Museum

History of our Heritage Museum

The ink had barely dried on official documents renaming and rechartering the Women’s Civic Club as our Solana Beach Civic & Historical Society in 1989 when then-Board members charged ahead with plans to transform a deteriorating 100-year-old home into our Heritage Museum. Although the structure — the former Stevens house, built in 1888 — had been identified and promised for the purpose of creating a museum, a few challenges remained. Among them: Where to put it? And how to get it there?

The City had agreed to assume ownership and committed $25,000 for exterior renovation, but there was no consensus about where to place the planned museum. As many as eight locations were under consideration, including Skyline School, several undeveloped acres in residential neighborhoods, and the 16-acre property then used as a flower farm at the north end of North Rios Ave. From the start, City staff and Park and Recreations Committee members advocated for siting the planned museum on City-owned land. They
eventually prevailed in 1991 when Council approved a proposal to move the old house to La Colonia Park.

Now it was up to the Society to fund the $4,000 cost of the move. Help came with a $1,000 donation from Bruce Howe, a former resident of the house, whose family owned it from 1979 to 1984.

On Friday, February 22, 1991, starting at 9 a.m., the historic house was loaded on a flatbed truck for the mile-long journey from Del Mar Downs Road to Via de la Valle, then to Valley Avenue and the east side of the park.

Over time, the City took on exterior renovations, including a foundation, painting and a porch that wrapped around one of two eucalyptus trees preserved on site. Volunteers helped install the new roof, which also accommodated the tree, and began to
refurbish the interior. The work took years. It wasn’t until September, 17, 1994, that our Heritage Museum was formally dedicated and began opening for visitors.

It was another decade before the interior displays were completed to tell a story about the history of our City.

Building on a Theme to Curate the Museum

By 1994, the Society and the City had completed sufficient repairs on the century-old Stevens House to open it for visits. It had been a big undertaking to find the home, convince the City to buy and agree to maintain it, determine where it would be located and fund its move — not to mention the actual move of a 100-year-old structure. Following which hundreds of volunteer hours were required to make it safe and presentable. Several donations of antiques added visual history and ambience.

But now that the doors could be opened, perhaps bigger questions loomed — what makes a museum a Museum? How would this old house tell a story of Solana Beach’s history?

As with so many prior achievements by the Solana Beach Women’s Civic Club-turned Civic &
Historical Society, the answers needed a champion. Which it found, this time, in the heritage-dedicated team of Kathalijn and Jim Nelson.

Jim already had embraced a project to capture the oral histories of early residents George C. Wilkens and Robert “Chuckles” Hernandez in the book Early Solana Beach, published in 2002 (reprinted in 2012 and 2022). In the initial printing, it was noted on the title page that revenue from book sales would be used for ” . . . refurbishing the Solana Beach Museum, the Fletcher Cove Community Center and other civic and historical projects.”

“However, we frankly had no idea how we would refurbish the museum,” Jim wrote in a January 2015 Society newsletter recap about the effort. “A year later, the book had raised over $12,000 and we still had no idea how to proceed.”

Inspiration came from . . . water. At the time, Jim was volunteering at Birch Aquarium. The
Volunteer Coordinator, Brad Krey, had had previously been curator of Mt. Shasta Sisson Museum, so Jim sought his advice. “He responded with three main points: first a small museum should have a theme, second you need a formal furnishing plan and third you should consider having a Living History Program,” Jim wrote. The advice came with an eight book reading list, most of which reiterated the need for a theme.

One theme that had emerged from his interviews with “Chuckles” Hernandez was the role that fresh water played in the creation of what is now Solana Beach. Completion of the Lake Hodges dam and subsequent irrigation for area orchards created huge demand for Mexican laborers to tend the fields. And they needed housing. Which led to the development of what is now La Colonia, initially an agricultural workers’ camp with a common washhouse made possible by fresh-water irrigation systems that those workers also created.

Lake Hodges Dam, completed in 1919. Subsequent construction of a distribution pipe system delivered fresh water to Lockwood Mesa, where the community of La Colonia was created to house workers for area orchards and ranches.

