It’s said that Stevenson Ranch was named in 1986 by developer Dale Poe in honor of his wife Maggie, born Margaret Anne Stevenson (1938-1993). (See Poe Parkway for more.) I have no cause to doubt that, but by a strange coincidence, this land had once been owned by a Dr. George F. Stevenson (c. 1869-1938) – no relation to Maggie. Dr. Stevenson was a physician who lived at the intersection of Pico Canyon Road and The Old Road. A Pennsylvania native, he earned his M.D. in Philadelphia in 1890. He was here by 1919, when “Dr. Stevenson’s ranch” was first mentioned in the press, but reportedly arrived six years earlier. It’s hard to pin down facts because Stevenson told some whoppers in his later years, like how he was a cousin of Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson and had even inspired him to write Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in 1886. He also claimed that he had inherited the ranch from his “cousin’s” widow Fanny. A lifelong bachelor, Stevenson left his niece Violet Hoag (née Stevenson) the land when he died. Her son Glenn Stevenson Hoag was living here in 1970 when he was held hostage during the infamous “Newhall Massacre” that left four CHP officers dead.
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