A Valley History - by Leah Etling

Although the Chumash Indians were really the founders of this community, the place most historians begin with is when the Santa Inés Mission was founded.

The Santa Inés Mission
On September 17, 1804, the Santa Inés Mission was founded by Friar Estevan Tapis. The patriarch of the California Missions, Father Serra, had died twenty years earlier. The spot chosen for the new mission was the site of the village called Alajulapu, and it overlooked the beautiful Santa Inés River. Santa Inés was the last of the southern missions, the third to honor a sainted  woman, the nineteenth out of the twenty-one missions, and it completed the chain of missions between San Francisco and San Diego. Alajulapu boasted fertile fields for crops and grazing animals, and the Indians who lived at the mission raised wheat, barley corn, beans, and other crops. They also dressed the hides of animals, extracted tallow for candies, and wove cloth. Before this work began, however, the Indians had to be taught how to build the mission. Beams were brought from the San Rafael Mountains, pine logs were prepared and tiles were made. Even today, some buildings are styled on the Mission's classic architecture.

In the beginning, Jose Calzada and Jose Romualdo Gutierrez were in charge of the Mission. It was designed by Father Javier de Uria. Up until the horrible earthquake of 1812, construction was an ongoing process. But after the quake, building practically had to be started over again. The chapel was destroyed, and all the buildings were damaged, either in pieces or completely beyond repair. The Mission was rebuilt, and the new church was dedicated on July 4, 1817. One-fourth of the original structure remains standing today, with eleven of the original 22 arches. In 1810, the Mexican military forces in California became dependent on the missions, the result of a political problem in Mexico which cut off support to the missions. The Indians were forced to supply the soldiers, causing an unhappy labor arrangement which led to Indian revolt in 1824. In 1836, the Mission had overcome its problems and was clearly a prosperous place. Its inventory consisted of 8,040 cattle, 1,923 sheep, 343 horses, 987 fruit trees, and 45 mules. In 1904, Father Alexander Buckler and his niece, Mamie Goulet, began a twenty year reconstruction of the mission, and the result was the beautiful building that graces Solvang's skyline today.

Ballard

In 1830, George W. Lewis was born. Little did his parents know that their new son would play  an important part in Santa Ynez Valley history. In 1850, Lewis came to the Valley, but soon left for Mexico, leaving his land in the hands of a friend, William Ballard. While Lewis was in Mexico, Ballard started the Ballard Station, a stage coach stop for weary travelers. When Ballard died, Lewis returned from Mexico and started the tiny town of Ballard, named for his friend, in 1880. Ballard was the seventh town in Santa Barbara County, and for two years it was the only town in the Valley. The streets were 60 to 100 feet wide, and were named in honor of Lewis' friends and relations. Ballard featured the only public general store in the Valley for a time, which had groceries, dry goods, and medicines. Ballard also had a post office and a blacksmith. Before the post office became a part of the general store, it was nothing more than a box nailed to a tree!

One of the major features of Ballard was Ballard Schoolhouse, which was not only a school, but a gathering place for all early Valley residents, who flocked to the little schoolhouse (originally railroad yellow) for weddings, funerals, church services, dances, meetings, debates and other social activities. The new school featured white plastered walls , six big windows, a blackboard, and two anterooms (one for the boys, one for the girls). It was clearly a relief from two earlier schools, which had been held in a granary and an abandoned saloon. Today, the schoolhouse is inhabited by the next generation of Valley residents - Ballard School's kindergarten class.
Ballard today is anchored by the Ballard Inn, making the town a peaceful retreat for tourists, as well as a quiet hideaway for residents.

The Western Town of Santa Ynez

In 1882, the Wild West came to the Valley, with the founding of Santa Ynez. Named after the Mission and the river, this western town quickly became a thriving village with a post office, many saloons, a barber shop, harness shop, millinery shop, a drug store, a Chinese laundry, and many homes. A rivalry was quickly established between the Valley's first town, Ballard, and the new town of Santa Ynez. Signs were put up saying "One and a half miles to Virgin City" (Ballard) and "One and a half miles to Buzzard's Haven." (Santa Ynez)

At one time, Santa Ynez was the social and economic center of the Valley. One of its greatest assets in its heyday was the College Hotel; which had visitors from as far away as Chicago and Los Angeles. It featured some of the Valley's grandest architecture until it burned to the ground in 1935. Unlike the busy hubbub of long ago, today Santa Ynez is an old town with false front buildings and a western sprawl to it. Although it is a quiet town, buildings are still being built in the old style in hope of economic rejuvenation.

