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Remember When Week of September 9

87 YEARS AGO
(From the Index-Tribune files of Sept. 6, 1924)
A delegation of prominent civic workers and good roads boosters from San Francisco representing the Down Town Association of that city and other organizations visited Sonoma last Saturday afternoon in the interest of a comprehensive program of highway construction in San Francisco and tributary counties. … The benefit dance given at Coney Island pavilion last Saturday evening by the Boyes Springs and Valley Fire Department to clear off the balance due on the fire engine, the “Valley Angel,” was spendidly patronized and the committee reported Thursday that $792.35 was the net proceeds, with 350 tickets still to be heard from. In all, $761 had been reported from the sale of tickets up to Sept. 4, and $120.85 made from articles put on sale at the dance, totaling $881.85, which, less the dance expense of $89.50, gave the committee $792.35. … The Sonoma Grammar School trustees have decided to reopen school on Sept. 15. Due to the holidays of the month, work on the building has been slightly delayed, so it was thought best to make the school re-opening date a week later than intended. … Joseph Vella and family attended the Italian Societies picnic at Tomales last Sunday. … The Sonoma Valley Union High School opened last Tuesday with an initial attendance of 162 pupils, divided as follows: first year, 42; second, 48; third, 41 and fourth, 31. The second, third and fourth year classes are the largest in the history of the school. Not many of those pupils have dropped out, showing confidence in the value of high school education.

83 YEARS AGO
(From the Index-Tribune files of Sept. 7, 1928)
Winfield Scott, of the National Lumber Manufacturers’ Association of San Francisco, and a former classmate of F. T. Duhring at UC, spoke at the Sonoma Kiwanis Club Tuesday evening, his theme “Wandering and Dreaming In Bret Harte Land” being an illustrated lecture greatly enjoyed. Incidentally he digressed to praise Jack London’s fair Valley of the Moon and showed slides of the famous ranch owned by the late author, near Glen Ellen. He praised the genius of London and declared that his acreage in Sonoma Valley should be preserved as a state park in the contemplated selection of sites to be handed down to posterity. … The busses will start Tuesday morning on their regular schedule to gather up the pupils for the Sonoma Valley Union High School. Everything is in readiness for an immediate resumption of work. Students will be given their full assignments Tuesday morning and classes will continue throughout the entire day just as if there had been on vacation and no opening of school. … The Guy Perret place in El Verano has been sold to Frank Silva of San Francisco through the agency of W.W. Carter, of Sonoma. … The third and deciding game of the Vineburg-Valley Moon series proved a wonderful battle, to the delight of the largest crowd of the three games. The final score of 2 to 1 in favor of the Cubs was in doubt until the last man was retired. … Thirty Kenwood volunteer firemen and their friends were entertained on Monday night at venison banquet at the Kenwood firehouse. Plans were laid for the second annual firemen’s ball to be held some time in October. … Mr. and Mrs. Arsene Chauvet, and little daughter, of Alameda, and Mr. and Mrs. F. Mazuie and three daughters were visiting at the home of the young matrons’ mother, Mrs. Froment on Broadway over the holiday. … Oil drilling, which has been in progress at the Filippini ranch east of Sonoma for some time, is still going on. A standard rotary rig, of modern type, has gone down over 2,000 feet an work is in progress day and night. As is usual, those in charge of drilling operations give no intimation as to what they have encountered in the way of prospects for black gold.

80 YEARS AGO
(From the Index-Tribune files of Sept. 4, 1931)
When the boys and girls of the elementary schools return to their classes on Monday, Sept. 14, they will find a number of changes have taken place during their absence over the summer vacation period. The interior of the building has been thoroughly cleaned from garret to cellar, new rubber has been placed on the several stairways and the floors have been re-oiled and the walls have been repainted. … All of the stores of the city, with but few exceptions, will close their places of business for two days next week, for the observation of two holidays – Monday, Sept. 7, Labor Day and Wednesday, Sept, 9, Admissions Day. … The firefighting force of Sonoma Valley was called out Tuesday afternoon, when the clubhouse and tavern at Louis Parente’s Resort, at Verano, burned, with a property loss estimated at $25,000. The fire alarm was sent into the Valley of the Moon department at Boyes Springs about three o’clock, and immediately relayed to departments at Sonoma, Glen Ellen, Kenwood and the State Home at Eldridge. … Wednesday evening the Sonoma City Council granted a permit to the Sonoma Water and Irrigation Company to proceed with the company’s proposal to replace most of the water pipes of the city and allow necessary excavations for this purpose. This action followed submission of detailed plans to the Board by Walter M. Davis, local manager and engineer for the water company, who expects to expend approximately $18,000 toward improvement of the system here and also at Agua Caliente and Sonoma Vista. … The Sonoma Baseball Club on Sunday, Sept. 13 will play the Napa Odd Fellows team on the local diamond. The proceeds from this game will be given to the Kiwanis Club to aid a relief fund, to be accumulated for the purpose of assisting community relief during the coming winter.

