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Thanks for visiting Historic Happenings! If you are not on the email list, and would like to be notified via email when a new posting of this newsletter is made, please email Terry Ommen at histerry@comcast.net. I will add you to the list. I will never share your email address with anyone without your permission.    NOTICE: You can now comment publicly and directly about topics on this blog. Just click on the "Comments" after the "Say What" portion and let your voice be heard!

Russ Dahler was Johnny-on-the-spot to get the last mystery spot. He was the first to correctly identify the prune house on South Bridge Street across from Washington School. Nice work, Russ. I believe the big "S" on the building stands for Sunsweet, a company heavily involved in the prune industry, at least many years ago.
 

OK, here are the clues for the next one. Where is this building?

1)  The building was built in 1908

2) This building is just a very short distance from the old Mooney House

3) The building once held a German language church.

4) It is near a street named after a nearby park.

Good luck.

An Early Look at Mooney Blvd.

It is not often we get to see very old photographs of people and places on what we now call Mooney Blvd. Laura Spalding, a member of the Kelly family, shared these two rare old photographs. They both show the ranch house of Greenberry Marion Kelly and his wife, Sara Jane. Their house shown here was located just south of Whitendale at Mooney Blvd. Thanks, Laura, for sharing. These pictures are probably circa 1895.

Miss Tulare County – Important Programs & Movies Surface

Recently Missy (Rider) Yavasile, Miss Tulare County for 1967, donated her almost complete collection of Miss Tulare County Pageant Programs to the history room at the Tulare County library. In addition to her being a former Miss Tulare County, Missy was also the manager of the pageant for many years. She not only donated the programs, she also provided a large collection of VHS videos of local historical pageants. The Miss Tulare County pageant has been a proud part of Visalia and Tulare County since about 1952 and Missy's generosity will benefit the researching public immensely. Shown here is an example of a pageant program from 1970.

J.J. Newberry Letter is Proudly Preserved

Back in the day (pre-1970), Visalia's downtown was packed with shops and stores—many of them chain stores like Sears,Woolworth's and J.J. Newberry's. Over time the chains left downtown. J. J. Newberry was on the southeast corner of Main and Locust and when the store left town, Ben Owens, foreman for builder Al Pearson, was in charge of the building remodel. Ben could not bear to dump the letters that spelled out J. J. Newberry, so he salvaged some of the letters and distributed them among his family. Ben's daughter, Carolyn Edwards got one and displays her prize keepsake "E" to this day. Made of metal, maybe brass, the letter has hung on the wall of every house Carolyn has lived in for the past 42 years. She is proud to have it and considers it a treasure.

More on the 1955 Flood

Recently Roger Maraist, retired Southern California Edison manager, shared a scrapbook that he had for the 1955 flood. It is labeled Visalia Flood December 1955 and is filled with newspaper clippings relating to the famous flood. Most of the material deals with the first of the two floods in 1955-56. The first flood in December was the result of heavy rain right before Christmas. The massive amount of water in such a short time was just too much for the banks of the channels around Visalia. The second flood was in January 1956, about a month later. It was caused by a huge log that blocked the flow of water in Mill Creek near what is now Court and Center. Thanks, Roger, for sharing this scrapbook with us.

Kate Wants to Level With Us

Kate Gibson Cates asked about the origin and purpose of the old ruler and level marked with Visalia Morning Delta on it. The Visalia Morning Delta and the Times merged in 1928 to create the Visalia Times Delta. That fact obviously makes this little advertising item pre-1928. I'm not sure why it was produced, but the explanation might be as simple as that it was a newspaper advertising promotional giveaway. Any other suggestions for Kate as to why this was made? Kate's family has deep roots in the Visalia newspaper business, so this little ruler/level is in the right home. Thanks for sharing Kate.

More Old Newspapers Surface

Old Visalia newspapers seem to be a worthwhile commodity. Several more have come in and of special interest is a complete 1859-1959 Golden Century Edition of the Visalia Times Delta. Dated June 25, 1959, this beautiful old newspaper is in remarkably good condition. As most of you know, Visalia had the oldest newspaper in the southern San Joaquin Valley, and as a result it is a absolutely wonderful source for historians. Thanks to the HH follower that provided this newspaper.

