Why it's so important to Santa Cruz County to save Valencia Hall and the
Post Office.
By Carolyn Swift
Frederick Augustus Hihn was the consummate businessman. Every action he took
in his public life was from a business perspective. His intellect and his drive
combined to make him a very successful man, but he bruised a lot of toes along
the way. He also had a heavy German accent and somewhat rigid social manners, so
he was not seen as a friendly, relaxed kind of guy--especially since he worked
seven days a week and could be very pushy when he wanted his own way. Soquel
never did forgive him for putting the railroad through to Capitola instead of
there, and for fencing off the beach in winter to prevent them from gathering
firewood.
 However, on the flip side,
Hihn was motivated by a strong sense of responsibility. He initially came to the
U.S. so he could support his parents in Germany, for instance. And once he took
part in the development of a community, he made sure its people had what they
needed (roads, water, sewage management--all that was engineered by Hihn). In
his Santa Cruz residential developments, there was a clause in his mortgage
agreements that said if a man died, the mortgage was considered paid and the
deed transferred to his widow.
Some of the towns that
housed Hihn workers also received a town hall used for church services, dances,
community meetings, etc. Aptos Village had a Hihn Hall. Capitola had a huge
dance hall (where Hihn owned virtually everything in sight). For many years on
or near his August 16 birthday, he would have a big pioneer picnic at Capitola
and people from all over would come and eat boar's head barbecue. The workers
from Aptos and Valencia would be there, too.
Hihn had anticipated that
Valencia would become a permanent village like Aptos. He secured advertisements
for all his towns on an 1884 county map and Valencia appears laid out with a
full subdivision. It was at that time he built and gave Valencia its own hall.
That act more than any meant that Hihn intended Valencia to be a place where
families lived. His workers could ride the train to Aptos for a
night-on-the-town, but families needed a school and a town hall for church
services and community life.
Today that hall is all
that remains of any structural gift made by Hihn to any of his communities.
Hihn's Valencia lumber mill took out most of the timber by the end of the
decade, but Hihn already had plans to grow crops. He tried grapes first and they
did well until they were hit by disease. Apples were planted in the 1890's,
under the guidance of Hihn's son, Fred O. Hihn. The apple packing plant in Aptos
Village and the orchards of Valencia became the son's enterprise over the next
several decades. Frederick Hihn died in 1913 and Fred O. died in 1916. After
that, the Hihn Valencia lands were managed, I believe, by Therese Hihn, a
granddaughter who may still be living. What is important about Valencia Hall is
that it is a companion to the Hihn apple packing plant (Village Fair Antiques)
in symbolizing the era of Aptos history immediately after the logging years.
Aptos until the coming of Cabrillo College and the subdivisions of the 1960's
was a farm community. Valencia Hall was not only a community center but the Farm
Bureau Hall where meetings were held on farm management. The fortunes of the
Valencia- Aptos region were discussed here. It represents the people who gave
their names to the surrounding roads--the Cox family and the Days, for instance.
It's where Peter Hauer went to talk to Roy Day about developing a new brand of
apple. This is where Daisy Cox and Sarah Grow brought apple pies for an evening
dance.
So--that's a bit longer
explanation of why the hall is important in my eyes. Hihn was the most important
influence over the development of Santa Cruz County. We have very few buildings
left that symbolize his role, or represent his gifts.
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Carolyn Swift is a lifelong resident of Santa Cruz County, Director of
the Capitola Historical Museum and former member of the County Historical Resource
Commission |
 
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