Getting Ready for Company : Chatsworth Celebrates Centennial With Salute to Palmer House, Community’s Oldest Homestead

Jane Matthews came all the way from Camarillo on her birthday to help spruce up a small brown house in Chatsworth that is a vestige of another era.

Dressed in old clothes and a visored cap, Matthews stood amid rosebushes and sweet alyssum blossoms and scraped peeling paint off one of Chatsworth’s favorite landmarks: the 77-year-old Minnie Hill Palmer House, which local historians say is the San Fernando Valley’s last remaining homestead.

Matthews and other Chatsworth enthusiasts have been busy giving a face lift to the Palmer House and other Chatsworth landmarks for the northwest Valley community’s 100th birthday celebration, which begins today.

“We’re getting ready for company to come,” said Matthews, a former Chatsworth resident, and president-elect of the Chatsworth Historical Society.

The company Chatsworth is expecting includes Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, several longtime Chatsworth residents and the descendants of pioneering Chatsworth settlers.

Begins at Noon

The Chatsworth Centennial Committee, made up of a dozen Chatsworth enthusiasts, has spent the better part of a year planning the celebration, which is scheduled to begin with a noon luncheon at the Palmer House. About 100 guests, including presidents of civic organizations and representatives of local politicians, are expected to attend.

The festivities will continue at 12:45 p.m. as children from eight schools launch balloons from their playgrounds. About 400 people are expected to attend a party at 1 p.m. at the recreation building at Chatsworth Park South.

Local historian Catherine Mulholland, daughter of William Mulholland, who proposed the first aqueduct that brought water from the mountains into Los Angeles, will be mistress of ceremonies as schoolchildren present skits, choirs sing and congratulatory messages are read from President Reagan, said Virginia Watson, president of the Chatsworth Historical Society, one of several groups active in planning the celebration.

The celebration will continue throughout the year with such events as a tour of historic homes sponsored by the Chatsworth Historical Society and the Santa Susana Mountain Park Assn. Special centennial events also are planned for the annual Pioneer Days and Western Days celebrations in May.

Named for Estate

It was 100 years ago today that George R. Crow, a developer, filed a map of a subdivision called Chatsworth Park with the Los Angeles County recorder’s office.

Crow took the name from the country estate of a friend, the Duke of Devonshire, said Bea Berman, head of the centennial committee.

Before that, Chatsworth was Chumash Indian land, then part of the San Fernando Mission. By the turn of the century, the town had a post office, a general store, a railroad station with a telegraph office and a school. Chatsworth was a relay station for the stagecoach route linking Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, Watson said.

Later, “park” was dropped from the community name and, in 1915, Los Angeles absorbed the community. For years, Chatsworth remained a small agricultural community.

Today, it is sometimes called “Mini-Silicon Valley” or “High-Tech Haven” because of its large concentration of such high-technology businesses as electronics and computer firms. Chatsworth has about 30,000 residents, but its daytime population swells to about 50,000 because of workers at 2,400 businesses. The average household income is $56,000, said Carol Edwards, administrative assistant for the Chatsworth Chamber of Commerce.

Despite the businesses, Chatsworth has some of the most striking scenery in Los Angeles. The area has groves of 500-year-old oaks and huge boulders that have rumbled down from the Santa Susana Mountains.

Many movies, including “Ben Hur” and “Around the World in 80 Days,” were filmed in Chatsworth, according to Berman.

Some people say that some of the mountain peaks resemble a pregnant Indian or, as Watson jokes, “a pregnant nun.” At any rate, Watson said, “it looks like a pregnant woman, even the belly button sticks out.

“People have a special feeling about Chatsworth,” Watson said. “It has a pioneer spirit and a community spirit.”

The Minnie Hill Palmer House is the community’s most famous landmark, Watson said. The homestead, owned by the city and managed by the historical society, was built in 1911. Surrounded by lemon, tangerine, orange, grapefruit, apple, black walnut and avocado trees, it has a striking view of the Santa Susana Mountains.

The 1-acre site is what’s left of the 120-acre homestead established by Palmer’s parents, James D. and Rhoda J. Hill, in 1886. Minnie Hill Palmer, the seventh of eight children, was born there that year in a house the Hills later razed to make room for what is now the landmark home.

Noted for her quince pie and lemon jelly, Palmer died at 94 in March, 1981. Her son and daughter will attend the historical festivities, Watson said.

A small museum next to the Palmer house contains clothes and pictures of early Chatsworth residents. A special section of the museum is devoted to Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, former Chatsworth residents who donated money and memorabilia to the historical society. What was once Rogers’ ranch is now a subdivision with street names like Trigger Street, Dale Court and Cactus Avenue.

Chatsworth has had its infamous residents as well, including Charles Manson and his family, who used to hole up at a ranch in the Santa Susana Mountains. Watson recalls that “Manson and the girls” used to shop for groceries at the Hughes Market at Devonshire Street and Canoga Avenue.

“When they’d go in, we’d all leave,” Watson said.