December 5, 1914 - A group of young men in Caspar organized the Sequoia Band, under the guidance of director John Murray. Sequoia Band of Caspar, c. 1915. Top row L-R: Elbert Montgomery, unidentified, Juel Jensen, unidentified, Ragnar Wahlstrom, unidentified, unidentified. Front row: Lester Moody, Jack Casey, Bill Brady, unidentified, unidentified, Bill Nylander, Dave Brinzing, Henry Van Ahnen. (Gift of Vince Johnson) This band [...]
December 2, 1925 - Nineteen-year-old Fay Lanphier, recently crowned Miss America, arrived at the Mendocino home of her aunt, Jennie Swanson, for a visit. Fay was born in Elk on December 12, 1905 to Casper and Emily Lanphier. When she was a young girl, the Lanphier family moved to Mendocino, and Fay and her siblings attended the first Mendocino Grammar School on the corner of Pine [...]
November 27, 1964 - The old blacksmith shop on the northwest corner of Lansing and Little Lake streets (where Century 21 is located today) was demolished. According to the Beacon, the big building “went down with a crash when Clarence Ponts made his final attack on it with his big cat.” The building had its beginnings in November 1882, when blacksmith and wheelwright George Hall built [...]
November 25, 1924 - Frank J. Mendosa passed away at his home on Little Lake Road at the age of 73. Born on the island of Flores in the Azores, Frank left Portugal at a young age, joining the crew of a whaling vessel and making several trips around Cape Horn. In his early twenties, he landed in Boston, where he worked for a short time [...]
November 14, 1910 - Rose Valador was born in Mendocino, daughter of Domingo and Marian (Thomas) Valador. She was the second of six children and their eldest daughter. Rose and her siblings grew up in the historic Valador House, situated on the southeast corner of Ukiah and Rundle Streets. Black and white photograph of Domingo and Marian Valador with their six children. They are standing [...]
Senior portrait of Charles Tannlund, Class of 1918, Mendocino High School. (Gift of Jeanette Mendosa Hansen) November 12, 1918 - A number of young men returned to the Mendocino Coast, just days after being called up to serve their country during World War I. The armistice ending the war had been signed just the day before, and their military service was abruptly cancelled. Two [...]
November 7, 1963 - Mendocino resident Jim O’Donnell, 74, thwarted a trio of scam artists who tried to take advantage of him. About 2pm that afternoon, a station wagon pulled up at Jim’s home on the northwest corner of Williams and Covelo Streets. A man approached Jim's door with a story – he claimed to be a stove repairman from Sacramento who regularly made trips to [...]
November 4, 1961 - The fifth Big River Bridge officially opened with a dedication ceremony. The bridge had already been in use for two weeks so that workmen could begin demolishing the old bridge which had been in service since 1924. Unlike previous Big River bridges, the new bridge was elevated with a 47-foot clearance above the water, while the approaches to the earlier bridges were [...]
Hazel Nimela by the water tank in Caspar, c. 1920. (Gift of Mae Johnson) October 29, 1899 - Hazel May Helm was born in Caspar to Thomas and Ella (Kuhn) Helm. Hazel’s mother was also a native of Caspar and lived her entire life there. Tragically, Hazel’s father, a brakeman on the Caspar logging train, was killed a month before Hazel’s first birthday while [...]
Graduation photograph of Raymond Nicholson, Class of 1941. (Gift of Linda Mechling) October 20, 1942 - Raymond Nicholson joined the U. S. Navy during World War II. Born in Mendocino in 1923 to Alfred and Anna Ellison Nicholson, Ray grew up in the Daniels-Nicholson House (today’s Nicholson House at Beaujolais) near the east end of Ukiah Street. He attended the local schools, where he [...]