The Visalia Saddle Ropes 'Em in from Minnesota

Visalia had an interesting visitor a few weeks ago, all the way from Minnesota. R. Carl Moy is a law professor specializing in patent law. He has a great fascination with early saddles especially what is known as the Visalia Stock Saddle. The name Samstag is a name connected to Visalia and the saddle trade, also and Professor Moy is on the search for more information about him as well. So if you have any information on Samstag, please pass it along to me and I will get it to him. It was nice to spend some time with someone interested in another aspect of the history of our saddle—a saddle that helped put Visalia on the map!

***Pete Cowper asked about the history of the very tall antenna tower near Woodland and Walnut in Visalia. I heard from Lyman Treaster that it began as the tower for KTKC. Anyone have any other information to share about that tower? By the way, Lyman indicated that it was part of his job in the early days of that radio station to climb to the top of the tower and change light bulbs as they burned out. Yikes!

***In the mid 1960s Paul Spencer remembers as a young boy he and his friends would enter a rather rundown bar and card room on Main Street near what is now Links clothing store. It was great fun for the kids to watch the old men in the back room playing cards. Most of the time he didn’t stay long as he was chased out by management. He is curious as to what was the name of the place that he and his young friends visited. I have my idea, but I would like to hear your thoughts on the name of that particular cardroom/bar.

***For those who would like to know more about the devastating Visalia High School fire in 1912, you have an opportunity to read about it in an article in the December 2013 Lifestyle Magazine or you can read it in the magazine online at: http://issuu.com/lifestylemagazine/docs/lifestyle_dec_web

The story begins on page 18.

***Bruce Geiger recently asked about the Holt Block (north side of Main Street, west of Court). Fred S. Holt of the famous Holt family of Stockton (Caterpillar fame) built a large building on Main in 1886, and as a result the block became known as the Holt Block. I believe in the early 1930s much of the block was destroyed by a fire. Anyone have anymore information about the Holt Block?

***Once again the interesting little rooms with the numbers on the doors located in the courtyard area at the rear of the Palace Hotel building (Court and Main) have caught the eye of a curious passerby. These interesting little rooms were the bathrooms for hotel guests before in room bathrooms became vogue. By the way, the Palace Hotel is one of Visalia's centennial buildings, opening its doors for the first time in 1876.

People who drive a good, old and gentle team into town generally leave it standing unhitched. We saw one of these teams that never "runs" get scared the other day, and we can see no difference between an old trusty team and one that is young and not "trusty." The destruction was just as complete as if it had been a span of colts, wild and vicious.  Tulare Times, May 29, 1880.

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Thanks for visiting Historic Happenings! If you are not on the email list, and would like to be notified via email when a new posting of this newsletter is made, please email Terry Ommen at histerry@comcast.net. I will add you to the list. I will never share your email address with anyone without your permission.    NOTICE:           You can now comment publically and directly about topics on this blog. Just click on the "Comments" after the "Say What" portion and let your voice be heard!

Congratulations go out to George Pilling who correctly guessed the last mystery spot as the Tulare County Library, now the Children's Library portion. Nice work, George.

Okay, now for the next one. Here are your clues:

1) It once housed the California Prune and Apricot Grower's Association.

2) As a result some people called it the Prune House.

3) It is located on the first named street in Visalia.

4) It is a huge building.

Where is this building? Good luck.

Tipton-Lindsey School Appears on Dishes

Bruce Geiger shared that he had a couple of small dishes in his collection. They are old and marked: Grammar School, Visalia, California. Both of them show the Tipton-Lindsey School. It was built in 1891 on the site where the Tulare County Library is today. The dishes were produced by and marked

"Wheelock, Dresden Germany Made in German for S. Sweet & Co. Visalia, California." By the way, the school depicted on these dishes had nothing to do with towns of Tipton or Lindsay. This school was named after the prominent Visalia pioneer named Tipton Lindsey. The brick school apparently was poorly constructed and within a couple of decades after it was built, it was condemned. In 1920 it was torn down. Thanks for sharing these important treasurers, Bruce.

Centennial Edition—A Treasure Trove of History

On October 11, 1974, the Visalia Times Delta issued a Centennial Edition commemorating the city's centennial 1874-1974.  This historical newspaper celebrated Visalia's incorporation year of 1874. The newspaper was issued in 1974 and was a huge success with various historical sections highlighting Visalia's rich past. It is a keepsake edition and is an important memento from Visalia's past. It has played an important part in keeping Visalia's history alive. HH follower Gary Holder was kind enough to share his copy. This edition can still be found occasionally, but it's getting harder to find them. Thanks, Gary.

