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45 Years of Excellence and Innovation The History of College of the Canyons | 1969-2014

homes priced at about $25,000. Valencia Town Center did not exist, of course. Neither did
the Valencia Auto Mall. Magic Mountain, Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital and
California Institute of the Arts were still several years from appearing on the local land-
scape. There was no Stevenson Ranch, just a vast unadulterated plain accented by rugged
foothills, most of which have since been terraced and built upon. Old Orchard Shopping
Center on Lyons Avenue and The Newhall Land & Farming Co.’s first golf course –
Valencia Country Club – were barely two years old. The Valencia Industrial Center was
just beginning to be developed. The single-screen Plaza Theater in Newhall and the
Mustang Drive-In off Soledad Canyon Road were the lone cinematic venues.
The emergence of the Santa Clarita Valley as a viable place to live, work and play was
precipitated by several key developments, chief among them the country’s post-war west-
ward migration and California’s exploding growth. But the two greatest obstacles to the
valley’s growth – limited access and insufficient water supply – were in the process of
being eliminated. The old Highway 99 was steadily being circumvented by a major north-
south freeway, Interstate 5, that would cut a vital swath through the Santa Clarita Valley
on its way to becoming California’s most important roadway, connecting north with south,
border to border. And, following California voters’ approval seven years earlier to bring
state water south, plans were moving forward for a major new State Water Project reser-
voir in Castaic. This project, part of what would become the biggest water-delivery sys-
tem in the world, finally ensured a reliable source of water. All of these developments
Clockwise from top: The first
Board of Trustees, composed helped set the stage for the transformation of a dusty domain of cowboys and sodbusters
of (from left) Dr. William
Bonelli Jr., Richard Muhl, to a rapidly growing suburbia, one that would need a public institution of higher learning.
Bruce Fortine, John Hackney Thus was born College of the Canyons, which would go on to become the fastest-grow-
and Peter Huntsinger; a
view of the land where ing community college in California.
College of the Canyons Things moved quickly once voters gave the go-ahead. The Board of Trustees –
would rise; and the college’s
first superintendent-presi- President William Bonelli Jr., Vice President Edward Muhl, and members Peter
dent, Dr. Robert C. Rockwell. Huntsinger, Sheila Dyer and Bruce Fortine – began functioning as an official body on
Dec. 5, 1967. They initiated a search for someone who could put the wheels in motion,
eventually deciding upon Santa Barbara City College President Dr. Robert C. Rockwell.
He became the first superintendent of the Santa Clarita Valley Junior College District, as
it was then called, and the first president of its college, which would eventually adopt the
now-familiar name of College of the Canyons.
Other names were considered for the new junior college district. Among them were
North Valley, Upper Santa Clarita Valley, Bouquet, Canyon and Vasquez.

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