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 Stolte Grove outdoor concert, September, 1978. |
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For a complete index of articles about the History of Homestead Valley, click here.  Bill Brown - December, 2002 Brown's Hall on Miller Avenue was named for Bill Brown who had loaned the Homestead Progressive Club $2000 for the hall's construction in 1934. The loan came with the proviso that Mr. Brown would receive 7 percent interest as long as he lived. He died in 1946 at age 83. No known relatives survived him. Brown's Hall was Homestead's center of community activities for almost four decades until 1972 when the present community center was purchased next to Homestead School. Bill Brown had made a significant contribution to the community. Who was he? What else was he famous for? John W. "Bill" Brown was born in Chicago on May 2, 1863. When he was ten years old, he went to Montana with his parents in a covered wagon. As a young man he lived in Salt Lake City. In 1893 he attended the World's Fair in Chicago. Shortly thereafter, he brought his mother and his sister to Marin. In the early 1890's, Mill Valley had become a summer vacation resort for San Franciscans. The first train had arrived there on October 13, 1889 when there were fewer than ten homes scattered across all of today's Mill Valley. On May 31, 1890 the Tamalpais Land & Water Co. auctioned off more than 200 lots. Several purchasers established camps on their property. During the next few years as homes were built on the camp sites and as year-round residents became established, destinations such as Willow Camp (Stinson Beach) became attractive to San Franciscans seeking summer vacation spots. Bill Brown, his sister and his mother established a resort at Willow Camp providing tents and food for campers. In 1905, the first Dipsea race was held. It started in Mill Valley and ended At the Dipsea Inn situated on the sand spit [Seadrift], not far from the Brown's resort. Shortly thereafter, the Brown's sold the resort and moved to Homestead. Bill built a house on Montford near Miller. The 1910 census lists him as a merchant and his sister Dolly a saleslady, both in the retail grocery business. His mother Lucinda lived with them. Bill Brown later opened a saloon known as The Brown Jug on the corner of Miller and Montford. Prohibition caused its closure in 1921. It reopened in 1933 with the same name, but became the 2 A.M. Club in about 1940. Back to index Four Firsts - November, 2002 The first edition of the Homestead Headlines, Vol. 1, No. 1, appeared in December 1954. The sub heading was "The Voice of the Homestead Valley Improvement Club." Its admonition reads, "SAVE THIS RARE FIRST EDITION - You may not be this lucky again to hold in your hands what may someday become a rare valuable first edition. Rare or not, HOMESTEAD HEADLINES is dedicated to keeping Homesteaders in touch with the important news about our Homestead service organizations and their projects." The issue announced a children's Christmas party at Brown's Hall, the appointment of a planning committee and the installation of a mail slot in Brown's Hall. Eucalyptus trees were first planted near the west end of Montford and LaVerne by Alexander G. Eells, a San Francisco lawyer. In 1904 he bought eight acres there. On January 1, 1906 he wrote in his diary that he had set out 60 eucalyptus trees all along Montford and LaVerne - he hoped they would form a hedge or screen. On January 28, 1906 he wrote that he had stopped at Cox's on the way to the Sausalito ferry and bought 150 eucalyptus seedlings for $2.50. On March 18, 1906 he wrote that he and his brother had each brought over 50 eucalyptus trees. Homestead's first post office is named LaVerne according to a front page article in the February 5, 1909 issue of the Mill Valley Record-Enterprise. "Miss Florence Ezekial receives the commission as postmistress. The name chosen by the people of Homestead for their new post office is particularly appropriate, it's French meaning is 'the green.' [Note: le Petit Larousse shows La Verne as meaning 'the alder tree' - ed.] Miss Ezekial is the daughter of a well-known furrier in San Francisco who has lived in Homestead Valley for a number of years. Last night, Homestead Valley became a thing of the past and the new town of LaVerne sprang into existence." The first Medieval Feast in Homestead was held on December 18, 1977. Forty gaily costumed residents met at the Wuthenows home on Melrose at 3 PM for a "jolly hour" of mead, wassail and aphrodisiacs. This was followed by a procession to the Community Center for the feast: cock-a-leekie soup, crabbe, suckling pig, vegetables, and pears, all served by local wenches. Trumpet fanfares