Around North County

June 4th, 2009

The San Marcos Historical Society is Moving
By Lisa Duclo

The San Marcos Historical Society (SMHS) & Museum, currently located at 270 W. San Marcos Blvd. is moving to a new location at Heritage Park, part of Walnut Grove Park in San Marcos. The move to 1950 Sycamore Drive will occur sometime in July of 2009. The move is necessitated by the fact that the City of San Marcos and the San Marcos School District, on whose property the museum now rests, needs the space to build a new two-story addition to the San Marcos Elementary School. The museum shares the property with the school.

The SMHS is a private non-profit 501(c)3 corporation. Their mission is devoted to the collection, preservation and presentation of artifacts, photos and documents relating to the history of San Marcos.

The current site provides no space for the other buildings that the museum has acquired. The museum building itself, the Mary Young Connors Hall, which was built in 1940 by the Works Project Administration will be removed from the elementary school parking lot and moved to Heritage Park. The new site will also include a new 1,500 square foot building that will be constructed to house office space, a conference room and storage facilities.

The museum's collection includes furniture, photographs, clothing and all manner of objects depicting everyday life in old San Marcos. They currently have a lovely collection of clothing on display from the estate of Jennylind Wood, who moved to San Marcos in 1942. Jennylind Wood was the wife of Tipton Wood, President of the Board of Governors at Palomar College. She belonged to the Palomar College Patrons, a group dedicated to raising money for the school's library. She eventually donated Tipton Woods's extensive collection of medical books to the Palomar College library after his death.

Woodland Park was named for Jennylind Wood, who sold 23 acres of her land to both the San Marcos School District and the City of San Marcos, with the condition that she would maintain her residence on the land until her death. Mrs. Wood passed away in 1979.

In September of 2008 the museum presented an exhibition by world renowned Native American artist Robert Freeman, a Luiseño/Hunkpapa Sioux, who was born on the Rincón reservation in San Diego County near Valley Center. Freeman, a resident of San Marcos since 1969, is best known for his pen and ink drawings and his oil paintings. As a sculptor, Freeman designed and created the six foot diameter State Seal, honoring American Indians that resides on the front steps of the Capitol Building in Sacramento.

Maryanne Cioe, Director of the SMHS, said that the museum will oversee two historical houses at Heritage Park including the Bidwell House, built in 1890 by Jacob Uhland. The Bidwell house has been occupied by several different owners over the years, but Colonel John Bidwell, for whom the house is named, bought the property on which it sat originally in 1921, and at some point, Timothy Phillipo, a relative to the de Jong family (owners of the Hollandia Dairy) lived in the house and operated a chicken ranch on the property. San Marcos developer Pat Dailey eventually rescued the house from demolition and donated it to the SMHS. The de Jong family along with Beverley and Roy Haskins, donated money to have the house moved to Heritage Park.

The second house, the Cox House, named for original owner Wade H. Cox, was also built by Jacob Uhland in 1888. This house also changed owners many times over the years and in 1944 was sold to the Fermosa Ranch, an agricultural nursery, located on Cox Road. The house, at that time, was used as the manager's residence. Eventually the Cox House was saved from demolition and donated by the last owner of the home, Regency Development, to the SMHS and moved to its current location at Heritage Park in September of 2002. Arie de Jong also provided some of the funds needed to move the Cox house.

Maryanne Cioe, who has been the Director of the SMHS since December of 2007, was the Society's research librarian for nine years prior to becoming the Director. Before that, Ms. Cioe was a volunteer with the organization. She succeeded Beverley and Roy Haskins both of whom had served in several capacities for the SMHS. The couple was the driving force behind the SMHS for twelve years and was highly instrumental in the establishment of Heritage Park. In addition to being members of the SMHS, Beverley Haskins was also a board member, Museum Administrator and past President of the Board; Roy Haskins is the former Vice President of the Board. The couple also organized and oversaw the restoration of the Cox House

Ms. Cioe said that in addition to the two historical houses, the new site may eventually become home to the Richland Schoolhouse, built in 1889. It was purchased in 1984 by Arie de Jong, owner of the Hollandia Dairy. The Richland Schoolhouse currently sits atop the hill at 134 Woodland Parkway and is rented out for weddings and other social events. The SMHS would also like to acquire the old California Department of Forestry Fire House, built in 1930, originally located on Pico Avenue in San Marcos.

Walnut Grove Park, of which Heritage Park is a part, sits on 39 acres of land and is surrounded by horse riding facilities, sports fields and large grassy picnic areas. The park is also home to the Fred E. and Frances A. Williams Barn. Before 1993, when it was renamed, it was simply known as the Red Barn. It originally occupied the site of the current San Marcos City Council, at the intersection of San Marcos Blvd. and Mission Road, and was moved to Walnut Grove Park in 1992. Built in 1950, the barn was built to be used as a square dance hall and was also used for other community gatherings. (See photo below).

The San Marcos Historical Society recently welcomed the Palomar Model A Ford Club at the Heritage Park area of Walnut Grove Park.
The 1890's Cox and Bidwell houses were open to visitors.

As the SMHS, originally founded by Flora Brown in the mid 1960's, is a non profit organization, it is kept alive through donations and occasional grants by the City of San Marcos and the County of San Diego. The Society accepts art and artifacts specifically relating to San Marcos, Cioe added, "but we don't need any more organs or sewing machines. We've got those coming out of our ears."

Other objects, as well as cash and in-kind donations would be greatly appreciated. The Society's immediate wish list, as they make the move to Heritage Park, includes a metal storage shed (approximately ten feet by twelve feet) for the Bidwell House; UV protective window coverings for the Cox House; both indoor and outdoor trash cans (5 small and 4 large sized receptacles); ten (25 qt. to 40 qt.) sized clear plastic stackable storage bins with lids; portable work tables (6ft. to 8 ft. in length) and a label maker. They could also use a computer printer, especially an all-in-one model that can be used for faxing and copying.

The Bidwell House	The Cox House

“The Red Barn” home of many a dance and feast

As a fundraiser, the SMHS is currently collecting used cell phones, which are then mailed company who sells the phones within the United States and abroad, then donates a portion of the proceeds to the San Marcos Historical Society and to other participating non-profit organizations.

The SMHS is also in need of volunteers. Some volunteers will eventually be selected and trained to serve as docents for each of the site's buildings. If anyone is interested in giving a donation or volunteering for the SMHS, contact Director Maryanne Cioe at smhistorical@sbcglobal.com or call (760) 744-9025.

The Society is currently seeking two new Board Members. Anyone interested in applying for the Board should contact Tanis Brown at (760) 761-0438 or (760) 317-0748 or e-mail her at tanisbrown@cox.net. The San Marcos Historical Society & Museum are currently open from noon until 4:00 p.m. daily, except Mondays and Tuesdays. The museum, at it's current site will remain open to the public until some time in July, at which time SMHS will pack up and move it's collection, along with the building itself, to it's new location at Heritage Park.

(All photos in this story, courtesy of the author, Lisa Duclo).