Bathtub trough for the horses.
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Cyrus and Elvira Kenney out for a ride.
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Interior of Moore’s Stables owned by Billy Moore along with all his rigs available for rental.
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Rush Ealy with his fine rig.
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Courtesy Fillmore Historical Museum

Last week’s story mentioned the Star Stables, but it was not only the only stable in Fillmore. The following is an extract from Edith Moore Jarrett’s book, Old-Timers’ Tales of Fillmore.

Old-Timers’ Tales of Fillmore
Three of our constables, J. P. “Jack” Trotter, Jack Casner, and Owen Miller, held both jobs (constable, or police chief, and stable owner). Maybe they wanted to be able to round up a quick posse, or maybe they just knew a fringe benefit when they saw one. We’d call it a “conflict of interest” these days, but nobody protested then.

In 1899, Jack Trotter advertised his livery stable as “the only one in town.” Jack Casner started his Fillmore Stables in 1904 and it was going strong in 1911 in spite of Model Ts.

By then Billy Moore was advertising his stable as “opposite the Southern Pacific Depot,” and Bill Elkins, oldest son of Judge Elkins, had his horse rental on Santa Clara Street with a watering trough made of an old bathtub with legs. The mystery there is why anyone would discard a real bathtub when most of us were still using galvanized washtubs on Saturday nights. That bathtub could have only come from the saloon or pool hall on Main Street that had burned down, for those establishments advertised hot and cold baths available at any hour.

There was always a blacksmith, too, under a spreading peppertree on Main Street and Hugh Robbins at his saddlery was announcing in 1911 that he’d oil your double harness for $1.

Then in 1915 L. L. Warren, with his livery stable, saw the graffiti on the wall and, as a footnote to his ad, offered a Dodge and driver for rent as well as horses. The next year he advertised Dodges first, and the horses ran second. Our first Hertz.

A later constable, Owen Miller, had long done a business renting packtrains to the city folks who wanted to go up to the Sespe Hot Springs to soak a bit; and that went on for many years with no competition from cars, nor from a monorail, either.
But back to Jack Casner, still constable in 1934, when Charles Jarrett of the Fillmore Herald staff was “profiling” Fillmore’s notables. He interviewed Jack about his livery stable of 1904 and discovered that 7 men had been working there with his 25 horses.

You’d think those dusty, bumpy roads would have discouraged folks from any travel but on train. Not so. Judging from Jack’s hay bill for 100 tons at a time, people rented his rigs for most any event that took them out of town even after 1911.

Casner had 17 one-horse buggies, 4 surreys, 4 buckboards, 2 big four-seater tallyhos ("tally-ho" can describe a large coach or a light passenger vehicle without roof or sides used for sight-seeing), as well as 4- and 6-horse teams that hauled oilfield supplies or gypsum from Grimes Canyon to the plaster mill. His buggies were Fireflys, Babcocks, or Studebakers, and he always sent along a lap robe and a new buggy whip.

Once he sent 20 rigs to Oxnard for some sort of celebration and the young bucks often rented one on Saturday night for some fun in Oxnard after local option had closed all the other saloons in the county. You could drink and drive then. The horses never touched the stuff.

Casner had 10 rigs at Sulphur Mountain Springs near Santa Paula on summer Sunday afternoons. The charge was $2 for Sundays, or $1.50 for Saturday night, and you had to make your reservation before Saturday or get left behind. The traffic went both ways, too, for when Fillmore had a big July Fourth celebration or a hot baseball game, Jack said, there could 100 extra rigs here from all around the county.

“Maybe they get there a little faster these days,“ said Jack n 1934, after Model Ts had put his livery stable out of business “but anybody who never wrapped the lines around the whip on a moonlight night and let the horses find the way home simply doesn’t know what he missed.”

Ray Ealy would have agreed with Jack. In 1910, even though cars were beginning to come in Ray had a surprise for Fillmore. He had raised a team of matched bays and had just gotten latest thing in buggies. It was a convertible model, black with lots of delicate red striping and red wheels.

All the girls simply swooned when they saw that rig, for a light buggy like that really needed only one horse and they knew it. Ray had topped all the other fellows with his horsepower rating. Who cared if the moonlit road was dusty and rocky?
His father, Rush Ealy, had a good thing going too. He commuted daily from his ranch in Cienega, east of Fillmore, to his tinshop in town driving Queenie, with the buggy. Since they weren’t a two-buggy family, if Mrs. Ealy wanted to go the ladies’ aid meeting later, when Rush reached the shop, he just wrapped the reins around the buggy whip, headed Queenie toward homeand slapped her on the rump. She understood. Try that with your Buick.