announced each course. This put everyone in a great mood for that evening's Homestead Candlelight Concert at the Outdoor Art Club. The San Francisco Pro Musica played ancient music on ancient instruments. Such feasts were an annual event during the next five years. Back to index Sewer - October, 2002 On October 5, 1948, civil engineer J. C. Oglesby reported to the Homestead Valley Sanitary District (HVSD) that he was not yet ready to approve completion of the sewer pipeline being installed along the floor of the valley. The contractor had not finished. This was the latest chapter in a saga involving several years of planning for the collection of Homestead Valley's sewage. HVSD's board had grappled with such problems as rallying community support, approving a bond issue, engineering the pipeline, obtaining easements, fending off the county's Health Dept. and squabbling with Mill Valley about what to pay for connecting to their sewage plant. Finally, on October 16, 1948 at a special meeting of the HVSD board at Louis Wasserman's home on Reed, Oglesby's letter of acceptance of the pipeline was approved. That action was the start of a decades-long program to hook up Homestead Valley homes to a sewer system and develop the pipeline network. Many homeowners asked to be annexed to Homestead Valley in order to connect their homes to the HVSD sewer system. What happened to Homestead's wastewater before 1948? At first, most homes had a privy (outhouse.) Until recently, one could see the remains of an old privy on the edge of the creek behind the blue house on the corner of Melrose and LaVerne. It probably wasn't originally so close to the creek, whose banks have been severely eroded. When the blue house was demolished, the privy disappeared - evidently it was not designated as an historic building. Cesspools, leach fields and septic tanks were common. Alexander Eells' House near Three Groves originally had a privy, but in 1907 he installed Indoor plumbing and dug a cesspool seven feet in diameter and six feet deep. At John Bone's place on Evergreen at Hawthorne, recent excavation unearthed a pipe running from the kitchen to an obvious location for a leach field. The James Brogan house on Janes at Molino depended on a leach field until 1963. The Peggy Adams house on Edgewood got along with a septic tank until 1985. In some cases, such as in Camp Tamalpais, several homes tied in to one pipeline running to a large septic tank. Several of these networks were ultimately connected to the HVSD main line. Back to index Water - September, 2002 Rain falls on Mt. Tamalpais and runoff flows into reservoirs. The Marin Municipal Water District (MMWD) treats the water chemically and pumps it through its pipeline network to Homestead Valley homes. After use, most of it goes down the drain as sewage. The Homestead Valley Sanitary District (HVSD) sends the sewage through its pipeline network to a treatment plant operated by the Sewerage Agency of Southern Marin (SASM). Thus, the rain used by Homesteaders ends up in the bay slightly contaminated. Early residents of Homestead Valley didn't have such services. No MMWD, no HVSD and no SASM. Until 1905, water supply was local. Three examples: 1. John Bone's house on the corner of Hawthorne and Evergreen was in the flat part of the valley where the water table is close to the surface in the Spring and only about ten feet down in the Fall. He had a brick-lined hand-dug well which survived the 1906 earthquake - nearby wells collapsed. 2. Fred Stolte's cabin was on a hillside at the end of Montford. He tapped a spring at the top of his property near Ridgewood where he installed a wooden tank. A pipeline ran down the hill to his cabin and a concrete tank, which was the water supply for the house across the street in Three Groves. 3. Alexander Eells' house was on 8 acres between LaVerne and Montford below Three Groves. In 1904, he paid $661 in US gold coin for a 1.44-acre parcel across LaVerne so he could obtain water from a spring up the hill. The deed gave him the right to run two pipelines under the road to his house. He built dams on Reed Creek to provide irrigation water for his farm. In 1905, residents in the area bounded by Reed, LaVerne, Melrose, and Montford accepted an offer by the North Coast Water Co. to supply them with water from Mill Valley. In 1904, an eight-inch, wrought iron pipe had been laid from Fern Creek on Mt. Tam to the Belvedere reservoir at Edgewood and Sequoia Valley Road. From there, a pipeline went to Belvedere and Tiburon. In 1910, a small tank was installed below Cowboy Rock to hold Belvedere reservoir water for supplying Camp Tamalpais. By 1913, a larger tank near Edgewood and Marion was installed to supply Belvedere reservoir water to Upper Homestead Valley. Although MMWD was formed in 1912 to supply water throughout southern Marin, many residents of Homestead Valley did not obtain MMWD water until the 1920's. The fascinating history of sewage disposal will be covered next month. Back to index Housing Co-operative - August, 2002 The following notice appeared in the July/August 1971 Homestead Headlines: "If an alternative life style housing co-operative interests you, phone one of these three numbers: (3 numbers were listed). 