Ojai Valley Timeline
Continued from 1881  ·  1882 – 2017
Growth of Nordhoff
1882
Charles Nordhoff publishes the second edition of California for Health, Pleasure and Residence, mentioning the Ojai Valley
  • Benjamin and Mary Gally begin purchasing Oak Glen Cottages
  • A new Upper Valley School is built on land donated by Captain Robinson and Joseph Hobart
1883
1884
Presbyterians build the first church in Nordhoff at Ojai Avenue and Fairway Lane
  • Railroad service between Ventura, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles begins
  • Abram Blumberg opens Ojai Hot Springs in Matilija Canyon
  • The San Antonio School District is formed
1887
1888
  • Lyons Springs resort (Cliff Glen) opens in Matilija Canyon
  • First Congregational Church meetings are held
Sherman Thacher begins tutoring students for college preparation
1889
1891
  • Leverett Mesick starts The Ojai newspaper (now the Ojai Valley News)
  • Wheeler Blumberg opens Wheeler Hot Springs
  • 300 people living in Nordhoff
  • The Ojai Club is formed to improve the valley
  • Ernest and Josephine Pierpont open the Pierpont Cottages
1892
1893
  • George Thacher Memorial Library opens on South Montgomery Street
  • The Fortnightly Club literary group is formed
  • Charles Nordhoff makes his third visit with family
  • A telephone line established between Nordhoff and Ventura
  • The first Ojai Band is formed
1894
1895
  • Thacher School is destroyed by fire
  • William Thacher organizes the Ojai Valley Tennis Club
The Ojai Tennis Club initiates a valley-wide tournament — considered by some to be the first "Ojai"
1896
1897
Ojai succumbs to its own brief gold rush
  • The Ventura and Ojai Valley Railroad's Nordhoff spur is completed
  • President McKinley establishes the Pine Mountain and Zaca Lake Forest Reserve
1898
1899
  • Southern Pacific Railroad takes over the Nordhoff spur
  • Golf is first played in the valley at Mary Gally's cottages
The Ojai Olive Oil Association forms and builds an olive mill
1901
1903
  • The Foothills Hotel opens (designed by Samuel M. Ilsley)
  • President Roosevelt establishes the Santa Barbara Forest Reserve
  • The Evelyn Nordhoff Memorial Fountain constructed on Ojai Avenue
  • First fire department in Nordhoff organized
1904
1906
There are four automobiles in the valley
  • Edward Drummond Libbey and his wife Florence begin wintering at the Foothills Hotel
  • Entrance towers at Foster Park are dedicated
1908
1909
  • Nordhoff High School opens
  • Charles Pratt house constructed on Foothill Road (designed by Greene & Greene)
  • The Edward Libbey house constructed on Foothill Road (designed by Myron Hunt & Elmer Grey)
  • Ojai Valley Woman's Club built
1911
1913
Ojai has electric lighting for the first time
  • Heavy rains cause flooding and wash out railroad tracks
  • Libbey introduces his town improvement ideas at a special town meeting
  • Candelaria Valenzuela collaborates with anthropologists to document the Chumash language and culture
1914
1915
Donald Crisp directs the filming of Ramona at Bob Clark's ranch in Casitas Springs
Construction begins on the arcade, post office, and pergola (designed by Richard Requa)
1916
Ojai is born
1917
  • The first Ojai Day is celebrated
  • The village is renamed from Nordhoff to Ojai
  • Fire rages out of Matilija Canyon, devastating the residential portion of town
  • A stove explosion burns the west half of the arcade stores
  • Second Foothills Hotel built (Mead & Requa)
  • Second St. Thomas Aquinas Church completed
1919
1920
El Roblar Hotel constructed (Mead & Requa) — now the Oaks at Ojai
  • City of Ojai is incorporated
  • 500 people living in the city
  • Work begins on Dennison Grade road
1921
1922
Jiddu Krishnamurti visits the valley for the first time
  • First building of the Ojai Valley School constructed (Wallace Neff)
