Neenach, California
Encyclopedia
Los Angeles County, California
Los Angeles County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 9,818,605, making it the most populous county in the United States. Los Angeles County alone is more populous than 42 individual U.S. states...
, with a population of about 800. It is facing a massive change with the proposed construction of a 23,000-home planned community
Planned community
A planned community, or planned city, is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more ad hoc fashion. Land use conflicts are less frequent in planned communities since...
to its north called Centennial
Centennial, California
Centennial, California, is a proposed planned community between Bakersfield and Los Angeles in Los Angeles County located north of Highway 138, and just east of Interstate 5; specifically, surrounding the north and east sides of Quail Lake...
.
Geography
Neenach is 34 miles northwest of LancasterLancaster, California
Lancaster is a charter city in northern Los Angeles County, in the high desert, near the Kern County line. Lancaster currently ranks as the 30th largest city in California, and the 148th largest city in the United States. Lancaster is the principal city within the Antelope Valley...
in the Antelope Valley
Antelope Valley
The Antelope Valley in California, United States, is located in northern Los Angeles County and the southeastern portion of Kern County, California, and constitutes the western tip of the Mojave Desert...
portion of Southern California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. It is 15 miles southeast of Gorman
Gorman, California
Gorman, California, is an unincorporated community in northwestern Los Angeles County. As of 2005 it had just 15 homes and a few registered voters, but tens of thousands of motorists traveled through it daily on the Interstate 5 freeway....
, and 74 miles from the county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
in downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, United States, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area...
. It lies southeast of Tejon Ranch
Tejon Ranch
The Tejon Ranch Company , based in Lebec, California, is one of the largest private landowners in California. [The federally-gifted lands still held by the Catellus Corporation, a successor to the Southern Pacific Land Company, are much more extensive.] It was incorporated in 1936 to organise the...
, one of California’s oldest working ranches.
The past
The vicinity of Neenach was a stop on major transportaion routes between Northern CaliforniaNorthern California
Northern California is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The San Francisco Bay Area , and Sacramento as well as its metropolitan area are the main population centers...
and Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
since at least the 1820s.
Cow Springs and French John's Station
An early 19th century name for the area was Cow Springs, about a mile southwest of today's Neenach School.El Camino Viejo
El Camino Viejo
El Camino Viejo à Los Angeles , also known as the Old Los Angeles Trail, established in 1820's, was the oldest north-south trail in the interior of Alta California...
, the Stockton - Los Angeles Road
Stockton - Los Angeles Road
Stockton-Los Angeles Road, also known as the Millerton Road, Stockton-Mariposa Road, Stockton-Fort Miller Road or the Stockton-Visalia Road was established about 1853 following the discovery of gold on the Kern River in Old Tulare County...
and the Butterfield Overland Mail
Butterfield Overland Mail
The Butterfield Overland Mail Trail was a stagecoach route in the United States, operating from 1857 to 1861. It was a conduit for the U.S. mail from two eastern termini, Memphis, Tennessee and St. Louis, Missouri, meeting Fort Smith, Arkansas, and continuing through Indian Territory, New Mexico,...
followed the route between Elizabeth Lake and Gorman westward via the San Andreas Rift to Oakgrove Canyon then north via Pine Canyon to Antelope Valley
Antelope Valley
The Antelope Valley in California, United States, is located in northern Los Angeles County and the southeastern portion of Kern County, California, and constitutes the western tip of the Mojave Desert...
. French Johns Station, 14 miles east of Gorman, near Cow Springs provided a way station for the stage line, teamsters and other travelers.
Neenach
Neenach itself was founded in the 1870s by Danish settlers from Neenah, WisconsinNeenah, Wisconsin
Neenah is a city on Lake Winnebago in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, United States. Its population was 24,507 at the 2000 census. The city is bordered by, but is politically independent of, the Town of Neenah. Neenah is the southwestern-most of the Fox Cities of Northeast Wisconsin...
. In 1888, a post office was established, with John A. Coovert as the first postmaster.
James Anderson filed a homestead claim for 160 acres (647,000 m²) at present-day State Route 138
California State Route 138
State Route 138 is an east–west state highway generally following the northern foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains of southern California, USA from its junction with Interstate 5 south of Gorman eastward to Mount Anderson Junction, its eastern junction with State Route 18 south of...
and 300th Street West in 1887. He had a county contract to maintain and improve roads in the Antelope Valley as far as Three Points
Three Points, California
Three Points is a scenic, sparsely populated settlement at the northwestern edge of Los Angeles County in the western Antelope Valley. It is on the northern edge of the Angeles National Forest, on the east side of Oakgrove Canyon where it opens out into Pine Canyon, 17.5 miles north of Castaic. A...
.
Construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct between 1905 and 1913, which brought water from the distant Owens Valley to the San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
, was important to the area.