12 acres are available to 12 families for building a community. You build your own home and help build community facilities, such as a sauna, organic food garden, barn; very much thought will go into the eco-system. Time is of the essence. The property is at the edge of Homestead Valley, and the offer won't hold long." Thus began the Housing Cooperative: twelve families with a vision of living lightly on the land, reducing consumption of resources, and creating an interdependent community. The land would be owned in common, each family would live in a separate house, and a central lodge would provide for such functions as laundry, cooking and dining. There would be a workshop with jointly owned tools, a central garage with community-owned cars, a co-op nursery school and a community garden. Work parties would preserve food from the garden as well as food bought in bulk. Community meals would be prepared by different families taking turns. Gray water would be used for the garden and the toilets. Parking would be along the main road and in the central garage. Foot paths would lead to the houses. The land was purchased in 1972.Two architects in the group drew up plans for the lodge. The group chose the name Amaranth, an imaginary undying flower (amaranth is also a grain). The Amaranth Cooperative project was underway, but things didn't work out exactly as envisioned. Costs escalated. The lodge became unaffordable. MMWD had problems with the gray water system. Banks would not finance a co-operative. Amaranth Co-operative evolved to become Amaranth, Inc. Project plans for 12 conventional homes were presented to the County Planning Commission in 1973. The first family moved in on New Year's Eve 1975. Several housing cooperative concepts survived the evolution. Although there is no central lodge, homeowners share maintenance responsibility for the jointly-owned portion of the 12-acre parcel. None of the homes has a garage. There are two parking lots on Amaranth Blvd. One of the houses is accessible only by footpath. Other footpaths lead to Homestead Open Space and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Views are spectacular. Amaranth, the imaginary undying flower, lives on. Back to index Six Firsts - July, 2002 Homestead's first school opened in January 1908. On Sunday June 16, 1907, Alexander G. Eels, Franklin B. Worley, and William C. Mahoney, the architect, staked off the site for the new schoolhouse. On July 15, 1947, the Homestead Progressive Club approved the first uniform house numbering system. It called for use of 0 to 100 in the first block on Montford, Evergreen and Reed between Miller and Ethel; each successive block was assigned a subsequent 100 series. Numbers were assigned to each 25 feet of frontage - owners were given some choice. Even numbers were on the right. January 1, 1948 was the first day of city mail delivery for Alto, Almonte, Homestead, Tamalpais Valley and Marin Heights. No more RFD (Rural Free Delivery). The Post Office Department would henceforth consider these communities as part of Mill Valley. All mail had to carry a street and house number. Mill Valley's first fast food appeared in 1954 when Caesar Taverna opened C's Drive-In on Miller below Reed, which is in Homestead. Hamburgers cost 19 cents. Tam High students hung out there. On Saturday nights, hot rods filled the parking lot. In 1970, when Jack-in-the-Box opened on the next block up Miller, Taverna's business declined. In 1971 he sold out to Pete Harmon of Utah who replaced C's Drive-In with a Kentucky Fried Chicken. In the 1950's, the Homestead Chorus rehearsed and gave concerts in Brown's Hall. Words to the first rendition of The Whiffenpoof Song with lyrics by Biz Kibbee (on Montford) were: "To the tables down at Brown's Hall, Where of potluck we partake, With the dear donated wines we love so well ... We are poor little sheep, From the Two Ay Em, Baa, baa, baa." The first page of Cyra McFadden's 1977 best seller, "The Serial - a Year in the Life of Marin County." included the following: "...they too belonged to the ACLU and the Sierra Club and went to the Mozart festival at Stolte Grove every year with the picnic of the month from Sunset in a Cost Plus hamper..." Each of the 52 chapters had previously appeared as