Ventura County Courthouse
Completed 1913
The second of Ventura County's courthouses was turned over to the City of San Buenaventura for use as its city hall after construction of a new county center in 1978. This ornate building, which features a series of gargoyle-like monks' faces along the fa�ade and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is dramatically situated on a hill with full views of the city and the Channel Islands. One of the most celebrated defense attorneys who practiced at the courthouse was Erle Stanley Gardner, the creator of the Perry Mason mystery series, who worked here in the 1920s and 1930s
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EARLY SETTLEMENT.
Although quite a number of Americans, being traders, sailors, or adventurers, had settled in various parts of the territory now known as Santa Barbara County, none of them had located permanently at San Buenaventura up to the time of American military occupation, since Santa Barbara, the more important town, had superior attractions for them. When Stevenson's regiment arrived in Southern California, Isaac Callahan and W. A. Streeter were put in charge of the mission at San Buenaventura. A few years later Russel Heath, in connection with Don Jose Arnaz and one Morris, established the first store within the present county limits. In 1850 came C. C. Rynerson and wife from the Mississippi Valley, camping at first at the mouth of the river San Buenaventura: they afterward moved northward. The first American fanner was A. Colombo, and Mr. Ware was the first blacksmith. Even as late as 1857 there were in the whole district but two houses of entertainment. One of these was a tent on the Sespe Rancho, and the other a little hostelry established in rooms in the east wing of the ex-mission buildings. It is worth while to note here a tribute to the climate of Ventura County, paid by John Carr and wife, who kept this little inn or tavern. They had lived together for twelve years in childlessness, but within two years of their arrival in San Buenaventura they had presented their country with no less than five children, products, so they declared, of the matchless climate!
The first lumber-yard was kept by Thomas Dennis, but the date of his arrival is not given. Very early in the '50's T. Wallace More obtained a title to an immense tract of the richest land in the region; be claimed over thirty miles along the Santa Clara and in other districts, possessions about as enormous, over which grazed 10,000 head of cattle. These lands were valued at ten to fifty cents the acre. During this period the whole Colonia Rancho was sold for 15,000, and this price the purchaser finally concluded was exorbitant. About 1851 W. D. Hobson removed to the Sespe, where he built a house and there Lived in 1859. In 1858, the Americans resident in San Buenaventura were: A. M. Cameron, Griffin Robbins, W. T. Nash, W. Williams, James Beebe, -- Park, W. D. Robson, -- McLaughlin and one other, name unknown. As late as 1860 there were but nine American voters in the precinct. Chaffee & Robbins, and afterward Chaffee & Gilbert, kept the only store in the town for many years. In 1860 the Fourth of July was celebrated here with a regular program of exercises, and much enthusiasm was displayed. About this time the American population was augmented by the arrival of John Hill, V. A. Simpson, Albert Martin, G. S. Briggs, G. S. Gilbert, W. S. Chaffee, W. A. Norway, H. P. Flint, the Barnet. and Messrs. Burbank, Hankerson, Crane and Harrington.
In 1861 a post office was established at San Buenaventura and V. A. Simpson became postmaster. The mail matter received, apparently, was not extensive, for it is related that on its arrival the postmaster was in the habit of depositing it in his hat, and then walking around among the citizens to deliver the letters. This," says a previous historian, "may be regarded as the first introduction of the system of letter-carriers in California.' This year the first brick house in town was built. by W. D. Holden, who moved hither from the Sespe.
During the winter of 1861–'62, there was an excessive amount of wet weather; rain fell for sixty consecutive days; all the land to a great depth was saturated and reeking; live stock was reduced almost to starvation, the animals dying in great numbers. Landslides were very frequent, half of the soil in certain localities being moved to a greater or less distance. The soil would often be displaced in patches of an acre or more. In the town various houses were submerged, or carried away bodily. The only life lost was that of Mr. Hewitt, a resident of Santa Barbara, who was drowned while on a prospecting tour up the Piru Creek. Travel was rendered almost impossible for twenty days. In 1862 Messrs. Waterman, Vassault & Co., owning the lands of the ex-mission, laid out a town there. This enterprise had been projected as early as 1848, when Don Jose Arnaz laid out here a town site, and advertised the advantages of the spot in Eastern journals, offering lots to those who would make improvements upon them. This offer had not elicited response, and the subject had not been revived until the project above mentioned. The survey made in this instance was rejected by the board of trustees after the town was incorporated, and another was substituted. The first attempt to incorporate was in 1863, when a number of citizens met and drew up a petition addressed to the Legislature, asking for incorporation. Ramon J. Hill, at that time a member from Santa Barbara County, opposed the proposition, and the subject was dropped for the time.
