actor-Director-Producer Jerome Courtland born in Knoxville, Tenn.; lived in SCV; co-produced Disney's 1977 made-in-SCV "Pete's Dragon."

1927

• Actor William S. Hart occupies his new Spanish-style mansion, La Loma de los Vientos, at the Horseshoe Ranch in Newhall.
• February 11: Actress Winifred Westover obtains divorce from William S. Hart on grounds of desertion.
• March 17: Newhall telephone exchange, est. 1900, now serves 100 phones.
• April 10: Snow day in SCV.
• May 1: First major competition at new Baker Ranch Rodeo (later Saugus Speedway). Overflow crowd more than fills 18,000-seat arena.
• May 1: Ed Toney born in Los Angeles; oversaw Valencia's initial layout and entitlements for Newhall Land.
• June 1: C.A. Mentry successor Walton Young retires from job as Standard Oil superintendent at Pico.
• October 26: Pilot ditches Pacific Air Transport mailplane in heavy fog over Castaic; parachutes to safety [link].

1928

• Newhall School moves from Newhall Avenue and Lyons to Eleventh and Walnut Streets.
• January 30: Early Newhall resident Leonardo Cesena dies; broke horses for Newhall Land.
• March 12, 11:57 p.m.: St. Francis Dam breaks, killing more than 450 in California's second-worst recorded disaster.
• March 15: William Mulholland and Harvey Van Norman inspect St. Francis Dam failure.
• March 24: Almer and George Newhall file report on damage to Newhall Land & Farming Co. property in the St. Francis Dam flood.
• March 29: Little dam victim (Trexler boy), supposedly unidentified & buried at Ruiz cemetery, actually identified and buried in Chatsworth.
• May 20: United Artists release of Edwin Carewe film version of "Ramona" starring Dolores Del Rio.
• July 1: L.A. City settles first death & disability claim arising from St. Francis Dam disaster.
• July 18: L.A. City makes first payment on death & disability claim arising from St. Francis Dam disaster.
• September 13: Caterer Eugene Burke, bank co-founder and local philanthropist, born in Amarillo, Texas (d. 2003).
• September 14: Phebe Lemon and Parker Shelby marry in Oklahoma; both become charter members of SCV Historical Society (est. 1975).
• December 1: St. Francis Dam builder William Mulholland officially retires from L.A. Bureau of Water Works and Supply [link].

1929

• January 7: Lawman Wyatt Earp pens last letter to friend William S. Hart; Earp dies 6 days later.
• March 13: Val Verde Rev. Samuel P. Dixon Jr. born in Toomsboro, Georgia.
• April 28: Annual Saugus rodeo (Baker Ranch Rodeo).
• July 15: Citizens' Restoration Committee issues report on death & disability claim arising from St. Francis Dam disaster.
• November 10: Great Saugus Train Robbery by "Buffalo" Tom Vernon.
• November 18: Aviator and state Senator William J. "Pete" Knight born in Noblesville, Ind.
• December 1: Saugus train robber "Buffalo" Tom Vernon apprehended in Pawnee, Okla.
• December 18: "Buffalo" Tom Vernon sentenced to life in prison for Saugus train derailment & robbery.

1930

• The refinery on Pine Street, used from 1876-88, is restored by Standard Oil Co. and rechristened the "Pioneer Oil Refinery."
• Roy Baker sells his rodeo arena in Saugus to actor Hoot Gibson; it would later become the Saugus Speedway.
• January 19: Actress and animal rights activist Tippi Hedren born in Minnesota.
• February 8: U.S. release of Hoot Gibson film, "The Mounted Stranger."
• March 9: Oak of the Golden Dream in Placerita Canyon dedicated.
• April 17: Telephone switchboard operator Louise Gipe, heroine of the 1928 St. Francis Dam disaster, tries & fails to kill herself over an unrequited love [link].
• April 27: Annual Saugus rodeo (Baker & Gibson).
• June 1: The A.B. Perkins and J.D. O'Brien families sell Newhall Water System to newly formed Newhall Water Co.
• November 5: Newly restored Pioneer Oil Refinery in Newhall dedicated to D.G. Scofield [link].

1931

• January 13: Stock car driver Ron Hornaday Sr. born in San Fernando; raced at Saugus Speedway.
• April 26: Annual Saugus rodeo (Hoot Gibson Ranch Rodeo).
• May 2: Future Santa Clarita city founder Jo Anne Darcy born in San Angelo, Texas [link].
• July 21: Baby Pauline born to 1922-39 Mentryville residents Milford & Mary Cheney.
• November 23: Fall Roundup held at Hoot Gibson's Saugus Rodeo.
• December 14: Season's first major storm deposits 9 inches of snow in Newhall, 10 in Saugus [link].

1932

• Felton School District in Mentryville disbanded.
• January 15: Harsh winter storm blankets L.A. basin in snow for first time in memory; snow day in SCV [link].
• January 29: Commercial plane crashes in Lebec snowstorm, all 8 killed; future Gen. "Hap" Arnold directs airborne search [link].
• May 1: Annual Saugus rodeo (Hoot Gibson Ranch Rodeo).
• May 30: Rotarian & community volunteer Jack Boyer born in Boise, Idaho.
• June 22: Larry Thornton, Hart High band director 1969-89, born in Kern County.
• July 4: First annual Fourth of July Parade in Newhall.
• July 21: SCV Historical Society leader Laura Mehterian born in Chicago.
• July 31: Death of pioneer Acton rancher & stonecutter George Blum.
• September 2: Actor Harry Carey's wood-framed house at Saugus ranch (now Tesoro del Valle) burns down when engine of water pump explodes.
• October 14: National Forest Inn on the Ridge Route burns down (note: not October 20).
• October 29: Highway 99 completed through Weldon Canyon, bypassing Ridge Route.

1933

• Los Angeles Department of Water and Power completes the Bouquet Reservoir, replacing the St. Francis Dam.
• April 25: Louis Brathwaite, Santa Clarita city formation leader and inaugural planning commissioner, born in New York City.
• August 27: Atholl McBean elected president of The Newhall Land and Farming Company.
• September 7: Birth of banker John Fuller, co-founder of Henry Mayo Hospital and VP of CalArts.
• November 20: Scott Newhall and Ruth Waldo marry in Reno; later own The Signal newspaper.

1934

• January 11: Vaudeville actor & Newhall resident Charles Mack dies in Arizona car crash.
• March 28: Bouquet Canyon Reservoir, replacement for ill-fated St. Francis Dam & reservoir, begins to fill with water [link].
• May 10: U.S. release of Robert N. Bradbury film "Blue Steel," shot in SCV.
• May 27: Annual Saugus rodeo (Hoot Gibson Ranch Rodeo).
• September 27: Newhall Walk of Stars inductee Wilford Brimley born in Salt Lake City.
• December 5: American Legion Post 507 (Newhall American Legion) chartered.
• December 20: Rev. Wolcott H. Evans, retired pastor of Newhall's First Presbyterian Church, dies in Vista, Calif.

1935

• March 6: Oak of the Golden Dream and Pioneer Oil Refinery listed as California Historical Landmarks.
• April 1: Love triangle ends when deputy's wife, Gladys Carter, fatally shoots Frances Walker of the Placerita Walkers.
• April 13: Gladys Carter convicted of manslaughter in fatal shooting of Frances Walker.
• April 28: Annual Saugus rodeo (Hoot Gibson Ranch Rodeo).
• July 22: St. Francis Dam builder William Mulholland dies in Los Angeles.
• August 2: Newhall deputy Archie Carter sentenced to 1 year in jail for contributing to the delinquency of a minor after his wife fatally shot his 20-year-old mistress (the age of majority was 21).
• September 27: Release of RKO's "Powdersmoke Range," shot in Newhall, starring Harry Carey, Tom Tyler, Bob Steele, Hoot Gibson, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams.
• November 14: Voters approve $22,000 construction bond to build a bigger Saugus School. (WPA kicked in another $17,181.)

1936

• February 5: New York premiere of Charles Chaplin film "Modern Times," partially shot in SCV.
• February 19: Ida Evans, widow of Newhall First Presbyterian Rev. Wolcott Evans, dies at 71 in Vista, Calif.
• February 25: Full U.S. release of Silent Era's last feature, "Modern Times" with Charles Chaplin, partially shot in SCV [link].
• February 21: Prohibitionist Henry Clay Needham dies in Newhall.
• April 15: William S. Hart testifies in a New York courtroom in his "Tumbleweeds" lawsuit against United Artists.
• December 14: Baby John born to Milford & Mary Cheney; probably last child born in Mentryville.
• December 23: Oil first struck on Newhall Land's SCV property.
• December 27: Passenger plane crash in Rice Canyon kills all 12 aboard (3 crew, 9 passengers).

1937

• January 12: Boeing 247 crashes at Santa Clara Divide; 2 dead, 11 injured.
• February 21: Actor Gary Lockwood ("2001: A Space Odyssey") born as John Gary Yurosek in Van Nuys; grew up in Newhall & attended Hart High.
• April 9: Pioneer aviator E.B. Christopher and passenger killed in crash of light plane on Ridge Route near Gorman.
• April 26: Annual Saugus rodeo (Hill).
• May 24: Death of Vasquez Rocks homesteader Henry Krieg.
• July 16: SCV historian Jerry Reynolds born in Torrance.