Perhaps some of today’s driverless cars will eventually rival Queenie, but the romance and pace of a horse and buggy can’t be matched.

FUSD Superintendent, Dr. Adrian Palazuelos, PhD.

The Fillmore Unified School District Board of Trustees and Fillmore Superintendent Dr. Adrian E. Palazuelos entered into a mutual separation agreement. Dr. Palazuelos left the District at the end of business on March 5, 2021.

The District appreciates Dr. Palazuelos’ seven years of service leading our collective efforts on behalf of all District students.

During that time, Fillmore Unified has: increased student access to Advanced Placement courses at the high school level; broadened the K-12 music program; worked with the local community colleges to introduce college classes within the school day on the high school campus; implemented a high quality preschool program; introduced the Fillmore Adult School funded by an annual Adult Education Block grant of $500,000.00; received community support for and approval of Measure V, a $35 Million general obligation bond to improve District schools and facilities and received $6 million in matching state dollars for the construction of a new Career Technical Education facility slated for completion in summer 2021. Dr. Palazuelos provided vigilant leadership during the Thomas Fire, the Maria Fire, multiple public safety power shutoffs, and the current pandemic. His dedication is deeply appreciated.

The Board of Education wishes Dr. Palazuelos the best as he moves forward with his career.

***

After a mutual separation agreement Former FUSD Superintendent Adrian E. Palazuelos, PhD left Fillmore Unified on March 5th. After a special Board meeting on March 11th Fillmore Unified approved contracts for Ms. Andrea McNeill and W. Charles "Chuck" Weis III as Co-Interim-Superintendent for the period of April 6, 2021-June 30, 2021.

Flags ordered at half mast by President Biden: “As a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence perpetrated on March 16, 2021, in the Atlanta Metropolitan area, by the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, March 22, 2021. I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same length of time at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.” We may see them continue at half mast out of respect for the Boulder, Colorado mass killing victims.

The Bungalow Inn on Santa Clara Street built in 1911. It had 20 rooms for many who traveled through Fillmore.
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Central Avenue in 1915.
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Santa Clara Street in 1925.
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Fillmore Ford Dealership circa 1929.
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Rancho Sespe circa 1930.
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Sanitary Dairy in 1930.
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Rudkin Motor Service circa 1938.
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Seaside Rocket Service Station on Santa Clara and A Street.
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The Grand Opening of the Freeway Portion of Highway 126 in 1965 ending in Santa Paula. By 1971 studies were undertaken to determine the feasibility of completing the highway from Santa Paula to Hwy 5 at Castaic.
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Courtesy Fillmore History Museum

We are all familiar with the roads into and out of Fillmore. But, the route was not always as it is today. In the earliest days there were no cities, only small villages of Chumash at Sak’spe (Sespe), the Mupu near today’s Santa Paula and the Aliklik, at Kamulos (Camulos). The route was a foot and horse path from the mountains to the coast. The path wandered as far north as what is now Kensington Drive. A clump of three sycamore trees marks the spot along which Pole Creek traversed the future town site and served as a gathering point and sheep shearing location long before Fillmore came into being.

The Spanish had traveled the route on their explorations in 1769, followed by the Mexican land grantees in the 1830s and American settlers in the 1850s. Ventura and Santa Paula were already well established by 1887 when the railroad laid tracks along this route. The rails generally took the path following the same route as the earlier horse and wagon route through Piru, Fillmore and Rancho Sespe and the farms in between.

Over time the path was widened to accommodate early automobiles. In 1915, Ventura County pushed for a vote to pave the main route through the county. The local ladies were anxious to have the road up Central Ave. paved because it was dusty and dirty. In order to keep the dust down, the local city fathers would periodically have the street oiled. Over the years, the ladies had become tired of the mess that was made when their long skirts dragged in the oil as they crossed Central Ave.

When it was approved, paving followed the established, well-traveled pathway. The route entered Fillmore from the east as it does today with the crossing over Pole Creek which had earlier been rerouted to run south to the Santa Clara River. It took an immediate right turn up to Santa Clara St. It then followed Santa Clara west and made a right turn onto Central Ave, thence to Sespe St. where it turned left and followed Sespe St. to the Sespe River. Motels were unheard of in those days but there was always a place to stop in Fillmore at the Bungalow Inn on Santa Clara St. It was built in 1911 with 20 rooms, some with a bath should that be needed. There were stables along the way such as The Star Stable just east of the corner of Santa Clara and Central.

The original road had crossed the Sespe at Muir St. but in 1914 a flood had destroyed the bridge. The day the Muir St. Bridge collapsed, Hilda Hurst was crossing the bridge in her buggy having taken friends into Fillmore to catch the train. She felt the horse bolt as it felt the bridge tremble. She made it to solid ground just as the bridge collapsed.

After the collapse, the county decided to change the route and relocated the road from Muir St. to Telegraph Road. About 1916, Cliff Hardison, seeing a business opportunity, bought 10 acres along the road, ordered a silo from Sears Roebuck and opened the Sanitary Dairy complete with cows, roadside rest stop with picnic area and country store. Travelers could purchase fresh squeezed orange juice, fresh milk and watch the cows being milked in the milk barn. It became well known as a rest stop for weary travelers. For the next 60 years the dairy also supplied milk to residents of Fillmore and Bardsdale and local schools.

In the teens, the route was again shifted and Santa Clara from Central Ave. to A Street became the main highway. It was no wonder that Santa Clara soon became home to the auto dealerships which had replaced the livery stables. The Ford dealership was east of Central. Wm. L. Morris purchased a gas station on the corner of Central and Santa Clara which by 1929 had become his Chevy Dealership. John Opsahl”s Studebaker was next door to the west. Rudkin’s Motor Service and Plymouth - DeSoto sales and service were on the north side pf the same corner and along the way were gas stations and repair shops.

Until 1954, Santa Clara to A St. to Telegraph Road was the main thoroughfare between Castaic and Ventura. But that year, the county straightened the road extending it along Ventura Street and built a new bridge over each branch of Sespe Creek. This is the route through Fillmore still today. In 1975 the dairy closed because the traffic on the new road bypassed them and the tourists stopped coming. In 2021 a heavy wind so damaged the silo that it had to be taken down. Generations of Fillmore residents remember the view of the silo on their way back home from points west.

Hwy 126 remained a bucolic route through the valley for many years. But the 1960s traffic had increased enough for the city and county to discuss a new freeway. By 1965 the freeway portion of Hwy 126 ending in Santa Paula was complete. In 1971 studies were undertaken to determine the feasibility of completing the freeway from Santa Paula to Hwy 5 at Castaic. Studies put the cost at $100 million. Public Works Director, A. P. Stokes was quoted as saying the following regarding the cost which was mostly for flood control and embankments, “It now appears that this flood control work is way off in the future and may never happen.” To date it hasn’t happened.

In 1988 work began on adding two lanes to the existing road through Rancho Sespe west of Fillmore. It required removal of many of the huge eucalyptus trees and orchard trees along the route, replacing gas and electric lines and repaving the older sections of the road. This is the heavily traveled road we use today.

Will there ever be a freeway all the way to I 5? Where would the route go? In 1960 the county published a map of potential freeways in Ventura County. This map included two freeway routes from Moorpark and Simi over the mountain to Fillmore and a 4 lane freeway to Hwy 99. The I 5 did not exist when that map was drawn.

Our valley has changed drastically in the 134 years since the railroad was built. We are now becoming a bedroom community with heavy traffic every weekday in and out of town. We can only wonder what comes next.

Adolfo (Al) Huerta retired from the Fillmore Fire Department in December 2020.

Al began as a volunteer firefighter on March 1, 1983 until September 1992, when he was hired as Fillmore’s first Fire Captain.

During his tenure Al served on numerous committees, such as the Fillmore Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Coordinator and Spanish instructor for the Santa Clara Valley. Al provided C.P.R. instructions for the community, and Fire Safety Instruction for all pre-school and elementary school students of Fillmore. He could be seen promoting the Fillmore Fire Department at Career Day events and speaking to individual classes about the merits of volunteer service. Al protected the citizens of Fillmore in some of the largest fires the area has experienced, and saved many lives performing rescues during the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

Al also served as Vice President of the Fillmore Lions Club, as a member of the Fillmore Youth Task Force, and a Director Secretary of the Fillmore-Piru Boys and Girls Cub.

He is perhaps best known for his ever-pleasant demeanor, his easy-going attitude and warm smile, which has been a comfort to so many in the community in times of critical need and personal crisis.

Al was the epitome of dedicated service, answering 911 calls, and responding to medical, fire and traffic collision emergencies as needed, 24/7.

He was named Fillmore Firefighter of the Year in 2000.

Al was born in 1954 in Cueneo, Michoacán, Mexico to Salvador and Rosario Huerta, and came to Fillmore at the age of 13 on a student visa to live with his grandmother Guadalupe Rangel.

He graduated from Fillmore High School in 1974, and during his years at FHS loved to play soccer and run track, where he established the FHS mile record in 1972--a record which held for 15 years. Upon graduation, Al went to work for veterinarian Dr. Charles Nelson, serving as a veterinarian's assistant for 17 years. During this time Al became a member of the Fillmore Fire Department.

Congratulations on a job well done Al!!