Lion's Club—Visalia Safety Patrol

Richard Drath is at it again. This time he found a Lion's Visalia Safety Patrol hat. As a young boy attending Houston School in the late 1950s, Richard wore this one and carried a stop sign on a pole and escorted other students across streets near the school. It was provided by the local Lion's Club where his father Ralph was a Lion and he was a well-known principal (Highland and Houston schools in Visalia.) Do elementary school children do crossing guard duty anywhere anymore? I doubt it.

Visalia Was in Heart of Four Creeks

Occasionally questions have come up about the term Four Creeks. In 1850 and the few years that followed, our area was called Four Creeks Country. It was a fertile delta region recognized by many and  Visalia would have been right in the middle of it. In 1853 the Williamson survey party came through here and documented their observations: "From the level of the arid and treeless plain bounded on the west by the equally barren mountains, we made a sudden descent of about ten feet to the bottom land of Four Creeks. Here the aspect of the landscape suddenly changed. Instead of the brown, parched surface of gravel, to which the eye is accustomed on the surrounding plains, we find the ground hidden from view by luxuriant growth of grass and the air fragrant with the perfume of flowers. The sound of flowing brooks and the notes of the wild birds greet the ear in strange contrast with the rattle produced by the hot wind as it sweeps over the dried weeds and gravel of the plain. The whole scene is overshadowed by groves of majestic oaks and the eye can wander down long avenues of trees until lost in the shadows of their foliage. This scene of natural beauty is the result of natural irrigation, the ground being abundantly watered by the Pi-piyunna [Kaweah] river, which supplies the water that forms the Four Creeks. In fact, a broad delta is here formed between the Tulare lake and the mountains, and the profuse vegetation may not only be referred to the presence of water, but to the fertility of the soil, which is alluvial and is frequently enriched by overflows of the creeks."

Sol Sweet—Early Visalia Aviator

HH follower Pat Willis suggested that I include something about Visalia pioneer aviator Sol Sweet. The Sweet family of course was well-known for their big department store in town, but Sol Sweet made a name for himself as a local aviator. He learned to fly in 1924 and in 1926 he bought his first airplane. A year later Sol Sweet and Eddie Deeds were flying from Porterville to Visalia when the plane developed mechanical problems. They were forced down on Putnam's Field, an area of open land near what is now Highways 198 and 99. The emergency landing site became the Visalia Municipal Airport. Sol Sweet is shown here on Sol Sweet Day at the Visalia Airport in 1988. The famous aviator is on the left with Bonnell Pryor on the right.

Amazing Historical Photographs Appearing at 210

On December 9^th starting at 7:00pm at the 210 Center at Locust and Center streets, there will be a historical photo program. The Visalia Times Delta has been receiving interesting photos over the last week or so submitted by people willing to share. The photos submitted are sure to be interesting, and it will be fun to display  and discuss them. It is a free program from 7:00-8:30pm, so come by and join in on the discussion of these historic pictures. Click on this brochure for additional details.

***Still no definitive answer about the statues at Mooney Grove Park and the possible connection between them and possible drownings in the pond. I'm sure the answer is out there somewhere, but it is going to take some more detective work. Did the drownings occur or are they urban legend?

***The 2014 historic calendars are finished? They have been provided this year by the Central Valley Community Bank, the financial institution that took over the project from Visalia Community Bank. The calendars will be distributed free of charge at the 210 Center on the evening of December 9^th at 7:00pm during the photo program. Come by and pick your up.

***In 1952 Visalia was rocked by the 7.7 Tehachapi earthquake. If you'd like to read more about its effect in Tehachapi and Visalia, go to the November 2013 Lifestyle Magazine starting on page 18. You can read it online at http://issuu.com/lifestylemagazine/docs/lifestyle_nov_web

Fashion is a tyrant whose commands most people obey. Nevertheless many of us know that woman is never so graceful, never so beautiful as when gowned so as to leave her body unconfined by braces, straps, strings and corsets.  Daily Visalia Delta, March 25, 1904