1938

• February 6: Fritz, William S. Hart's pinto gelding, dies at 30.
• March 2: Great Flood of 1938 causes massive destruction across the greater Los Angeles region.
• March 19: NFL-CFL quarterback Joe Kapp born in Santa Fe, New Mexico; graduated from Hart High.
• April 5: Proper gravestone placed under Lebec Oak at Tejon for Peter LaBeck (killed a century earlier, 10-17-1837).
• April 15: Birth of Skip Newhall, eldest son of Ruth & Scott Newhall (and gr-gr-grandson of Henry M. Newhall).
• April 23-24: Annual Saugus rodeo.
• May 16: Brand-new Lockheed transport plane crashes in Agua Dulce; all 9 perish including 2 infants.
• July 28: Newhall Tunnel cut away, replaced by Sierra Highway.
• August 4: Fred Trueblood Sr. becomes editor of Newhall Signal; stays at helm more than 20 years [link].
• September 9: Buck McKeon, Santa Clarita's first mayor, born in Tujunga/Los Angeles.
• October 9: Dedication of Calif. Historical Landmark No. 263 (Don Pedro Fages) in Lebec.
• December 5: Supervisors award construction contract for jail at Wayside Farms in Castaic (later called Pitchess Detention Center).

1939

• Auto racing starts at Bonelli Stadium in Saugus (later Saugus Speedway).
• February 14: Newhall School burns to the ground for the third time.
• February 15: Los Angeles premiere of John Ford's "Stagecoach"; approx. 7 seconds shot in SCV.
• March 2: Full U.S. release of John Ford's "Stagecoach"; approx. 7 seconds shot in SCV.
• July 9: Death of Harald Sandberg; built Sandberg's Summit Hotel on the Ridge Route.
• July 31: Recording artist, music promoter and longtime Sand Canyon resident Cliffie Stone marries singer Dorothy Darling in Hollywood.
• August 12: Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich born in Los Angeles.
• October 15: Second, Larger OLPH Catholic Church dedicated on site of first (10th & Walnut, Newhall).

1940

• Santa Clarita Valley's population reaches 4,000.
• January 10: Newhall School District residents vote 86-5 (five) for a $10,000 bond measure to rebuild and furnish Newhall School Auditorium, which burned down in 1939.
• April 23: William S. Hart swears out complaint against Newhall man, 20, who took pothots at his Great Dane, Prince.
• April 28: Annual Saugus rodeo (Bonelli Ranch Rodeo).
• May 10: K-8 Newhall School reopens after burning down 15 months earlier.
• July 23: 7,000-acre wildfire breaks out in Towsley Canyon, ruins 12 Pico oil wells [link].
• October 12: Actor Tom Mix dies at 60 in Arizona car crash.
• November 7: William S. Hart deeds land for theater at Spruce & 11th Street to American Legion.

1941

• March 18: Birth of twin gr-gr-grandsons of H.M. Newhall: Tony (Signal publisher), Jon (editor).
• April 26-27: Annual Saugus rodeo (Bonelli Ranch Rodeo).
• May 23: SCV's first real movie house, the American Theater, dedicated in Newhall.
• June 21: Ernie Hickson buys out Trem Carr's interest in their Monogram movie ranch, renames it "Placeritos" (later called Melody).
• September 16: Newhall School Auditorium dedicated.
• November 16: Rose (stagecoach) Station at bottom of Grapevine dedicated as California Historical Landmark [link].
• November 27: Funeral for "our" Remi Nadeau, whose Canyon Country deer park became North Oaks.
• December 8: Julius Dietzmann family of Castaic arrested as German enemy aliens [link].
• December 10: Three days after Pearl Harbor attack, 165th and 185th Infantry Regiments assigned to Saugus; Edison power substation guarded 24/7.

1942

• March 15: Emery M. Whilton's Florafaunium opens in Lebec [link].
• April 26: Annual Saugus rodeo (Bonelli Ranch Rodeo).
• June 30: Bonelli Stadium (Saugus Speedway) goes dark until after World War II.
• November 28: Actor & SCV regular Buck Jones dies in Boston's Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire.

1943

• January 7: Actor William S. Hart announces intent to bequeath Newhall estate to the public.
• January 31: 3 Army aviators killed in crash of plane and glider in Castaic area; 3 others saved by 9-year-old Marylynn Winkler.
• April 28: August Rubel, owner of Rancho Camulos, is killed when the ambulance he's driving apparently hits a German land mine in North Africa [link].
• June 30: Army Air Force pilot Loncie L. Tucker, on training run, dies when his P-38 fighter crashes at Wayside Honor Rancho (later Pichess Detention Center) in Castaic.
• October 1: Actor William S. Hart's sister and co-habitant in Newhall, Mary Ellen Hart, dies.

1944

• April 29: U.S. release of "Outlaw Trail" starring Hoot Gibson & Bob Steele; filmed at Monogram (Melody) Ranch.
• August 12: Newhall Refinery on Sierra Highway destroyed by fire. (It was rebuilt.)
• September 1: Sulphur Springs Union School District organized; union of original (1872) Sulphur Springs and (1879) Mint Canyon districts ([link])

1945

• January 13: State approves petition of Newhall, Saugus, Castaic, Mint Canyon and Sulphur Springs school districts to form Santa Clarita Union High School District, renamed for William S. Hart the following year.
• January 29: Local residents vote 1,184-7 to create Santa Clarita Union High School District, later named William S. Hart.
• March 9: Voters elect first 5-member governing board of the Santa Clarita Union High School District, renamed for Hart the following year.
• April 18: Actors Harry & Olive Carey sell Saugus ranch (deed recorded this date to John F. & Irene T. Blanchard); now Tesoro del Valle.
• April 28-29: William S. Hart leads Newhall Posse in Bonelli Ranch Rodeo; actor Harry Carey Sr. is grand marshal.
• June 2: Local residents vote 432-2 to pass $300,000 bond measure to build Santa Clarita High School, ultimately named for William S. Hart.
• June 18: PFC Johnny Cordova of Castaic killed in action on Okinawa [link].
• September 9: Bonelli Stadium (Saugus Speedway) holds first postwar auto race on the West Coast; Billy Vukovich wins.
• October 2: Cattle-rustling "Phantom of Vasquez Rocks" captured.
• October 19, shortly after 9 p.m.: Acton Hotel burns to the ground.

1946

• May 20: Cher, great-granddaughter of Placerita Canyon homesteader Frank Walker, born in El Centro, Calif.
• June 19: Community leader Bobbie (Nash) Trueblood arrives in Newhall.
• June 5: 81-year-old William S. Hart hospitalized; dies 2 1/2 weeks later.
• June 23, 11:20PM: William S. Hart, 81, dies at L.A.'s California Lutheran Hospital, leaving his Newhall home and 80-acre estate to the County of Los Angeles.
• June 26: Open-casket service for William S. Hart at his Newhall home; Rudy Vallee sings "The Last Round-up."
• July 4: Annual Fourth of July Parade returns to Newhall after four dark years.
• July 10: Fred Trueblood Jr., later Signal editor, marries British war bride Bobbie Nash (Trueblood).
• August 18: Movie producer Trem Carr dies in San Diego.
• September 8: William S. Hart High School dedicated.
• December 18: Producer-Director Steven Spielberg born in Cincinnati; made first feature film ("Duel") & parts of many others in SCV.
• December 25: Comedian W.C. Fields dies in Pasadena; lived briefly in Newhall.

1947

• Bill Bonelli's "Rancho Santa Clarita" in Saugus is SCV's first modern, postwar tract housing, and first official use of the "Santa Clarita" name.
• August 16: Newhall Hardware opens on Spruce Street.
• September 21: Actor and Saugus rancher Harry Carey (Sr.) dies.

1948

• April 24-25: Bonelli Ranch Rodeo.
• June 2: Laura Madeline Wagnon & Catherine McCaleb purchase Harry Carey Ranch from John & Irene Blanchard; sell it in 1950s to Cloughertys.
• September 23: Agua Dulce Women's Club organized.
• October 25: Valencia developer Thomas E. Dierckman, 2012 SCV Man of Year, born in Indiana.

1949

• January 10: Winter storm brings 6 inches of snow to Newhall; heaviest snowfall in San Bernardino in 67 years.
• February 17: Short-lived oil drilling operation on Newhall's Arcadia Street ends.
• June 13: Frank Walker deeds over the first 40 acres of Placerita Canyon State Park [link].
• June 16: First commencement exercises of the Santa Clarita Valley's first high school (Hart) [link].
• June 17: Dedication of H.M. Newhall Memorial Swimming Pool [link].
• June 22: Actress Lindsay Wagner born in L.A.; "Bionic Woman" filmed at COC & other SCV locations.
• July 7: Incorporation of Castaic Saddle Club; holds rodeos near future Castaic Lake (lower lagoon) [link].
• October 28: Fatal crash of light plane in Haskell Canyon sparks 3,500-acre brush fire [link].
• November 24: Film director Robert N. Bradbury dies.

1950

• February 27: Ex-Mrs. William S. Hart appears in court to challenge will that leaves Hart Park & Mansion to L.A. County.
• June 16: Dedication of H.M. Newhall Memorial Park [link].
• November 28: CalArts grad (BFA Theater '75) Ed Harris ("A Beautiful Mind," "Apollo 13," "Westworld") born in New Jersey.
• December 18: Groundbreaking for Hart High auditorium. [link].