“Kathalijn and I proposed to the Board we use ‘The Impact of the 1923 Arrival of Running Water on the Community then Known as Lockwood Mesa.’ We proposed to divide the house in half and have a kitchen and parlor furnished with items used before the arrival of running water and electricity and two corresponding rooms furnished with items [that could be] acquired soon after the arrival of those utilities.”

The Board agreed. The furnishing plan was developed, thanks to Brad’s book list. Now, the search was on for furnishings that were authentic to the “before and after” theme.

“We started in the Antique Warehouse in Solana Beach and virtually came up empty. We were a little more successful on Adams Avenue in San Diego and Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach. We consulted the San Dieguito Museum’s antique experts . . . and joined them for a trip to an auction. We struck out there and were getting discouraged,” Jim reported in a recap of the effort published in 2015 Society newsletters.

Solution? Hit the road. The couple decided to drive their station wagon to a reunion of Kathalijn’s American family near Binghamton, New York and go antique shopping along the way.

They drove to San Francisco, then Salt Lake City and Minden, Nebraska, where San Dieguito
Museum experts Dave and Bertha Young had recommended visiting Harold Warp Pioneer Village. “It was a gold mine,” Jim recalled. One football-field-size building housed sample kitchens, dining rooms, bedrooms and living rooms as they would be furnished in ten-year increments starting in 1860 and ending in 1930.

They photographed and catalogued the 1900 and 1930 kitchens and living rooms . . . and bought rugs for the museum hallways.

Next stops: Springfield, Il, Lancaster, PA, Binghamton, N.Y. and all of the small-town antique shops along the way. “At this point, we had collected over 50 small items … cameras, gold leaf china, an electric fan, a lantern, a stereoscope, a manual vacuum cleaner, a carpet sweeper and myriad kitchen implements. We were traveling with our Welsh Terrier, Rusty, who had the whole back of the car when we started but now was confined to a small area.”

One House, Two Eras

Back home after their road trip, the Nelsons and a small army of Society volunteers got to work  on renovations to help depict the “before and after” eras.  The single abode needed to depict two homes, so a big display cabinet, dining table and chairs and bed were re-gifted to make way for new partitions to create two kitchens and two living areas, each depicting a different era.

Dixieline Lumber donated materials; electrical work in the 1930s side of the Museum was donated, as well. Society volunteers tackled painting both the floors (authentic to the eras), halls and two kitchens, wallpapering the two living rooms and hanging the kerosene and electric ceiling lamps. “From . . . homes seen in our tours, we knew the 1900 kitchen should be painted a dark olive green to hide the soot from the wood stove. For the 1930 kitchen, when soot was not a problem, the walls should be bright and airy,” Jim reported.

Don Terrwilliger, who had visited the former Stevens home as a child, provided memories of paint colors and wallpaper patterns.

Room by Room:  The 1900s Kitchen

The “crown jewel” of the interior furnishings, in Jim’s opinion, was the 1902 cast iron wood-burning stove that is showcased in the 1900s-era kitchen. The wood-burning stove came from Rangeley, Maine, where it had been stored in the basement of the grandmother of the Nelson’s son-in-law. He had been asked to take it to the dump, but the couple’s daughter recognized that it could be valuable to her parents’ project.

RMR Stove Restoration Company, a restorer of vintage gas stoves, advised to have the stove disassembled and shipped to a sandblaster in San Diego. RMR further advised not to paint the reassembled stove, but rather to apply black stove polish within a day of the sandblast cleaning to avoid rusting in our salt air environment. The bright work was to be replaced not with chrome but with nickel.

“We followed RMR’s instructions to the letter and converted a pile of rubble into our crown jewel,” Jim reported.

The 1900s water pump came from Kanab, Utah, where it had been restored. Other artifacts were found closer to home at the Collectors Antique Mart in Oceanside — the “possum belly” hutch, named for the semi-circular four bin drawer, the kerosene lamp, the ice box and the manual washing machine that still wears a bit of its original blue buttermilk paint. The Mart also supplied the small, glass Daisy butter churn and many turn-of-the-century kitchen implements.  The taller wooden butter churn was donated after one of the Society’s Antiques & Collectibles Sales (precursers to our Holiday Boutiques).

