In its earliest days, Johnstonville suffered an identity crisis. In the mid to late 1850s, a whenever a warm spring/ summer rain storm hit that area and its aftermath caused a swarm of frogs/toads to appear and someone gave that district the name of Toadtown. In 1864, when Lassen County Board of Supervisors were busy with the formation of the county, they named the voting precinct there Toad Town. At the same time, the board named the school district there Susan River. There were some people who did not like the monicker of Toad Town. A dated petition of November 12,1864 signed by 41 individuals asked the Board of Supervisors to change the name to Johnsonville, the “t” omitted. Another peculiar thing about this petition besides the spelling, was the majority of the people who signed it, lived in Susanville. On December. 7, 1864, meeting of the Board of Supervisors they approved the petition as submitted, changing the Toad Town Voting Precinct to Johnsonville. As to the Susan River School, they did not change the name to Johnstonville until 1878.