Making History Blog

Elevated View, Ukiah Street

Elevated view looking to the northeast along Ukiah Street in Mendocino, 1920 - 1949. The image was probably captured from the Heeser water tower, located on the southeast corner of Kasten and Ukiah Streets. The Beacon building is seen in the left foreground. The undeveloped fenced field to its right will become the site of the post office and the Penny Farthing Building. Two water towers [...]

By |2023-01-15T10:51:57-08:00January 7, 2022|

A Short History of the Redwood Center Building

A 1970s postcard of Ruth Carlson's Studio Gallery in the Redwood Center at the junction of Highway 1 and Main Street in Mendocino. Between the years 1966 and 2000, the gallery, later called Gallery One, featured her paintings as well as the work of other local artists. This unique building is called THE REDWOOD CENTER and was built in 1966 by Kenneth Ricksecker, one [...]

By |2023-01-15T10:57:50-08:00January 6, 2022|

Fire at Fred Riley’s Saloon

Parade car decorated with flowers passing the Red House on Ukiah Street in Mendocino, California, c. 1920. This building was a Kelley family rental and came to be known as the "Red House" since it was painted that color for many years. (Kelley House Collection, Kelley House Photographs) January 5, 1885 - The bell in the cupola of the old school house, located near [...]

By |2023-01-15T11:04:10-08:00January 5, 2022|

Napoleon Bonaparte Bever Passed Away

Napoleon Bonaparte Bever with a three-horse team hauling lumber-filled railroad cars from the Mendocino mill on the flats to the incline by the beach, c. 1902. (Gift of Emery Escola, Emery Escola Collection, Kelley House Photographs) January 4, 1913 - Napoleon Bonaparte Bever passed away after a long illness. Mr. Bever had been unwell for several years, “and although originally a man of strong [...]

By |2023-01-15T11:08:39-08:00January 4, 2022|

Lansing House – THEN and NOW

Lansing House, 1931. The south (front) and west sides of the Lansing House, built by David Lansing in 1855 with lumber milled in San Francisco and shipped to Mendocino. Captain Lansing died in 1877, and the house went to his daughter, Julia Lansing Morrow and her husband, J. J. Morrow. In 1888, the house was purchased by Oscar M. Stone, a Main Street watchmaker and jeweler, [...]

By |2023-01-15T11:16:39-08:00January 3, 2022|

Malcolm Luiz Nearly Drowns

Gordon-Dilling Family Camping Trip, 1923-1925. Left top, standing: Jennie Dilling, Ella (Gordon) Luiz, Margaret Dilling. Seated: Frank Gordon, Annie (Dilling) Gordon, Juanita Luiz, Frank Dilling, Mamie Gordon, Thelma Dilling, Susie (Gordon) Walbridge, Frances Walbridge, Malcolm Luiz, Archie Gordon, Agnes Dilling, Clara Dilling.  Sitting in front of tent: Chester Walbridge. (Emery Escola, Emery Escola Collection, Kelley House Photographs) January 2, 1919 - Five-year-old Malcolm Luiz [...]

By |2023-01-15T11:20:38-08:00January 2, 2022|

Happy New Year!

Richard and Margaret Kelley Postcard, 1915. Picture postcard with a photograph of Richard and Margaret Kelley as very young children. Richard, left, and Margaret, right, are posing on a large tree stump somewhere in Mendocino. The postcard was sent by Annie Kelley to Aunt Elise Kelley Drexler, wishing Elise (Aunt Lee, as the children called her) a Happy New Year and dated December 30, 1915. The [...]

By |2023-01-15T11:27:38-08:00January 1, 2022|

The Robert Law Family

The Robert Law family, 1913. Robert and Elizabeth Freathy Law driving in a one-horse buggy from Little River to Mendocino on their way to church with their children, Edward and Jean. The horse was named "Susie." The road is bordered by a split rail fence. (Gift of Jean Rice) Robert Law was born in Lachute, Canada in 1868. He immigrated to the US around [...]

By |2023-01-17T10:23:05-08:00December 31, 2021|

History Tidbits of Orr Hot Springs

As a Kelley House docent researching a book on the Orr Hot Springs area, I have amassed more information than I could ever possibly use in what I plan to be a small publication on the subject. While the who, what, when, where, why and how facts get arranged into chronological order, it’s the odd, poorly documented tidbits of information that keep distracting me. Postcard [...]

By |2023-01-17T10:26:59-08:00December 30, 2021|

Mendocino Shipping Point and Blowhole

Mendocino Shipping Point and the blowhole beneath it. The Wire chute and hoisting apparatus can be seen on the left, with storage and machinery sheds to the right, 1925-1940. (Gift of Dot Johnson, The Everett Racine Collection, Kelley House Photographs) Mendocino Book Two by Dorothy Bear and Beth Stebbins - Meet the Ford family, founders of Mendocino. Learn about Henry Meiggs and the Mendocino Lumber Company [...]

By |2023-01-17T10:32:53-08:00December 29, 2021|
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