6.5 Historic and Cultural Resources 6.5 HISTORIC AND CULTURAL RESOURCES 6.5.1 Introduction This section describes the existing historical and cultural resources that are significant to the character of the Simi Valley Planning Area. Historic resources include structures that are listed, or may be eligible for listing, on the National Register of Historic Places (National Register), the California Register of Historical Resources (CRHR), or any local designation. Cultural resources include public art, as well as venues that host all forms of established cultural activities. Simi Valley’s historic-cultural resources include physical elements, which define the City’s past and present and give Simi Valley a unique identity and charm. These resources, when preserved and well maintained, provide the community with a sense of permanence that fosters civic pride and stewardship among its residents and businesses. Information for this section is based on data Simi Adobe/Strathearn House at Strathearn Historical obtained from “Simi Valley: A Journey Through Time” Park and Museum (built in 1893). Historical Text Book, the Simi Valley 1988 General Plan, the Simi Valley Department of Cultural Arts Center, the Simi Valley Historical Society and Museum, and various websites, which are listed under Sources at the end of this section. 6.5.2 Simi Valley Historical Background There have been four major chronological phases of settlement and change that caused Simi Valley to develop into the community it is today: the Chumash or Pre-Colonial Period, the Spanish or Colonial Period, the Pioneer Period, and the Modern Period. Chumash or Pre-Colonial Period Native American presence in the Simi Valley probably extends as far back as 10,000 years ago. Archeological investigations in the San Joaquin Valley and on the Northern Channel Islands provide evidence that people had arrived in California by the end of the Pleistocene Era. However, no one really knows when the first people arrived who spoke a language ancestral to that spoken by the Chumash Indians. The deep linguistic divisions among the various branches in the Chumash family tree suggest that they may have existed for 5,000 years in south central California.224 Records kept by early Franciscan missionaries make it possible to reconstruct the Chumash history of the Simi Valley during the early years of Spanish settlement in California. The names of 130 people from native towns in the valley have been identified in the San Fernando and San Buenaventura mission 224 Havens, Patricia. 1997. Simi Valley: A Journey Through Time. Historical text by Patricia Havens. Published by the Simi Valley Historical Society and Museum. Simi Valley General Plan Update Technical Background Report 6.5-1 Chapter 6 Natural Resources registers between 1798 and 1829. This number implies an original population in the neighborhood of 250 to 400 people.225 There are many Chumash sites within the Simi Valley region including the famous cave paintings (pictographs) at Burro Flats, the Chumash Wilderness Park, and the Chumash Villages of Ta’apu, and Shimiji among others, as shown in Figure 6.5-1 (Historic Resources).226 Ta’apu (which is the origin of the word Tapo) was the largest of the Chumash towns in the Simi Valley and was the only one that had a chief in residence at the time the European colonizers arrived in the region. A total of 76 people have been identified from Ta’apu in the San Fernando and San Buenaventura Mission registers.227 Based on the numbers of baptisms listed for the Village of Shimiji, the population seems to have been about a third of the size of Ta’apu Village (24 baptisms registered). One of the most significant archeological resources which exist today (in close proximity to the Simi Valley area) is the Burro Flats Pictographic Cave Paintings (listed on the State and National Register of Historic Resources). The site, in an area known as Burro Flats, is near the historic location of Huwam, a smaller Chumash settlement adjacent to today’s Bell Creek in the Santa Susana Mountains. Huwam was on the border between Chumash lands and the Tongva who lived south of the Simi Valley. These days Burro Flats is off-limits to the public on the property of Boeing-Rocketdyne’s Santa Susana Mountains Pictograph Cave Paintings at Burro Flats. complex. Spanish or Colonial Period (1795–1870) The early Spanish ranchos consisted of large plots of land which were used mostly for raising cattle and sheep. The first Spanish settlement in the area now known as Simi Valley was Rancho Simi settlement. Initially developed by Santiago Pico, Rancho Simi was about 113,000 acres and included a huge amount of property which stretched from the Santa Susana Mountains to well past the modern town of Moorpark. Early dwellings at the El Rancho Simi are currently located at the Strathearn Historical Park.228 225 Havens, Patricia. 