Bardsdale School Children in 1909.
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Students and faculty in front of Bardsdale School in 1920.
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Courtesy Fillmore Historical Museum

As we begin the new school year I thought it might be interesting to look back at schools at the beginning of development in the area now known as Bardsdale.

The history of the Bardsdale School is really the history of Bardsdale. In 1888, Mr. Thomas Bard of Hueneme bought land from the More brothers. His partner, Royce Surdam, laid this property out in farming tracts around a Community Center. To this settlement he gave the name of Bardsdale.

There were no citrus orchards then. People raised what they thought would grow the best. Though the crops were good, the market was poor. Mrs. Chadsey told of a very fine cabbage crop from which they only sold one head. The next year, they raised potatoes and though they had a pile higher than the house they sold none of them. It was hard for the people to make a living and some who came moved on to other places.

There was a large German colony which had come from the Middle West. They held the first school classes in their little church which was on the east side of Owen Street.

The first school board meeting was held May, 1888. Two members, J.C. Wilson and B. Broderson, were appointed by the County Superintendent. Brice Grimes was a member by virtue of the statute law (he lived in the school district). Their first duty was to call an election. The election was held in Bardsdale in Robertson’s store. There were eight votes cast. Henry Klages and B.T. Chadsey were elected to the board. On May 22, 1888, the newly elected board employed Miss Nettie Hamilton to teach three weeks the following August. Miss Jessie Fuller was employed to teach four months at $65 a month.

The community was still without a school building. Mr. Bard had given land on Ventura St. for a school building but there were no funds for construction. On October 20, 1888, eleven votes were cast for the purpose of raising $1,722.00 in order to build a school house and furnish it.

The school year was divided into two parts. Miss Fuller’s term closed December 14th and on February 11, 1899, Miss Gibbins began the second term at $60 a month. (There is no word about what happened to Miss Hamilton)

Mr. O.J. Goodenough was awarded the contract to build the Bardsdale Schoolhouse according to the plans and specifications. He was to furnish all material and finish the job in a good and workman like manner for $ 1,397.00, excepting outhouses.

On June 8, 1889, the new school was accepted by the trustees. It was then moved and carried, unanimously, “that the school house should not be used for dancing and that smoking and chewing tobacco be prohibited in the schoolroom and smoking on the ground.

In August, 1889, Miss Minnie Taylor had the honor of being the first teacher in the new school house.

The school consisted of one room and a cloak room. There were two entrances, one for the boys and one for the girls. A huge iron stove stood in the back of the room. On rainy days, the children would take off their shoes and stockings and dry them around the fire. The desks and seats were made for two people and if a pupil was good, he or she was allowed to choose their desk partner. The teacher did her own janitor work with the help of the older children. There was no water on the school grounds and it was considered an honor to be allowed to go fetch it. The water bucket was set in the cloak room where all the children drank from the same dipper.

Fridays were red-letter days. The children held spelling bees and gave recitations.

The adults who belonged to a literary society came to the school in the evening to study and debate. One of the topics of debate was “Can the Santa Clara River be Bridged?” Box socials were held from time to time.

In the beginning there were thirty or forty children. There were nine grades in the school because the nearest high school was in Santa Paula and often the river crossing to Santa Paula was impassible.

By 1895, there were over 60 children in the school and so another room was added to the school. When school began in 1896 there were two teachers each paid $50 a month and a janitor who received $6 a month.

One year later, in 1896 a principal had been hired at $65 a month.

The school continued to grow each year until in 1917, when the need for a larger school became critical. The new school that was built included 4 rooms, a library and teachers’ room. The cost was $18,000.00. The grounds were improved by the addition of a front walk, lawn, shrubs and playground equipment as well as tennis courts and school garden.

Throughout the decades, children arrived at the school either walking or on horseback. One child boasted of a buggy. When the Riverside School district located at the foot of Balcom Canyon closed, those children needed a ride to school. A Model A Ford was modified by “experienced” hands to serve the purpose. It lasted until spring 1932 when it gave out all at once one fine morning.