Santa Ynez was founded when Bishop Francis Mora received permission to sell the College Ranch, which consisted of thousands of acres of land. Santa Ynez Valley Land and Improvement Company bought it and subdivided it, selling the land for between six to fifteen dollars per acre. Although it was to be named Sagunto, residents took the name of the Mission instead.
A post office was opened on July 2, 1883, with mail coming from Santa Barbara and Los Alamos. The first Valley newspaper, the Santa Ynez Argus, was started in Santa Ynez by King and Merrill in 1888.

Los Olivos

   
In 1887, the Valley's third town, Los Olivos, came into being with the coming of the railroad. In 1882, the same year Santa Ynez was founded, the Pacific Coast Railway was completed to Los Alamos from Port Hartford. In 1887, the rails continued to Los Olivos, and the trains came chugging in.

The newest town was named after Rancho de Los Olivos, which raised olives and was owned by Alden March Boyd. Los Olivos had a store, saloons, a livery stable, a station which housed a telegraph office, a hotel, and at one time boasted a second hotel and an engine house, both of which burned to the ground, and were never rebuilt. Today, the railroad has been rerouted along the coast, and Los Olivos is made up of mostly homes. One thing that remains is historic Mattei's Tavern which was a stage station in the 1880's and later a hotel, a tavern, and a restaurant. It was owned by Swiss immigrant Felix Mattei and his wife. Today, many of the downstairs rooms are in their original state, and the tavern is open every night for dinner. Another of the Valley's quiet towns, Los Olivos is a remembrance of days gone by.

Buellton

In 1867, Rufus T. Buell was struck with gold fever, and on his way to California to seek his fortune. He ended up in the Santa Ynez Valley, where he purchased 26,634 acres of land for his new ranch, San Carlos de Jonata, which means Saint Charles of the Wooded Area. The ranch was complete within itself, with a post office, a public store, and a blacksmith. It had many animals, including cows, sheep, hogs and horses. The residents of the ranch busied themselves with the dairying, farming, stock raising and cheese factory duties which had to be carried out to keep Buell's venture prosperous. As the result of a dry year, Buell lost 10,000 acres to a San Francisco bank, which sold them to the Santa Ynez Valley Land and Improvement Company , and this was the start of Buellton.

Recently, Buellton became a city. It is famous for Pea Soup Andersen's restaurant, which attracts visitors from all over the U.S. Unlike most of the Valley towns, Buellton is not a tourist attraction, and is basically dedicated to serving the public, with many motels, restaurants, and gas stations.

Solvang  - The Danish Capitol of the United States

In 1911, there was a meeting in San Francisco. Although the people attending the meeting did not know it, they were about to become an important part of Santa Ynez Valley history. The motive behind the meeting was to find a place for a new Danish colony in California, patterned after a similar project in Grand View, Illinois.

The educators found, in what became Solvang, a land which had the climate, water supply, fertility of soil and beauty that they were looking for. They purchased 9,000 acres from the West Coast Development and Land Company, and thus the town of Solvang was founded. In 1914, Atterdag College came into being. Atterdag means "there shall be another day" in Danish. In the beginning, the college had no textbooks, no exams and no degrees. It was a full time college until 1937, and between 1938 and 1951 it was used during the summer.

Today, Solvang is still primarily a Danish town, but there are people of other nationalities here also. There are four Danish windmills, patterned after Danish mills. Ferdinand Sorensen's (a local architect and designer) windmill was the first. The town of Solvang is now largely Danish architecture of the Old World type. Driving down the streets of Solvang, you will see native thatched and aged copper roofs, with storks on the rooftops, which the Danes believe bring good luck.

The people involved in Solvang's birth were Reverend J.M. Gregersen, Rev. B. Nordentoft, and P. Hornsyld, who headed the committee to start Atterdag College. Early residents of this beautiful Danish town, appropriately named "sunny field," included the Nielsens, Petersens, lversons, and Christiansens, descendants of whom still live here today. Advertising brought people from Northern California, Oregon, Washington and the Midwest.