The following is given as an accurate list of the foreign (i. e., not Spanish or Mexican) citizens resident in San Buenaventura in 1862: Baptiste Ysoardy, who came in 1858; Agustin Solari, in 1857; Victor Usususategui, in 1852; Isidro Obiols, in 1853; Antonio Sciappapietra in 1862; John Thompson, in 1862; Oscar Wells, George V. Whitman, Albert and Frank Martin, in 1859; Myron Warner, in 1863; William Pratt, 1866; William Whitney, 1864; Thomas R. Bard, in 1865; Henry Cohn, in 1866; Joseph Wolfson, 1867; — Clements, 1868; Thomas Williams, 1866; A. T. Herring. 1863; Henry Spears, 1865; Welter S. Chaffee, Volney A. Simpson, John T. Stow, Griffin Robbins, William S. Riley, William T. Nash. Jefferson Crane, John Hill, Henry Clifton, Marshall Routh. George S. Gilbert, James Beebe, William H. Leighton, Samuel Barnett, Sr., Samuel Barnett, Jr., William Barnett, W. D. Hobson, Alex. Cameron, Melvin Beardsley, George Dodge, George S. Briggs, Albert de Chateauneuf and Henry Dubbers.
GOVERNMENT AND BUSINESS.
In 1864 the question of incorporation was renewed and accomplished, but it was not until thirteen years later that the patents to the town site were received from the Government. This was the year of the disastrous dry season; the rains of the preceding season had not wet the ground deeper than three inches, and the feed was therefore a failure. From this cause two-thirds of all the stock in Ventura famished.
The beginning of growth and development in Ventura is agreed to date back to the sub- division into small tracts of the large ranchos, thus inducing immigration and settlement by small farmers and fruit-raisers. In 1866, the Briggs tract was cut up and put on the market, and two years later began a general influx of Americans, from which directly resulted an epoch of prosperity which became assured with the breaking up and selling to actual settlers of the great ranchos of Santa Paula y Saticoy and Colonia or Santa Clara. The first cultivation of grain in Ventura County was by Christian Borchard and his son, J. A. Borchard, on the Colonia Rancho in 1867. Thirty acres each of wheat and barley were sown. The rust destroyed the wheat crop, but the barley yielded eighteen rentals or hundreds per acre.
The first Protestant church (Congregational) was organized in San Buenaventura in 1867.
Again in 1867 was San Buenaventura visited by devastating waters. On Christmas Day of that year the Ventura River overflowed, and thee to a depth of three feet in Main Street. The lower part of the town was submerged, and the safety of the inhabitants was endangered. The land from the Santa Clara House to the river was flooded, and forty-seven women, gathered from the imperiled houses, were assembled in one small adobe shanty. Some of these had been brought from their flooded homes on horse-back, and others had been carried on the shoulders of men. This episode gave rise to various feats of real gallantry, courage, and daring. The immediate cause of the freshet was supposed to be the melting of heavy deposit of snows about the river's source, through the agency of warns rains falling upon them.
In 1868 came hither Dr. Cephas L. Bard, the first American physician in San Buena-ventura.
In September, 1870, San Buenaventura and Santa Barbara were placed in telegraphic communication.
Anticipating the needs and opportunities to result from the creation of the new county, in immediate prospective, John H. Bradley in April, 1871, started the Ventura Signal at the proposed new county seat. Mr. Bradley was a good and practical business man, and (131 editor of some experience; and so, avoiding the political issues not properly within the province of a country newspaper, he devoted his attention to the production and publication of matter relative to the recommendations and resources of the section; such as would contribute to the advancement and advertisement of the region and its merits.
Contemporaneously with the formation of the county, work was begun to provide canals to supply water for domestic and irrigating purposes. The old Mission water works, which brought a supply from six miles up the Ventura River, was overhauled and repaired, portions of the aqueduct having here destroyed by the excessive rains of 1861–'62.