installments in the Pacific Sun. In 1980, Paramount made a movie entitled "Serial" based on the book - the screen play neglected to mention the Mozart festival at Stolte Grove. Back to index Quonsets Annexed - June, 2002 The main entrances from Miller to Homestead Valley are Montford, Evergreen and Reed. The business establishments on Miller between Montford and Reed used to be in Homestead Valley. Today they are in Mill Valley. What happened? When? How? Why? The grand opening of the Miller Avenue Shopping Center on the corner of Miller and Evergreen was 9 AM Friday April 18, 1947. Louis Ferrera was the developer. He drained the swamp and filled it, poured a concrete pad and erected interconnected quonset huts. The Shopping Center included his Grocery and Vegetable Departments, Gosser's Meat Department, Doris Baby Shop, Dorothy's Beauty Salon, and the G&G Company: a pharmacy, beauty bar, fountain, camera shop and liquor store. Frank Gelardi and Joe Gaidano were Messrs. G&G. This was one of the largest shopping centers in California at that time. Today it is Whole Foods. Long time Homestead residents refer to it as "The Quonsets." Two days before the opening, at the Mill Valley City Council meeting, council man Harrison Leppo suggested looking into annexing the property on the south side of Miller from Montford to Reed. Mayor Charles Sloan responded that he had been working on this for 2 or 3 months. The April 25, 1947 headline in the Mill Valley Record was, "Miller Avenue Annexation Meets Opposition from Homestead - Meeting Monday to Discuss Proposal." The answer to the "why" question is obvious: Mill Valley wanted the sales tax revenue from the shopping center. As for the "how" question, annexation of 23 commercial lots and 3 residential lots met all the requirements of the "Annexation of Uninhabited Territory Act of 1939." On January 19, 1951, the California Secretary of State certified Ordinance No. 380 of the City of Mill Valley setting forth approval of the annexation of certain uninhabited territory designated as "Miller Avenue Homestead Annexation." As a result, Brown's Hall, Homestead's community center, became a building in the city of Mill Valley. Several Homestead residents had urged Louis Ferrera and his tenants to oppose the annexation, but to no avail. Homestead Valley residents must have been shocked when told that Brown's Hall, the 2AM Club and the Miller Avenue Shopping Center were all located on "Uninhabited Territory." Back to index Earthquake Refugees - May, 2002 Ninety-six years ago, the earthquake of April 18, 1906 and the subsequent fire left many San Franciscans homeless. Some sought refuge in Homestead Valley. Lillian Ferguson moved to her secondary residence at Three Groves. Fred Stolte moved to his weekend cabin across the street. Alexander Eells moved with his wife and 2 daughters to their farm (now at 424 LaVerne). Others were temporarily housed by friends in Homestead Valley. The Heckman family had a big house to share with their friends. In 1903 Herman Heckman and his wife lived with their eight children in a small town in the middle of Wisconsin. Mrs. Heckman's brother, John Yost, who had a lumber yard in Mill Valley, got Herman to come out here and look around. Herman, a carpenter and cabinet maker, decided to stay. He built a mill at 77 Miller (now Vogue Cleaners) and manufactured doors, windows, cabinets and other wood products. In 1904 he sent for his wife and family. Herman bought the triangle of land bounded by Evergreen, Ethel and Linden Lane, site of the original Homestead. The barn with its distinctive cupola was the only building on the site. The old Homestead had burned down in 1900. The property was covered with thistles six feet high that had to be cut down before Herman could begin construction of their 13-room house. They kept two cows for milk and cream, but no horses. They would rent a horse and buggy when they needed one. After the earthquake, the Heckmans invited their San Francisco friends to stay with them until they could make more permanent living arrangements. In 1905, John Bone, head of maintenance for the San Francisco School District, and his wife Lillian bought a large parcel of land running the full length of the west side of Hawthorne. Early in 1906 he built a small house on the corner of Evergreen and Hawthorne. After the earthquake the Bones invited their San Francisco friends to stay in tents they set up for them in their large yard. The Bone's well survived the earthquake and served as the source of water for several neighbors whose wells had collapsed. Homestead rapidly gained several new permanent residents when San Franciscans who were made homeless by the earthquake came out to Homestead Valley, bought property and built