78 YEARS AGO
(From the Index-Tribune files of Sept. 8, 1933)
One of the most spectacular and expensive train wrecks which the Southern Pacific has experienced in this part of the state for some time occurred at 7:50 a.m., Saturday, when a 52-car freight train, enroute to the Sacramento Valley and way points with mixed freight consisting of grain, fertilizer, vinegar, eggs, etc., fell through a trestle which had been undermined by fire, ruining many cards, but fortunately injuring no one. … Jes Thomsen, 14-year-old Sonoma Grammar school student who is making a trip around the world on the Danish motor ship Nordcap, with his uncle, Captain Buch, is a favorite on the big boat and when he arrived in Melbourne, Australia, he was photographed by the newspapers of that city and a splendid picture with his pet cat appeared in the shipping news. … Mayor Jep Valente issued a proclamation Thursday that all business houses in Sonoma would be asked to remain closed all day Saturday, Sept, 9, Admissions Day. … The new ice manufacturing plant recently installed for Angelo Beretta in his new brick building on the east side of the Plaza will soon be open for business. Already ice is being made and Geo. Chicazola is in charge of deliveries. … William and Temple Clewe were home from UC last Sunday visiting their parents, who miss their sons considerably now that both are away at college. … Boy Scouts, 2,000 strong, gathered in Golden Gate Park stadium in San Francisco over the weekend. The “citizens of tomorrow” mobilized in regional “camporall” from every section of Northern California. … R. E. Murphy and sons have started to layout the street and sidewalks in the Chase tract southeast of town, the former Seipp orchard, and already deposits have been received on three lots in the new residential section. Patton Street on which much of the property fronts will be a 40 foot street all the way through from Second Street East to the easterly city limits.

77 YEARS AGO
(From the Index-Tribune files of Sept. 7, 1934)
John Brazil, of Bloomfield, who formerly was on the Harding ranch here was in Sonoma this week with a view of locating here on a dairy ranch if one could be found suitable for leasing. He was surprised at the improvements noted in and about the city. … Sonoma Parlor has an old Spanish custom of giving a party to all the newlywed members, so last Monday night, Les Tynan hot his. The boys gave him a ravioli dinner, with all the trimmings, toasted him and his bride and provided a jazzy program with music by the Haywire Orchestra, with pretty Betty Jones and other musicians to liven up the evening. … The Huichica School will open on Tuesday, Sept. 11, the same date as the opening for Sonoma Grammar and High School. … A fire of undetermined origin leveled the well known refreshment stand and gas station of Louis Martin at Vineburg shortly before midnight Tuesday. The flames were discovered by Mrs. Groskopf who lives nearby and she notified the Martins whose residences is in the neighborhood and also called the fire department. The store with all its contents and stock was a complete loss. Neither Martin or E Forni, owner of the building carried any insurance. … Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Tiernan, who edit a newspaper at Barstow on the edge of the desert in San Luis Obispo county, were in Sonoma Monday visiting Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Murphy. They were charmed with Sonoma Valley’s trees and hills and also the vineyard country of the Napa Valley, where they attended the Vintage Festival.

76 YEARS AGO
(From the Index-Tribune files of Sept. 6, 1935)
Dunbar union school in the upper Sonoma Valley has opened with an attendance of 132 pupils. Principal McCammon looks for more to enroll after the harvest season. Two new teachers are in the faculty this year. They are Arthur Kincaid from Arcata, Humboldt State College, and Miss Jean Ferguson of Sebastopol. … Last Sunday the Sonoma Mission had some unusual visitors for they were the sons and daughter of the pioneer Donahue family of the Embarcadero who came to Sonoma Valley in ’49 and had eight of a family of 12 children baptized at the Sonoma Mission, then the Catholic church. … The 1935 apple and pear season is over in Sonoma Valley, although some late varieties of apples will follow in the market a little later. The Gravensteins shipped out totaled 25,000 boxes from the Apple Growers Association plant at Vineburg. Pears were of good quality and 26,000 boxes went to the C.P.C. at a price of $30 a ton. Dicing pears used for salads brought $20. … Mrs. Charles O. Dunbar, who is at her Santa Rosa home during the harvesting of the hop crop on her big ranches, was in Sonoma Wednesday on business. She states that hop pickers are still needed. Her son, Raford Peterson, has gone into the hop business in which the Peterson family has long been prominent. … Fight fans were on edge last Friday night for the match between Ray Actis and Young Stuhley, in San Francisco. The first time the boys met the judges called it a draw. Friday night Stuhley, who had trained at Parente’s in El Verano, put up a marvelous fight despite the fact that he was just recovering from intestinal flu. After what sports fans called a “whale of a bout,” the decision went to Young Stuhley, which as some victory.