In 1877 Newhall had its first post office. It was located inside Mr. Campton’s General Store. In 2014, the good citizens of Newhall lost their post office. For 137 years, Newhall had a United States Post Office. But now? There is a temporary post office to replace the one on Lyons Avenue. It’s over in Stevenson Ranch.

So Newhall has no post office. I read one woman’s remark where she said she dropped off her Christmas cards in the mailbox outside of the old location and it was nearly full. She said that may explain why her friends asked about her welfare. They hadn’t seen a card.

The status of a town used to be tied to the status of its post office. In 1940, the Newhall Post Office was a Class-3 facility. Not bad for a little town like Newhall was then. Today it is a Class-0 office – as in none. Zero, zip, nothing, nada, no place and nowhere. How was this decided?

We heard it was the cost of the rent going up on the old location. Long after the move. Next was Ralph’s closing the store on Orchard Village. Now people who used to be able to walk to the post office and then to Ralph’s…off to the west side. On foot? Oh, no.

Without notice and fanfare, Newhall has lost its identity. As least what used to identify a town, because it was something good and solid when it had a post office. Even if it was only a Class-3 Post Office.

At one time Castaic had one, too. One of the best places to get local news and gossip was the daily trip to get your mail from your post office box. That building today has a sign that says, “Country Girl Saloon.” Is that place still open?

Until about the turn of the last century, Newhall’s post office was located inside George Campton’s General Store on Railroad Avenue. Click image for more information.

Saugus had a post office too. For a short time it was called Surrey, Calif. Not sure where that came from. Even read where it was called “Surrey at Saugus Junction.” You see there was a train junction in Saugus. You could go to Santa Barbara via Piru, Filmore, Santa Paula, Ventura, Carpinteria, then Santa Barbara. All aboard. The train also carried the mail.

All those years and now Newhall has fallen to a no-post-office town. What is a town to do?

All of the folks who said Newhall would be forgotten after the city of Santa Clarita became official a little of 25 years ago were right. Even the United States Post Office has forgotten Newhall.

Don’t tell the Old Town Newhall Association. They asked our new congressman already to restore the postal status of the town. We can only hope.

What does the city of Santa Clarita think of this? Come out with your thoughts, Madame Mayor, and all of the council members, like maybe a terse letter to the U.S. Post Office? Maybe we should get a petition to send to Congress. How about a mass protest? We need maybe a couple hundred people. When Newhall got its first post office, there were about 450 folks in the area counting Mentryville, Placerita and all of the other canyons. Newhall had postal office then. What about now?

There are a lot of folks in Newhall who don’t have cars. So I took the bus to the West Side. Brought my passport. Thought it would be needed. Almost an hour after I left downtown Newhall, I arrived at the new post office location. I stood in line and got some stamps. Went back outside and waited for a bus. Had to take the longer route through Stevenson Ranch back to Newhall. Nearly 90 minutes. mailing a couple of letters took 2-½ hours, bus fare and the cost of stamps. There were no stops for me to have my passport checked. (“Papers please?”)

I think one of my all-time favorite post office folks in Newhall was Mr. Bill Thompson. The fact that he had daughters may have had something to do with why I liked him, but he was pretty special. I knew it was Christmas when I got the card from the Thompson family. Bill “Pa” Thompson was the one who prepared and mailed the cards. I like to think he would be alarmed that Newhall didn’t have a post office. It was his home away from home.

I miss Pa Thompson terribly. He was a kind and gentle man. My folks would go to the post office in Newhall to get a package, and they were amazed that the assistant postmaster, Mr. Thompson, would get the package for them. It was magic. Hand him the notice of a package and he would walk back with it in seconds.

In those days we had to drive from Pico Canyon to Lyons to Walnut in downtown Newhall.

Now the route is reversed. Newhall has no post office. People go west to mail a letter.

It just ain’t right.

Of course, I can still hear my father complaining about having to use ZIP codes for the mail and area codes for the phone. Really. Everyone we knew could find Newhall. Apparently the United States Post Office can’t. They took away the post office.

Now closer to Mentryville maybe my old home can get its own ZIP Code. That would complete the change.

Darryl Manzer grew up in the Pico Canyon oil town of Mentryville in the 1960s and attended Hart High School. After a career in the U.S. Navy he returned to live in the Santa Clarita Valley, where he serves as executive director of the SCV Historical Society. He can be reached at dmanzer@scvhistory.com. His older commentaries are archived at DManzer.com; his newer commentaries can be accessed [here]. Watch his walking tour of Mentryville [here].