houses. Back to index Earthquake Diary - April, 2002 Alexander Eells, born in 1862, was a lawyer who lived in San Francisco with his wife Caroline and their two daughters. In 1904 and 1905 he bought about 8 acres between LaVerne and Montford east of Three Groves and had a house built there. He went to the property almost every weekend and kept a diary detailing his farm development activities. Here is what he wrote ninety-six years ago after the earthquake of April 18, 1906: Millwood, Friday, May 4, 1906 [Millwood was the train station on Miller - ed .] The most severe earthquake I ever felt occurred on the morning of April 18th (Wed) at about 5:15. It of course alarmed us all especially as it shook off the tops of both chimneys making a frightful noise. After breakfast, I went on my usual course down town and was astonished to see the damage done. When I got to the City Hall and found the dome tower and all the south front in ruins I was astounded. When I reached 6th and Market a cordon of Federal Cavalry stopped the crowds of people on the streets and I turned homeward. Arriving home I found water stopped. Got some siphons of Shasta water and laid in stock of groceries and provisions. Then came the terrible fire for nearly 3 days. On Sat. a.m. after much search I found an automobile which took us to the ferry and we came over here. Sunday, May 27 I put in time from Sat. April 21st to Wed April 25 in working around the house and garden here. I had no desire to get back to the city and couldn't have done so if I had wished to as I had no permit and the Federal troops would not allow anyone to go to S.F without a permit signed by General Funston. Some three weeks after the fire we had our vaults broken open [at his law office - ed.] but found nothing but fine ashes and scraps of tin. Some 30 to 40 wills in mine are gone besides numbers of other valuable papers. I rented my house for two years to B. Gakata a Japanese for $65 per month. Haven't succeeded in getting the chimneys fixed yet, however. Three weeks ago we got Heckman to come and build an addition to the house on the East end for a kitchen and we use the former kitchen for a living room. Alexander Eells commuted to his law office on week days, and worked on the farm on weekends. A third daughter was born there on July 29, 1906. Back to index Jack Kerouac - March, 2002 Now and then, strangers knock on Maverick's door at 370 Montford. They want to see where Jack Kerouac used to live. The house is on Homestead's open space land which Maverick maintains. He has lived there since 1966. A 1916 map shows that Anton S. Perry owned the 1.07 acre lot at 370 Montford. He lived in the existing house and milked cows twice a day on the Dias ranch across the valley. In the 1930's, Tony also worked part-time maintaining Three Groves and Stolte Grove just as Maverick does today. Tony built a shack up the hill near the back of the lot close to Pixie Trail. In 1956, the old Perry house was occupied by Locke McCorckle, a poet/carpenter. He and his family lived frugally, considering themselves refugees from American consumerism. Locke's brother-in-law, also a carpenter, converted the shack into a habitable cabin. Locke invited Gary Snyder to stay there. Gary named it Marin-An. Gary and Locke were beat generation poets and writers who hung out with Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady, Kenneth Rexroth, William Burroughs, Peter Orlovsky, Michael McClure, Philip Whalen, Gregory Corso and Jack Kerouac. In the spring of 1956, Gary invited Jack to join him at Marin-An for rent-free peaceful living. They both took Buddhism seriously. Jack Kerouac describes the site and his experiences there in "The Dharma Bums." Poetry readings, meditations, serious discussions and co-educational picnics and parties, always with lots of wine and sometimes with nudity. Gary left on May 15, 1956 for a monastery in Japan. His going away party, which lasted three days, was pretty wild. It is described in "The Dharma Bums." Jack wrote "The Scripture of the Golden Eternity " before he left Marin-An on June 18, 1956 to take a fire lookout job in northwest Washington. In December 1956, "On the Road" was accepted for publication, almost six years after he wrote it. In 1957 he wrote "The Dharma Bums." The cabin was condemned in 1961 as a fire hazard and demolished. Maverick rehabilitated the house to accommodate his family. In the early 1970's, the property became part of Homestead's open space. Some consider it a sacred site with ghosts of the beat generation and Jack Kerouac. Back to index The Dance Hall - February, 2002 In 1904, Pearl Heckman came west from Wisconsin with her mother and seven younger brothers and sisters. She was 18 years old. Her father built a large