Louie Larsen at Big River Flat, 1907 - 1913. Behind Louie is the first Big River Maru, a steam-powered river boat that guided rafts of logs to the mill. Four water tanks can be seen on the bluffs. They were the water supply for the mill’s fire suppression system and had a combined capacity of 62,000 gallons, filled by gravity from creek supply. July [...]
Railroad Log Dump on Big River. The log dump went into operation in 1901 and was last used in 1936. Logs that were brought in by the train were dumped into the water. The newly floating logs were contained by a log boom and were moved down the river to the mill. (Gift of Emery Escola) July 29, 1922 - Phil Gorman was killed [...]
August 14, 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM $5 members/$7 non-members Illustrators have long been a vibrant part of the Mendocino art community. The Kelley House is excited to interview several whose work in the ‘70s and ‘80s appears as part of the Cat Mother exhibit currently on display in the museum. Mervin Gilbert, author of the comic collection Life in the Northwest Nowhere will talk about [...]
A family gathering at Sadie Blosser's home in Oakland, California, for Lizzie Milliken's 80th birthday, 1937. (Gift of Catherine G. Blosser) Back row L - R: Eva (Milliken) Rice, Elmer Rice, Lizzie Milliken, Faith (Milliken) Henderson, Alden Rice, Arthur Rice, Inez (Milliken) Philbrick, John Avery Blosser. Front row: Ella Rice, Eva Lee Rice, Dorothy Blosser, Sadie (Milliken) Blosser, Helen, Beth (Milliken) Chambers. July 27, [...]
July 4th picnic celebration at Joshua Grindle Park, 1914. Note the wide planks of the platform. July 24, 1915 - The Mendocino Fire Department held a benefit dance on the open-air platform at Grindle Park, “the proceeds to be used for the purchase of fire fighting apparatus.” Fire Chief J. S. Chalmers was in charge of the arrangements. L. R. Gladden, superintendent of the [...]
After serving as curator at the Kelley House Museum for four years, and guiding it through the challenges of COVID, Karen McGrath has retired. Her tenure was marked by interesting projects and exciting technological advancements, and we shall miss her greatly. However, there is a silver lining: we have hired a new, young curator who could not be more perfect for the job. We welcomed Marguerite [...]
July 21, 1937 - Mae Bishop died at a hospital in Berkeley, just 5 days after her 20th birthday. Dr. Preston had recommended that her parents, Chet and Elizabeth Bishop, take her there when she became ill a few days before. “Despite good medical care, she did not improve and developed pneumonia. Already weakened, she did not have the strength to withstand this, and soon succumbed.” [...]
Photograph described on back, handwritten in ink as, "The Last Load, July 20, [19]13 some classy outfit. Comptche ranch 'on the ridge'." A wagon load of hay may be seen, being drawn by two draft horses. Two men stand by next to the wagon and horses. There is a mule (?) in the foreground. A man leaning on what is probably a pitch fork stands in [...]
Thomas Foster Rowe and Nancy Emeline Rowe. (Gus F. Rowe Family Collection, Kelley House Photographs) July 18, 1929 - Mrs. Nancy Rowe disappeared while picking blackberries near her home on Albion Ridge. The 75-year-old grandmother had started out with her berry pail shortly after lunch. A search party was formed that afternoon “when she failed to return to her home in a reasonable time [...]
Ice Cream Soda Fountain inside the Remedy Store, Mendocino. (Gift of Carl A. Moore) In 1928, Dr. Russell Preston, beloved Mendocino physician, purchased the town’s only pharmacy, Pioneer Drug Store, located in the building just to the east of here on Main Street. There had been a drug store in that location since 1877, operated by a series of druggists including R. H. Witherell, [...]