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 Building a Montford Avenue sidewalk in 1905. |
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For a complete index of articles about the History of Homestead Valley, click here.  Wilhelm House - 1905 - December, 2006  House built by Harry Wilhelm in the 1905. Click on the image to see a larger version. This photo was taken in 1905. Today, the large house fronts on Ridgewood at #328; the small house is at #330; both formerly fronted on Ferndale. The water tower no longer exists. The front steps on the large house lead down to Ferndale. The two fences on the right delineate the public path connecting Ferndale and Ridgewood. The buildings on Mt. Tamalpais are the Tavern of Tamalpais which had 38 rooms, dining halls, dance pavilion, etc. The large water tank on the hill on the right is on Edgewood near Marion - it supplied water to Belvedere and Tiburon. In 1904, Harry Wilhelm bought a 2.21-acre parcel between Ridgewood and Ferndale and built the small house. In 1905 he moved the small house over next to the public path and built the large house in its place. It has three stories plus a basement. By 1960, the parcel had been progressively subdivided into nine lots, each with a house. The two original houses have been enlarged. In 1966, Jon Hendricks, the famous singer, song writer and professor of jazz, bought the large house. He and his wife raised a family there. He still owns the house and rents it out. He travels a lot to performances throughout the world, teaches at the University of Toledo and lives in New York. He has said that he would like to return to Homestead some day. Stolte Home - 1920s - November, 2006  Home of the Stolte family in the 1920s. Click on the image to see a larger version. In 1904, Fred Stolte (b. 1875) rented a room in Lillian Ferguson's San Francisco home. They both worked for the San Francisco Examiner. She also owned a home on a three-acre estate in Homestead Valley. Fred visited her there and observed that the area was a lot like where he grew up in Oregon. In 1905, he bought a lot across the street and built a cabin. The 1906 earthquake in San Francisco made Lillian Ferguson's house uninhabitable. They both moved to Homestead, she to her home, Three Groves, and he to his cabin. They commuted to the city by train and ferry. In 1913, Fred married, moved to San Francisco and started a family. In 1915, his bachelor cabin was made ready for family living with the addition of a new wing and other improvements. In 1916, he moved in with his wife Ann and their daughter Virginia. A son was born in 1919. Over the next several years, Fred acquired other property in the neighborhood including Stolte Grove across the street. Fred Stolte and their daughter, Virginia Spalding in adulthood, were active in community affairs. This photo, taken about 1923, shows Ann Stolte on the porch with her son Frank. The woman in the foreground is probably an aunt whose planned one-month visit lasted 15 years. She stayed in the building in back on the left, a wood shed that Fred converted to a guest cottage. Castle Rock and power poles on Sequoia Valley Road are in the background. The Homestead - October, 2006  Samuel Throckmorton's Rancho Sausalito lodge "The Homestead" in 1888. Click on the image to see a larger version. Around 1866, Samuel Throckmorton built a lodge on Rancho Sausalito, a 19,000 acre Mexican land grant originally awarded to William Richardson. Throckmorton lived in San Francisco. When he brought friends to his ranch to hunt elk and bear, they stayed in one half of the lodge. The ranch manager lived in the other half. Throckmorton named the lodge, "The Homestead," a name later applied to the valley. It was located at the corner of Ethel, Montford and Linden Lane. Other photos and drawings of The Homestead suggest that it faced north toward Miller Ave. This photo of ranch manager Jacob Gardner and his family was taken in about 1888. From left to right are his wife Annie, Lillian (in her lap), Leslie, Cora, Jacob and Georgina. Note the water tower and barn behind the lodge. Other farm buildings are hidden. The Homestead burned down in 1900. Jacob Gardner (1846 - 1921) was a prominent citizen: member of the first Mill Valley Board of trustees, promoter and financier of the first Mill Valley school, county sheriff, and county supervisor. Homestead Valley - 1907 - September, 2006  Homestead Valley in 1907. Click on the image to see a larger version. In 1907, Harry Wilhelm took this photo from his home at 328 Ridgewood. He aimed the camera at the Alto power station on the other side of the marsh, and captured a magnificent view of Homestead Valley showing about a dozen houses, five roads, two railroad lines and even a windmill. Click on the above image to see all these and other features more clearly. The windmill is in the upper right. The road crossing the photo in the foreground leads to a white barn on the right which belonged to Alfred and Fannie Worley. Their house on LaVerne is the large brown one in the foreground. They also owned the white house behind it. There are two paths connecting