Making History Blog

A Contest of Wills

By |2023-01-18T11:04:14-08:00November 25, 2021|

The old MacCallum family of Mendocino included not just Alex and Daisy, but also their children, Donald and Jean. We don’t know a great deal about these two. Neither married.  A view of the south and east elevations of the MacCallum House from Albion Street, taken at about the time of Daisy Kelley MacCallum’s death. A flag pole in the front yard was erected in [...]

Mrs. Swanson and Two Water Towers, 1948

By |2023-01-18T11:11:35-08:00November 24, 2021|

Mrs. Swanson and Two Water Towers, 1948. (Gift of William Heick, William Heick Collection, Kelley House Photographs) A view of two water towers in Mendocino, looking north from Main Street. A wood plank fence occupies the space between two buildings. Mrs. Carl Swanson sits on a bench at the foot of the outside staircase of her home. The address of the building on the [...]

Dr. Preston’s Office Burglarized

By |2023-01-18T11:16:35-08:00November 23, 2021|

The Mendocino Bank of Commerce, later renamed the Bank of America, at the corner of Main and Kasten Streets in Mendocino. (Gift of Francis Jackson) November 23, 1927 - The medical office of Dr. Russell Preston, Mendocino’s beloved physician, was ransacked by burglars. The Beacon speculated that the crime was carried out “evidently by amateur cracksmen, as marks of a jimmy or screw driver [...]

Antone Carvalho and Maria Pacheco

By |2023-01-18T11:21:52-08:00November 22, 2021|

Wedding photograph of Maria Pacheco and husband, Antone Carvalho, 1896. (Aurelius Ormando Carpenter (photographer), Gift of Juanita Luis Craig, Juanita Luis Craig Collection, Kelley House Photographs) November 22, 1896 - Antone Carvalho and Miss Maria Pacheco were married at the Catholic Church by the Rev. Father H. K. White. Antone was born in the Azore Islands in 1864. He came to the United States [...]

Mitch Ortiz’s Customers

By |2023-01-18T11:30:24-08:00November 21, 2021|

Mitch Ortiz posing in his barbershop with his collection of photographs, c. 2008. (Gift of Mitch Ortiz, The Mitch Ortiz Collection, Kelley House Photographs) Mitch Ortiz owned the barbershop on the northeast corner of Lansing and Ukiah Streets from 1975 to 2009. He photographed all his customers and pinned the photographs on his wall. His collection, which is now housed at the Kelley House [...]

Fire Chief Foggy Gomes

By |2023-01-18T11:37:54-08:00November 20, 2021|

Mendocino Fire Department Chief, Eugene "Foggy" Gomes, 1990. (Kelley House Collection, Kelley House Photographs) November 20, 1956 - Mendocino Volunteer Fire Chief Foggy Gomes added another achievement to his credit, other than being “a mere fire chief.” The Fire Department’s Ladies Auxiliary declared him the Champion Pie Eater of the department. When the ladies gave their annual pie feed to the volunteer firefighters, Foggy [...]

Mendosa Water Tower on Main Street

By |2023-01-18T11:46:54-08:00November 19, 2021|

Reconstruction of the Mendosa Water Tower, 1976. The Deli Building, originally Homer’s Market and currently Flow Restaurant, is on the left. (Nicholas Wilson (photographer), Gift of Barry Cusick) In January 1976, the old water tower behind Mendosa’s general merchandise store was dismantled after it was found to be structurally unsafe. Barry Cusick, Jim Coupe, and Gus Costa salvaged what they could, transported the materials, [...]

Daisy MacCallum, A Mendocino Matriarch

By |2023-01-18T11:52:14-08:00November 18, 2021|

This is a detail of a rare interior view of the parlor in the Kelley House, circa 1890. Daisy Kelley MacCallum is sitting in a wicker chair with her husband Alex standing behind her, and her daughter Jean sitting at her feet. Her posture seems to indicate she is having some trouble with her spinal injury. (Margaret Kelley Campbell Collection, Kelley House Museum archives) [...]

A Kelley House Holiday Celebration

By |2023-01-18T11:59:59-08:00November 17, 2021|

December 4, 2021 Family fun with Santa and a toast to William Kelley’s 200th Birthday! VISIT SANTA 3:30-4:30 PM Bring your family and your holiday good cheer to snap a perfect picture standing next to Santa on our porch! Cookies and cider provided. Suggested donation: $5 HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE 5-7 PM After Santa leaves for the North Pole, join us as we toast the bicentennial birthday [...]

Barry Building – THEN and NOW

By |2023-01-18T12:07:29-08:00November 16, 2021|

Photograph taken in the mid-1960s by Dutch photographer Gerrit Nagtegaal of what is now the Headlands Inn, located at 44950 Albion Street in Mendocino, on the corner of Howard Street. (Gerrit Paul Nagtegaal (photographer), Gift of Bill Brazill) The Barry Building began as a barber shop on Main Street, on the lot just east of the Jarvis & Nichols store (today's Gallery Bookshop). In [...]

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