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    Ventura
    Ventura
    Ventura
    Ebook180 pages57 minutes

    Ventura

    By Glenda J. Jackson

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Franciscan monk Fr. Junipero Serra, founder of the Spanish mission system in California, raised a cross on the beach on March 31, 1782, at a spot that became a general wayfarer's midpoint between Los Angeles and Point Conception. This was the dedication of Mission San Buenaventura. Bordered by rivers out of the foothills, this coastal area had originally been home to many Chumash Indian villages, dating back to 1000 A.D. The small mission outpost quickly flourished and eventually grew into a town complete with dirt streets, wooden sidewalks, saloons, churches, and various adventures and calamities. On March 10, 1866, the "City of Good Fortune" incorporated and received one of the first charters from the then 16-year-old, 31st state in the union. Today the city of Ventura bustles with more than 110,000 residents and is known as the "Gateway to the Channel Islands."
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateSep 18, 2012
    ISBN9781439634011
    Ventura
    Author

    Glenda J. Jackson

    In this new retrospective, author Glenda J. Jackson has compiled more than 200 postcards to chronicle the city�s history. A resident of Ventura County since 1969, Jackson has written for numerous periodicals on antiques. She lectures on vintage clothing and Victorian etiquette and has been a City of Ventura historical tour guide since 1997. Her extensive collection of Ventura memorabilia includes early newspapers, brochures, maps, photographs, and other publications.

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      Book preview

      Ventura - Glenda J. Jackson

      book.

      INTRODUCTION

      San Buenaventura, the City of Good Fortune, now known as Ventura, was founded on March 31, 1782, by Fr. Junipero Serra. But Ventura’s history goes back centuries earlier to its first inhabitants, the Chumash Indians. Peaceful and very skilled at basket weaving and rock painting, the Chumash lived in villages of thatched huts near the Ventura River. Hunters and gatherers, they were dependent on natural resources for their food and shelter. They traveled between the mainland and the Channel Islands in 25-foot-long tomols (plank canoes), first heading south along the shoreline to present-day Port Hueneme and then across the channel to the islands. Ventura’s growth was relatively slow in the beginning; it was hard to reach. The wharf was not built until 1872, and the railroad rolled into town in the late 1880s. Ventura was part of Santa Barbara County until the formation of Ventura County in 1873. A real Western town, Ventura was complete with gunfights, saloons, and bawdy houses. Famous navigators visited Ventura: Sir Francis Drake sailed these oceans followed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo in 1542, Sebastian Vizcaíno in 1602, Don Gaspár de Portolá in 1769, Juan Bautista De Anza in 1776, and Don José De Longinos Martínez in 1792.

      In 1864, the township map of San Buenaventura was approved. The city incorporated on March 10, 1866. Meetings were held in Spears Saloon, and town minutes were transcribed in Spanish. The first newspaper was the Ventura Signal, with several columns printed in Spanish to increase readership. Early Ventura newspapers are on microfilm at both the E. P. Foster Library and Ventura County Museum of History and Art and are very entertaining.

      An excerpt from an editorial appearing in the Ventura Democrat on July 23, 1885, describes a Ventura that has not yet experienced tremendous growth. Ventura, as a watering place, has no superior, if an equal, on the Pacific Coast. Aside from possessing a climate the most delightful and healthful, it has a beautiful beach, stretching for miles along the water front. There is no time when one can not enjoy a drive on it a distance of from three to six miles, and when the tide is out, ten or twelve miles on the edge of the foaming and curling surf line over a roadbed as hard and smooth as a planed oaken floor. The beach here is by miles the longest, the temperature of the water is several degrees warmer, and there is no season of the year when bathing may not be indulged in with pleasure and comfort. There are shady groves, picturesque canons, wild gorges and limpid streams innumerable, and when it comes to the matter of game; no coast county in the State affords a better field for that class of sport. The Ventura River, a noble stream of mountain water which sweeps the foot of the town, and its numerous tributaries, are fairly alive with speckled trout; quail, doves, pigeons and rabbits are found in every direction; deer are plentiful in the mountains, and are often and sometimes killed, almost in the suburbs of town.

      As more people arrived, Ventura’s eastern boundaries pushed out, replacing the rich farm fields and open space with housing. The expansion of Ventura can be marked by what is known as East Ventura. During the 1880s, it was Crimea Street; in the 1920s it was Seaward Avenue; in the 1960s it was Mills Road; and in the 1970s it became Kimball Road. Residents still describe Ventura three ways: The Avenue, Midtown, and East Ventura.

      Our hillsides have seen some development. Fortunately, much has been preserved, and the fight continues to keep them preserved for future generations. Voters have also saved our agricultural open space from development. You can still drive through Ventura and watch an egret in a field searching for his breakfast, or red-tailed hawks soaring overhead. Ventura is rich in natural beauty and history. Let’s not jump too fast to build over our history or cover the fields with houses. It would be a win-win situation to work our past into the present.

      The idea of historic preservation is not new, as evidenced by Sol N. Sheridan’s Annual Chamber of Commerce Report of January 12, 1913. He writes, A very important work was begun by the Chamber of Commerce during the past year in the line of preserving old landmarks of Ventura. The importance is just beginning to be seen by the people of western American communities—the importance even in the dollars and cents sense. These same western Americans spend millions of dollars annually to go to the old world and see the ruins there ... while they overlook the relics in their midst that have possibilities just as great. Here in Ventura are many marks of the old times remaining, landmarks that not only should be preserved for their sentimental association with the times forever gone; but because Americans in the east are willing to pay to see ours. The ‘Caballo’ is still in private ownership. The last of the adobes are in danger of perishing. These are matters in urgent need of attention.

      Preservation groups such as San Buenaventura Heritage Association and the San Buenaventura Conservancy work tirelessly to preserve our history. The Dudley House and Olivas Adobe, both restored and operating as living history museums, are excellent examples of how history has been preserved. The Ventura County Museum of History and Art is packed to the rafters with local and county information and is a wonderful resource for researchers or anyone interested in our history.

      One

      THE CHUMASH

      This c. 1890 stereoview photograph by the Keystone View Company (cropped to show detail) is titled Early California Chumash Indians Building a Home.

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