the white house and the white barn. Fannie was the first woman to live in the community, and the first woman to die there. The adjacent 25-acre Worley Tract which was subdivided in 1909 extends off to the right of the photo. Both Worley houses were demolished long ago. But, several houses in the photo still exist, for example, 59 Montford, 530 Ethel, 138 Evergreen and 254 Evergreen. The Robertson house in the trees on the upper left is on Robertson Terrace and their white barn is just to the left. The barn is now a red house on Molino. Visible roads are Melrose, LaVerne, Evergreen and Scott. The landscape is for the most part devoid of trees, except that Reed Creek on the left is lined with mature trees, and a tributary in the foreground is lined with smaller trees. Morton House - August, 2006  Morton House around the time of the First World War. Click on the image to see a larger version. Writing on the back of the photo: "This must have been taken during first world war 1917-1918. Grandpa and grandma Morton at right on front porch of their home in Homestead." Henry Morton (b. 1857) was a carpenter. In December 1905, he and his wife Rebecca (b. 1858) moved from San Francisco to Homestead Valley with their two sons and three daughters. The woman and man on the far left could be their daughter Grace and her husband Benjamin W. Woolescroft, a brakeman on the railroad. The Morton home is on Lillian Lane. The day could be the fourth of July. The camera direction is southeast. It is late afternoon. The white building in the upper left is probably the Santos farm house between Homestead Blvd. and LaVerne. The trees are on Reed Creek. In 1905, Henry had built a smaller house for his family across the creek at 222 Evergreen. His great-great-grandson, also a carpenter, lives there today. In 1912, Henry built the house in the photo. Descendants lived there until 1996. Henry Morton also subdivided a nearby block of land between Evergreen and LaVerne. The Morton Tract consisted of 8 lots and Willow street. The name of the street was later changed to Richardson, then to Heckman and is now Linden Lane. Beach Party - July, 2006  A beach party in Three Groves in the 1930's. Click on the image to see a larger version. This photo was taken in the 1930s in Three Groves, a 3-acre estate between LaVerne and Montford. Sixteen people are sunbathing, but four men are in street clothes. The man sitting on the old fashioned glider with the striped awning is wearing a suit and a hat. The sandy beach is separated from the water by a concrete curb. Up on the steep bank behind the beach is part of the bridge above the dam. The shadows indicate it is midday. You can visit this exact location. Go to Three Groves, which today is a public park behind Stolte Grove at the west end of Homestead Valley. Near the eastern end of the park is a fairly new wooden stairway that leads from a lawn down to where the beach used to be. Sit on the bench near the bottom of the stairway on a bright sunny summer day. You will look out over a beautiful lush meadow. Even though it is noon, you will be in the shade. There is no sandy beach, no concrete curb, and no lake. In 1930, George Sandy bought Three Groves from the original owner, Lillian Ferguson. He built a dam on Reed Creek and created a concrete lined lake for swimming, boating and fishing. He imported beach sand from Carmel. In the winter of 1965, mud from the Flying Y ranch on Sequoia Valley Road near the headwaters of Reed creek silted in the lake. The redwood trees have grown quite a bit in seventy years so that the "beach" now gets no sun. The Great Depression - June, 2006 In 1910, George Phillips moved to his newly built house at 364 LaVerne Ave. with his wife Agnes and their 11-year old son Don. George worked for Western Union as an electrician. In the 1920s, Agnes gained fame as an activist in favor of establishing a sanitary system in Homestead Valley. In the 1930s, Don worked as a traveling field representative for Stewart-Warner Corporation, a radio manufacturer. Agnes' letters to him give us a little insight into what life was like during the great depression. November 1932 (just before FDR was elected president): "Well the air is sizzling with politics these days and I think the whole nation will be glad when the fight is over. One hears nothing but tariff, gold standard, soldier bonus, printing press currency and farm relief, morning and night, yet in spite of meetings, addresses, radio speeches and tons of literature, there are some of our voters who seem to have no interest in anything except to get beer back by Christmas. To me, today when men are discouraged and hopeless, only asking for a chance to earn their bread, and they promise them Beer, it seems the refinement of cruelty. I wouldn't be surprised to hear a church choir break out some night into a refrain: 'Keg of lager made for me, Let me put my faith in thee'." [Prohibition ended a year later, on Dec. 5, 1933 - ed.] In March 1934 George had taken a 10% pay cut at Western Union. In April 1934 Agnes writes: "How fortunate the Phillips have been compared to others who have known so much