Page 7 - coc-40thanniversary

The Taming of

Rattlesnake Gulch

he first classes at College of the Canyons began in 1969, but the
story actually begins two years earlier. The residents of the Santa
T Clarita Valley wanted a college to call their own, and on Nov. 21,
1967 they voted overwhelmingly to make it happen. Voters approved the cre-
The undeveloped
land that would ation of a junior college and elected a five-member board of trustees to shep-
become the herd its transformation from an idea into reality.
College of the
Canyons campus Optimism abounded for what lay ahead in this once-sleepy whistle-stop
can be seen in along Southern Pacific Railroad’s Los Angeles-to-San Francisco line. With a
the center of this population of fewer than 60,000, the community looked much different. In
aerial photo (left),
looking south what we now call Saugus and Canyon Country, a growing assortment of tract
across the Santa homes was sprouting – although vast expanses of vacant or agricultural land
Clarita Valley in
the 1960s. still separated the valley’s distinct communities. Downtown Newhall was the
Interstate 5 is on established commercial center, featuring car dealerships, a supermarket, a
the right, with bank and many other merchants that have since relocated.
Valencia
Boulevard cutting During the summer of that pivotal year of 1967, the master-planned
across the free- community of Valencia was born, luring young families from over the hill
way in the fore-
ground and with homes priced at about $25,000. Valencia Town Center did not exist, of
McBean Parkway course. Neither did the Valencia Auto Mall. Magic Mountain, Henry Mayo
in the distance.
Newhall Memorial Hospital and California Institute of the Arts were sever-
al years from appearing on the local landscape. There was no Stevenson
The History of College of the Canyons Ranch, just a vast unadulterated plain accented by rugged foothills that have
1969-2009 since been terraced and built upon. Old Orchard Shopping Center on Lyons

Avenue and The Newhall Land & Farming Co.’s first golf course – known
today as Valencia Country Club – were barely two years old. The Valencia
Industrial Center was just beginning to be developed. The single-screen
By JOHN GREEN Plaza Theater in Newhall and the Mustang Drive-In off Soledad Canyon
Road were the only local cinematic venues. The emergence of the Santa

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