April 29, 1878 - A destructive fire burned the Big River House Hotel to the ground. This hotel was located on the north side of Main Street, east of Woodward Street. The flames spread quickly to an adjoining building which housed W. T. Wilson’s restaurant and saloon. That building was also destroyed. These structures weren’t rebuilt. Big River House Hotel, c. 1877. A group of [...]
South side of Albion Street, 1966. Double tank water tower and surrounding structures on the south side of Albion Street near the corner of Kasten Street. At this time, the water tower housed an artist's studio. The building to the left was a laundromat, then later the "Compass Rose." April 25, 1965 - Artist Esther Nichols was killed in a tragic traffic accident on [...]
Studio portrait of Harmon Denslow, posed with a chair and holding a hat, 1875 - 1879. (Gift of Alice Earl Wilder) April 22, 1879 - Harmon Denslow died at the age of 23, due to complications from typhoid fever. Born in Connecticut in October 1855, Harmon was the son of Charles Denslow and his second wife, Martha Harmon. The Denslow family moved to Mendocino [...]
In celebration of Earth Day on April 22, below is an excerpt on local horticulturist Charlotte Milliken Hoak from the 2016 Kelley House publication From Maidens to Mavericks: Mendocino’s Women, written by local author, Molly Dwyer. Hoak was born in 1874 in the wilds of Comptche. She liked to say she was born with two green thumbs. Both of her parents loved growing plants and, on [...]
April 18, 1906 - “An earthquake shock of remarkable severity visited the entire Mendocino coast” at 5:13 am, according to the Beacon. A rumbling noise preceded the full force of the quake. “So violently did the earth shake that many people were thrown from their beds. Men, women and children fled precipitately from their houses and from the hotels, many of them in their night clothes. [...]
April 16, 1880 - Mendocino Coast pioneer Albert Maxwell died at 4pm at his home in Mendocino, “after a lingering and painful sickness,” according to the Beacon. Albert, a well-known carpenter and builder, had constructed the home at 45164 Little Lake Street just two years earlier. Born in Cape Elizabeth, Maine in 1829, Albert married Jane Randall in 1852. The couple had two daughters before Albert [...]
Returning to Mendocino this May to share my newly published memoir—Beaujolais in My Blood: Growing up Gay and Well-Fed in a Family-Run Restaurant—will be a thrilling and sweet homecoming. I’m bringing the story of my adolescence living in the small Victorian village above Café Beaujolais, where my parents, Ellen and Gerald Pitsenbarger, created a small French restaurant. The cafe evolved into a famous local institution and [...]
April 10, 1909 - The buzz-wagon craze had come to Mendocino, according to the Beacon. “Buzz-wagon” was a slang term for the automobile, perhaps because the early-day gasoline engines were so noisy. The first Beacon report of an automobile purchase appeared in May 1903: “Abbott Colburn, who recently purchased an automobile, has thoroughly demonstrated their adaptability for traveling purposes even on the coast, where the heavy [...]
Group photograph of friends taken on July 4, 1878.Back row L to R: Alexander MacCallum, Leonard Barnard, Archibald Yell, Dr. Tracy Hubbard Smith.Front row L to R: Daisy Kelley MacCallum, Libbey Briggs, Nellie Malone, Kate Carlson. (Photographer: George Irving Hazeltine; Gift of Nannie Escola) April 8, 1856 - Leonard “Len” Barnard was born in Maine, the son of Ira and Susan Barnard. In 1868, [...]
As April is National Poetry Month, I decided to look through the Kelley House archives to see what sort of poetry selections we had. I was pleased to discover that we have a few and was immediately drawn to our collection of Country Women magazines. The publication—published from 1974 to 1979—called itself "a feminist country survival manual and a creative journal” and contained essays, stories, and [...]