1951

• July 24: Actress Lynda Carter born in Phoenix; "Wonder Woman" sometimes filmed in SCV.

1952

• Two oil wells come in on the same day at the Jenkins' Lazy Z Ranch in Castaic, making national headlines.
• From Ernie Hickson's widow, actor Gene Autry buys Western movie town in Placerita Canyon, renames it "Melody Ranch."
• January 22: Placerita movie ranch owner E.R. "Ernie" Hickson dies in Los Angeles.
• March 26: Prolific early Placerita Canyon film director J.P. McGowan dies in Hollywood at 72.
• July 21: 7.5-magnitude Kern County earthquake devastates Tehachapi; damage spread from San Diego to Las Vegas.
• August 27: Actor & CalArts grad Paul Reubens (Pee Wee Herman) born in New York.
• September 4: Elizabeth Blum, the first Miss Acton, represents her community at the Antelope Valley Fair [link].
• September 12: Henry Mayo Newhall Auditorium at Hart High opens [link].
• November 30: CalArts grad Henry Selick (MFA Film/Video '77), director of "The Nightmare Before Christmas," "James and the Giant Peach," born in New Jersey.

1953

• January 13: Voters approve formation of Newhall County Water District (347 yes, 167 no).
• February 6: Newly public Newhall County Water District holds first board meeting.
• May 1: Adrian Adams, later municipal court judge, opens law practice in Newhall with attorney James Lowder.
• May 2-3: Bonelli Ranch Rodeo.
• May 29: Musician & CalArts student Danny Elfman born in Los Angeles.
• June 6: Petroleum Production Pioneers recognize importance of Pico Canyon's CSO No. 4 oil well in plaque ceremony.
• August 4: Voters approve first issuance of Newhall County Water District bonds i/a/o $425,000 (465 yes, 45 no).

1954

• January 28: Four women killed, 14 injured in explosion at Bermite Powder Company in Saugus [link].
• March 20: Author Louis Sachar born in New York; 1998 book "Holes" made into 2003 film shot at Melody & Golden Oak ranches.
• April 15: Frank Sinatra, Sterling Hayden on streets of Newhall for filming of "Suddenly."
• May 3: Western actor Tom Tyler dies at 50 in Michigan.
• August: County of Los Angeles changes "Spruce Street" (Newhall's main street) to "San Fernando Road."
• September 20: C-46 Cargo Plane Crashes at Saugus Drunk Farm; Civil Air Patrol Chaplains Parachute to Safety.
• October 7: New York release of "Suddenly" starring Frank Sinatra; shot in Newhall and Saugus.
• October 19: Dick and Ruth Cone open Bamboo Cafe at 10th (Lyons) and Spruce streets [link].
• October 24: U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) born in Monterey Park; represents southeastern sliver of SCV.

1955

• February 18: Actor and nightclub owner Ace Cain incorporates the Rocky Springs Country Club in Sand Canyon.
• May 16: Actress Debra Winger born in Ohio; worked as Magic Mountain troll in 1972.
• September 10: U.S. release of "Gunsmoke" TV series, initially shot at Melody Ranch.
• September 30: Actor James Dean, 24, drives through Castaic Junction en route to his final resting place.

1956

• February 24: Baseball Hall of Famer Eddie Murray born in Los Angeles; later SCV resident & car dealer.
• May 26: Placerita Canyon State Park dedicated [link].
• June 11: Bill Bonelli incorporates Solemint Water Co., his second of two predecessors of Santa Clarita Water Co. [link].
• August 16: The Battle of Palmdale rages over the skies of Santa Clarita [link].

1957

• Manmade Piru lake and dam are completed.
• January 12: Animator-Director John Lasseter born in Hollywood; 1979 CalArts grad is chief creative officer at Pixar & Walt Disney Animation Studios; principal creative advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering.
• June 15: Lang Station dedicated as State Historic Landmark No. 590.
• November 18: Newhall County Library dedicated on Ninth Street.
• November 29: Mint Canyon Chamber of Commerce incorporates; became Canyon Country Chamber [link].

1958

• May 12: Juvenile probation Camp Joseph Scott opens in Bouquet Canyon [link].
• June 20: NASCAR driver Ron Hornaday Jr. born in Palmdale; raced at Saugus Speedway.
• August 25: Producer-director & CalArts grad Tim Burton born in Burbank.
• September 20: Dedication of William S. Hart Park in Newhall.

1959

• April 8: The Walt Disney Co. announces purchase of 315-acre Golden Oak Ranch in Placerita Canyon for $1,000 an acre.
• April 14: Earle L. Vanasen, first president of Newhall County Water District (1953-1959), retires from water board.

1960

• June 19: SCV switches to Direct Dial, All-Number Calling [link].
• November 8: California voters narrowly approve the Burns-Porter Act, which authorized the State Water Project.

1961

• April 29: Sandberg's Summit Hotel on the Ridge Route burns down.
• August 13: First Mass celebrated at new Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church (3rd building) in Newhall. Cardinal McIntyre attends.
• August 21: CalArts grad (MFA '92) and marine biologist Stephen Hillenburg, creator of Spongebob SquarePants, born in Oklahoma; developed prototype for Spongebob while a student in 1989. Estimated net worth: $90 million (2012) [link].

1962

• January 13: Death of Joe Gottardi, who lost wife and five children in 1928 dam disaster; buried in Piru.
• January 22: Heavy snow day [link].
• April 16: Buffalo herd arrives at William S. Hart Park — donated by Walt Disney from Golden Oak Ranch in Placerita Canyon.
• April 24: SCV residents vote to connect to State Water Project, creating Upper Santa Clara Valley Water Agency (renamed Castaic Lake Water Agency).
• August 23: Western actor and Saugus rodeo owner Hoot Gibson dies in Woodland Hills.
• August 28: Gene Autry's Melody Ranch burns to the ground as fire consumes most of the hills surrounding the Santa Clarita Valley.
• September 18: Articles of incorporation filed for Golden State Hospital on Lyons Avenue.
• December 4: Actress and future Soledad Canyon big-cat rescuer Tippi Hedren, "Hitchcock's New Grace Kelly," makes cover of Look magazine for upcoming thriller, "The Birds."

1963

• Sunday Swap Meet starts at Saugus Speedway.
• January 10: Santa Clarita Valley Women's (Hospital) Auxiliary organized — the Pink Ladies [link].
• January 11: Abandoned SPRR Newhall Depot Burns Down [link].
• March 28: New York premiere of Hitchcock's "The Birds"; stars later SCV resident Tippi Hedren.
• May 2: Fred Trueblood II sells The Newhall Signal newspaper to printer Ray Brooks.
• July 1: U.S. Post Office introduces 5-digit ZIP codes nationwide. Initially they are not mandatory.
• August 1: Leona Cox Community School breaks ground in Canyon Country.
• August 10: Death of Newhall civic leader Charles Henry Kingsburry.
• August 23: First stretch of Antelope Valley 14 Freeway opens from south of Sand Canyon Road in Canyon Country to Red Rover Mine Road in Acton.
• November 1: Community of Canyon Country founded; first Frontier Days celebration.
• November 1: Effective date of Scott Newhall's ownership of The Signal [link].

1964

• January 9: Signal newspaper owner Scott Newhall introduces the screaming eagle masthead with the motto, "Vigiliance Forever."
• February 29: Lifelong SCV resident Harry S. Chacanaca dies; buried at Ruiz Cemetery.
• June 16: Aerial photos shot of Disney's proposed location for CalArts — just east of Hollywood Bowl.
• July 22: U.S. release of Hitchcock's "Marnie" starring SCV's Tippi Hedren.
• August 27: Promotional film, "The CalArts Story," debuts at Hollywood premiere of "Mary Poppins."
• September 27: Actress Tippi Hedren, 28, marries business manager Noel Marshall, 35; couple later moves to Africa USA (Shambala) in Soledad Canyon.
• December 30: United Air Lines Convair 340 forced down in Saugus when both engines fail; 47 aboard, none injured.
• December 30: Three from Montana killed in light plane crash near Gorman.

1965

• August 10: Plaza Theatre (movie theater) opens on Lyons Avenue, Newhall.
• October 1: Santa Clarita National Bank opens.
• December 5: Scott Newhall publishes first Sunday edition of The Newhall Signal newspaper; previously Thursdays only.
• December 24: Signal newspaper owner Scott Newhall shows up for a duel (of words) with rival Canyon Country newspaper publisher Art Evans, who no-shows and folds his paper soon after [link].

1966

• February 1: Actor Buster Keaton dies at 70 in Los Angeles.
• May 25: Mustang Drive-In theater opens on Soledad Canyon Road.
• September 17: California KKK holds "reactivation" rally and fake cross burning in Soledad Canyon [link].
• November 13: Pico No. 4 oil well listed as a National Historic Landmark.
• December 15: Movie producer Walt Disney dies in Burbank.

