The Russian River Historical Society

PART 1

First published March 2023

by Chris Pattillo

2023 marks the 40^th anniversary of the Russian River Historical Society. The first meeting took place in 1983 when a group met at the Monte Rio Library and formed the Monte Rio Area Historical Society.  In December of 1997 we changed the name to reflect our now broadened focus of including all the communities along the lower Russian River from Hilton to Jenner.

Founding members included Evelyn Pedroia, Greg Pace, Joan Fontaine, Kathy Kane, Fran Marra, Ana K. Wilson and Ann Andrade. If you know of others, please send me their names so I can add them to the written history. Twenty-five people attended the first general membership meeting in 1985, and only one year later attendance had more than doubled to 59 people.

Starting in 1984, the Society met at the Koret Club and continued using it until the building was remodeled and the society had to find a new meeting place. In November of 2013 we started meeting at the Marshall House on Armstrong Woods Road, after playing an instrumental role in saving the historic home and having it moved to the Russian River Senior Center in Guerneville.

Mission Statement

The mission statement for the society says that the purpose of the Russian River Historical Society is to protect, preserve and present the history of the Lower Russian River area by collecting, cataloging, and exhibiting materials related to the history of the area and its people.

Little is known about the activities of the society during the 1980s. No meeting minutes have been found for the period 1988 – 1993.

The 1990s

During the 90s the organization focused on regular events and speakers to help us learn about Monte Rio’s history. Talks on various topics were given by Barbara Hadden, George Casini, Bob Nanheim, Peg Canelis, Dorsey Hamilton, Vince Pedroia, Harry Lapham and Jack Murray.   For example, Murray, as the featured speaker at the 1999 general membership meeting, provided a history of the mysterious and famous Bohemian Grove.  Also in this decade, the board applied for non-profit status (1987).

Officers listed in the November 1997 meeting minutes were Evelyn Pedroia, President; Christine Canelis, Recording Secretary; Marie Schaap, Corresponding Secretary; Deborah Sawyer, Property Secretary, Barbara Hadden, Assistant Property Secretary; and Richard Homer, Past President. New officers were elected in December of 1997 when Dorsey Hamilton took over as President. Other officers were Lee Torr III, Vice-President; Richard Holmer, Treasurer; Christine Canelis, Recording Secretary; Carolyn Down, Corresponding Secretary; Deborah Sawyer, Property Secretary; and Barbara Hadden, Sergeant at Arms. 

The 2000s

Jane Barry was elected to the board as Vice President in November of 2002 and became President later that same year.  The Society undertook a major planning project in 2003 – to plan an architectural study of the Villa Grande community – a neighborhood in Monte Rio. Architectural Historian, Diana Painter, surveyed over 3,000 structures and prepared maps and architectural drawings of those that qualified as historic structures. In the summer of 2004, the society planned a walking tour of Villa Grande led by Painter that was a fundraiser for the society. About 100 people attended.

The Archives

At some point the society began to collect historic material for the Russian River archives. Meeting minutes frequently include references to donations received including those from Dawn Pedroia, Connie Hedrick, Virgie and Allan Nelson,  and Rea Photography. These materials include historic photographs, event posters, post cards, documents, maps and aerial maps, newspapers, as well as objects. Today the archive holds costumes from the Fire Mountain Pageant, tee shirts from the car shows, flags and banners, the bugle used by Roscoe Drake, a cross from the Guerneville Community Church and many more items. Both John Schubert and Ana K. Wilson collected material from local businesses such as matchbooks, menus, advertising and photographs.

Every family who has lived in the Lower Russian River is part of its history. The RRHS archive is the only place in the area that is collecting and preserving our community history. As an all-volunteer organization, RRHS welcomes you to join us in this endeavor. To share your family history or help with preservation, contact: jbarry@RussianRiverHistory.org Roberto Esteves, Archive Committee Chair, 2002-2022

In May of 2009 Michelle Torr McDonnell offered the old Monte Rio Post Office on Moscow Road to house our archive. The agreement was finalized in January of 2010, and that is where the archive remains today

From 2000 – 2009 the society hosted talks on various topics by Phyllis Smith, Harry Lapham, Barbara Haddon, Frank Robertson, Diana Painter, Elinore Twohy, Bruce Maher, Russell Gaughen, Jim Grady, Lorna Drake, and Robert and Linda Burke. Jane Barry started making gift cards with historic images and selling them as a fundraising project, and Laura Mueller started doing oral histories with some of the older members of the community.

