Gean Rupert Vonk

Year 2006 has been a very rewarding time for the Anderson Historical Society.

First was the dedication of the old school house which in early times was moved from location to location on skids to accommodate school children in different areas.

Many individuals, businesses and the City of Anderson made it possible for the Historical Society to preserve a piece of the past to educate our children of today. The finished product will show them the type of environment their parents and grandparents endured while being schooled.

The Board of Directors of the Shasta Regional Community Foundation gave the Historical Society a grant of $9,200 (funded by the McConnell Foundation). The grant was used to purchase a new heating and cooling system to help preserve the artifacts we are collecting and to make the building comfortable for visitors and volunteer staff. This is the second time the McConnell Foundation has come to our rescue.

The first time was in 1996 when they funded the cost of our book “Taste and Tales of the Past” which has returned much needed cash for operating costs and helped keep the Society afloat for a number of years.

This book lists around 525 early pioneers of the South County area with some of the individual recipes they used from the mid-1800s to the turn of the century. We are in the third printing of the book which is still on sale. We also have books on early Cottonwood available, plus some other publications.

Thanks to a benefactor we were able to purchase our present museum building which was built in the late 1800s and owned by the Bernard Family. The house at one time sat on a hill in a swampy portion of land at the corner of Ferry and East Street across from the old Catholic church. The house was later moved to its present location when the low swampy area between North Street and Ferry Street was leveled and developed for business buildings in the mid 1950s.

In 1912 Steve Roycroft moved the old Catholic church, a known landmark, piece by piece from the town of Keswick and rebuilt it. A new Catholic church was constructed on Stingy Lane in 1959. The little house, which sat beside the church, was relocated to the Stingy Lane on Saint Stephen’s Drive along with the old church bell. Then the church property was sold for construction of our present U.S. Post Office.

Many other projects have been or are being completed at this time at the museum, especially the excellent work our Accession Committee is doing to take pictures and descriptions of all our artifacts and old pictures, which will be listed on the computers for easy accessibility and locating. Maps of early Anderson, Cottonwood and other South County areas, ranches, early cattle and travel routes, mining areas and mineral deposits of Shasta County are also being cataloged for future reference material.

Another very interesting addition, which will be accessible at a later date for research, copies of the original deeds and property locations. Our library has many histories and pictures of early families, businesses, cemetery and census books and many other interesting items for research and reading. Also nearly all the Aurora yearbooks from Anderson Union High School and some of the grammar schools yearbooks are available for review.

We are working on some new exhibits at present time and whenever the installation of the heating and cooling system is completed and cleaned up we will be opened again on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. We have come a long way since Lee Craft and other early members of the Society opened our first museum on Balls Ferry Road in August 1977 to preserve the history of Anderson and the South County. So drop by and visit our museum which has free admission.

Happy New Year.