These two images, taken about 135 years apart, show the Justin Packard House on the northeast corner of Main Street and Evergreen Street in Mendocino. Justin E. Packard married Emma Zella Young in 1879, and O. B. Ackerman built this home for the Packard family in 1882. Justin was a jeweler and watchmaker who owned a Main Street shop with his brother Charles O. Packard, who [...]
Miles Paoli, born in Mendocino in 1906, was instrumental in bringing radio to the Mendocino Coast. As a young man, Miles was not drawn to school particularly. Miles’ parents, Raffaelo and Emelia, were hard working immigrants who had found opportunity in the logging industry. Later, the Paoli family purchased the hotel on Mendocino’s Ukiah Street, which had belonged to the Borgnas, and had been known as [...]
Mendocino Old Timers at Saint Anthony's Sunday Potluck, 1973. While the men were being photographed, they added up their ages and came up with 472 years of Mendocino living. They referred to themselves as "Redwood Stumps.” (Photographer: Beth Stebbins) L - R: Joe Lenhares, Herman Fayal, Ernest "Bear" Madeira, Miles Paoli, James O’Donnell, and Tony Lenhares. MENDOCINO WATER TOWERS TOTE BAG - Fifteen of Mendocino’s iconic [...]
August 20th-24th marks this year’s World Water Week, a non-profit conference held annually by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI). Since its inception in 1991, World Water Week has become the leading conference devoted to global water issues, featuring a variety of participating organizations, including the United Nations. Each year, the conference seeks to bring together a diverse array of people and professions to develop solutions [...]
Studio photograph of the Kenny - Boyle family, c. 1888.Seated in front, L to R: Thomas Kenny (step-father) and Mary Brien Boyle Kenny, mother of the children.Standing in back, L to R: Mary "Mayme", Charles "Charlie", Francis "Babe", Jennifer "Jennie", and Walter "Fred". (Gift of William and Marie Ferrill) August 21, 1911 - Mary Brien Boyle Kenny died at the age of 69. She [...]
Manuel Costa-Fayal and wife Carrie Correia-Silva (standing) with Antone Costa-Fayal and Maria Costa-Fayal (mother) seated. From the Annie Silveria Collection. This past week the Kelley House Archives received an exceptional donation from the Costa-Fayal family, the wedding dress of Carrie Costa. This dress consists of a skirt and detached bodice in pale blue with a decorative border of blue and gold sequins and beads, [...]
August 14, 1912 - A large crowd turned out to see the Columbia Park Boys Club perform at the Odd Fellows Hall on the northeast corner of Ukiah and Kasten Streets in Mendocino. This club was founded in San Francisco in December 1895 by Major Sidney S. Peixotto to help at-risk boys in the south of Market Street tenements expand their opportunities through education, theatre, music, [...]
August 11, 1913 - John Deromeri, a Mendocino Mill worker who lived in a cabin on Big River Flat, survived being run over by an automobile at the corner of Lansing and Main Streets. Cars were still a relatively new invention, and the Beacon reported that John had little use for autos. “He don’t like their looks, he don’t like their speed, and in fact he [...]
The wind-driven sawmill built and operated by William Heeser on Little Lake Road originally published July 2, 1992 One of the strangest windmills erected in the Mendocino area produced not one drop of water for a residence or a store building. It ran a sawmill. When William Heeser came to Mendocino from Napa County in 1857 to purchase for $6,000 some of the landholdings [...]
New! On the Kelley House YouTube Channel - An Afternoon with Barry Cusick & Mendocino Water Towers When the town of Mendocino was first established, water towers operating on the gravity system were the source of fresh water. To this day, water towers remain a signature part of the town's character. After arriving in Mendocino in the 1970s, Barry Cusick and a partner bought, for $1.00, [...]