Bardsdale School had one of the earliest PTA organizations although it wasn’t called by that name. It was originally called the “Congress of Mothers”. It was organized in 1925 or 1926 and started with meetings of the parents during the day. But soon the group noticed that many of the small children who walked to school each day arrived without breakfasts and sometimes with very little lunch. They decided to do something about it. The mothers began to take turns bringing the children hot lunches which they prepared at home. After lunch two of the mothers would stay and wash the dishes. Soon they raised enough money with cake sales to purchase cooking utensils and hot plates. They cooked lunch in the hallway and served the children on tables built for that purpose.

The end for Bardsdale School came in 1966 when the building failed Field Act earthquake specifications. The school was closed and the children joined their junior high and high school siblings traveling to school in Fillmore. The old school bell that had hung in the tower of the old school was eventually given to the Fillmore Historical Museum where it has been rung by each child who visited the museum with their classes.

In 1920 the Fillmore post office moved to the new Masonic Building on Sespe Avenue, which was a larger and more convenient space. Photo c. 1940.
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Richard Stephens "new" store with the post office, Now Estrella Market, "Stephens" is still shown in the entry way.
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1951, back to Central Ave. Picture (c) 1993.
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Today's view.
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Courtesy Fillmore Historical Museum

By Ellen Finley, 1988

Now the fourth home of the post office was the same as it is first – the west corner of Main and Central – where Turner’s rooming house had stood. Stephens soon purchased more property adjacent to the corner and announced plans to erect a new building on the same site. Completed in 1910 this building still stands today doing business as the Downtown Village Market [2020 - Estrella Market]. On the sidewalk in front of the corner entrance, the name “Stephens” still can be seen in large letters of green tile on white. The post office was in the same building as Stephens’ store, separated from the store but with a connecting door as well as a front door on Central Avenue. By 1911, the store was occupied by Cash Commercial Company operated by Charles Harthorne. Mr. Stephens remained postmaster assisted by his wife Stella and Nell Crippen Ward. A picture of the Cash Commercial Store in 1914 shows a decorative cornice on Central Avenue side with a flag flying over the post office. The cornice and flagpole remain today over a wooden insert which probably covers the former front door of the post office.

When Richard Stephens retired a postmaster after a little over sixteen years of service, Philippe P. Roche (Phil) was appointed to the position on February 25, 1915. Mr. Roche owned a jewelry store on the east side of Central, just north of Mack Wooldridge’s Orange Leaf Café (about where Ballard’s Furniture store is now [1988]). Exactly when the post office was moved to Mr. Roche’s place of business is not known. However, a picture in the Fillmore Museum, taken in 1915 shows Roche’s Jewelry Shop as the site of the post office at that time.

When Fillmore incorporated in 1914, the time seemed right for a larger, more convenient post office. When the modern elegant Masonic Temple was built in 1919, space was provided at 455 Sespe Avenue, the post office opened for business there on Monday morning, January 5, 1920. When Mr. Roche retired in the summer of 1921, T. H. Zimmerman was appointed acting postmaster, receiving the appointment of postmaster February 10, 1922.

The city of Fillmore continued to grow at a steady rate so that, eventually, the post office outgrew its home in the Masonic Building. Then in 1941, Duard Gobel, local business man, hired a local contractor, George Dipple to construct a building in the space o the west side of Central formerly occupied by the Fillmore Café and Wilson’s Furniture Store. Plans called for a one-story commercial building with two brick store-fronts and a tall panelized stucco parapet. The larger store-front of the two would be for the post office, built to the department’s own specifications; the smaller store front would be for Mr. Gobel’s jewelry store. On April 6, 1951, the post office department accepted the Gobel Building and, on Monday morning, June 4, the Fillmore Post Office opened for business as usual at the location it still occupies. Gobel’s smaller building is now occupied by Howard Jewelers. Joel K L Schwartz, postmaster at that the time of the move, announced that the same email boxes would be used temporarily in the new lobby; within a few months, a completely new set of boxes would be installed, giving the local branch a total of 485 boxes, 175 more than they then had. (The old boxes are currently at the Fillmore Museum; soon they will be placed in the renovated Bardsdale Post Office located at the rear of the Museum) [2020 - the boxes are on display in the Bardsdale Post Office at the current Museum site.]

Joel K L Schwartz is something of a legend in Fillmore history. Appointed acting postmaster on March 8. 1934, he became postmaster less than a year later February 9, 1935. He served in this capacity for over twenty-six years, retiring on May 31, 1961 as the oldest postmaster in point of service in Ventura county.