1997. Simi Valley: A Journey Through Time. Historical text by Patricia Havens. Published by the Simi Valley Historical Society and Museum. 226 Ibid. 227 Ibid. 228 Ibid. 6.5-2 Simi Valley General Plan Update Technical Background Report 6.5 Historic and Cultural Resources Around 1820, the Tapo Rancho came to be thought of as a separate place within El Rancho Simi. It is an area at the central north portion of the Simi Rancho, with a distinct geographic character, comprising more than 14,000 acres. There are canyons and mountains in the north half and to the west, and a stream called Tapo Creek which almost always has some water. The lower southeastern portion is flat and fertile, and it eventually became a fine agricultural subdivision which prospered during the first six decades of the twentieth century.229 By the early 1830s, El Rancho Simi changed hands. Don Jose de la Guerra y Noriega, who was a Captain of the Santa Barbara Presidio, had begun to acquire large amounts of land in California, in order to raise cattle. He purchased the Simi grant in about 1832 from the Pico family. When Jose de la Guerra obtained El Rancho Simi around 1832, he raised cattle and sheep in large numbers for several decades.230 However, a few years after Jose de la Guerra’s death in 1858 the rancho was sold to the Philadelphia and California Petroleum Company headed by Pennsylvania Railroad president, Thomas A. Scott.231 The last of the De la Guerras to live in Simi Valley retreated to the 14,400-acre Tapo Rancho portion of the Rancho Simi, and to its adobe or house (De la Guerra adobe).232 Pioneer Period (1870–1960) Farming was the main occupation in Simi Valley for close to a century, from the 1870s to the 1950s. While the Simi Rancho was still held in one large property by the Americans who bought it, it was leased out for the raising of livestock: sheep, cattle, and horses. A firm named Lyons and Campbell from Los Angeles became the owners of the Tapo Rancho. The ancient activity of sheep-herding was continued by hired sheepherders.233 After his death in 1881, most of the property of Thomas A. Scott was sold, which under the leadership of Thomas R. Brad, lead to the incorporation of the Simi Land and Water Company.234 The huge Simi Rancho was divided into ranches and farms, and its lands were advertised in Midwestern and New England states. Many of those who responded came from places like Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Massachusetts, Iowa, and Pennsylvania.235 The word of the opportunity to buy land from Simi Land and Water Company reached a group of doctors in the Chicago area. This group of doctors was inspired by a dream of establishing a health colony on the banks of the “Simi River.”236 The California Mutual Benefit Colony of Chicago was then created in order to promote the new health colony investment plans. A town site was laid out, named “Simiopolis.” The town site plan stretched approximately from First Street (called Bary St. on earlier maps) to Erringer Road, on both sides of the 229 Ibid. 230 Ibid. 231 Havens, Patricia. 1997. Simi Valley: A Journey Through Time. Historical text by Patricia Havens. Published by the Simi Valley Historical Society and Museum. 232 Ibid. 233 Ibid. 234 Ibid. 235 www.simihistory.com (03/15/07) 236 www.simiopolis.com (03/15/07) Simi Valley General Plan Update Technical Background Report 6.5-5 Chapter 6 Natural Resources Arroyo Simi between Royal Avenue and Los Angeles Avenue. Those who wanted to purchase farm lands a few miles from the town made arrangements through the company.237 The first group of investors purchased twelve pre-cut, partly assembled houses in Chicago and shipped them by rail to Saticoy in November 1888, where the lumber sections were loaded onto wagons and hauled to Simi. Ten of the twelve houses were placed in the town site (between First and Fifth Streets, and from Los Angeles Avenue south to Ventura Avenue). Because of the unusual way Simi was settled, they were called Colony Houses; for many years the little town was called “The Colony.”238 Only two of the Colony Houses were built on land purchased by “colonists” away from the town site. One was near the present northwest corner of Cochran and Erringer, and the other one was east of where Madera Road crosses over the railroad.239 Originally there was only one store along the colony: The Simi General Merchandise Store. The store still stands today but it has been relocated to the Strathearn Historic Park and Museum.240 Gradually most of the Colony Houses disappeared, almost all of them due to fire.