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Peter Cowper jumped all over the latest mystery spot and he did it in record time. He identified the correct building as the 210 Center on the northwest corner of Center and Locusts streets (Studebaker Corner.) Good work Peter. Actually, over 40 of you got this one.
Okay here we go with the next one. The clues are:1) The business in this building was known by the initials REA
2) The company that occupied this building shipped lots of freight
3) The front and back of this building have the same architectural features
4) If you add up the numbers in the street address it totals “9”
Good luck.
Tucked away in private collections are amazing pieces of Visalia memorabilia and history. Jim and Shirie Drath have been very generous in sharing their family’s collection of Visalia memorabilia. And now Richard Drath has shared with us his special finds. The blue or aqua bottle was a bottle made especially for the Visalia’s centennial celebration in 1974. It is embossed on one side with The End of the Trail statue and on the other side it has the embossed 1974 centennial celebration information. By the way, 1974 was the 100th anniversary of Visalia’s incorporation. It is a handmade bottle, very limited edition, made by the South Jersey Glass Company, actually called the Clevenger Bros Glass Works out of Clayton, New Jersey. This bottle is a beauty. The other item Richard shared is a tin container full of Visalia Pride Olive Oil. This unopened tin was packed by Superior Olive Products Co. in Visalia. Looks to me like it is from the 1940s. Thanks Richard for your generosity. 
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Kelly Curran asked about pictures and some history of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. So here goes. Episcopal missionaries probably visited Visalia in the mid 1870s, but according to Royal W. Corson, Jr. who wrote “A History of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church” in 1962, the missionary efforts “bore little fruit.” He recorded that the first regular Episcopal service in Visalia was held on Tuesday, June 29, 1879, and 20 people attend
ed the service. The congregation continued meeting at different locations, but the first church building was completed in 1894 and is shown in here a linoleum cut by Alice Rouleau in Corson’s book. The second photograph is the second St. Paul’s Church located at Center and Encina built in 1898. Hope this helps and thanks for asking Kelly.
ed the service. The congregation continued meeting at different locations, but the first church building was completed in 1894 and is shown in here a linoleum cut by Alice Rouleau in Corson’s book. The second photograph is the second St. Paul’s Church located at Center and Encina built in 1898. Hope this helps and thanks for asking Kelly.
Joseph Vicenti has joined the Visalia Hospital conversation. He shared a copy of the Visalia Municipal Hospital Patient Handbook. It was prepared probably in the 1950s by the Visalia Municipal Hospital Guild, a group of volunteers that continues to do great things for the hospital today. The booklet explains that the Visalia Municipal Hospital was organized in October 1936 with the original building providing 32 patient beds. When this booklet was published (probably in the 1950s) there were 68 beds with 134 full and part time hospital employees on the payroll. The booklet explains that the Visalia City Council also served as the Hospital Board of Trustees. Oh yes, the handbook reminds the patients and visitors via a cartoon, that no smoking is permitted in the rooms. Rules, rules, rules, always rules!
Merrill Hinds—A Visalia Chippie
Barbara Hinds Joseph has been sharing information with me about her father Merrill Hinds. Merrill lived with his family in Visalia at 913 W Noble Ave. He was on the California Highway Patrol from 1935 to 1964 and much of that time as a motorcycle traffic officer. He worked out of the Visalia office until 1954 when he transferred to Santa Cruz. While he worked in Visalia as a traffic officer, he also worked with Wayne Wilson at Wilson Cyclery, as a second job. Merrill loved motorcycles. The first photo shows Merrill standing by his motorcycle 
with his daughter Marilyn in front and Barbara sharing the seat in the back. The house in the background was across the street from the family home—a house that no longer stands as it was taken out when the 198 freeway was put through. The second photo is Merrill in March 1962 at Santa Cruz, shortly before retirement. Barbara, thanks for sharing some of your family photos and history. 
The Literacy Center here in Visalia has something special in store for us. Based on, at least in part, the historic record of the 1862 Visalia flood, the Literacy Center is planning on presenting a very entertaining and historical walking tour. Here is what they have in store: In 1862, Mary Brown, her two-week old daughter, her sister Charlotte Dineley and her three-week old daughter floated around Charlotte’s back yard on a carpenter’s bench. This was not a play date for the children. The mothers and babies were waiting for rescue from the rising flood waters of what is the worst flood in California history. Learn what happened to the sisters and their daughters at the Practically Preposterous Walking Tour sponsored by the Tulare County Library Literacy Center on September 23rd. 3 hour-long sessions are scheduled, one each at 4pm, 5pm and 6pm. Six stops will be made in the old Visalia downtown area with volunteers acting the parts of Visalians affected by the flood. The tour is a fundraiser for the Read to Succeed Literacy program. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at the Literacy Center, 417 N. Locust Street, Visalia until September 16. No tickets will be sold at the event. For further information, call 713-2745.
*** Dana Lubich has been documenting the transformation of the Mearle’s building into The Habit. He has taken hundreds of photographs and video clips and is in the process of deciding how to present the story. What a nice contribution to Visalia history and the story of the Mearle’s building Dana. Thanks. I know whatever you do will be very professional.
***Bob Miller, a HH follower, told me that years ago about noon a whistle in Visalia would blow. He said the whistle was so loud that on some days it could be heard all the way to Mooney Grove Park. Does anyone else remember it? Was it a siren or just a long blast on a whistle? I’d like to know more about that if you have more information. When did this whistle blowing stop?
** *Bob Miller also remembers what he called the 1961 Halloween Bash. According to him there were at least 10,000 kids on Main Street on Halloween and there were an abundance of eggs and water balloons. I can see where this is going! Anyone remember this? By the way unless there was a murder involved, the statue of limitations has expired, so you can come clean. What was so special about that particular year or were all the Halloweens events in the ‘60s that rambunctious?
*** Carole Mathewson who grew up in Visalia has a question. She recalls as a young girl in the mid to late 1940s seeing an old man with a long white beard with a horse and buggy. She recalls seeing him as she sat on the benches by the library. He would go down Locust Street in the buggy and he would tie up his rig behind the old Purity Store on the northeast corner of Locust and Center. By the way, in the 1940s horses and buggies as a means of transportation were very unusual in Visalia. Any ideas as to who this bearded gentleman was or what he was doing?
In Spanishtown, Monday night, Wm. Cochran, while under the influence of liquor, drew his revolver, commenced shooting promiscuously, and was finally arrested by the City Marshal. In the melee he drew a knife and cut the hand of Sheriff Wells in two or three places. On Tuesday he was tried before Justice Johnson and fined in the sum of $41.Visalia Weekly Delta, April 7, 1882