Post Script:
Ellen Finley wrote this in February, 1988, for Fillmore’s Centennial Celebration. In 1994, the building the Post Office was in received major damage and was modernized to look as it does today.

The launch date of the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Clara Valley’s new virtual clubhouse will be Tuesday September 8, 2020. This site is a robust gathering of enrichment activities and programs. Boys & Girls Club of Santa Clara Valley has partnered with many different organizations and museums to provide us with video content for our youth. This web portal is free to all youth everywhere. No membership needed. There will be new content weekly from our established partners and we are also doing independent programming. There will be new virtual art lessons weekly from the Santa Paula Art Museum , storytime from Katherine at the Fillmore Library , various content from Growing Great, Children’s Workshop, SEEAg, KidSTream, Channel Islands National Park, California Oil Museum, Ventura County Agricultural Museum , Gene Haas Automation and much more. Our independent programs will feature STEM Science activities, STEM cooking with Anne, STEM Nutrition and on the spot videos about workforce development. Check us out on Sept. 8th at www.bgclubscv.org Look for us on various social media platforms!

National Preparedness Month (NPM) is recognized each September to promote family and community disaster planning now and throughout the year. As our nation continues to respond to COVID-19, there is no better time to be involved this September. The 2020 NPM theme is: “Disasters Don’t Wait. Make Your Plan Today.” For more info visit http://ow.ly/L8kh50BdO0V. Courtesy County of Ventura Facebook.

Salons, Barbershops and Malls can Reopen for Indoor Service beginning Monday, August 31st.

The State of California announced a new blueprint for reducing COVID-19 in the state with revised criteria for loosening and tightening restrictions and activities.

Learn more at: Blueprint for a Safer Economy

Learn more about County Monitoring

Salons, Barbershops and Malls are able to reopen for INDOOR services beginning Monday, August 31. These sectors must follow the state issued industry guidance. Malls are allowed to open at 25% capacity.

Cesar Pedro Villanueva, Fillmore, 21

Patrol Deputies assigned to the Fillmore Police Station arrested (S) Cesar Pedro Villanueva, after he stabbed two people inside the Dollar General store located at 1154 Ventura Street in the City of Fillmore.

On August 20th, 2020, at 2:47 PM, patrol deputies responded to the Dollar General Store to a call of a stabbing that had just occurred. When deputies arrived at the scene, they observed a male subject, later identified as Cesar Villanueva, running away from the Dollar General Store, holding a folding knife in his hand. Villanueva also matched the description of the suspect. Deputies attempted to stop Villanueva, but he was uncooperative and non-compliant with their verbal commands. Deputies were able to prevent Villanueva from fleeing and detained him.

Ventura County Sheriff Major Crimes and Fillmore Police Station Detectives responded to the scene to assist in the investigation. Detectives determined that Villanueva was inside the Dollar General Store when he confronted a delivery driver who was stocking product inside the store. Villanueva stabbed this victim in the arm with a knife. Villanueva then stabbed a second male victim in the chest and the back with the same knife. The second victim was merely shopping at the store when confronted by Villanueva.

Both victims had moderate injuries and were transported to the Ventura County Medical Center via ambulance. Both were treated for their injuries and later released.

Villanueva was arrested and charged for two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon, and one count of resisting arrest. Evidence was recovered that directly linked Villanueva to the crime and he was positively identified as the suspect. Villanueva was booked into the Pre-Trial Detention Facility and his bail was set at $50,000.

Detectives are seeking any additional witnesses or potential video evidence of the suspect or the incident.

Ventura County Crime Stoppers will pay up to $1,000 reward for information, which leads to the arrest and criminal complaint against the person(s) responsible for this crime. The caller may remain anonymous. The call is not recorded. Call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).

Nature of Incident: Stabbing Suspect Arrested
Report Number: 20-114668
Location: Dollar General Store, Fillmore
Date & Time: 08/20/2020 @ 2:47 PM
Unit(s) Responsible: Sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau, Fillmore Police Patrol and Investigations
(S)uspects, (V)ictims, (P)arty, (D)ecedent, City of Residence, Age
(S) Cesar Pedro Villanueva, Fillmore, 21
Prepared by: Sergeant Albert Ramirez
Approved by: Captain Brian Slominski