  • Ojai Valley Country Club clubhouse built (Wallace Neff) — now the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa
1923
1924
  • The Krotona Institute of Theosophy moves from Hollywood to Ojai
  • Villanova Preparatory School opens
  • John Meiners' heirs begin selling parcels in Meiners Oaks
  • Mr. Libbey dies of pneumonia
  • Ojai Valley Community Chorus is formed
1925
1926
  • Annie Besant purchases land in Upper Ojai she calls Happy Valley
  • Ojai Valley Garden Club is founded
  • Arcade extended 100 feet east with 7 new stores
  • Ojai Valley Men's League becomes the Chamber of Commerce
  • Lions Club formed
1927
1928
  • New Ojai Library opens on East Ojai Avenue (Carleton Monroe Winslow)
  • 1,500 people attend the first Star Camp in Meiners Oaks to hear Krishnamurti speak
  • Nordhoff Grammar School moves into new Spanish-style buildings on Ojai Avenue
  • Krishnamurti severs his ties to the Theosophical Society
1929
Depression, war & postwar
1930
  • Presbyterians build a new church on Aliso and Foothill (Carleton Monroe Winslow)
  • Fred and Lida Hart begin showing talkies at the Ojai Theater
Local horseback riders form the Ojai Trails Association
1931
1933
  • Maricopa Highway construction completed
  • Seven Civilian Conservation Corps camps located in the Ojai backcountry
  • New fire station built on South Montgomery (a WPA project)
  • Santa Barbara National Forest becomes the Los Padres National Forest
1936
1939
  • Ojai Community Art Center opens
  • Ventura County Sheriff's department opens the Honor Farm on Baldwin Road
The 134th Infantry from Nebraska takes over the country club as a combat training camp
1942
1945
Bob Hope and Bing Crosby raise funds for the Navy Relief Welfare Fund in Ojai
Aldous Huxley is among the directors of the new Happy Valley School
1946
1947
  • Don Burger reopens the country club as the Ojai Valley Inn and Country Club
  • John Bauer organizes the first Ojai Music Festival
  • Ethel Percy Andrus founds the National Retired Teachers Association (NRTA)
  • The Matilija Dam is completed
  • Beatrice Wood establishes her pottery studio in the east valley
1948
1949
  • Bob Andrews and Kenneth Prairie start the Ojai Valley News in competition with The Ojai
  • 3–4 inches of snow falls on the valley floor in January
  • First spillover at the Matilija Dam
  • Pat and Mike, starring Katharine Hepburn & Spencer Tracy, filmed at the Ojai Valley Inn
1952
1954
  • Ojai Music Festival builds a stage in Libbey Park
  • Ethel Percy Andrus opens Grey Gables home for retired teachers
  • Igor Stravinsky conducts at the Ojai Music Festival
  • Southern Pacific makes its final steam engine run into Ojai
1955
1956
  • Alan and Helen Hooker open the Ranch House Restaurant in Meiners Oaks
  • Avatar Meher Baba visits Meher Mount atop Sulphur Mountain
  • Ojai Festivals builds the Libbey Bowl shell (Austen Pierpont and Roy Wilson)
  • Aaron Copland conducts at the Ojai Music Festival
1957
1958
  • Ethel Percy Andrus founds the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP)
  • The Ojai and the Ojai Valley News merge
The Casitas Dam and reservoir are completed
1959
Modern Ojai
1960
The Ojai Valley Community Hospital opens on Maricopa Highway
  • Ruth Melhorn organizes the first Ojai Independence Day Parade
  • 18-hole Soule Park Golf Course completed
1962
1963
There are 18,000 people living in the valley
Richard Bartindale opens Bart's Books on West Matilija and Canada Streets
1964
1966
  • The Ojai Valley Historical Museum & Historical Society is founded
  • The Ojai Unified School District is formed
  • Pierre Boulez is music director at the Ojai Music Festival
  • Three hippie love-ins take place in Libbey Park
  • The Citizens to Preserve the Ojai oppose a scenic highway through the valley
1967
1968
  • Florence Garrigue arrives to establish Meditation Mount
  • HELP of Ojai is founded
