On This Day

Sam Ware

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 [...]

By |2024-01-23T15:46:58-08:00January 27, 2024|

Art Students Visit

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 [...]

By |2024-01-20T16:04:10-08:00January 23, 2024|

Memories of the Mill

Excerpt of a letter from Merna Brown Scott of Palo Alto, printed in the Mendocino Beacon on January 20, 1945. This letter was published two weeks after the Beacon reported that the Mendocino Mill, which had not operated since 1938, would be dismantled. Born in 1911, Merna, whose father worked at the mill, was the only child of Frank and Vernie Brown and grew up in [...]

By |2024-01-19T17:35:32-08:00January 20, 2024|

Oscar M. Stone

January 16, 1924 - Mendocino pioneer Oscar M. Stone died at his home on Main Street at about 6 o’clock in the morning. Oscar was 81 years old and had been a resident of Mendocino for 60 years. Born in Mount Vernon, Maine, Oscar moved to the Mendocino Coast when he was 21 years old. For the final leg of his journey to Mendocino, he took [...]

By |2024-01-14T15:58:47-08:00January 16, 2024|

Ralph Kent Electrocuted

January 13, 1908 - Tragedy struck the Kent family on their 270-acre ranch in Little River. About 6am, 16-year-old Ralph Kent, second oldest son of rancher Nathaniel W. Kent, went into the family barn to complete his morning chores. A few minutes later, his father found Ralph unconscious on the barn floor, due to an electrical shock. A transformer on a nearby pole had malfunctioned, causing [...]

By |2024-01-12T14:42:57-08:00January 13, 2024|

Maxwell-Haglund Wedding

January 1, 1938 - Grace Maxwell became the bride of Emil LaVerne “Buck” Haglund at her mother’s home on Kasten Street. Grace was the daughter of Elsie (Tobin) Maxwell and the late Perley Maxwell, a well-known Mendocino building contractor and photographer. High School friends posing in a car at Camp E - Boyle's Camp on July 4, 1930. L - R: Albert Lemos, Merna Brown, [...]

By |2024-02-05T15:04:26-08:00January 1, 2024|

Christina Perry

December 30, 1887 - Rev. J. P. Rich of the Mendocino Presbyterian Church officiated at the funeral of church member Christina Perry. Christina had died the day before at the Howard Street home of her stepson Ira after a months-long illness. She was 78. Following the funeral, which was held at the Perry house, she was buried in Evergreen Cemetery.   Christina was born in Pennsylvania, [...]

By |2023-12-30T13:39:36-08:00December 30, 2023|

Fire at Dr. Whited’s Dental Office

December 17, 1930 - Fire destroyed the laboratory in Dr. C. V. Whited’s dental office, located on the north side of Main Street in the building that currently houses the Mendocino Chocolate Company. Flames erupted around 2 pm, while no one was inside the building. The dentist had been working in his office earlier in the afternoon, but had stepped across the street to the fire [...]

By |2023-12-15T10:59:29-08:00December 17, 2023|

Grand Opening of the Mansion House Hotel

December 9, 1882 - The formal opening of the Mansion House was celebrated with a Grand Ball. This large hotel was located on the southwest corner of Little Lake and Lansing streets and was constructed by Willits architect and builder O. B. Ackerman for proprietor A. T. Rodgers. The Beacon described the hotel as “three stories in height and well built. On the first floor at [...]

By |2023-12-09T13:16:35-08:00December 9, 2023|

The Sequoia Band

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 [...]

By |2023-12-04T17:50:47-08:00December 5, 2023|

Title

Go to Top