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 [...]
1975 West Main Street in Mendocino, 1975. View looking west along the north side of Mendocino's Main Street in 1975. The farthest building on the left is the old Neto Hotel Barbershop, which in 1975 was occupied by Victorian Vignettes, a photographic studio. Next is the Zacha Building, built in 1965, then the old Lemos Saloon/Store that housed at this time a store called [...]
Studio portrait of Hazel Packard Dennison with parrot toy, c. 1900. Born April 5, 1897, Hazel was the daughter of Charles Oscar and Hannah Cline Packard of Mendocino. (Gift of Hazel Packard Dennison) A little girl in a wicker chair holds a parrot. She is gazing down at the toy and dressed in a white, ruffled gown. Meet Hazel Packard Dennison, born on this [...]
Studio portrait of Mollie Norton, her father William Norton who owned Norton’s Hotel on Main Street, and their dog, Prince, c. 1882. (Gift of Evelyn Larkin) April 4, 1890 - A very interesting and instructive debate took place in Professor W. H. Greenwell’s department of the public school on the question of whether women should be allowed to vote. The Beacon reported on the [...]
Thomas Foster Rowe and Nancy Emeline Rowe. (Gus F. Rowe Family Collection, Kelley House Photographs) April 2, 1929 - Thomas Foster Rowe died at his home near Albion at the age of 91. His passing “takes from the community a beloved neighbor, a loyal citizen and a real pioneer, whose characteristics of industry and integrity were widely known and deserved the utmost respect.” Born [...]
Chalfant Family in Cloverdale. L - R: Alice Porterfield, Mrs. Susan Chalfant, John Chalfant, and Helen Porterfield in front of the Chalfant home at Cloverdale, CA in 1900. April 1, 1905 - The Beacon reported the death of Mendocino pioneer John E. Chalfant at his home in Cloverdale. His health had been failing for some time, and death was not unexpected. John was born [...]
Mendocino Lumber Company engine, Climax, pulling loaded cars at Big River. Woods boss, Ed Boyle, standing on the engine at the far left. (The William Ferrill Collection, Kelley House Photographs) March 30, 1921 - The Mendocino Lumber Company’s locomotive “Climax” fell into Big River, landing in 6 feet of water. The engine had been in the machine shop at the mill for weeks undergoing [...]
Caspar Lumber Company General Store, c. 1900. Left to right: Archie Bailey, C.J. Wood, Walter Higgins. The other men are unidentified. The sign “German American Ins. Co.” was for the German American Insurance Company, founded in 1872. In 1918, when World War I created a wave of anti-German feeling in the United States, the company changed its name to the Great American Insurance Company. (Gift [...]