  • 40 inches of rain in two weeks causes severe flooding and washes out the railroad tracks
  • Southern Pacific abandons the Ojai tracks
1969
1970
The Ojai Valley Museum moves to the former city hall at 338 East Ojai Avenue
The city demolishes the historic pergola and memorial fountain
1971
1974
  • Beatrice Wood moves her studio to Happy Valley
  • U.S. Bureau of Reclamation begins acquiring land around Lake Casitas to create the 3,500-acre Teague Memorial Watershed
Krishnamurti founds the Oak Grove School in Meiners Oaks
1975
1976
  • City hall moves to the Hobson-Smith homes on Santa Ana Street
  • The historic Foothills Hotel is demolished
Sheila Cluff purchases the Oaks Hotel and opens the Oaks at Ojai health spa
1977
1979
  • Ravi Shankar performs at the Ojai Music Festival
  • The Ojai Foundation established in Upper Ojai
  • The Ojai Valley Museum moves to the old fire station on South Montgomery
  • The county acquires the upper railroad grade to construct the Ojai Valley Trail
  • City population tops 7,000
1980
1984
  • Lake Casitas hosts the Los Angeles Summer Olympics' canoe, kayak, and sculling events
  • Ojai Studio Artists is formed
Jiddu Krishnamurti dies in his Pine Cottage home in Ojai at age 90
1986
1987
The Ojai Valley Land Conservancy is founded
  • Zelma Wilson designs a plaza behind the arcade stores
  • The Ojai Film Society is formed
1988
1991
  • Seismic renovation of the arcade is completed
  • Craig Walker initiates the return of Ojai Day, absent since 1928
Maricopa Highway (SR 33) is designated the Jacinto Reyes National Scenic Byway
1995
1996
  • The Ojai Valley Museum moves into the former St. Thomas Aquinas church
  • Theater 150 begins productions in the former Clausen funeral home
  • Ojai Valley Inn and Spa completes its first expansion phase
  • Oprah Winfrey films Before Women Had Wings in Ojai
  • Wheeler Hot Springs closes to the public
1997
1998
  • Beatrice Wood dies a week after celebrating her 105th birthday
  • The Ojai Playwrights Conference is founded
  • David Mason and Joan Kemper spearhead the reconstruction of the pergola and memorial fountain
  • Ojai Valley Land Conservancy purchases the meadow adjacent to Nordhoff High School
1999
Into the present
2000
  • 100th anniversary of the Ojai Tennis Tournament
  • First Ojai Film Festival
  • Ojai Raptor Center founded by Kimberly Stroud
  • Brian Bemel founds the Ojai Storytelling Festival
  • Ojai holds a memorial in Libbey Park for victims of 9/11
  • Tony Thacher, Jim Churchill, Mike Shore, and Bob Davis found the Ojai Pixie Growers' Association
2001
2002
  • Cluff Vista Park dedicated
  • Arcade Plaza redevelopment completed
  • First Lemire Grand Prix introduces professional bicycle racing to Ojai
  • First Ojai Lavender Festival in Libbey Park
2004
2007
  • City of Ojai adopts an ordinance regulating chain stores
  • Ojai Trees organization formed to foster the community forest
  • New Libbey Bowl completed (designed by David Bury)
  • First Ojai WordFest
  • Ojai becomes a Tree City USA
2011
2015
  • Valley-wide population reaches nearly 30,000
  • Ojai proclaimed an International City of Peace
  • Chumash tribal elders Julie and Patrick Tumamait-Stenslie instrumental in the city adopting a cultural resources resolution
  • Ojai Valley Museum begins year-long Jubilee Celebration of its 50th anniversary
  • City and Museum begin 100th anniversary celebration of the renaming from Nordhoff to Ojai
2016
2017
  • Casitas Municipal Water District takes over Ojai's water supply after years of effort by citizens group Ojai Flows
  • Beloved historian David Mason, "Mr. Ojai," dies in July
  • The Thomas Fire — the largest recorded fire in California history at the time — breaks out December 4, eventually encircling Ojai and burning 281,893 acres in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties