Heritage Park is the site where the City
of Santa Fe Springs has restored the buildings and
grounds of an elegant ranch that prospered here in the late 1800s. The park also tells the
story of
the original people of this region, the Tongva/Gabrieleno Indians, in a dramatic exhibit
nestled
within the trees on the park’s west side. At the entrance, a railroad exhibit
featuring a vintage A.T.
&S.F. steam locomotive greets visitors. The ruins of a large adobe home built during
Mexican rule
flank the park's largest building, the Carriage Barn. Heritage Park is a place where
families,
students and the business community can learn about the past while relaxing in a
beautifully
maintained historic setting.
Heritage Park’s Carriage Barn once housed horses and carriages. Today it contains a
museum
filled with turn-of-the-century artifacts and memorabilia. Built in 1880 by a Midwesterner
named
Hawkins, the Carriage Barn was reconstructed in 1987 based on a photograph taken 100 years
earlier. Hawkins’ English –style greenhouse was also reconstructed on the exact
location where it
was built a century ago
The City of Santa Fe Springs owes a lot to the presence of two railroad lines that still
intersect this
transformed farm town. The railroad exhibit tells the City’s railroad history through
a careful
restoration of the Santa Fe Railway depot, rail lines and signals. At the center of this
exhibit stands
No. 870, a restored Santa Fe steam locomotive, as well as a refrigerated box car and a
caboose.
Heritage Park is exquisitely landscaped. Restoration of the formal gardens and the
preservation of
mature trees have made this site a favorite location for important family and business
events. The
park can be reserved for special events—weddings, photo sessions, picnics and
meetings—
throughout the year.
The park’s exhibits reveal the stories of many people who lived here, including the
area’s original
inhabitants, the Tongva/Gabrieleno Indians. A 32-foot-wide dome made of willow and reeds
is a
replica of the ones they built for shelter. It is a perfect place to listen to stories and
learn about
Native cultures from the park’s tour guides and rangers. A Native American
celebration takes
place with this exhibit as a backdrop every year.
Heritage Park is the reconstruction of an estate built in 1880 by a wealthy farmer named
Eli
Hawkins. His estate included 100 acres purchased from a health resort owner, Dr. J.E.
Fulton, and
the buildings were constructed in a popular Victorian architectural style, Carpenter
Gothic.
Hawkins spent more than $5,000 on the construction of his Carriage Barn, making it the
most
expensive structure of its kind in Los Angeles County.
His gardens were also extraordinary. The first concrete fountains of Southern California
were
placed within this property, along with exotic plants of the era. The picturesque windmill
building
supplied water to the garden and surrounding six acres. In Hawkins’ day, a garden of
this caliber
was a symbol of wealth. Tourists who saw the ranch in the 1890s called it
“Fairyland.”
The property, which has many owners, started to deteriorate after the oil boom of the
1920s. Vast
deposits of oil found here resulted in intense industrial activity. Margaret Slusher, the
owner at the
time, benefited financially, but the lovely ranch she purchased fell into ruins.
Hawkins was not the first prominent settler on this land. The remains of an older home,
built by a
Mexican citizen named Patricio Ontiveros, have been discovered and studied. Ontiveros came
to
the area with his father in the late 1700s. By 1815, after service in the army, he built a
large adobe
house on a spot adjacent to the present location of the Carriage Barn.
Ontiveros served as majordomo or foreman of the cattle holdings of the San Juan Capistrano
Mission, whose animals grazed in this region. His adobe home was situated within a land
grant
made to Manuel Nieto.
In the 1970s, archeologists discovered the cobblestone foundation of his home on the east
side of
the Carriage Barn. Across from the ruins is another archeological discovery: the Ontiveros
household trash pit. Here, the family tossed animal remains and their household trash.
Artifacts
discovered in the archeological digs at Heritage Park are on display in the Carriage Barn.
Heritage Park is located near the intersection of Norwalk Blvd. and Telegraph Road in
Santa Fe
Springs. The City was founded when Fulton Wells Resort was built on the southeast corner
to take
advantage of a natural hot springs. Fifty years later, in 1919, one of history’s
largest deposits of oil
was discovered at this intersection. Almost overnight, the community became a raucous
boomtown
and remained one for over a decade.
Today this intersection is a major business center designed with the pedestrian in mind.
The area
includes Heritage Corporate Center, where the park is located, and the Heritage Springs
business
development. The two developments are linked by a dramatic pedestrian bridge and sculpture
garden. The park is an amenity for the people who work and live in the area.
Employees of the surrounding businesses have convenient access to The Kitchen at Heritage
Park,
a popular outdoor café and catering service. Heritage Park also provides three unique
spaces to
hold meetings.: the Carriage Barn, the Depot, and the Caboose.
