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MITCHELL ADOBE

By 1885 the school was too crowded and a new one was built in 1886. It was a one
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room frame structure . . By 1919 the adobe had fallen into ruin but was salvaged by

the Colonel's son-in-law, Walter Murphy. He used the remaining adobe bricks to

erect a home for the ranch foreman. It later served as a guest house, apiary and

tack room until it was destroyed by developers on August 14, 1986. What remained

was moved to Heritage Junction, dedicated on November 5, 1989, and is currently

being restored.

HOW THE ADOBE WAS SAVED:

In 1986, the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society took a stand (literally) around
the Mitchell home, a Victorian farmhouse in Sulphur Springs. As the bulldozer
approached, members formed a barricade with Sulphur Springs residents and tried to
stop the impending destruction. They were unsuccessful, but as the machinery
approached the adobe schoolhouse on the same property, Mother Nature intervened with
a swarm of bees coming from within the schoolhouse. This schoolhouse was built by
Colonel Thomas Mitchell for the children of the Sulphur Springs area and was the
second oldest in the Los Angeles County. This delay allowed the Society to negotiate
with the property owners and retrieve the surviving adobe bricks, removing them to
a spot next to the Saugus Train Station. Today, those bricks are reassembled within
Heritage Junction as the Mitchell Adobe Schoolhouse.

FIRST TEACHERS:

Martha Mitchell was the first teacher in 1872 when the school was first organized.
This was the beginning of the Sulphur Springs School District, L.A. County 2nd oldest.
"Miss Bowers" was the first teacher in 1879 when the Sulphur Springs School district
was formally organized as a district. By 1885 the school was too crowded and a
new frame structure was built. After this the adobe fell into disrepair.

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