Owing to the difficulties attending the disembarkation of freight and passengers by means of lighters to transport them between their vessels and the shore; it became evident that a wharf was an absolute necessity to the public. Accordingly, in January, 1871, a franchise was procured, and work was began upon the structure, by Joseph Wolfson. The beginning of operations was signalized by formal ceremonies. In August of this year the right to construct a wharf at Hueneme was granted to Thos. R. Bard, C. L. Bard and R. G. Surdam.
By February, 1872, the Ventura wharf was so far completed as to obviate further necessity for lightening steamers now discharging directly upon it. Rates of toll were instituted, and an instrument of great public utility was firmly established.
In May, 1871, was formed the Santa Clara Irrigating Company, designed to water the fertile lands of the Colonia Rancho from the Santa Clara River. The canal therefor was twelve miles long, twelve feet wide, and two feet deep, with branches of smaller dimensions. In 1871 also surveys were made for "The Farmers' Canal and Water Ditch," taking water from the Santa Paula Creek, and conveying it some eight and a half miles down the valley.
In December, 1871, Ysabei Yorba sold to Dickenson & Funk the Guadalasca Rancho, comprising 22,000 acres, for $28,100. In 1872 many property owners refused to pay taxes, owing to the abeyance of financial settlement between Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.
In July, 1872. the first gold was taken to Santa Barbara from the Sespe mines.
On September 16, 1872, the cornerstone of the high school building at San Buenaventura was laid. This building was the first public building erected in the county. The total number of school children in the county at that time was 800.
SEGREGATION OR DIVISION FROM SANTA BARBARA COUNTY.
The inception of the plan for setting off Ventura County from Santa Barbara County dates as far back as 1868. In that year began a new era of growth, increase in population, and prosperity in business. This was mainly owing to the subdivision into small tracks of several important ranchos in the district. The sale of these tracts to small farmers and fruit-growers brought immigration, the establishment of industries, production, and the circulation of money. As the country became populous, the citizens desired local, independent government, and so began to agitate the project of creating a new county. This question was made an issue of the election of 1869, and Mr. A. G. Escandon was elected to the Assembly for the purpose of furthering the plan, but the measure miscarried in the Legislature thanks to the opposition offered by the northern part of the county. The Venturans were not vanquished by this defeat, but continued to carry on a vigorous fight for division. The Ventura Signal, established largely with a view to that end, was a powerful weapon in this struggle, devoting itself to demonstrating the advantages of such division. It is not uninteresting to note some of the statistics presented in this discussion. Santa Barbara County then had a total area of 1,450 spare miles, or 3,491,000 acres, of which 1,070,419 acres were covered by Spanish grants, 1,920,531 acres being public lands, the most of which were of an inferior character. The proposed new county comprised 20,600 acres of improved land and 2,000 acres of wooded land, probably of individual ownership, and 390,000 acres of unimproved land, of private holding. It was estimated that the real estate was worth $3,018,200; personal property, $911,000,the total valuation for the projected new county being $3,929,000. There were 2,800 head of horses and mules, 6,000 horned cattle, and 7,400 sheep, - worth in the aggregate, $442,000; the wool clip was 320,000 pounds; there were produced 35,000 pounds of butter and 20,000 pounds of cheese locally, the revenue from farm products being $307,000. The new county would contain, as per the Signal of February 17, 1872, an area of 2,000 square miles, and a population of 3,500, with an assessment roll of $1,200,000, leaving Santa Barbara with 3,000 square miles, 7,000 inhabitants, and an assessment roll of $2,000,000.
By the opening of the session of the Legislature of 1871-'72, there had been engendered so strong a public sentiment as to result in organized action, and W. D. Hobson, a prominent citizen, was chosen and sent to Sacramento to work for the desired end. So successful were the measures now taken that the bill, when presented to the Assembly, passed with but one dissentient vote; and in the Senate it was approved also, March 22, 1872, and it was ordained to be in force on and after January 1, 1873. The boundaries prescribed for the new county were as follows: Commencing on the coast of the Pacific Ocean, at the mouth of the Rincon Creek, thence following up the center of said creek to its source; thence due north to the boundary live of Santa Barbara County; thence in an easterly direction along the boundary line of Santa Barbara County to the northeast corner of the same; thence southerly along the line between the said Santa Barbara County to the Pacific Ocean and three miles therein; thence in a northwesterly direction to a point due south of and three miles distant from the center of the mouth of Rincon Creek; thence north to the point of beginning and including the islands Anacapa and San Nicolas.
