Reba Marie Hays Jeffries (June 21, 1920 – August 13, 1989) was one of the founders of
Newbury Park Chamber of Commerce and later its first female president. She was a prominent supporter of Newbury Park cityhood and opposed the annexation by neighboring
Thousand Oaks
Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, United States. It is in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles, approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown. It is named after the many oak tree ...
. She was also an outspoken supporter of preserving
Stagecoach Inn
The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point (layover) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of tra ...
and the
Newbury Park Post Office
The Newbury Park Post Office was the first post office in the Conejo Valley, established on July 16, 1875, by the valley's first postmaster, Egbert Starr Newbury.
The post office was originally located in a tent on Newbury's property, today's si ...
when it was proposed that they be demolished.
Jeffries and her brother H. Allen Hays belonged to a prominent Newbury Park family which helped the town's commercial growth. She gave the successful low bid for a new post office in August 1966, thereby ensuring that the Newbury Park Post Office remained on
Newbury Road
Newbury Road is the main street in Newbury Park, California, and runs parallel to the U.S. Route 101 (Ventura Freeway). The road is named for the town’s founder, Egbert Starr Newbury. The historic Newbury Park Post Office has had several locati ...
. Jeffries became a
Notary Public and in 1963 the first woman president of the Newbury Park Chamber of Commerce. She owned a variety of local businesses, including Newbury Park Auto Salvage, Newbury Park Lumber Company, Richfield Gas Station, Jeffries Garage, a storage warehouse, trailer park and a used car lot. Her daughter Susan donated fifty boxes of Jeffries' letters, documents and newspaper articles to the
Conejo Valley Historical Society.
Haigh Road in Newbury Park is named for her grandparents, Cecil and Cicelie Haigh, the former owners of
Conejo Hotel at Timberville.
Stagecoach Inn
![Stagecoach_Inn](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Stagecoach_Inn.jpg)
Jeffries was the granddaughter of Cecil Haigh, who owned
Stagecoach Inn
The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point (layover) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of tra ...
(then known as Conejo Hotel at Timberville). Her mother was born at the Stagecoach Inn. The former hotel was a popular stopover for stagecoach travelers riding between
Santa Barbara and
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
in the late 19th century.
When
Ventura Freeway
The Ventura Freeway is a freeway in southern California, United States, running from the Santa Barbara/ Ventura county line to Pasadena in Los Angeles County. It is the principal east-west route (designated north-south) through Ventura Count ...
was to be expanded in 1964, it was proposed that the Stagecoach Inn would be demolished to make room for the new freeway. The Stagecoach Inn had become a Ventura County Historical Landmark in 1957, and was originally constructed in 1876. Jeffries opposed the proposed demolition, and the Jeffries family donated land for the Stagecoach Inn's relocation. Reba Jeffries and her brother, Allen Hays had been given hundreds of acres of land in Newbury Park after their father died and the land was divided between his two children.
Newbury Park cityhood
Newbury Park had numerous attempts at establishing an independent municipality in the 1960s. The 1963 attempt at a cityhood election failed when Janss’ Rancho Conejo Industrial Park and the Talley Corporation refused to join the efforts. Jeffries told interviewers another reason why the cityhood election failed: Cityhood supporters had to collect signatures from owners who represented 29% of the land area in Newbury Park. As the efforts only collected signatures from 29% of registered voters in Newbury Park, the petition never reached the ballot box.
Jeffries was later a prominent opponent of annexation by Thousand Oaks when first proposed in 1967. Jeffries feared for the identity of Newbury Park and was quoted in an interview saying: "It's a shame that the Thousand Oaks personality is overpowering to the extent that Newbury Park is losing its large ranches and freedom."
[Begun, Miriam and Ruthanne Sprankling (2009). ''Ladies of The Conejo''. Conejo Valley Historical Society. Pages 93–94. .]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeffries, Reba Hays
People from Newbury Park, California
Newbury Park, California
1920 births
1989 deaths