want and misery during the depression. It takes the gut out of a man to have to be grateful for 18 hours of work per week at 50 cents per hour, and the limit is 3 days of 6 hours each." In April 1934 Agnes comments on the Roosevelt dynasty which is "headed for a fearful fall and we will all share in the bumps." In May 1934, Agnes complains that although she and Don have used 5-cent airmail stamps on their letters to and from Seattle, she recently discovered that there is no airmail service on the west coast and a 3-cent stamp would get a letter to its destination as fast as a 5-cent airmail stamp. She claimed this is a dirty trick of Postmaster General James Farley. Servant Problems - May, 2006 After the April 1906 earthquake, the Eells family immediately moved to their farm in Homestead Valley. Alexander commuted to his relocated law office in San Francisco. His wife Caroline tried to make life more comfortable for their two young daughters and a third daughter to be born in July. Local craftsmen added on to the house. Day laborers did much of the farming and made lots of improvements. But Alexander and Caroline soon decided to hire a live-in couple, the husband for general work on the farm and the wife for housekeeping. On Thursday morning Sept. 21, 1907 this ad appeared in the Help Wanted column of the Examiner: "Man and wife for general work and housework on country place near Mill Valley. Wages $30 each. Apply 804 Crocker Bldg. 11 & 12." There were 8 applicants that day. The first couple interviewed impressed him very favorably. He invited them to come over Friday morning and gave them 80 cents for the ferry/train fare, but they never showed up. He concluded they were confidence operators. He hired the last couple to apply, middle-aged Scots who were very kindly in disposition. John and Mary Nicholson settled down in the upper floor of the barn. A week later he noted in his diary that John and Mary were seemingly satisfactory and content so far. They were gone by Nov. 17. John had been drinking hard for two weeks and finally got so bad that he failed to meet Caroline at the train station. Alexander had to let them go. A second Examiner ad on Nov. 17 elicited 18 applicants. He hired Robert and Catherine Scott, but had to let them go a week later when Catherine came down with pneumonia. On Nov. 29 he hired Sam Lovejoy and his wife, Eva, a stout little French woman who appeared to be energetic and capable. They lasted until May 1908. The Eels did without live-in help until Sept. 1908 when John and Carrie Sullivan were hired, but they left a few weeks later. In Oct. 17, 1908, a young German couple, William Molkentin and his wife Katie, came, but left on Nov. 3 after William was injured while harnessing a horse. And so it went until Oct. 1, 1909 when Gordon and Dora Gorman, a young couple came and stayed for more than a year. Earthquake Centennial - April, 2006 "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." This testimony comes from the diary of Alexander Eells, a San Francisco lawyer who, in 1906, lived in San Francisco near Buena Vista Park with his wife and two young daughters. They owned a small farm in Homestead Valley next to Three Groves. On Saturday April 21, while the city was still burning, they fled to their farm and made it their permanent residence. Many San Franciscans moved to their secondary residences in various Marin communities including Homestead. Others stayed with friends for a while, sometimes in backyard tents. Later on, several families from San Francisco and Oakland bought property in Homestead Valley and built houses there. The population of Homestead Valley as well as Marin county increased substantially after the 1906 earthquake and fire. More from Eells' diary: “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 are gone besides numbers of other valuable papers.” A few wells in Homestead caved in, but John Bone's brick-lined well at Evergreen and Hawthorne survived and supplied water for nearby residents. Lillian Ferguson - March, 2006 From the obituary: "Mrs. Lillian Ferguson, for many years a resident of Mill Valley, died June 23, 1938 in Oakland where she had made her home with her son, Walter Plunkett, for two years. ...a woman of remarkable qualities ... at one time a reporter on the San Francisco Examiner, later rising to the position of editor of the Sunday edition .. still later assistant editor of Sunset magazine. ... she bought property in Homestead, greatly beautifying it and naming it, ‘The Three Groves' because of the groups of trees upon it." Several of her articles appeared in Sunset magazine between 1917 and 1928. In 1919, she was one of 30 nationally-known Western writers designated as Sunset's Rodeo of Literary Lions. In 1904, while living at 643 Waller St. in San Francisco, she purchased the property in Homestead and built a secondary residence there. On weekends, her boarder, Fred Stolte, helped her with various tasks at Three Groves. He became so enchanted with the area that he bought a lot across the street and built a weekend cabin for himself. The 1906 earthquake made her San Francisco home