February 16, 1983 - Longtime Mendocino resident Joe Recardo died at the Ukiah Street home of his great-niece Joyce Corvin following a long illness. Joe was born in Santa Cruz, Island of Flores, Azore Islands on October 30, 1899, the son of Joao Jose Coelho and Conceicao Leonor Ramos. He immigrated in 1920, landing in Providence, Rhode Island and traveling by train to California. He worked [...]
Valentine card from the 1880s. (Photograph from the Library of Congress) Another Valentine’s Day has come and gone. Whether you enjoy the sentimental cards and red hearts everywhere, or you agree with the local reporter from 1898 that the holiday is “a nuisance,” have you ever wondered why we celebrate it each year? Everyone has heard the basic tale about St. Valentine; he was [...]
Mineral water bottle, embossed with "G. M. Henderson's Bonanza Mineral Water Mendocino, Cal.” (Western Bottle News) February 13, 1938 - J. Albert Henderson died at his home on Little Lake Road following a stroke at the age of 72. He was born in New Brunswick, Canada in 1865, and after his mother’s death, he was sent to live with his aunt, Anna Jane Henderson [...]
February 10, 1883 - James A. Severance passed away at the Navarro Ridge Hotel following a stroke just 5 days before his 47th birthday. The hotel was owned by his eldest brother Haskett, and James lived there with his brother’s family. Buildings on Navarro Ridge, c. 1900. The Navarro Ridge Hotel is the two-story building on the right, and to its left is a short [...]
Ruth Bourns Marsan as a young woman, c. 1890. From the Marsan Family Collection. This article was originally published in the Mendocino Beacon on October 9th, 1975. We reprint it here to mark the 50th anniversary of the Kelley House. On October 6, Dr. and Mrs. Allen Marsan of Walnut Grove called at the Kelley House and left a large envelope of historic pictures. [...]
Chatter and Jack Bishoff Sometimes changes to the Kelley House Museum aren’t visible to the naked eye, but they affect our quality of life immensely. Thanks to a generous grant from the Jack T. and Chatter C. Bishoff Fund, administered by the Community Foundation of Mendocino County, we have made some long overdue improvements to the office and museum, including brand new electrical panels [...]
Because the Kelley House is celebrating 50 years of preserving coastal history, we recently looked at the first item that was “saved” by the founders, Dorothy Bear and Beth Stebbins. The Great Register of 1894 is a reproduced copy of the official voters in Mendocino County at that time. A potential voter provided the following information: name, age, height, color of complexion, hair color, eye color, [...]
January 27, 1899 - Mendocino High School senior Sam Ware was swept to his death at the Mendocino Shipping Point by a large swell. He was by himself gathering mussels for fish bait on the rocks at the south end of the Point, when the wave suddenly rolled in carrying him out into deep water. Fernandez Lima, who was nearby, immediately threw a rope to the [...]
These two images, taken 75 years apart, show the Vieira House on the northeast corner of Ukiah and Williams streets. Constructed in 1908 by Constantine Silveira for his cousin Amelia Lemos and her soon-to-be husband Joe Vieira, this cottage served as their home for more than 20 years. Vieira House, 1948. (Gift of Patricia Harris Noyes) Vieira House, December 2023. (Photographer: Robert Dominy) [...]
January 23, 1948 - A group of photographers from the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco (now the San Francisco Art Institute) visited Mendocino on a field trip. The nineteen art school students, 3 of them women, spent four days taking photos of Mendocino residents, buildings, and business interiors. The group stayed at the Lazy Eye Auto Court south of Little River (today’s Inn [...]