house for them on the site of the old Homestead at the corner of Ethel and Montford. In her oral history Pearl states that before World War I the whole family used to attend dances in a hall in Homestead Valley. A 1924 map shows a large building on the east side of Richardson (now Linden Lane) just south of Evergreen. Its dimensions appear to be about 35 ft. by 75 ft. The History room in the Mill Valley library has a panoramic photograph of Homestead Valley taken in the 1920's. It clearly shows the dance hall in a location consistent with the 1924 map. During the 1920's, there was also a speak-easy nearby on the corner of Richardson (now Montford) and Ethel. At that time, Virginia Stolte lived at the other end of Montford and attended Homestead School. Her oral history mentions living in Upper Homestead, the address her father Fred Stolte used in telephone books. He admonished her never to go beyond the school to Lower Homestead because there was a red light district down there. Putting all this together, Lower Homestead during the roaring twenties had a a dance hall, a speak easy and a red light district. Should be a story here. Mary Bettencourt (Mrs. Tony Brabo) still lives on the property at the corner of LaVerne and Reed in Lower Homestead where she was born. She attended the original Homestead School on Janes before 1920. Mary remembers the dance hall very well because she went there for catechism lessons. Every week, nuns came from the church to teach Homestead children their catechisms. It was known as Homestead Hall. She recalls movies being shown there until the Sequoia Theater opened in February 1929. In the early Thirties the hall was sold and converted into a residence. So there you have it. The dance hall was used for catechism lessons and movies. Not very exciting stuff. The terms Upper and Lower Homestead were thought to have been lost to antiquity. However, a San Francisco real estate broker recently resurrected the concept. Her brochure promoted the sale of 360 LaVerne as being located in Upper Homestead Valley. Back to index Brown's Hall Rescued and Sold - January, 2002 In the late 1950's, residents of Homestead Valley voted overwhelmingly against a proposal to sell Brown's Hall. Soon thereafter it resumed its importance for community activities and cultural events. During the 1963 Candlelight Concert series, the internationally acclaimed Alma Trio gave an outstanding concert in Brown's Hall before a standing room only audience. Early in the next morning, a fire broke out and destroyed the interior of Brown's Hall. The cause of the fire was never determined, although a closet containing paint and solvents was suspect. Having met the challenge of rescuing Brown's Hall a few years earlier, the Homestead Valley Improvement Club now faced the challenge of reconstructing it. Homestead craftsmen and other residents stepped forward to volunteer their services. But what about the cash required for materials? Rummage sales, special functions and donations helped. But the key to proceeding with reconstruction was a $10,000 loan courageously made by the Mill Valley branch manager of the Bank of America. Most of the scheduled cultural events had to be canceled or postponed until the hall could be restored. Performances of the Candlelight Concerts, however, were moved to the Del Mar school in Tiburon and later to the Mill Valley Outdoor Art Club. After several months effort, a completely renovated and improved Brown's Hall was ready for community activities and cultural events. A new conference room had been incorporated into the reconstruction plans. In 1964, the board of directors of the Homestead Valley Improvement Club met there to hear Mill Valley's mayor and city manager make a formal presentation to annex Homestead Valley. The board voted to reject the proposal. This decision was consistent with responses to other such proposals dating back to 1908. In the early 1970's, the recently renamed Homestead Valley Community Association, successor to the Improvement Club, was once again having trouble meeting the expenses of maintaining Brown's Hall. Real estate taxes owed Mill Valley continued to increase. In 1972 Brown's Hall was sold to the Buddhists of Marin for their temple. A home on one-acre was purchased for a new community center, conveniently located next to Homestead School. Back to index The History of Sunnyside Tract The History of Early Mill Valley The History of Homestead Valley, 2008 Articles The History of Homestead Valley, 2007 Articles The History of Homestead Valley, 2006 Articles The History of Homestead Valley, 2005 Articles The History of Homestead Valley, 2004 Articles The History of Homestead Valley, 2003 Articles The History of Homestead Valley, 2000-2001 Articles |