April 1, 1878 - William Osborne, the cook at the mill cookhouse on Big River Flat, celebrated April Fool’s Day by playing a practical joke on the Mendocino Mill workers. The Beacon reported that, “When they were seated at dinner about the time to partake of dessert, they all went for some nice looking pies that were placed before them. One young man, having a weakness [...]
These two photographs, taken almost a century apart, look northeast from just west of the intersection of Little Lake and Williams Streets in Mendocino. The front and west sides of the Gordon-Mendosa House, located at 45300 Little Lake Street, can be seen on the left sides of both photos. (More about the buildings on the right sides of the photos below.) This lot was vacant in [...]
March 25, 1845 - S. J. “Jesse” Chalfant was born in Maryland, the son of well-known carpenter and builder William Chalfant and Elizabeth (Edwards) Chalfant. When Jesse was just 19 years old, he set out for California to join his older brothers, John and Aaron, who had settled on the Mendocino Coast in the 1850s. Jesse’s early years in California were spent in the lumber industry, [...]
The Kelley House Museum recently opened a new exhibit—Nathaniel Smith: Mendocino’s First African American Resident. It was made possible by a grant from California Humanities to the museum, which funded research by Alexander Wood. The following is an excerpt from Wood’s report on the Smith family. Nathaniel Smith married Julia (or Julie) around 1890. Julia and both of her parents were born in California. She was [...]
Nannie Escola, c. 1970. Courtesy of the Kelley House Museum. When the Kelley House Museum was founded 50 years ago, retired teacher Nannie Escola was a self-styled historian who became part of the organization. Directors Dorothy Bear and Beth Stebbins found her a valuable fount of knowledge about Mendocino. Her reputation preceded her: people had been getting answers to their questions from Nannie for [...]
March 12, 1921 - The Big River Justice Court held a trial between the Mendocino Foresters Lodge and the local chapter of the Portuguese ladies’ organization, U. P. P. E. C. The dispute was over possession of a desk and table, valued at less than $10. The trial attracted significant attention from the community, with the courtroom filled to capacity as spectators gathered to witness the [...]
March 10, 1895 - William McLean was found collapsed in front of Gus Semmler’s Saloon near the western end of Main Street about 7 am. William had been stabbed three times and died shortly afterwards, without naming his killer. Mendocino's Main Street looking westward, c. 1905-1908. On the north side, edged by a long boardwalk, are commercial buildings. The large two-story building with an enormous [...]
March 5, 1955 - Rotary dial telephone service arrived in Mendocino. Although local phone service had been established between a few businesses in 1878, and new telephone lines connected Mendocino to the outside world in 1897, the Mendocino switchboard still required human operators to connect calls until 1955. Following the switch to dial phones, operators still handled long distance calls, answered phone number lookups, took repair [...]
March 3, 1930 - Mendocino School District voters approved a school bond of $18,500 to cover the cost of constructing a new grammar school on the northeast corner of School and Pine Streets. The first grammar school building on this property, built in 1885, had burned down just three months earlier. The vote required a two-thirds majority. There was little opposition, and the final vote was [...]
Nannie Escola was a beloved school teacher in the community who was one of the local founding historians aiding the Kelley House Museum when it was created 50 years ago. The woman loved to read the Mendocino Beacon, then excerpt and index topics she was interested in. One of the topics she loved was railroads, and here are some of her tidbits from 10/6/1877 to 12/10/1938. [...]