THE GAZETTE.
November-December 2005 • Year 11, Number 1.
Where Do We Get The Name, Newhall?
By PAT SALETORE
Executive Director
Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society.
You can hardly spend even a day in Santa Clarita without running across the name, "Newhall." And yet, many residents of Santa Clarita have no idea why. The name "Henry Mayo Newhall" conjures up a collective picture of a hospital.
Henry Mayo Newhall is a historical figure who deserves to be remembered by the people of the Santa Clarita Valley.
Henry was born to an old family — but not "old money" — in Saugus, Massachusetts, in 1825. He left his home to make his fortune and found a talent for auctioneering. Wherever he seemed to go and whatever he tried to do for a living, he never found anything that did better for him — and he tried a few.
When gold was found in California, he left his new wife and went off for the gold fields with high anticipation, thinking like all the other "miners" that he would come back in a few weeks, rich. Needless to say, it didn't pay off. He ended up in San Francisco destitute, with only a trunk full of personal effects. He couldn't eat that, and it sure wouldn't take him home, so he got up on a box and auctioned them off.
Henry soon found that there was more money selling goods to the men suffering from gold fever than there was in having gold fever himself. He made a fortune doing just that. Ultimately he sent for his wife and raised a family in San Francisco, which was a civilized city when Los Angeles was only a "cow town."
Once he had made his fortune, Henry invested in a small, short-line railroad in the Bay Area. Always on the lookout for a good deal, when Southern Pacific offered to buy up his railroad, he negotiated himself onto the board of directors of the company as part of the transaction. This put him to a position to know where the proposed alignment for the north-south railroad was to go. The importance of that railroad alignment was certainly not lost on Henry Mayo Newhall.
At this point in the history of California, Americans, believing in their divine Manifest Destiny, had taken over Alta California from the Californios. These were people who had acquired land through Spanish or Mexican land grants.
The Californios were somewhat mystified by the insistence of the Americans, who thought that the residents should "return" to Mexico. Many of them had never been to Mexico "proper" and had lived for generations in California. Nevertheless, America made it imperative that the indigenous people, who had owned the land for decades, prove they owned the land using legal documents.
These lands were held more by agreement than hard documentation. The American system made it difficult to prove that the land they had lived on was legally theirs. Many Californios could not afford to pay their legal fees and taxes while supporting their families, so they were forced to sell their large ranchos. Henry Mayo Newhall put these two situations together and was there to buy the ranchos along the future alignment of the railroad — at bargain prices.
I suppose that might be considered insider trading today. Back then, however, it was called making good investments. Henry's fortunes mounted even more.
Once the railroad was ready to be developed, the land Henry held was worth a lot more. Towns had a habit of springing up alongside the railroad. One of these areas was the Santa Clarita Valley.
The first Newhall train station was developed, curiously, at the junction where the line from north to south met the line to Ventura — where our Saugus Train Station used to be (at today's San Fernando Road and Drayton Street). It didn't take long to find out that in a drought, the area dried up, so they moved the station to what is now the corner of Market Street and Newhall Avenue, where the Newhall Metrolink Station is now.
The town of Newhall grew up around that station. The Saugus train station was built later, and the town of Surrey or Saugus grew up around it. The Saugus depot was relocated to Heritage Junction Historic Park, inside William S. Hart Park, in 1980. Remember, in those days, distances seemed greater and towns were a lot smaller.
Notice that the name, "Saugus," was taken from Henry Mayo Newhall's birthplace, but the local town was originally called "Surrey."
Henry set about making the town of Newhall a destination. He built the Southern Hotel so travelers could stay comfortably. He tried to sell lots to prospective new residents. While he still maintained his home in San Francisco, when he was in Southern California, he stayed here, in the Santa Clarita Valley, in what we call the Newhall Ranch House, now also located at Heritage Junction Park.
History can be a tricky thing. Some say history is just the story everyone agrees upon. Others say history is written by the winners. History is, to a certain extent, just the fact of being remembered. It is important, though, to be remembered for what you did and not how you were honored for doing it. Knowing why a name is important in your town makes your understanding of that name much richer. That is why it is important to have our history preserved and remembered. It makes our lives richer.
Something that Santa Clarita — and specifically, Newhall — has is the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society at Heritage Junction Historic Park. The Saugus Train Station Museum is open on Saturdays and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., but you can walk through the park any day and see the buildings that the SCV Historical Society has saved from destruction.
Even better, you are welcome to become a member of the SCV Historical Society and help preserve our local history and our historic buildings. If you are interested in joining, becoming a volunteer or a docent, call the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society at (661) 254-1275 or visit scvhs.org.
©2005, Old Town Newhall USA. All rights reserved.