Contemporaneously with the passage of the bill for county division, great activity sprang up in Ventura. During the summer, the immigration was so extensive that the accommodations were insufficient to hold the new arrivals. Municipal improvements were instituted, new buildings were erected, including a hotel and a $10,000 school-house, water companies were established to supply the needs for irrigation and domestic purposes, and the county government was organized, with the usual complement of officers, the county to contain three townships, three supervisorial districts, and eight election precincts. The townships were: Ventura, Saticoy, Hueneme; the supervisorial districts coincided with the respective townships; the election precincts were: San Buenaventura, La Canada, Mountain View, Sespe, Saticoy. Pleasant Valley, San Pedro, and Hueneme. The Legislature appointed a hoard of commissioners, consisting of S. Bristol, President; Thom. R. Bard, Secretary; W. D. F. Richards, A. G. Escandon, and C. W. Thacker, to put into action the government of Ventura County. Meeting on January 15, 1873, this board issued a proclamation calling for election to be held on the 25th day of February following, to elect district attorney, county clerk, school superintendent, sheriff, assessor county treasurer, county surveyor, coroner, and supervisors.
The county was divided into three townships, 'Ventura, Saticoy, and Hueneme, the islands of San Nicolas and Anacapa being attached to and forming a part of Hueneme Township. The voting places were established for the various election precincts, numbering eight.
As soon as the county government was established, certain changes were made in the road districts.
All the territory in the first supervisorial district was made into the San Buenaventura road district; the third supervisorial district was designated as constituting the Saticoy road district, and Mountain View and Sespe road districts were united into one under the name of Sespe road district.
The first election was held on February 25, 1873. The Republicans had desired a fusion of parties and nominations irrespective of politics; but, the Democrats opposing this proposition, the usual course was followed, the result being a Democratic victory. The total vote polled was 630. The officers elected were as follows: District judge, Pablo de la Guerra; county judge, Milton Wason; district attorney, J. Marion Brooks; county clerk, Frank Molleda (dying very shortly, S. M. W. Easley was appointed); sheriff, Frank Peterson; treasurer, E. A. Edwards; assessor, J. Z. Barnett; superintendent of schools, F. S. S. Buckman; surveyor, C. J. De Merritte, coroner, Dr. Cephas L. Bard; county physician, Dr. S. P. Guiberson; supervisors, James Daley, J. A. Conaway, C. W. Thacker; justices of the peace, J. W. Guiberson, W. D. Hobson, F. A. Sprague, J. G. Ricker, John Saviers, R. J. Colyear.
On April 13, 1873. a final settlement with Santa Barbara was effected under the terms of the act of Legislature of March 22, 1872. The commissioners from Ventura were Thomas Bard and Charles Lindley, and from Santa Barbara, Ulpiano Yndart and C. E. Huse.
ORGANIZATION AND ANNALS.
The supervisors in May, 1873, ordered the issue of $20,000 in interest-bearing bonds, to meet current expenses, and advertised for bids for the same; they also authorized the transcription of such portion of the records of Santa Barbara as related to Ventura County, paying F. A. Thompson $4,000 for that service. The county-seat was appointed by the creating act to be at San Buenaventura, and the question of county buildings at once assumed importance, as the rental paid by the county for the use of private buildings amounted to $1,044 per annum, besides $3 per diem paid for guarding the prisoners, in the absence of a jail building. Hence the supervisors appropriated $6,000 of the funds resulting from the sale of the bonds, to the erection of a court-house, on condition that private parties should donate $4,000 and also a suitable site or the purpose.
Bishop Amat, head of the Roman Catholic diocese of Southern California, now renewed his previous offer of three blocks of the old mission garden, on condition of the erection within two years of a $10,000 building. These terms were accepted, the $4,000 subscribed by the citizens, and the court-house was promptly built.
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