Elevated view of the town of Mendocino c. 1909. View is looking southeastward from the corner of Lansing and Main Streets, and probably taken from the Kelley water tower. Power poles are on both sides of Main Street. In the immediate foreground is the roof of the old Kelley Building. Right front is the Occidental Hotel with a water tower and windmill behind it. Traveling east [...]
Wreck of the Smilax, 1923. (Kelley House Collection, Kelley House Photographs) April 18, 1923 - A fatal train wreck occurred on the Caspar Railroad when the Caspar Lumber Company engine “Smilax” derailed after hitting two horses on the Digger Creek trestle. The engine was bringing in twelve loaded cars of logs, when the crew spotted the two horses on the tracks about 9 pm. [...]
Children on the steps of the Mendocino Presbyterian Church, Easter 1948. This photo may have been taken after an egg hunt, as just about everyone has a bag - some more full than others! If you can identify someone in this photograph, please be sure to let us know! (Gift of Jeanette Hansen, Jeanette Mendosa Hansen Collection, Kelley House Photographs) April 17, 1927 - [...]
Musicians in Mendocino holding pets, 1876. From left to right: L. A. Morgan, John Edward Carlson, Galey Gray, and Charles Gray. Each man is holding either a cat or a dog. (Gift of Emery Escola, Emery Escola Collection, Kelley House Photographs) April 16, 1899 - One of Mendocino’s earliest pioneers, John Edward Carlson passed away in San Francisco at the home of his son [...]
Competition is native to the American character. To be first seems of great value. First at the clam chowder cook-off, first in Little League, first in line. Historians prattle about who or what was first. So, let's prattle about the trains that once rattled through town, carrying lumber to the Point. A photograph of a stereograph showing the Incline on the tramway from the Big [...]
Denny Greenberg standing in the doorway of Melody's Cookies, a store located on Lansing Street just south of Little Lake Street, April 1975. The “Melody’s Cookies” sign was created by John Chamberlin. Melody's Cookies opened in 1973 on Lansing Street across from Mendosa's grocery store. Owner Melody Joy sold giant ginger, peanut butter, chocolate chip, and oatmeal raisin cookies. The cookie shop’s little building [...]
Portrait of Catherin Denslow Morgan. (Ira C. Perry (Photographer), Gift of Catherine G. Blosser, Sadie Milliken Blosser Collection) April 12, 1925 - Cathrin Morgan died from pneumonia in Long Beach at the age of 72. Described by the Beacon as one of the community’s best beloved and finest characters, Cathrin, “as had been her custom for some five or six years past, was spending [...]
Loading Shed at the Mendocino Shipping Point, c. 1950. It was dismantled in 1951. April 11, 1928 - A tremendous crash was heard at 7:30 AM throughout Mendocino as eight train cars loaded with lumber ran through the Shipping Point’s loading shed and fell to the rocks below. The Beacon reported, “When the crew of the steamer Noyo and the longshoremen were busily engaged [...]
April 10, 1930 - Alphonso Riede was born in Toronto, Ontario, the only child of Alphons and Katharine Hingel Riede. His father was a wood sculptor who served in the Pacific during World War II. After the war, the Riede family moved to Santa Barbara, and Alphonso graduated from high school there, before majoring in music composition and piano at Santa Barbara State College (now UC [...]
Campfire Girls on Big River Beach in various states of dress, from uniforms to bloomers to swim suits, 1926. Standing, L. to R.: Eva Walton, Harvena Davies, Gleneice Silvia, Irene Granskog, Evelyn Bowman, Merna Brown, Mary Silvia. Sitting, L. to R.: Helen Tyrrell, Edna Freathy, Jane Cleary, Ruby Carvalho. April 8, 1958 - Gleneice Silvia died at the age of 45. She suffered a [...]