Room by Room: The 1900s Parlor

For the 1900s parlor, donations included a pump organ, Victrola, treadle Singer sewing machine baby crib and board games, as well as an old violin and pre-electric vacuum cleaner. At the Oceanside antique mart, the Nelsons found the kerosene lamp that lowers on a pulley for lighting, as well as the wall clock that hangs above the pump organ and the 1903 Edison Home Phonograph.

The entirely pegged (no nails were used) quilt rack was hand-made by a then-local woodworker and displays some of the oldest items in the museum — a hand-loomed coverlet from 1850 and two quilts from Jim Nelson’s grandmother.

Room by Room: The 1930s Kitchen

In the 1930s kitchen, the leaders of RMR donated a gas stove that they had restored. Another artifact spared from the dump — and still operating: the 1930s-era refrigerator with the cooling unit on top. The Society had it powder-coated to look brand new. The two-tub washing machine that was the “latest thing” in the mid-1930s came from an Arts-and-Crafts house restoration in Mission Hills. The ’30s- era kitchen sink came from a “second wife’s” house that was being restored in Kanab, Utah, by the same couple who had restored the 1900s-era water pump.

The Art Deco white cabinet with black and chrome handles came from the Oceanside Antiques Mart. The California Cooler Lazy Susan was refurbished and donated by Richard Moore.

Room by Room: The 1930s Parlor

Some $4,200 in grants from the Seth Sprague Foundation and the Johnston family provided for the purchase and rebuild of the 1930s parlor player piano. Two crank phones common to that era also were donated.

The Nelsons found the shade-less electrified chandelier at the Ocean Antiques Mart, along with the 1930 cabinet radio.  Why no shades for the chandelier’s bulbs?  Because folks who had electricity back then wanted to show it off!

The Santa Fe Irrigation District awarded a $2,400 grant for construction of the rotating panel display that shows a timeline of the area’s history in photos and maps. 

Museum Exterior

Another fun fact has to do with what once was a full-grown eucalyptus tree by the front door. The porch was built to wrap around the trunk. Unfortunately, the tree died from a bark beetle infestation and the crown was lopped off. In 2004, the Society sponsored a “vote” to decide what to do with the scarred stump.

The options presented were: Paint the top brown to match the roof; Cut the stump to below the roof and patch the shingles; Cut to 30″ from the porch floor and build a table top; Cut lower and attach a half wine barrel to make a planter; or, Cut below the poor floor and repair the roof and floor.

The winning idea turned out to be “none of the above.” Instead, the Board went with Irene De
Watteville’s suggestion to put a weather vane atop the stump. In 2005, George and Vi Wilkens donated the Mother Quail and Young vane that had been mounted on the roof of their garage for 50 years.

Kathalijn and Jim Nelson’s cross-country shopping trips were so successful that a shed was needed to store wares during the interior transformation. Architect Rich Bokal came up with the design and builder Terry Wardell managed construction, creating a miniature copy of the Stevens house, with the same gambrel roof and board and batten detail. “Pretty fancy for a shed, but [Rich and Terry] want it to look authentic,” the Nelsons reported.

The Grand Reopening: June 27, 2004

Close to 100 Society members came out for the ribbon cutting, presided over by then-Mayor Joe Kellejian and Society President/Curator Jim Nelson. Solana Beach players of the “Blue Grass Saturday Morning” band provided the music. Horizon Frozen Foods and California Pizza donated pies and confections. Jim King parked his mint-condition 1930 Model A Ford at the Museum entrance for ambience.

Then outgoing Society President Gloria “Glo” Jones greeted visitors, along with Shirley Foote and Margaret Schlesinger. They provided an overview of the refurbishing project and orientation to the new Museum. Jan Wier and Nancy Gottfredson took turns playing the part of Susannah Stevens in the newly scripted Living History program. Janann Moffatt and Bonnie Powell were Jennie Stevens. Richard Moore and Jim Nelson played
Senator James West Stevens, Byron Disselhorst was Charlie Stevens; Wayne Brechtel and Bob Gottfredson played Edwin Stevens.

Visitors requesting a tour in Spanish were escorted by Effie Lewis Lopez. After touring the house, the Wilkens, Trydy Synodis and Carolyn Carrol sought signatures for the new guest book.

Meanwhile, young visitors learned to play popular turn-of-the-century games of marbles, pick-up-sticks, hop scotch, jump rope and croquet — just as they do today during our Living History Programs for area third-graders.