About the Quartz Hill Chamber of Commerce
Mission Statement
To serve and advance the welfare of
Quartz Hill and the surrounding communities by promoting local business and encouraging civic interest.
The History of Quartz Hill Chamber of Commerce
After the now-Quartz Hill area was started, a Civic Improvement Association was formed and worked well for a while, but community and business eventually called for a better status symbol. Thus, in 1948, the Quartz Hill Chamber of Commerce was formed.
In early 1950, Jane Pinheiro and Byron Glenn observed the almond trees coming into bloom, and they decided that Quartz Hill should have a festival at almond blossom time. The suggestion was taken to the Chamber of Commerce and the Almond Blossom Festival was instituted. A queen was chosen, a parade planned and the first festival got underway. It has been an annual event since, and draws an audience from 2000 to 3000.
Wanting to have another annual celebration, in 2003, a Street Fair and Car Show was developed. The large classic and antique car population makes this event a real crowd-pleaser.
The Chamber has been meeting in several locations since inception, but in 2002, community labor and donations were put together, and the Quartz Hill Town Center was created, with the Los Angeles Sheriff and the County Police having a substation, and the Chamber, Town Council and SCORE having adjacent offices.
The History of Quartz Hill
In the Beginning…..
Thousands of years prior to European discovery of America, Indians fished and hunted on the shores of the immense lakes that once comprised Antelope Valley. Calico Early Man Site east of Barstow has produced many interesting fossils of prehistoric flora and fauna believed by some archaeologists to be as old as 30,000 BC. No human skeletal remains have been found at that location. however. Recent discoveries at Barrel Springs southwest of Palmdale date human habitation there prior to 5,000 to 8000 BC.
16th Century……
By the time Spanish conquistadors came to Southern California the lake had dried up and the area became a thoroughfare for Indians traveling the trade routes. Kawaiisu, Kitanemuk, Serrano Vanyume and Tataviam Indians occupied the valley from about 1000 BC to 1700 AD and later The groups spoke different dialects and all subsisted by hunting animals and gathering plants for food. Permanent villages were established in the foothills near Barrel Springs. Elizabeth Lake, Willow Springs. Fairmont Buttes and Lovejoy Springs Water and the abundance of game were the prime reasons for the locations of these sites. In addition, Indians moved freely on the valley floor in search of the native plants, which they used for food. Their grinding tools and pestles are still being found in the Valley..
18th Century…….
In 1772 Pedro Fages, (the first governor of Alta California) came through the valley in search of Army deserters; he probably became the first recorded Euro-American to visit the valley. In 1776, Friar Francisco Garces explored the area looking for a practical trade route between the missions in Arizona and the missions in California. Pedro Fages saw the old Indian trail, which is now highway 138.
19th Century………
Later, this trail was to be used by other notables such as Kit Carson and John C. Fremont. In 1844, Rogers and Manly of the famous Jayhawkers Party in 1849 and Lt Beale came with his camel caravan enroute to Fort Tejon the same year. The Mormon Brigade on their way to the war with Mexico took this trail. The Mormon Rocks became a stopping-place near Cajon Pass After the Civil War prospectors found gold and silver which was brought down Mint Canyon, while huge wagons carried supplies North. . In 1853, the U.S. government Land Office subdivided land in Antelope Valley, and Congress authorized exploration and survey to determine locations for railroads. In 1876, the Southern Pacific Railroad finished the line connecting Los Angeles with San Francisco, which of course went through Antelope Valley. The first family to take advantage of the Homestead Act passed in 1862 in the Quartz Hill area was the Frederick Godde famiIy. They settled in Quartz Hill in 1885, and began raising wheat, barley, cattle, horses and chickens. Later, they embarked on the successful venture of raising almonds.
20th Century………..
In Quartz Hill, the stagecoach station was approximately where the Quartz Hill Post Office is presently. It passed up the Leona Valley from San Fernando, over Godde pass (now Godde Hill Road), then to Quartz Hill. The oil refinery is still active arid can be seen from the road today. Mint Canyon route was graded and covered with asphalt and named Sierra Highway in 1922 as a single lane highway.
During the years 1905 to 1913, the Los Angeles Inyo Aqueduct was built across the Valley. This brought employment to many residents; however, none of the water was available locally. The Feather River Project, completed in 1972, delivers water to Quartz Hill and other Antelope Valley communities as well as carrying water to Silverwood Lake and points beyond.
Improvements followed over the years but the road could not handle the increased traffic. Highway 14 (Antelope Valley freeway) was constructed in the late 50s and early 60s. Due to the ever-increasing population of Antelope Valley, it too had to be widened to grow with the community. Until about 1930 there was very little irrigation. There were a few wells pumped by windmills, and most water was hauled from springs. After the advent of commercial irrigation the alfalfa industry flourished for several decades. William Stratmen, a German-born pioneer, came to the Quartz Hill area in 1888; He planted the first almond orchard in the community. At its peak, the almond orchards of Quartz Hill produced over 70% of the almonds in the United States. But a fungus blight destroyed the majority of the almond orchards , and the industry migrated to other producers.
Commemorating the almond history, Stratnen was the Grand marshal for the first Almond Blossom Festival Parade in 1950. He was 90 years old at the time. George Lane came to the area in 1908 as a rancher and farmer; many family members of the early settlers are still in Quartz Hill. His grading company laid out many of the streets and building lots in Lancaster and Quartz Hill. His granddaughter, Frances Lane lives along Godde Hill Road, in a beautiful home built around a former hunting cabin of the inventor of the famous ‘Eskimo Pie’.
With the proximity to Rogers Dry Lake, formerly Muroc Dry Lake, in 1942, the Army Air Corps used the lakebed for simulating bombing runs on Japanese targets. The Muroc Air Base later became the Edwards AFB Flight Test Center, and aerospace companies began manufacturing facilities east of Lancaster and Palmdale, making such items as the Space Shuttle and the B-1 bomber.
21st Century……
Quartz Hill remains an unincorporated ‘town’, with a Town Council to help communicate with Los Angeles County governance.