1967

• January 19: Original air date of "Star Trek" Episode 19: Arena; Kirk battles the Gorn commander (Saugus resident Bobby Clark) at Vasquez Rocks.
• July 17: Frenchy Lagasse family moves into the Pico Cottage (aka Big House) at Mentryville.
• August 20: Community of Valencia dedicated by The Newhall Land & Farming Co.; tract homes sell for $25,000.
• October 3: Air Force test pilot William J. "Pete" Knight achieves Mach 6.7 (4,520 mph) in X-15 rocket plane to set world speed record (still stands); later served as SCV's state assemblyman and senator.
• November 21: Local voters approve formation of community college and elect COC's first five-member board (Dr. William G. Bonelli Jr., Bruce Fortine, Sheila Dyer, Peter Huntsinger, Edward Muhl).
• December 13: Board of Trustees selects controversial "Santa Clarita" name for new college district [link].

1968

• June 5: Saugus resident Elizabeth Evans struck by bullet meant for Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. (Kennedy died June 6.) [link]
• August 12: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers details its plan to channelize Santa Clara River (like L.A. River). It didn't happen. [link]
• September 3: Canyon High School opens.
• November 13: Following health department inspection, Lebec Hotel closes permanently.
• December 3: Newhall Land board of directors votes to take the company public.

1969

• January 4: Early morning fire guts Signal production building; Newhalls purchase rival newspaper [link].
• May 3: Groundbreaking of California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Valencia.
• May 15: Board of Trustees selects "College of the Canyons" name [link].
• September 29: College of the Canyons opens with first class of students in temporary Hart High School location [link].
• November 17: Construction begins on Magic Mountain amusement park.
• December 19: SCV resident Kristy Swanson, original Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992), born in Mission Viejo.

1970

• January 7: COC's first winter quarter starts in temporary Hart High School location.
• January 27: Gov. Ronald Reagan appoints Adrian Adams judge of Newhall Municipal Court.
• February 11: Groundbreaking of County Civic Center in Valencia.
• April 5: The Newhall Incident: Slaying of four California Highway Patrol officers — Walter Frago, Roger Gore, James Pence and George Alleyn — in the J's Coffee Shop parking lot at today's Magic Mountain Parkway and The Old Road.
• April 8: COC's first spring quarter starts in temporary Hart High School location.
• June 5: Dedication of memorial wall at Newhall CHP station for officers slain in the Newhall Incident.
• June 26: Sixteen graduate in COC's first commencement ceremony, in Hart High cafeteria.
• September 15: SCV voters recall two Hart School Board members who won't let students circulate anti-Vietnam War petition.
• September 25: Lagasses help save Mentryville buildings as Newhall and Malibu brush fires erupt & join into worst fire in SoCal history. Twelve fires over 10 days in Southland burn 525,000 acres, kill 13 and destroy approx. 1,500 structures.
• October 5: College of the Canyons' first on-campus classes held in portable buildings located just south of future Cougar Stadium.
• October 13: Unarmored threespine stickleback (a fish) listed in Federal Register as endangered species.
• October 17: Hart leading lady Vola Vale ("The Silent Man," "Wolves of the Rail," "White Oak") dies in Hawthorne, Calif.
• October 26: Dedication of COC's permanent campus in Valencia [link].
• December 19: Snow day in SCV [link].

1971

• Southern Pacific Railroad tears down Lang Station.
• California Institute of the Arts is incorporated by Walt Disney; school moves to Valencia.
• February 9, 5:59 a.m.: 6.5 magnitude Sylmar earthquake (actually centered in Iron Canyon section of Sand Canyon).
• February 9: Appeals court posthumously reinstates bribery charges against Bill Bonelli [link].
• March 13: Brick front of Newhall Pharmacy (ex-Swall Hotel at Market & Spruce/Main), damaged in Feb. 9 quake, collapses.
• March 25: Members of the separate Piru and Fillmore Citrus Associations vote to merge into the Fillmore-Piru Citrus Association.
• April 27: Tejon Ranch Co. torches the Lebec Hotel.
• April 30: Last stop at Saugus as Southern Pacific passenger service ends. Amtrak starts next day without Saugus service. (SP Saugus freight service until 1979.)
• May 6: Fort Tejon added to National Register of Historic Places [link].
• May 12: Actor Tor Johnson ("Plan 9 From Outer Space") dies in San Fernando; buried at Eternal Valley Cemetery in Newhall.
• May 27: Magic Mountain community preview night.
• May 29: Magic Mountain opens to public.
• June 25: Regulatory agency gives Henry Mayo board the green light to build a hospital.
• September 2: Sonny & Cher open at Magic Mountain's 7-Up Showcase Theatre.
• September 20: First permanent Canyon Country Library opens [link].
• November 10: Dedication of Nature Study Center (aka Placerita Canyon Nature Center) at Placerita Canyon State & County Park.
• November 13: Debut of Steven Spielberg's made-for-TV movie "Duel," shot on Sierra Highway.

1972

• January 17: Edison cottages (at Edison curve) sold to The Newhall Land and Farming Co.
• January 30: Los Cantiles park, designed for disabled persons, breaks ground in Bouquet Canyon [link].
• February 22: Dr. William Bonelli, COC's first board president, dies at 49.
• May 8: Opening day of new, replacement SCV Sheriff's Station in county Civic Center.
• May 22: Castaic Lake afterbay opens to recreational use; first recreationists are Station 73 Fire Capt. and Mrs. Edward French [link].
• May 24: Valencia Library dedicated.
• June 22: Vasquez Rocks added to National Register of Historic Places.
• June 26: Upper (main) Castaic Lake opens for swimming and boating [link].
• October 2: Name "Santa Clarita Valley" becomes official.
• December 2: Five wounded in Vagos biker gang shooting at Curtis & JoAnne Darcy's Acton '49er Saloon.

1973

• February 6: Local voters approve initial COC construction bond by a 3,618-922 margin [link].
• March 23: Western actor Ken Maynard dies penniless at the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills.
• April 30: Watergate figure H.R. "Bob" Haldeman, a former CalArts board member, resigns from Nixon White House.
• May 18: Actor and Sand Canyon resort owner Ace Cain dies at 69 in Saugus.
• August 31: Film director John Ford dies in Palm Desert.

1974

• January 3-4: Snow day in SCV.
• February 7: U.S. release of Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles"; exteriors shot at Vasquez Rocks.
• April 15: Val Verde Rev. Samuel P. Dixon Jr. crashes car on Highway 14; dies 2 weeks later.
• April 22: Gov. Ronald Reagan speaks at dedication of COC's first permanent building (William G. Bonelli Instructional Resource Center).
• April 27: Val Verde Rev. Samuel P. Dixon Jr., 45, dies from injuries sustained in car wreck 2 weeks earlier on Highway 14.
• June 30: Sheriff's substation at Pyramid Lake opens; dedicated by Gov. Ronald Reagan.
• August 24: Pyramid Lake opens.
• September 21: COC's new Cougar Stadium opens for first game of football season (Harbor beat COC 26-21) [link].
• October 29: "Lyons Oak" tree cut down by L.A. County Public Works; old oak stood on Lyons Avenue just west of Arcadia Street.
• November 14: Western actor Johnny Mack Brown dies in Woodland Hills.

1975

• January 1: Watergate figure H.R. Haldeman, a CalArts board member, convicted of conspiracy and obstruction of justice.
• March 4: Sir Charles Chaplin is knighted at Buckingham Palace; made films in SCV.
• August 3: Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital opens with 100 beds.
• September 6: Saugus High School opens with 9th and 10th grades.
• December 11: Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society incorporated as a 501c3 nonprofit.

1976

• March 7: Groundbreaking for new First Presbyterian Church in Newhall (former structure heavily damaged in 1971 earthquake).
• May 23: Dedication of mural by Rudy Pavini in the Placerita Creek flood control channel at Placerita Nature Center [link].
• September 5: Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society marks "golden spike" centennial with State Landmark dedication at Lang Station.
• November 2: First Canyon County formation attempt fails despite local voter approval.
• November 6: Acton Turkey War with AM radio jock Dick Whittington ends in a draw.

1977

• February 6: New First Presbyterian Church dedicated in Newhall.
• September 26: Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society and Newhall Woman's Club dedicate Mentryville and Pico (CSO) Number 4 as State Landmarks.
• November 8: Castaic residents vote 168-54 to withdraw 7th-8th grades from Hart District, making CUSD K-8 [link].

1978

• February 3: Saugus Elementary School, slated to close for good in June, shuts down four months early amid concerns about toxic fumes [link].
• March 19: Gorman Deputy Arthur E. Pelino murdered by deranged suspect; assailant got 2½ years.
• May 18: KISS concert scene for "Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park," shot in Magic Mountain parking lot.
• May 21: St. Francis Dam Disaster Site dedicated as California Historical Landmark No. 919 [link].
• May 27: Last day of filming for "KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park," shot at Magic Mountain.
• June 29: Colossus roller coaster opens at Magic Mountain.
• October 28: "Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park," filmed at Magic Mountain, premieres as NBC Movie of the Week.
• November 7: Second Canyon County formation attempt fails despite local voter approval.
• November 15: Southern Pacific Saugus depot closes; later moved & used as SCV Historical Society museum.

1979

• May 29: Actress Mary Pickford dies at 87 in Santa Monica; starred in "Ramona" (1910), shot at Rancho Camulos.
• June 11: Western actor John Wayne dies at 72 in Los Angeles.
• July 16: Publication of Ron Pinkerton's "St. Francis Dam Disaster" poem.

1980

• June 24: Saugus Train Station relocated to Heritage Junction.
• Late June: Newhall-Saugus-Valencia Chamber of Commerce membership votes to change name to SCV Chamber [link].
• October 14: Rookie Bob Walk, 1974 Hart High Grad, is starting/winning pitcher as Phillies beat Royals 7-6 in Game 1 of World Series. Phillies win series in 6 games.

1981

• 1981 in Review.
• January 10: Death of Robert E. Callahan, owner of Mission Village in L.A. and Old West Trading Post on Sierra Highway.
• February 18: Scott and Ruth Newhall's Piru Mansion burns to the ground. Soon rebuilt.
• July 10: Gov. Jerry Brown authorizes use of malathion to eradicate medflies; aerial spraying begins [link].
• November 15: Enid Markey, Hart's occasional leading lady, dies at Bay Shore, Long Island.
• December 12: Restored Saugus Train Station dedicated.

1982

• April 22: Gene Autry's Mogul 1629 steam locomotive relocated to Heritage Junction.
• July 23: Vic Morrow and two child actors killed in helicopter crash at Indian Dunes during filming of "Twilight Zone: The Movie."
• August 28: Tex Ritter inducted into Newhall's Walk of Western Stars.

1983

• February 22: Armed robber taken out at Alpha Beta supermarket.
• July 29: U.S. release of "National Lampoon's Vacation," Walley World scenes shot at Magic Mountain.
• December 9: U.S. release of John Carpenter's "Christine"; blew up fake gas station in Valencia.

1984

• October 30: NTSB report revises probable cause of 1982 "Twilight Zone" deaths after director John Landis appeals.

1985

• October 11: Western recording artist & Newhall resident Tex Williams ("Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! That Cigarette") dies of cancer.
• November 18: SCV resident & Olympic gold medalist Allyson Michelle Felix (track & field) born in Los Angeles.

1986

• April 23: COC board votes to allow Argentine cliff swallows to nest forever on sides of buildings.
• May 2: Least Bell's Vireo (a bird) listed in Federal Register as endangered species.
• May 24: Stuntman & SCV resident Enos Edward "Yakima" Canutt dies at 90 in North Hollywood.
• July 2: Actress Lindsay Lohan born in New York City; Disney's "The Parent Trap" (1998) and "Herbie: Fully Loaded" (2005) partially shot in SCV.
• August 14: Mitchell adobe demolished; components salvaged and later restored at Heritage Junction.
• September 8: Grand opening of The Signal newspaper's new facility at 24000 Creekside Road, Valencia [link].

1987

• February 27: Fifty-seven men and 6 women graduate from first L.A. County Sheriff's Academy class at COC.
• April 11: Ramona Chapel and Red Schoolhouse relocated to Heritage Junction.
• May 29: Director John Landis acquitted of charges stemming from accidental death of Vic Morrow and two child actors during filming at Indian Dunes of "Twilight Zone: The Movie."
• July 17: Kingsburry House relocated to Heritage Junction.
• August 25: U.S. Rep. Katie Hill (D-Agua Dulce) born in Abilene, Texas; grew up in Saugus.
• September 28: Slender-horned Spineflower listed in Federal Register as endangered species [link].
• November 3: City of Santa Clarita formation approved at the polls; Buck McKeon, Jan Heidt, Jo Anne Darcy, Carl Boyer III, Dennis Koontz win first City Council election (in vote order).
• December 15: City of Santa Clarita incorporated.

1988

• Community of Stevenson Ranch established.
• January 14: One-month-old Santa Clarita City Council votes to form Planning Commission [minutes].
• February 1: Actor & police officer Thornton Edwards, hero of the St. Francis Dam Disaster, dies in Tulare, Calif.
• February 6: Saugus Speedway owners demolish historic Bonelli Ranch House [link].
• March 13: Actress Olive Carey, wife of Harry Carey Sr., dies at 92 in Carpinteria.
• March 15: City of Santa Clarita Planning Commission holds first meeting.
• July 1: Dr. Dianne G. Van Hook starts as superintendent of College of the Canyons [link].
• September 11: Scott and Ruth Newhall publish first edition of "Santa Clarita Valley Citizen" newspaper.
• December 30: Release of Pixar's animated short, "Tin Toy," by John Lasseter (CalArts 1979); wins Academy Award.

1989

• January 18: Edison House relocated to Heritage Junction.
• January 27: Santa Clarita post office established.
• March 27: Actor Jack Starrett dies at 52 in Sherman Oaks; appeared in SCV-made films (eg., Blazing Saddles) & TV shows (A Team).
• May 3: The "Santa Clarita Valley Citizen" folds.
• May 23: Santa Clarita City Council votes to build the controversial Wiley Canyon Bridge [link].
• November 5: Mitchell Schoolhouse Adobe dedicated at Heritage Junction.
• December 15: Newhall Refinery on Sierra Highway permanently closed.

1990

• January 26: L.A. Philharmonic premieres "Duplicates"; concerto by CalArts Music School dean Mel Powell wins Pulitzer Prize.
• February 8: Rock 'n' Roller Del Shannon (song: "Runaway") commits suicide at home in Santa Clarita.
• March 1: President George H.W. Bush and Sheriff Sherman Block dedicate new North County Correctional Facility in Castaic [link].
• April 10: Jill Klajic, Carl Boyer III, Jo Anne Darcy win Santa Clarita City Council election.
• May 9: Gene Autry's elderly horse, Champion, put to sleep; buried at Melody Ranch.
• August 14: Newhall Ranch House relocated to Heritage Junction.
• September: Pico (CSO) Number 4 capped off after 114 years of oil production.
• November 13: Santa Clarita City Council adopts ordinance regulating size and location of business signs.
• December 5: Limited U.S. release of "The Grifters," partially shot in SCV.
• December 20: First of 5 nights of record-breaking freeze; total losses $1 billion (state's 3rd costliest disaster after 1906 San Francisco and 1989 Loma Prieta); Santa Ana winds save most of Fillmore-Piru citrus crop.

1991

• January 4: Full U.S. release of "The Grifters," partially shot in SCV.
• June 25: Santa Clarita City Council adopts conservation element of first general plan; includes inventory of local historic resources.

1992

• February 2: LDS Church splits Santa Clarita Stake to create Valencia Stake, which includes Castaic, Newhall 1st, Newhall 2nd, Saugus 1st, Valencia 1st, Valencia 2nd wards, and Santa Clarita 1st Branch.
• April 14: Jan Heidt, George Pederson win Santa Clarita City Council election.
• August 4: Pardee House (former Good Templars Lodge) relocated to Heritage Junction.
• September: Valencia Town Center Mall opens.
• October 23: Dedication of Ed Davis Park in Towsley Canyon.
• October 24: Dedication of Santa Clarita's first Metrolink station (Santa Clarita Station) [link].
• October 26: Newspaper editor Scott Newhall (SF Chronicle, Newhall Signal, SCV Citizen) dies at 78 in Valencia hospital.
• October 26: Metrolink commuter rail service to Santa Clarita starts [link].

1993

• January 20: 1979 Hart High grad Dee Dee Myers becomes Bill Clinton's first White House press secretary; serves until December 22, 1994.
• February 24: Jury awards Newhall Land $2.3 million for "Valencia" trademark infringement by Palmer apartments at Valle del Oro, Newhall.
• March 30: Coastal California Gnatcatcher listed in Federal Register as threatened species.
• May 17: Dale Poe, 61, developer of Stevenson Ranch, dies in car crash.
• July 28: U.S. release of Mel Brooks' "Robin Hood: Men in Tights"; shot in Sand Canyon.

1994

• January 17, 4:31 a.m.: 6.7-magnitude Northridge Earthquake, centered in Canoga Park, kills 53 and causes $11 billion in damage across Southern California. Several homes in SCV are severely damaged and/or destroyed.
• February 1: Karen and David Nardiello acquire Saugus Cafe.
• April 12: Jo Anne Darcy, Carl Boyer III, H. Clyde Smyth win Santa Clarita City Council election.
• April 21: Eddie Murray sets MLB record for switch-hit home runs in games (11 times); later co-owner of Valencia Mercedes-Benz dealership.
• May 4: Actor & SCV resident Alexander Gould ("Finding Nemo," "Weeds") born in Los Angeles.
• September 9: Valencia High School opens.
• September 15: Reopening of COC football stadium and track; had been damaged in Jan. 17 earthquake.
• December 16: Arroyo Southwestern Toad listed in Federal Register as endangered species.

1995

• April 22: Grand opening of Family Studies & Early Childhood Education Center at COC.
• June 30: Pico Canyon's last oil field foreman, Frenchy Lagasse, retires & moves to Lebec.
• July 1: Unification of Santa Clarita Valley and Canyon Country chambers of commerce.
• July 4: First publication of the "Old Town Newhall Gazette".
• November 14: COC holds first annual Business & Industry Breakfast (at HR Textron in Valencia).

1996

• January 3: Harry Carey Ranch Historic District in Saugus added to National Register of Historic Places.
• February 10: Frenchy Lagasse, Mentryville's last oil field foreman, dies in Arizona.
• February 26: Historian Jerry Reynolds dies at age 58.
• February 29: Whittaker Corp. announces it will fund City Council candidates, following council approval of its Porta Bella development (which never happened).
• April 9: Jill Klajic, Jan Heidt win Santa Clarita City Council election.
• April 23: California Red-legged Frog listed in Federal Register as threatened species.
• May 11: Grand reopening of Mentryville under new management (Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority).
• June 11: Santa Clarita City Council approves downtown Newhall revitalization strategy.
• October 1: World Champion Mixologist Bobby Batugo dies in Los Angeles at age 90.
• November 1: Rancho Camulos added to National Register of Historic Places.

1997

• June 22: "Hercules," directed by CalArts grad John Musker, premieres at CalArts; generally released June 27.
• July 8: Santa Clarita City Council adopts initial Newhall Redevelopment Plan.
• September 24: Redevelopment of Old Town Newhall begins with groundbreaking of Railroad Avenue improvements [link].
• September 25: 17.6 miles of the 1915 Ridge Route Highway accepted into National Registry of Historic Places.
• November 16: "Hercules," directed by CalArts grad John Musker, wins four Annie Awards (animation's top honor).
• December 23: 5 bodies found during grading of Northlake development in Castaic; determined to be Jenkins family plot.

1998

• January 17: Country music producer Cliffie Stone dies at home in Saugus.
• February 2-3: As disbelief about El Niño was starting to set in, the first of a month-long succession of devastating storms hits [link].
• February 13: Disney animator Jules Engel ("Fantasia"), founder in 1970 of experimental-animation program at CalArts, receives lifetime achievement award at Santa Clarita International Film Festival.
• February 23: Worst day of record-setting 1997-98 El Nino storm season.
• April 14: Jo Anne Darcy, Frank Ferry, Laurene Weste win Santa Clarita City Council election.
• May 20: Trick roper Montie Montana, of Agua Dulce, dies in Los Angeles following a stroke.
• October 2: Actor and movie ranch owner Gene Autry dies in Studio City.
• October 29: L.A. County Sheriff Sherman Block dies from a cerebral hemorrhage just before the end of his fourth term; too late to remove name from ballot.

1999

• February 13: Santa Clarita & Antelope valleys split off from 805 area code to become 661.
• May 1: "Spongebob SquarePants" pilot airs on Nickelodeon; created by CalArts grad Stephen Hillenburg (MFA '92).
• October 23: Actor Harrison Ford and his flight instructor crash their Bell 206 L-4 helicopter in Piru. Neither is injured [link.].
• December 17: Singer-actor Rex Allen, Newhall Walk of Western Stars inductee (1982), dies in Tucson, Ariz.

2000

• February 16: Rancho Camulos designated a National Historic Landmark [link].
• March 14: Time capsule buried at Newhall Metrolink station.
• March 18: Newhall Metrolink station opens.
• April 10: Longtime Newhall property owner Paul T. Veluzat dies at 101.
• April 11: Cameron Smyth, Bob Kellar win Santa Clarita City Council election.
• May 26: James Bernard "Bud" Keysor, founder of Keysor-Century Records, dies at 94 in Newhall.
• July 22: Larinan House in Pico Canyon burns down.
• August 13: Mike Shuman, 81, retired Placerita Junior High School principal, dies at home in Saugus.
• August 27: Contents of Harry Lechler's Piru museum, est. 1943, sold at auction.
• October 6: Dr. Robert C. Rockwell, COC's first superintendent-president, dies at 87.
• October 6: Movie stuntman Richard Farnsworth, 2000 Newhall Walk of Western Stars inductee, dies in New Mexico.

2001

• February 15: Death of Val Verde leader Miriam Canty, 84.
• February 28: Longtime Castaic Lake Water Agency general manager Robert Sagehorn retires.
• May 5: Dedication ceremony of Rancho Camulos as National Historic Landmark (designation date was Feb. 16, 2000) [link].
• May 22: Santa Clarita City Council exempts historic signs from sign ordinance.
• July 20: Assemblyman George Runner introduces legislation to memorialize the historic Ridge Route. (Enacted October 4.)
• August 23: State designates San Fernando Valley Spineflower (present in SCV) an endangered species.
• August 31: LASD Deputy Hagop "Jake" Kuredjian gunned down in Stevenson Ranch while backing up ATF.
• November 9: Local historian and community activist Laura Mehterian, who moved to San Francisquito Canyon in 1955, dies at 62 in Payson, Ariz.
• November 13: Original Santa Clarita planning commissioner Louis Brathwaite, former Hart School Board member, dies at 68.
• November 17: Canyon Country Jo Anne Darcy Library opens, supplanting 1971 library facility across the street [link].
• December 9: Newly restored Ramona Chapel dedicated at Heritage Junction/Hart Park.

2002

• February 20: L.A. County honors local historian Philip Scorza for publication of 2 SCV history books.
• February 23: Internationally acclaimed fashion designer Sue Wong previews her "Nocturne" line at COC's Art Gallery.
• April 9: Frank Ferry, Marsha McLean, Laurene Weste win Santa Clarita City Council election.
• April 29: LASD Deputy David March, a Canyon High School graduate and Saugus resident, murdered by illegal immigrant during traffic stop.
• June 5: Construction equipment at Tesoro del Valle sparks brush fire that ravages San Francisquito Canyon.
• June 20: "Legacy: Santa Clarita's Living History" series debuts on SCVTV.
• July 26: Hollywood premiere of Disney's "The Country Bears," filmed at Golden Oak Ranch in Placerita Canyon.
• November 1: Environmental educator John Quigley climbs into "Old Glory" oak tree in Pico Canyon to save it; stays 71 days.

2003

• January 30: Actress & big cat rescuer Tippi Hedren of Acton inducted into Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• February 25: Lydia Victoria (Cooke) Manriquez, elder of the San Fernando Band of Mission Indians, dies at 97; lifelong SCV resident.
• March 16: Life-size sculpture honoring heroes of St. Francis Dam disaster unveiled in Santa Paula.
• May 27: Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approves Newhall Ranch Specific Plan.
• June 30: Westwood premiere of "Terminator 3," partially shot in SCV.
• August 7: First known same-sex marriage of a Santa Clarita Valley couple [link].
• October 18: Grand opening of Santa Clarita Aquatics Center [link].
• October 28: Mentryville buildings saved as Simi Valley fire roars through Pico Canyon.
• November 15: CalArts' REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater) opens in Los Angeles.
• November 19: U.S. Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon introduces initial legislation to block 78-million-ton gravel mine in Soledad Canyon.
• November 24: Ruth Newhall, former co-owner of The Signal (with husband Scott), dies in Berkeley, Calif.
• December 10: Saugus plastics manufacturer Keysor-Century Corp. files liquidation plan with bankruptcy court after ceasing operations in the wake of a federal investigation.

2004

• January 3, 8:35 p.m. PST: NASA's Spirit rover lands on Mars; Richard Cook of Canyon Country is deputy project manager; Wayne Lee of Stevenson Ranch handles entry, descent and landing; Jennifer Trosper of Canyon Country is mission manager/surface operations.
• January 24, 9:05 p.m. PST: NASA's Opportunity rover lands on Mars; Richard Cook of Canyon Country is deputy project manager; Wayne Lee of Stevenson Ranch handles entry, descent and landing.
• January 27, 4 p.m. PST: Sale of The Newhall Land and Farming Co. to NWHL Inc., a joint venture of Lennar Corp. and LNR Properties Corp., is completed.
• April 1: Last day in Sacramento for Sen. Pete Knight; tapes SCVTV "Newsmaker" show on way home; dies from leukemia 1 month later.
• April 13: Cameron Smyth, Bob Kellar win Santa Clarita City Council election.
• May 7: Senator/Aviator Pete Knight, world speed record holder, dies in office at 74 from acute myelogenous leukemia.

2005

• January 14: Repertory East Playhouse opens with "The Prisoner of Second Avenue." New theatre company replaces former Santa Clarita Repertory Theatre.
• January 16: Death of Piru museum owner Harry Hazzard Lechler at age 92.
• June 13: Tokyo premiere of Steven Spielberg's "War of the Worlds," partially shot at Mystery Mesa in Saugus.
• June 14: Santa Clarita City Council approves Newhall Land's Riverpark/River Village development.
• June 23: New York premiere of Steven Spielberg's "War of the Worlds," partially shot at Mystery Mesa in Saugus.
• November 3: County dedicates portion of Harry Carey Ranch as Tesoro Adobe Historic Park.

2006

• January 10: County supervisor Warren Dorn dies in San Luis Obispo.
• January 21, 10 a.m.: "Permanent" Newhall Community Center opens.
• February 24: Actor Dennis Weaver (Gunsmoke, Duel) dies at 81 in Ridgway, Colo.
• April 11: Marsha McLean, Frank Ferry, Laurene Weste win Santa Clarita City Council election.
• April 22: Retired LAPD chief and California Sen. Ed Davis, 89, dies of pneumonia.
• May 28: Veterans Historical Plaza opens at former site of Pardee House, the Newhall-Market-Walnut street "triangle" [link].
• September 4: Labor Day sees two major brush fires — Labor fire & Day fire; the latter burns for a month.

2007

• February 24: AEG's Amgen Tour of California races to its first Santa Clarita finish line.
• July: Santa Clarita property owners approve a 30-year Open Space Preservation District. City to use property tax assessment through FY 2036-37 to purchase and preserve raw land outside city's borders.
• July 11: Moore's submarine sandwich shop, abandoned 2 years earlier, demolished as part of Newhall redevelopment.
• Summer: City of Santa Clarita reconfigures San Fernando Road in downtown Newhall and changes its name to "Main Street" between Lyons Avenue and 5th Street.
• October 21-22: "Buckweed" fire, ignited by a 10-year-old boy playing with matches, burns 38,356 acres and destroys 21 homes (63 structures overall) in Canyon Country and Agua Dulce [link].

2008

• January 22: Santa Clarita City Council votes to change the name of San Fernando Road to "Newhall Avenue" between 5th Street and Highway 14.
• January 25: Newhall Hardware, est. 1947, citing economic problems, announces it will quit as soon as it can liquidate inventory.
• March 16: Newhall Hardware closes.
• April 8: Laurie Ender, Bob Kellar win Santa Clarita City Council election.
• May 25: NASA's Phoenix spacecraft lands on Mars; Stevenson Ranch resident Barry Goldstein is project manager.
• October 18: Ridge Route Dedicated as Historic Civil Engineering Landmark (monument placed at Pyramid Lake Visitors Center).
• December 21: Stock car driver Ron Hornaday Sr. dies at 77; raced at Saugus Speedway.

2009

• June 13: Magic Mountain amusement park owner Six Flags files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (emerges 5-3-2010).
• July 18: Two killed when experimental plane crashes in Sand Canyon [link].
• July 21: Death of Gidget the Chihuahua, Taco Bell commercial star [link].
• August 30: L.A. County Fire Capt. Ted Hall, 47, and Firefighter Specialist Arnie Quinones, 34, are killed in the line of duty on Day 4 of the Station Fire [link].
• October 17: Grand opening of Dr. Dianne G. Van Hook University Center at COC (permanent building; classes started 2003) [watch].
• December 16: CalArts benefactor Roy E. Disney, nephew of Walt, dies at 79 in Newport Beach.

2010

• April 13: Marsha McLean, Laurene Weste, Frank Ferry win Santa Clarita City Council election.
• April 17: First Day of Issue of USPS commemorative postage stamps honoring William S. Hart, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and Tom Mix.

2011

• January 2: Snow day in SCV.
• June 3: Actor James Arness ("Gunsmoke") dies at 88 in Los Angeles.
• July 1: Official first day of Santa Clarita Public Library system.
• November 4: Alan Mootnick, founder of Gibbon Conservation Center in Saugus, dies at 60.
• December 28: John Ford's 1924 "The Iron Horse," filmed in SCV, added to Library of Congress' National Film Registry.

2012

• March 1: Newhall Redevelopment Committee formally dissolved, after state outlaws redevelopment agencies.
• March 1: Actor-Director-Producer Jerome Courtland dies at home in SCV; co-produced Disney's 1977 made-in-SCV "Pete's Dragon."
• March 10: John Hobbs, 1968 Hart High graduate, inducted into Country Music Hall of Fame.
• March 20: L.A. County Board of Supervisors approves 50-year operating agreement for Placerita Canyon Natural Area. County had been operating the state-owned park on a month-to-month basis since 1986.
• April 10: Bob Kellar, TimBen Boydston win Santa Clarita City Council election.
• July 1: Providence Health & Services acquires Facey Medical Group and Foundation.
• July 5: 2011 SCV Man of the Year Harry Bell, 89, dies in light plane crash at Rancho Camulos.
• August 5, 22:39 Pacific: NASA's Curiosoty rover lands on Mars; Richard Cook of Canyon Country is deputy project manager; Jennifer Trosper of Canyon Country is manager of ground operations.
• August 8: Canyon Country resident Allyson Felix wins gold medal in 200-meter sprint at London Olympics, then adds two more team gold medals (4x100m relay Aug. 10 [WR] & 4x400m relay Aug. 11).
• September 11: Santa Clarita becomes L.A. County's third-biggest city with the annexation of Fair Oaks Ranch and the Jakes Way area.
• September 29: Grand opening of Old Town Newhall Library.
• November 9: Last of the Saugus Speedway grandstands demolished. Removed over time, they'd been deemed unsafe in 1995 when racing was discontinued.
• November 29: LAFCO approves annexation of 2,475 acres, 9,500 residents of north Saugus into Santa Clarita; city's largest addition to date.
• December 15: SCV photojournalist Gary Thornhill dies at 74.
• December 25: U.S. release of Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained," filmed at Melody Ranch in Placerita Canyon.
• December 28: Actor & Saugus native Harry Carey Jr. dies at 91 in Santa Barbara.

2013

• February 10: Motion picture helicopter provider David Gibbs of Valencia and two others are killed in crash at Acton movie ranch; Hollywood's deadliest on-set incident since triple-fatal "Twilight Zone Movie" helicopter crash in Valencia in 1982 [link].
• February 21: Berry Petroleum Co., owner of the Placerita oil field along Sierra Highway, announces planned takeover by Linn Energy.
• February 25: COC jazz legend Stewart "Dirk" Fischer dies at 88.
• April 18: NASA-JPL rover project manager Richard Cook of Canyon Country makes TIME magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
• June 1: 4-5 homes in Lake Hughes burn down in Powerhouse Fire, which started May 30; ultimately 30 homes are deemed total losses and 28 outbuildings are destroyed.
• June 18: Saugus Union School Board vacates seat of trustee Stephen S. Winkler, who didn't maintain residency in the district and sparked community outrage with offensive social media posts.
• July 26: U.S. release of "The Wolverine," directed by 1985 CalArts grad James Mangold.
• August 19: COC breaks ground on Culinary Arts Education building in Valencia [link].
• September 26: Traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall (80% scale) begins 4-day visit at Westfield Valencia Town Center mall.
• November 30: Actor Paul Walker ("Fast & Furious" movies) dies in a fiery car crash in the Valencia Industrial Center.
• December 16: Placerita oil field (Confusion Hill) owner Berry Petroleum Co. merges into Houston-based LINN Energy and affiliate LinnCo.

2014

• January 7: Embattled 4-term L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca announces he won't finish out his current term.
• January 23: Newhall Roundabout (traffic circle) opens in front of Hart Park.
• January 27: Tresierras Supermarkets closes its Newhall store at 24316 Main St. (originally Safeway and then Dillenbeck). The family-owned Latino grocery chain had operated it since 1983 [cq].
• January 31: Lee Baca's last day as L.A. County Sheriff (leaves at noon); OC Undersheriff John Scott is interim successor.
• February 27: Arkansas judge awards $525 million to 7 women who'd been molested by Tony Alamo when they were children.
• March 2: "Frozen," co-directed by Chris Buck (CalArts 1978), wins Oscar and tops $1 billion at box office on same day. First original (non-sequel) animated feature and 18th film of any kind to top $1 billion at box office.
• March 25: City Council votes to buy Edwards Outdoor Advertising (with intent to remove billboards).
• April 14: "Become Ocean" by John Luther Adams (CalArts BFA 1973) named winner of 2014 Pulitzer Prize in Music [link].
• June 27: MannKind Corp. of Valencia receives FDA approval for Afreeza, a revolutionary inhalable form of insulin, as a treatment for type-1 and type-2 diabetes.
• June 30-July 3: New owner razes third Newhall School building (1914-1928) at 24514 Kansas St.
• July 31: U.S. Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, introduces H.R. 5357, The Saint Francis Dam Disaster National Memorial Act.
• August 1: Scott Shipley, 57, of Acton, sentenced to 40 years for murder of Acton Water Co. owner Christopher Demyen.
• August 7: Outlets at Tejon: Factory outlet mall opens at Tejon Ranch.
• August 16: Original Colossus rollercoaster at Magic Mountain closes; slated to reopen as Twisted Colossus with steel track replacing the original wooden track.
• September 5: Kern County Fire Station 58 opens in Pine Mountain Club.
• September 8: Colossus rollercoaster catches fire as a result of a worker's tool used to dismantle the track.
• September 27: Towsley Canyon Loop Trail named for naturalist Don Mullally.
• October 10: President Barack Obama uses the 1906 Antiquities Act to designate the 346,177-acre San Gabriel Mountains National Monument.
• November 4: Steve Knight elected to succeed Buck McKeon in Congress; city of Santa Clarita voters reject measure to remove (net) 59 billboards (replacing 62 static mid-town boards with 3 digital boards along the freeways).
• November 24: Lifelong Newhall resident and community volunteer Gladys Laney dies at age 104.
• December 11: U.S. House of Representatives passes Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon's legislation to block 78-million-ton gravel mine in Soledad Canyon. Bill later dies in Senate.

2015

• February 1: SCV native & 2007 Valencia High grad Shane Vereen's game-leading 11 catches help the New England Patriots defeat the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX [link].
• February 25: Remodeled Placerita Canyon Nature Center Museum (re)opens [link].
• March 24: Santa Clarita City Council votes to shut off city's RedFlex red-light traffic cameras (7 intersections) [link].
• June 5: Longtime Agua Dulce resident Doreetha Daniels, 99, becomes the oldest person ever to graduate from College of the Canyons [link].
• July 9: Groundbreaking ceremony for Vista Canyon Ranch development at Lost Canyon.
• August 28: Federal Bureau of Land Management cancels Cemex USA's Soledad Canyon gravel mining contracts (issued to a predecessor in 1990 and never utilized).
• November 19: Freak landslide begins to destroy section of Vasquez Canyon Road; earth moves for several weeks [video].
• November 23, 3am: Longtime community volunteer and 2003 SCV Man of the Year Duane Harte dies of a heart attack.
• November 30: Calif. Supreme Court rules Newhall Ranch EIR deficient [link].

