City of Fillmore

Fillmore, though not yet an organized town, was already a very productive area in the early 1870s. Sheep and cattle roamed the fields and hillsides, and in a few years’ time, the lucrative business of agriculture would rule the glorious valley. As young families settled into the area, the demand for formal education was realized in 1875, with the opening of the first schoolhouse, a wooden structure measuring 20 X 30 feet. Eventually relocated in town on Central Avenue, the building served students in grades one through eight. As the town expanded, Mountain View School, with a principle and eight classrooms replaced it. Sespe School opened in 1922 with eight classrooms, an office and storage space, basement, kitchen, auditorium, and the first kindergarten in the area. Many parents living outside the school district sent their young children to Fillmore’s renowned kindergarten until non-residential attendance was prohibited three years later.

The first Fillmore High School, built in 1911, celebrated the first four graduates that year. That building, destroyed by fire in 1937, became the first junior high school in 1924, when the city erected a larger high school on Second Street and Central Avenue. The standard of excellence in schooling, attained in part by parental involvement and control, student pride and minimal distractions, continued throughout the 1950s. A new high school swimming pool and upgrades at all schools were achieved during that period.

Today, in addition to two private schools, Fillmore’s youth attend one high, one junior high, and three elementary public schools, where many make the most of contemporary teaching techniques, testing and dedicated staff, and perform to the highest of standards. Encouraging our youths to excel, several physical elements in all public schools have been refurbished or replaced. A much needed all-weather track and field complex, new swimming pool, and a modern science building are some of the recent additions at the high school. Nevertheless, inadequate funding, distractions such as cell phones and internet etc., language difficulties due to changing demographics and immigration, behavioral and drug issues necessitating the need for school resource officers, and relaxed societal mores are amongst the myriad of problems plaguing the school scene today.

School resource officers were not necessary in the early 1900’s. Nevertheless, with growth, resident night watchmen and city marshals, all under Ventura County’s jurisdiction, maintained law enforcement needs. The first City Marshall took his post in June 1914 and the Fillmore Police Department, a one-man force formed in 1925. Later on in FY (June 30) 1957-58, the Department made 17 felony and 206 misdemeanor arrests, and ticketed 297 traffic violations. An auxiliary police group of citizens was ready to respond to disasters, rescue and special events.

The city contracted with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department for law enforcement services in June 1987, closing the book on local law enforcement. Currently, twenty-seven officers serve in various capacities including, one K-9, two gang, three detectives, plus two traffic cadets, an office manager/dispatcher, and the Chief, all committed to protecting Fillmore’s citizens. Arrests include gang and tagging activities, drug production and use, domestic violence, homicide, burglary, theft, extortion, robbery, rape, assault, driving under the influence and traffic violations. It appears that crime everywhere is increasingly violent in nature. Arrests from March 2007 through March 2008 include 221 felony arrests, 1,269 misdemeanor arrests and 2,046 traffic citations, encompassing a population three times the size of a half century ago. In the last thirty years, changes in commerce transportation from rail to trucking, expanded work related commuting distances, and two or three cars per household have all contributed to heavy traffic activity. The Department’s effectiveness and ability for rapid response lets Fillmore remain one of the safest cities in the county and the state overall.

Fillmore’s first Fire Chief, appointed in 1916, led the Fillmore Volunteer Fire Department consisting of a handful of men. Through the decades, improvements in equipment, continual training and selfless human beings have created the finely tuned machine it is today, one of the best in the state. Its responsibilities include not only responding to fires of all types, including brush, home, automobile and industrial, but medical and disaster emergencies as well, 24/7. The Department’s activities are overseen by its Chief and coordinated by three Captains, all paid positions. The three-truck department retains sixty-eight total volunteers, including eighteen paramedics and twenty-six volunteers who reside in town. Firefighters today must undergo strenuous psychological and physical preparation, in addition to continual training in ever-changing firefighting, medical and a myriad of disaster response techniques.

The Fillmore Herald reported the comings and goings in Fillmore from 1907 for nearly one hundred years. The Sun reported from 1916 -1919, and the Fillmore American, published from 1925-1932. News articles of the mid-1950s relayed some national news, but primarily reported on the vibrant local, business and governmental activities of the town, school news and scholastic achievements of the young, social clubs and personal happenings, armed service updates and a healthy dose of advertising. Except in times of great disaster and depictions of heroic efforts and neighborly kindnesses, the news was mostly upbeat, reflecting splendid times in our magnificent small town.

The only remaining local newspaper in print today is this weekly publication, The Fillmore Gazette, releasing its first edition on September 15, 1989. The front-page headlines of recent years often announce crimes or arrests, or the failings of schools etc. Generous amounts of dissension fill the “Letters to the Editor” section. Still, we also often get glimpses of our youths’ successes, kind deeds, patriotism, history, and the aspirations and debates of our town’s leaders as they try to guide us through the 21st century. Spreading the word on line, a relatively new approach in our town are The Sespe Sun and The Fillmore Gazette. Nevertheless, is it not true that wherever you read or hear the news, it is in sharp contrast to what it once was?

“Fortune Favored Fillmore” coined by Fillmore Judge Merton Barnes, was the winning entry in a 1924 town slogan contest. There have been times in Fillmore’s history that the slogan seemed less than accurate. Freezes resulted in loss of millions of dollars, fires threatened homes and businesses and heavy rainfalls caused floods. Major floods, resulting in extensive damage and loss have been recorded in 1914, 1938, 1969 and 1978, but with the exception of the failure of the St. Francis Dam on March 23, 1928, the ’69 flood is considered the worst on record due to weather, with nearly 20 inches of rain falling during the month of January. Other disasters greatly affecting Fillmore included the Spanish influenza epidemic in 1917-1918; the stock market crash in 1929 followed by the Great Depression; loss of life from wars; brush, refinery, school and business fires, and major damage from earthquakes in 1952 and 1971. At 4:31 a.m. on January 17, 1994, Fillmore’s citizens awakened to the 6.7 magnitude Northridge quake and enormous destruction, including the Fillmore Historical Museum, where much of our town’s heritage is lovingly stored in safekeeping. Nevertheless, mirroring every past disaster, and years of rebuilding, Fillmore survived. Even today, the spirit of Fillmore lives on as her citizens battle the present economic crisis.

As you have read over the past two episodes and now this one, change touched Fillmore through its one hundred and twenty years of history in many forms, some inevitable, some unavoidable and some self-inflicted. Change is progress, or is it? Perhaps progress is change. You decide. Yet, one cannot deny, Fillmore is a work in progress.

*Research materials gathered from The Fillmore Historical Museum, the Fillmore Centennial Book, The Fillmore Herald and the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. Thank you to those individuals who generously contributed valuable information and lore of our town, Fillmore.