Exercising their rights under the
Homestead Act, James David and Rhonda Jane Hill settled in 1886 on of land in what is now Chatsworth. The ranch was later expanded to when the Hills bought an adjoining ranch where the old stage stop, abandoned with the arrival of the railroads, had been located. Today, a portion has been preserved and been recognized as a historic site. In late 1886, the Hills' seventh child, Minnie (1886-1981) was born on the ranch. The Hill family built the surviving three-bedroom bungalow between 1911 and 1913 after the original homestead was torn down. Minnie Hill Palmer and her husband returned to the Chatsworth homestead in 1920 when Minnie's mother became ill. Lovell inherited the property upon the death of their mother, and Minnie inherited it when Lovell died. She used an antique handplow to work on her fruits and vegetables every morning, plowing land located alongside the golf course, often having to remove errant golf balls as well as weeds from her garden. She continued to raise her own fruits and vegetables and canned 300 jars of old-fashioned jelly each year for Christmas gifts. She later recalled that gophers and coyotes were always a problem on the ranch. When fires devastated the area in 1970, she refused to evacuate and worked alongside firefighters to save the old homestead. The one modern convenience Ms. Palmer enjoyed was television
soap operas, which she watched faithfully from 11 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. after working in the garden. When a reporter from the
Los Angeles Times visited the homestead in 1968 to write a feature article about her, she cut the interview short at 11 a.m., noting that she refused to speak to visitors or answer the phone while her soap operas were on. She suffered a stroke in 1976 and spent her final years at the
Mountain View Sanatarium in
Sylmar, California. Palmer died in March 1981 at age 94. ==Ownership and operation as a museum==