2016

• January 1: Effective date of new ownership of The Signal newspaper. Sold by 37-year owner Charles Morris to Paladin Multi-Media Group Inc. Principal owners are Charles F. Champion II, president; Gary Sproule, CFO; and Russ Briley, XVP.
• February 9: Santa Clarita City Council approves Laemmle Theatres-Serrano Development-public parking structure project for Old Town Newhall.
• March 8: Santa Clarita City Council approves Arts Master Plan; also votes to rename River Village Park in memory of Duane Harte.
• March 21: After a protracted legal battle, "Lexi," a 6-year-old part-Choctaw girl, is removed from her Saugus foster home and reunited with her sisters and other relatives in Utah, sparking national debate over Indian Child Welfare Act [link].
• May 6: The Master's College board of directors votes to change name to The Master's University [link].
• May 11: LINN Energy LLC, owner of the Placerita oil field (through its subsidiary Berry Petroleum Co.) files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection [link].
• May 23: Dedication of (renamed) Duane R. Harte Park at River Village [link].
• June 7: Local voters approve Measure E, a $230 million bond measure for College of the Canyons.
• November 8: Bob Kellar reelected to City Council and Cameron Smyth unseats incumbent TimBen Boydston in city's first consolidated November general election since 1987 [link].
• December 6: On 5-0 vote, Kern County supervisors approve 12,000-home Grapevine at Tejon Ranch development.

2017

• January 9: Without comment, U.S. Supreme Court declines to review California court ruling in "Lexi" case, ending legal tug-of-war over 6-year-old Choctaw girl [link].
• January 17: On 3-1 vote, Santa Clarita City Council appoints Bill Miranda to fill seat vacated by Dante Acosta.
• February 26: Disney's "Zootopia," co-directed by 1987 CalArts grad Rich Moore (Film/Video BFA), wins Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
• March 1: Berry Petroleum Co., Bakersfield-based owner of the Placerita oil field, emerges from bankruptcy; no longer a subsidiary of LINN Energy LLC.
• March 1: Wm. S. Hart School Board votes 4-0 to deny 5-year extension for Einstein Academy charter school after 7 years of operation under Hart District.
• May 3: Bernie LaZar Hoffman, aka Pastor Tony Alamo, dies in a federal prison in North Carolina.
• May 12: Former L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca sentenced to 3 years in federal prison for obstructing an FBI investigation into inmate abuse.
• July 18: Following court reversal, L.A. County supervisors reapprove Landmark Village and Mission Village, first two (of five) phases of 21,000-home Newhall Ranch project.
• October 1: One SCV resident, John Phippen, killed and at least 9 others wounded in Las Vegas mass shooting that leaves 59 dead, 851 wounded [link].
• October 3: L.A. County Board of Supervisors votes 4-1 to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day [link].
• Sunday, October 15: Gov. Jerry Brown signs SB634 (Wilk) eliminating Castaic Lake Water Agency and Newhall County Water District to form Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency [link].
• October 18: Three Oaks, Santa Clarita's first 100-percent affordable family housing project, opens in Newhall [link].
• October 29: Santa Clarita city founder and 4-time Mayor Jo Anne Darcy dies at home in Saugus [link].
• December 12: Groundbreaking for first phase of Gate-King Industrial Park at Needham Ranch [link].

2018

• January 2: Inaugural meeting of Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency [link].
• March 20: Site clearance for City of Santa Clarita's Canyon Country Community Center [link].
• April 4: Thunderbird pilot MAJ Stephen Del Bagno, Saugus High 2001, killed in training flight out of Nellis AFB, Nevada [link].
• April 10: Santa Clarita City Council approves Dockweiler Drive extension from (roughly) Valle del Oro to Arch Street [link].
• June 7: The Signal newspaper sold to former publisher Richard Budman.
• July 16: Placerita oil field owner Berry Petroleum Corp. goes public again; launches IPO of common stock [link].
• July 25: Groundbreaking for Sheriff's Station on Golden Valley Road, to replace station in Valencia Civic Center [link].
• July 30: Mid-town brush fire ("Railroad Fire") ravages Terrace Apartments in East Newhall [link].
• August 9: Groundbreaking for permanent Fire Station 104, Golden Valley Road [link].
• August 11-12: Big Oaks Lodge in Bouquet Canyon burns down [link].
• October 10: Dedication of city's San Francisquito Open Space [link].
• November 6: Democrat Katie Hill unseats incumbent GOP Congressman Steve Knight; Laurene Weste, Marsha McLean, Bill Miranda reelected to City Council [link].
• November 26: NASA-JPL's InSight probe reaches Mars; Canyon Country's Scott Evans (navigation) leads the team that gets it there, Eugene Bonfiglio (EDL) sticks the landing [story][video].

2019

• January 2: MRCA announces donation of 226 acres in Marple Canyon (Castaic Area) as open-space parkland [link].
• March 12: On 91st anniversary, President Trump signs S.47 lands package into law, establishing St. Francis Dam Disaster National Memorial & Monument [link].
• March 15: Groundbreaking ceremony for permanent Canyon Country Community Center [link].
• March 20: Twenty-year fight to prevent massive Cemex mining project in Soledad Canyon ends in victory for community [link].
• March 29: Publisher Richard Budman donates entire Signal Photo Archive to SCV Historical Society [link].
• March 29: Grand opening of pedestrian bridge over Sierra Highway, just east of Golden Valley Road [link].
• April 24: Dedication of new Santa Clarita Valley Senior Center on Golden Valley Road [link].
• July 5: Magnitude 7.1 earthquake near Ridgecrest in Kern County; preceded by 6.4 foreshock on July 4. Felt in SCV.
• July 9: Santa Clarita City Council approves Jobs Creation Overlay Zone, accommodating 5-story office & industrial buildings "by right" in 8 designated areas [link].
• October 24: 4,615-acre Tick (Canyon) Fire destroys 24 homes, 5 other structures in Canyon Country and Saugus.
• October 27: Rep. Katie Hill, D-Agua Dulce, announces resignation from Congress amid ethics inquiry [link].
• November 14: Gunman, age 16, slays 2 fellow Saugus High School students, wounds 4 others before turning gun on himself [link].

2020

• January 1: Death of community benefactor Gary Condie, 2005 SCV Man of the Year [link].
• January 5: Death of George Caravalho, Santa Clarita's first permanent city manager [link].
• January 13: Valencia/Newhall Ranch developer Five Point announces 4Q 2019 sale of first 781 home lots in eventual 21,000-home community [link].
• February 17: KHTS radio station co-owner Carl Goldman, a Diamond Princess passenger, tests positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19 disease) [link].
• March 2: Mike Kuhlman's official first day as Superintendent, William S. Hart Union High School District [link].
• March 13: Federal and Santa Clarita city governments declare state of emergency in response to novel coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19 disease). First SCV case confirmed. Schools and Magic Mountain close after end of business day. Nonessential government services and activities canceled. [link].
• March 19, 4pm: Under legal pressure, City Council signals intent to switch to district elections [link].
• March 19, 6pm: Amid novel coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19 disease), Gov. Gavin Newsom orders Californians to stay at home [link].
• March 31: First reported death in the SCV from COVID-19 [link].
• May 2: Confirmed COVID-19 cases in the SCV exceed 500 [link].
• May 12: Republican newcomer Mike Garcia defeats Democratic Assemblywoman Christy Smith to fill the unexpired term of former U.S. Rep. Katie Hill (D-25) [link].
• May 21: Confirmed COVID-19 cases in the SCV exceed 1,000 [link].
• May 30: L.A. County under State of Emergency due to civil unrest in wake of Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man. Curfews imposed countywide 4 nights, May 31-June 3.
• June 5: Confirmed COVID-19 cases in the SCV exceed 2,000, including approx. 1,000 at Pitchess Detention Center/NCCF [link].
• June 15: Historic 1871 American Hotel, 2 other structures at Cerro Gordo mining/ghost town burn down [link].

2021

• February 1: Beginning of demolition of former Signal newspaper buildings at 24000 Creeside Road. Estimated completion in ~2 weeks.
• April 9: Laemmle 7 art-house movie theater opens in Newhall [link].
• April 12: Former Ice Station Valencia skating facility reopens as city-owned "The Cube" Ice Rink [link].
• August 7: SCV's Allyson Felix wins 11th career Olympic medal, passing Carl Lewis to become history's most decorated U.S. Olympic track & field athlete [link].
• September 7: A 1942 Southern Pacific cupola caboose (No. 1119), which ran through SCV, joins permanent train exhibit at Heritage Junction.
• October 8: City of Santa Clarita dedicates the Dennis Koontz Trailhead in its San Francisquito Open Space [link].
• October 18: City, County dedicate new SCV Sheriff's Station at 26201 Golden Valley Road [link].

2022

• July 4: SCV Fourth of July Parade returns after 2-year hiatus [link].
• July 14: Longtime SCV Water Agency board member Edward G. "Jerry" Gladbach dies while still in office.
• September 13: City Council votes to take ownership of SCVHistory.com, integrate it into Santa Clarita Public Library system and help fund conversion from hard-coded HTML to WordPress [letter].

2023

• January 5: Butterfield Overland National Historic Trail Act signed into law; trail runs through SCV [link].

2024

• May 2: President Biden uses Antiquities Act to expand San Gabriel Mountains National Monument to 452,096 acres [link].