The society made several technological advances in this decade. Our website was started by Josh Leone in December 2004, the blog in May 2005, and our Facebook page in November of 2010. Paul Knight took over responsibility for the website in November of 2009 and continues in that role currently. In March of 2007 we received a $5,000 grant from the Russian River Community Trust that enabled us to purchase a computer, scanner, printer, Photoshop, Microsoft Office and Past Perfect – the program used at the archive to store records.

John Schubert took over the newsletter from Russell Gaughen in December 2006. John also volunteered to lead our first Cemetery Tour in October of 2009. That first year, 117 people attended the tour. In 2009, Valerie Munthe laid out the first calendar with images from John Schubert’s collection as another fundraising project.

Officers who served during this decade included Jane Barry, Diane Barth, Barbara Hadden, Gail Siggins, John Fontaine, Tess Pace, Roberta Pollard, Josh Leone, Dianna Baxman, Tracy Ruelle, Kay Reimers, John Schubert, and Robbi Ernst.

The Russian River Historical Society is fortunate in having a Board of leaders that needs and values each volunteer. They don’t waste yours or their time. It’s a good group that is diverse enough fit your desires to help grow the community as well as your own knowledge about that past, the present and the people of the Russian River. Robbi Ernst, Past Board Member

The 2010s

In 2011 the society hosted a very successful open house at Villa Grande that included self-guided walking tours, a cocktail party and a silent auction at the Old Hotel. We also planned and created a strategic plan for the organization and the archives. Roberto Esteves and Myra Chesley wrote a Protocol Guide for Cataloging the Collection including data input specifications and detailing. At the October 2015 general membership meeting it was announced that 90% of the goals in the strategic plan had been accomplished including creating a historic display in the Guerneville Bank (by Irene Deem and Alex Clausen in 2015), implementing flood protection measures at the archive building, updating our brochure and logo, and adding a calendar of events to our website.

There were fewer talks given during this decade, but we did much more in collaboration with other groups for community events. These included winning first prize in the December 2012 Parade of Lights, winning first prize for our float in the June 2013 Stumptown Daze parade, hosting the Sonoma County Historical Society at the Marshall House in July of 2013, participating in the Sonoma County Pride event in August of 2017, helping to host the Monte Rio Car show, helping at the Monte Rio Variety Show, and participating in the Cazadero Holiday Parade, all in 2018.

“The RR Historical Society has been a great partner for the Monte Rio Variety Show. Over the years their members have supported us and the board has helped to preserve the event by archiving photos and other media from the show.” Michele McDonell, Monte Rio Variety Show Organizer

The archives received many donations during the decade from Patricia Smith, Russel Gaughen, Ray Clark, John Schubert, Michael Torr IV, Jack Gallanton, Anna Wilson, Claudia Corello, Mr. Sherman, Warren Purcell, Sharon Smith, Mike Vander, Robert Howewling, John Sasso, Western Sonoma County Museum, Lee Valencia, Guerneville Senior Center, and Jackie Gallatin. Notes about the specific contents of all these donations are in a more detailed history of the society.

We created and installed commemorative plaques that recognize and describe some of the most important historic sites within our area. These include a plaque at the Monte Rio Community Center in October 2013, Marshall House and Guerneville Bank in 2015, and an historic display featuring John Bagley in the Guerneville Post Office in September of 2017.

The Pioneer Guerneville Cemetery was adopted by the society during this decade. We continued to offer annual tours and acquired the records of burials. Paul Barry has been compiling biographical information on each of the interred. He also organizes regular clean up days at the cemetery.

The relocated and restored Marshall House dedication took place on March 24, 2012, and except during Covid, the board has held its meetings there ever since.