uninhabitable - both Lillian and Fred moved to Homestead. The 1910 census for Homestead:  "Lillian Ferguson, head of household, single, age 45, born in Illinois, father born in Kentucky, mother born in New Hampshire, writer for newspaper, owned home." Her home was Three Groves, a three-acre estate with redwood, oak and buckeye groves. In the 1920s she designed the garden as an oriental tribute: meandering brick walks, Chinese bench, Moon Gate, fountain and outdoor cooking structure.In 1930, she bought a house on Ethel and sold Three Groves to George Sandy. He constructed dams on the creek creating a swimming pool and a lake for swimming, boating and fishing. In 1931 she bought and beautified a home at 90 Miller Ave. She retired from editorial work in about 1933. Today, Lillian Ferguson's house with its magnificent garden is privately owned. The remaining two acres of gardens, orchards, lawns and oak and redwood groves are maintained by the Homestead Valley Land Trust for public use. The Tamal Tocsin - February, 2006 A friend sent me three issues of a four-page tabloid published in 1924 and 1925. The banner reads "The Tamal Tocsin - published to Give the Public Needed Facts". Below the date is "Homestead Valley, J. Munsell Chase, Publisher, 358 LaVerne Avenue. Homestead, (Sausalito), California. This raised several questions which took a little research to answer:
All three issues featured a Homestead Valley map (with several errors). One issue referred to the locations of the train stations: "Secure Station at Evergreen Avenue and Save 5 minutes Daily in Going to and Returning from San Francisco." The other issues had, "Get Homestead on the map by securing a station named Homestead. The distance from the High School to Locust Station is double that from Locust to Park station. The difference in distances should be adjusted either by getting a new station for Homestead or by moving the Locust Station lower down and renaming it Homestead." Most of the articles covered what was going on in Mill Valley and Homestead relative to forming a sewer district and the cost of a sewer line. The Tamal Tocsin was against anything that would raise taxes. In late 1925, J. Munsell Chase married and soon thereafter moved back to San Francisco, evidently abandoning the Tamal Tocsin. In 1932 he and his wife moved back to Homestead. They lived in Tamalpais Canyon. He died as a result of a fall near his home on Dec. 31, 1940 at age 81. Mr. and Mrs. Chase had observed their 15th wedding anniversary two days earlier. Homestead Sewer Election - January, 2006 On October 4, 1947, with over 65 per cent of registered voters turning out at the polls, residents of Homestead Valley voted 211 to 43 for an $85,000 bond issue to finance a sewer system. After decades of controversy, why did Homesteaders finally agree to pay for sewer lines they could connect to? Extensive efforts had been made to familiarize the people of Homestead with the proposed sewer construction, its cost and the location of the lines. Two weeks earlier, the Mill Valley Record published an editorial recommending passage as well as a letter from the Homestead Valley Sanitary District board to the voters of Homestead Valley and a detailed map of the system. [A photoengraved printing plate of the map was recently discovered. It is on display at the Homestead Valley Community Center- ed.] The letter was persuasive. Here are the main points of the letter: "This actually means that 4 cents per day would pay the entire sewer bill for the redemption of bonds, interest and annual tax on a house and lot assessed at $1000. This is less than half the average home-owner's telephone or water bill, and about one-third his school tax. Homestead Valley Sanitary District has an area of about 447 acres, with an estimated ultimate population of 10 persons to the acre, totaling 4500 persons and four houses to the acre. On this basis we are now one-fifth developed. We should, therefore, enjoy a good, normal increase in growth over the years. Homestead has many attractive features to draw new residents. It has a great many beautiful building sites, excellent climate, tranquil surroundings away from the main highway traffic, excellent paved roads, electricity, gas, water, telephone, an elementary school, county fire protection plus an efficient volunteer fire department, adequate police protection, a lower tax rate generally since it does not pay an incorporated city tax, although it is adjacent to the city of Mill Valley. Our service is good. We have a fine, new shopping center and it is anticipated that beginning the first of the year we will have mail delivery in Homestead Valley." In March 1948, Homestead's sewer lines were tied into the city's sewer main along Miller Ave. Easements for the system had been established in the 1920s. Raw sewage went into the bay. A treatment plant would come later. 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, 2005 Articles The History of Homestead Valley, 2004 Articles The History of Homestead Valley, 2003 Articles The History of Homestead Valley, 2002 Articles The History of Homestead Valley, 2000-2001 Articles |