On January 24, 1888, Richard E. Nickel, widely regarded as the “Father of Acton,” was officially appointed postmaster of the young settlement. Nickel had arrived in the area the year before, relocating the former Soledad Post Office from the small mining camp of Ravenna in Soledad Canyon to his newly built general store in Acton. At the time, Nickel, then ...

On the night of Friday, October 19, 1945, a fire brought an end to one of the Santa Clarita Valley’s most iconic landmarks, the Acton Hotel. Built in 1890 by local pioneer Richard F. Nickel, the elegant two-story Victorian inn was a centerpiece of the small mining town of Acton for more than half a century. The blaze began in ...

President Teddy Roosevelt visits California Governor Henry T. Gage at the grand Acton Hotel during a historic stop in the Santa Clarita Valley. The lavish Acton Hotel was a two-story Victorian hotel built by Richard E. Nickel, known as the “Father of Acton,” who first arrived in town on October 11, 1887.  Nickel, the town’s second resident after his father-in-law ...