This week we celebrate the bicentennial of William Henry Kelley’s birth. And who is this W. H. Kelley? That is a question many people visiting the Kelley House Museum want answered when they walk through the door. He was a remarkable man, and his tale is worth telling. William Henry Kelley in 1865, thirteen years after arriving in Mendocino. He spelled his family name "Kelly" [...]
Waterbury mantle clock, c. 1900. Owned by the Mendocino Lumber Company and subsequently owned by the Paoli family. Inscribed "Waterbury Clock Co.; Waterbury, Conn. USA." Currently on display in the Kelley House Museum. (Gift of Hazel Paoli) November 3, 1913 - Clocks at the mill were set ahead 20 minutes. This practice was carried out annually during the early days to allow employees a [...]
Buildings along Lansing Street between Albion and Ukiah Streets, Mendocino, looking northeast, c. 1912-1923. This photo was likely taken from the water tower at the Kelley House. The barn-like building on the left, on the northwest corner of Lansing and Albion Streets, is the livery stable first built by William H. Kelley, later owned by Switzer & Boyd, and then by Boyd & Daniels until it [...]
The Mendocino High School football team of 1930 posing on the field at the high school. Front row L - R: Tyrell Cox, Leslie Amundsen, Runar Stolpe, Burney Sjolund, Harold Hee, Ken Maxwell, Conrad Christianson. Back row: Trigger Martin, Leo Richardson, Ray Sjolund, Jesse Paoli. Standing L - R: Evald Burbeck, Hiriam Day Feary, Angus Russell. (Gift of Rene Borgna Tanner, The Rene Borgna Tanner [...]
October 31, 1948 - The old water tank at the Ford House crashed to the ground with a roar that could be heard for many blocks. The tank and tower had recently been inspected for safety, and the cause of the collapse was unknown. Photograph of the west and south sides Ford House and its water tower in Mendocino, California, looking northeast, 1929-1938. A fenced [...]
Portrait of Lauriston Avery Morgan, undated. (Kelley House Collection, Kelley House Photographs) October 30, 1899 - Lauriston Avery Morgan died at his home in Mendocino, following a long illness. He was born in Connecticut in 1846, and came to California with his parents in 1852. The family lived in Sacramento and San Francisco before settling in Noyo in 1862. As a young adult, Morgan [...]
West end of Main Street in Mendocino looking northwest, c. 1868. A group of men gather in front of William Kelley's General Store and the Coffee Saloon. Tank Alley is the space between these two buildings. The large water tank house behind the buildings was accessed through Tank Alley. J. D. Murray's Drug Store is on the left. The buildings on this block of Main [...]
The Kelley House may be one of the jewels in Mendocino’s quaint Victorian crown, but it took a lot of work over almost fifty years by many generous people to make it look this good. When Beth Stebbins and Dorothy Bear first clapped eyes on it in 1969, it was dilapidated and, in Stebbins’ words, “very unprepossessing.” A rental property since pioneer Eliza Owen Kelley followed [...]
J. A. Chambers Wagon and Blacksmith Shop on Lansing Street, between Albion and Ukiah Streets, in Mendocino, c. early 1900s. A large horseshoe hangs over the front door. This location became the Mendocino Volunteer Fire House. Standing in front: L - R: Rayford Andrews, John Chambers and Matthew Dunn. The two-story building in the background is the Barry-Wilson-Switzer-Strauss House, moved to this location in 1893. [...]
Mendocino High School, 1900-1920. (Perley Maxwell (photographer), Gift of Emery Escola, Emery Escola Collection, Kelley House Photographs) October 26, 1893 - The steamer Point Arena delivered 10,000 bricks for the foundation of the first Mendocino High School. 20,000 additional bricks were expected to arrive soon. Work had begun just that week on the 4.5-acre hilltop parcel donated by William Heeser for the high school. [...]