Photo: Courtesy of Robert Dominy When Alvin Mendosa’s long-time friend, Buddy Fraser, passed away in 2018, Alvin received a copy of Buddy’s memoir of town life during World War II. Alvin recognized a little gem when he saw it, and he showed it to the curator at the Kelley House Museum. A few years passed before the document could be published, but recently it [...]
July 18, 1899 - Six-year-old Francis Allen and his ten-year-old sister Nettie posed for a studio portrait at Carpenter Studios in Fort Bragg. In addition to photos taken that day, the Kelley House Collection also includes a lock of Francis’ hair clipped in 1899. Stored in the museum’s climate-controlled vault, this curl of brown hair is about 8 inches long and is tied with a dark [...]
July 15, 1972 - A fire broke out in the Silver Walker Jewelry Shop on the second floor of the Bank of America Building at the northwest corner of Main and Kasten Streets. (Out of This World is located on the first floor of this building today.) Jewelry maker Bruce Van De Walker owned the business. Bruce worked in silver and other metals, combining them with [...]
July 22nd from 1:00 pm-3:00 pm Paint the iconic Kelley House water tower on Saturday, July 22nd. Award-winning local artist Suzi Long will be your teacher and guide as you paint your own watercolor masterpiece. With patience and humor, she will show perspective and proportion strategies as well as a few tricks employed by artists everywhere. No experience is necessary. Suzi Long has a special relationship [...]
Looking south down Lansing Street to Mendocino Bay. (Gift of Carl A. Moore) "Before the names and faces of the many unforgettable characters in Mendocino have been erased from my memory or lost to the obscurity of time, I want to tell you about the people who made my hometown a memorable place to live during the war years of the 1940s.” - Buddy [...]
July 10, 1909 - The Beacon reported on an automobile trip made to Ukiah in the brand new Studebaker touring car owned by Mendocino Lumber Company Superintendent J. S. Ross. Mendocino Beacon editor and proprietor Auggie Heeser, Woods Superintendent Ed Boyle, and Miss Irene McLeod accompanied Ross on the journey. A 1909 Studebaker 5-Passenger Touring Car. (Photo courtesy of John M. Daly. More antique auto [...]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_sdm0_70Iw Take a photographic journey through time featuring iconic Mendocino water towers from the 1880s to 2023. (Video created by Robert Dominy) Discover the beauty, ingenuity, and architecture of these unique structures in the Kelley House Museum’s summer exhibit, “Water Tower Wonderland.” Using historic photographs, original pieces from local artists, and small-scale models, the exhibit explores the majesty and functionality of many well-known water [...]
Mendocino Presbyterian Church, c. 1873 -1890, from the Kelley House Archives. (Gift of Donald Tucker) This week, the Mendocino Presbyterian Church celebrates the 155th anniversary of its sanctuary on Main Street. Officially dedicated on July 5, 1868, it is the oldest Presbyterian Church in continuous use in the State of California (and it enjoys the status of California Historic Landmark No. 714). The origins [...]
Mendocino Fourth of July Parade, 1883. Photograph taken by Ira C. Perry, Mendocino City, California. (Gift of Emery Escola) Uniformed men mounted on horses advance eastward on Main Street, followed by a marching band and then ranks of other walking people. Above the street are many large flags waving in the breeze atop very tall "liberty poles.” Both sides of the street are lined [...]
Chester Ford, accompanied by his wife Almeda Adeline Ford, driving a carriage at a Fourth of July celebration in Mendocino, c. 1901. The Jarvis & Nichols building (today’s Gallery Bookshop) is in the background. (Gift of Emery Escola) Chester Ford, the eldest child of Jerome B. and Martha Ford, was born in Mendocino in 1856. His father was one of the founders of the [...]