Mendocino is a wooden place. No surprise there, since the town’s economy was founded on trees. The lumber mill provided plentiful building supplies for homes, stores and sidewalks. Kasten Street at Albion Street in Mendocino, c. 1912. The Bank House (now Trillium restaurant) is on the left, surrounded by a white picket fence. A Jarvis & Nichols storage barn is on the right, constructed in 1904 [...]
Lost Buildings of the Mendocino Headlands - The City Meat Market (left) and the Mendocino Lumber Company Office (right) on the south side of Main Street, in 1957. The inspiration for the latest exhibit at the Kelley House Museum, South of Main, came from a question we so frequently hear – what used to be there? The THERE refers to the south side of downtown Mendocino’s [...]
Meat Market on the South side of Main Street, 1957. Originally built in 1874, the structure always housed a meat market on its ground floor. It was one of just a few of the many Company buildings still standing when it was torn down in the summer of 1960 by its owner, the Union Lumber Company. SOUTH of MAIN – Discovering the Lost Buildings of the [...]
What do all of the 80 people listed below have in common? Cammie Conlon Ramelle Irish Dorothy Bear Elinor Hayes Wally Smith Daniel Taylor Anne B Campbell Dee Stenbeck Lemos Charles Meigs Bush Wilma Tucker Patricia Patty Madigan Earlene Jankowicz Jean Spencer Felton Jone Lemos Jackson Pat Turner Eva Welles Priya Davis Eleanor Sverko Louis Hough Steven Jordan Joy Shaw Martin Simpson Katie Mimms Carolyn (CJ) [...]
Steve Jordan (left) and Emery Escola (center) with students Kahlil Robinson, Jonathan Matlin, and Matt Stephens in 2000. In was almost 20 years ago that students of Ryan Olson Day’s Options Class at the Mendocino Middle School created an oral history project with the help of Steve Jordan and a grant obtained by Deena Zarlin. They made audio recordings of their interviews with 12 “Old Timers,” [...]
Kewpie dolls were used to promote many things in the 1920s, from Jell-O to women’s suffrage. Let me introduce Pauline. She is remarkably well preserved for her age. And unlike many of us older folks, everything still pretty much works. Her large blue eyes, shiny as glass, look straight ahead and are framed by arched brows and delicate lashes. The skin on her arms and legs [...]
We’ve lined up 12 straight days of walking tours from Dec. 21st though Jan 1st so you and your friends will have ample opportunity to join our expert docents at the Kelley House for a stroll through the downtown historic district. Once you’ve learned more about the unique history of this place, your perceptions will forever be changed. Visitors and residents alike will appreciate the informational [...]
Saturday December 14 with other local merchants to create a welcoming Second Saturday candlelit shopping experience in downtown Mendo. Come by the Kelley House between 5:00 and 7:00 and warm up with a drink! It’s a relaxing way to mingle with other lovers of fine Scotch, while supporting a worthy organization. Sarah Nathe will be pouring flights of five single-malt scotches. $25 per person. There will [...]
An Eclectic History of Mendocino County Local author Katy Tahja has just published her latest book, “An Eclectic History of Mendocino County.” Copies are flying off the shelves at bookstores, but we will have gift-wrapped copies signed by the author available to purchase here at Kelley House. During this casual one-hour presentation, Katy will entertain us with a trivia quiz covering fascinating topics in our county’s [...]
Fedora "Cookie" Urbani, age 10, playing her clarinet at Christmas in 1940. (Kelley House Museum – Fedora “Cookie” Holmes Collection) There’s a lot going on at the Kelley House Museum! Dolls! Our Holiday Exhibit is now up, and among the antique toys we pulled from the archives you’ll find three dolls that Daisy Kelley MacCallum used to played with, right here in her childhood home on [...]