Guerneville is a small community, but it has always had an anything-is-possible attitude. In the time since my husband and I moved her in 1976 I am amazed by the immense changes the community has undergone. Our historical society holds the same can-do spirit. It is impressive how much they have accomplished in the time I’ve been a member.  Katherine Sheridan, Member RRHS

2010s Officers

Board members and officers who served the society during this decade included: Jane Barry, Paul Barry, Valarie Munthe, Meredith Morris, Robbi Ernst, Sarah Brooks, John Schubert, Brendan Coen, Charolotte Ostrofe, Cary Ostrofe, Vickie Nicholson, Roberto Esteves, Irene Deem, Alex Clausen, Larry Whitmeyer, and Jessse Munthe.

The 2020s so far

Like everything else the society had to adjust to the Covid pandemic. Board meetings moved to the Zoom platform, work at the archive stopped completely at a time when others were increasing donations as they spent time purging their homes, but most importantly many of our community activities ceased as traditional events were canceled. The society had been making plans for a major celebration to mark the 150^th anniversary of Guerneville’s incorporation; we had planned to host the car show and to defend our first place title by entering a float in the Stumptown Daze parade.

Despite these setbacks the society did make progress on a number of fronts. We applied for and received grants from four organizations. The Sonoma County Investment Fund gave $3,000 to pay for the 150^th banners that were up in downtown Guerneville until recently. Sonoma County Community Investment Fund gave $2,500 for the archives in May of 2022; Community First donated $500 in August of 2021; and Rotary awarded a grant of $300 to help pay to install a plaque at the Guerneville pedestrian bridge in May of 2022.

Longtime member and local historian John C. Schubert was honored in April of 2021 when he was given the Spirit of Sonoma award. Sadly, John lost his battle with cancer and passed away on June 6, 2022, leaving a rich legacy of local history. See the June 2022 issue of Yesterday & Yesteryear for our tribute to John. Paul Barry filled in for John giving a talk “Guerneville Early Days” at the annual Sonoma County Historical Society meeting in May of 2022.

Paul also continued to organize cleanup crews to maintain the Guerneville cemetery, and new tour leaders were identified for the annual cemetery tour. The Rev. Robert Jones and past town mortician Wendell Joost agreed to share the honor. Unfortunately, their debut tour had to be postponed due to illness.

Donations to the archive continued to be received from Lauren Burns, Ana K. Wilson, Beth Rudometkin, Lou Lambert, and the Guerneville Community Church (see the June 2022 issue).

We also made more technical advances as we added SquareSpace to our website making it easier to make online purchases; we purchased Microsoft’s InDesign software and started using it to produce a higher quality newsletter starting with the April 2022 issue, after Chris Pattillo offered to take on the role of editor. Finally, we upgraded our Zoom account that now enables us to host fully hybrid meetings so more members can easily attend.

Penny Bolger started volunteering at the archive in January of 2020 just before Covid hit. Volunteers returned to the archive in April of 2021 when Roberto Esteves trained the new volunteers in how to add records in the PastPerfect software. And Susan Szostak stepped up to help with graphics and displays in August of 2022.

After a one year hiatus we hosted the Russian River Car Show in August of 2021 with 80 cars participating. The following year that increased to 104 cars. We also supported the Monte Rio Variety show in 2022 by helping sell $8,000 worth of raffle tickets. Historic plaques were given to John Schubert and the Guerneville 5&10 – one of the long standing local businesses in our area.

We partnered with the Cazadero Community Services District to adopt the Cazadero History Learning Center and had an unofficial opening on Memorial Day in 2022. Since then, the center has been open for visitors with displays on the second Saturday of each summer month.

We hosted an in-person, well-attended General Membership Meeting in October of 2022 at the Marshall House. Katherine Reinhard gave a talk about the John Schubert collections that were given to the Sonoma State Library.

2020s Officers

Jane Barry, Paul Barry, Meredith Morris, Brendan Coen, John Schubert, Sarah Brooks, and Chris Pattillo have and/or are serving in leadership positions.  New members are needed and welcome. Please contact Jane Barry at jberry@RussianRiverHistory.org if you are interested in being involved with any of these community activities.

Currently, the board is making plans to celebrate our 40^th anniversary and to host this year’s car show. We hope to make physical improvements to the archive building and to increase storage capacity for the archive. There is lots happening – come join us.

We want and need you to continue to add to and disseminate our valued and colorful, diverse history. Come to a couple of our meetings; talk with Board and other members and then decide as to whether or not you want to be involved with this essential organization. Robbi Ernst, Past Board Member