On July 13, 1917, Chief Water Engineer William Mulholland
William Mulholland
William Mulholland was the head of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, in Los Angeles. He was responsible for building the water aqueducts and dams that allowed the city to grow into one of the largest in the world. His methods of obtaining water for the city led to disputes collectively...
of the city of Los Angeles, the builder of the aqueduct, received word that the line had been broken. He went to Neenach and found a 60-foot rupture. He ordered additional surveillance, which saw the arrest of one man, an employee of the rival Los Angeles Gas and Electric Company. The suspect was later released.
James Anderson became a line rider or patrolman on the aqueduct: He had to shut down the tunnel periodically to check its condition. He also checked the surface to verify that none of the aqueduct’s opponents had damaged it. Harry Womersley, from England by way of Illinois, was another resident who worked on the aqueduct—the 12 miles from Fairmont to Neenach.
Gold was discovered in the hills south of the community in the early 1930s. The “Oh Suzanna” mine produced some $7 million over the few years of its operation.
In the 1970s, Neenach was lively, one resident told a reporter. There were community-wide potluck dinners and almost 80 members in the local 4-H Club
4-H
4-H in the United States is a youth organization administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the United States Department of Agriculture , with the mission of "engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development." The name represents...
. Since then, he said, many of the kids moved away as soon as they were able.
The future
A portion of nearby Tejon RanchTejon Ranch
The Tejon Ranch Company , based in Lebec, California, is one of the largest private landowners in California. [The federally-gifted lands still held by the Catellus Corporation, a successor to the Southern Pacific Land Company, are much more extensive.] It was incorporated in 1936 to organise the...
called Centennial
Centennial, California
Centennial, California, is a proposed planned community between Bakersfield and Los Angeles in Los Angeles County located north of Highway 138, and just east of Interstate 5; specifically, surrounding the north and east sides of Quail Lake...
is proposed to be a 23,000-home master-planned community adjacent to Neenach. Civic squares, parks, shops, three fire stations, and other services are proposed. Children would be encouraged to walk to one of the eight elementary schools planned. The promoters have pledged to create 30,000 local jobs. On average, a new house would be erected every eight hours, seven days a week, for 20 years.
The Tucson, Arizona,-based Center for Biological Diversity
Center for Biological Diversity
The Center for Biological Diversity based in Tucson, Arizona, is a nonprofit membership organization with approximately 220,000 members and online activists, known for its work protecting endangered species through legal action and scientific petitions...
, however, opposes the project—claiming that Centennial would be built on rare ecosystems, including the largest native grassland left in California. The proposal has yet to be approved by county officials.
Schools
Westside Union School District
The Westside Union School District in Southern California serves the western parts of Palmdale and Lancaster and their immediate suburbs, including Quartz Hill, Del Sur, Leona Valley, Antelope Acres, and Neenach.It enrolls kindergarten through eighth grade...
of West Lancaster, which also operates Del Sur, Joe Walker, Hill View, Cottenwood, Rancho Vista, Sundown, Valley View, Leona Valley, and Quartz Hill schools, through the eighth grade
Eighth grade
Eighth grade is a year of education in the United States, Canada, Australia and other nations. Students are usually 13 - 14 years old. The eighth grade is typically the final grade before high school, and the ninth grade of public and private education, following kindergarten and subsequent grades...
. http://google.com/search?q=cache:vfinlqzPRPQJ:www.westside.k12.ca.us/+westside+union+school+district&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=safari
The present Neenach School building was constructed in the 1990s to replace an older building that had stood for decades on a neighboring lot. The school was closed in 2001 because of dwindling population and high heating costs; lack of a natural-gas source meant the school was all-electric. Sixty-six pupils were enrolled the previous year.
The community is within the Antelope Valley Union High School District
Antelope Valley Union High School District
The Antelope Valley Union High School District is located in the Antelope Valley area of California, in northern Los Angeles County....
and the Antelope Valley Community College District
Antelope Valley Community College District
The Antelope Valley Community College District is the local college district serving Palmdale and Lancaster in California's Antelope Valley. The college is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.- About the AVCCD :...
.
Neenach Meteorite
Chondrite
Chondrites are stony meteorites that have not been modified due to melting or differentiation of the parent body. They formed when various types of dust and small grains that were present in the early solar system accreted to form primitive asteroids...
discovered in April 1948 by Elden Snyder of Neenach when he unearthed it with his plow, in the process breaking it into four pieces. In 1952 it was brought to the attention of Robert Wallace Webb
Robert Wallace Webb
Robert Wallace Webb was a professor of geology at the University of California, Los Angeles, and during WWII was Coordinator of Veterans Affairs for the University of California system...
of the University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
. Later it was donated to the collection of the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
.
Communication
The ZIP CodeZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
is 93536, served by the Lancaster post office, and the telephone system is part of area code 661
Area code 661
North American area code 661 covers the majority of California's Kern County, as well as part of Los Angeles County, Santa Barbara County, and Tulare County...
.