—THIS POINT— NEWSLETTER The Point Richmond History Association www.PointRichmondHistory. org Vol.XX No. 6 April/May, 2002 $1.50 F irst A id C en ter Ka ise r Richm ond S hipyard 3 1943 you are invited to attend the (generaC Meeting and T fection of Officers of the Toint 'RichmondJ-fistory dissociation on May 19, 2002 at 2:00 j)m at QoCden State ModeCRaiCroad M u seu m at 900 Dornan "Drive Toint Richmond lYe wiff tour the RR Museum and Refreshments wid he served Contents of this Issue From the President 1 Members 2 Gary’s Column 3 A-Mid Trivia 4 By 1899 Point Richmond had Church News 7 been designated as the Western Terminal for the Santa Fe Railroad. Lucretia Edwards 11 On July 3, 1900, the first overland Newspaper Clippings 12 passenger train with a mail car, three WWIC 14 coaches, a baggage car and a Pullman sleeper arrived here from Chicago. In Allan’s Point 16 1900 there were about 100 residents in Masquers 18 Point Richmond but Richmond did not Cards and Letters 20 become a city until 1905. Any railroad buff will know Point Deaths 22 Richmond today has a Railroad Birthdays 23 Museum, The Golden State Model Calendar 24 Railroad Museum located at 900 Doman Drive across from Miller-Rnox The Standard High Grade q n r n F. 0. B. Regional Park. A working museum, it Automobile Selling For O O D U San Francisco is staffed by volunteers. Because of interest in the museum, the Point Richmond History Association will hold its annual meeting in May at this location. There will be a speaker from the museum following a brief meeting and election of officers after which everyone will be invited to tour the museum. You do not have to be a member of the PRHA to attend so bring a friend to share the day and The Grant is not a Cyclecar, but in every particular a enjoy some refreshments afterwards. Standard Automobile; Stand ard Tread; Standard K o a d Mark your calendar now.- May 19th, Clearance and Standard in eve ry detail oi Build and Finish. 2:00 p.m. at 900 Doman Drive. See Let U r Demonstrate the Merits of this you there! Sturdy Grant Car This Point.... in time 1 Thank you to the following renewing members: T h a n k Y o u ! T o Jim & Florence Wilson Family Alexandra A. Gautraud Santa Fe M arket Muriel C. Clausen and Linda Andrew-Marshall Tom & Shirley Butt Family Point Richmond M arket Janice Cook & Jeff Lee Family F o r selling “THIS Irene Rollino Patterson Dennis R. Amantite PO INT ......in time” Lloyd & Melba Farley Family Brenda McKinley Thanks to Albert J. Kollar Elizabeth McDonald Betty Dornan and the Mary Highfill Volunteers who open and Maxine Mayer close our history museum on Doris Silva Sonja Darling Thursday and Saturday. Inez Pestana Reva Ward M useum Hours: John Papadakis Grace & Jerry Cerkanowicz Thursday 11:30 am to 2:00 pm Shoney Gustafson Saturday 11:30 am to 2:00 pm Augustine G. Mac Donald Jan & Jerry Feagley Mid Dornan Thank You! Sandi Genser-Maack & Lynn Maack History Makers And a warm welcome to the following The Corbin Family new members: Corporate Sponsors: Computing Integrity Mark Healy History Preservers: Jon Healy Royce Ong Jim Healy Dennis & Ellen Schaefer Mr. & Mrs. Stanley Toledo Family Sherri Mertle Marjorie Harmon Kathe Kiehn 2 This Point.....in time Gary Shows (510-235-1336) By Bibliotek Lots of stuff going on with the The d eadline for the S ummer i ssue is welcome arrival of Springtime! This is my May 24, 2002. favorite time of the year. The February/March issue assembly Thanks to all contributors to this issue, crew. you have made it a good, information Jerry Cerkanowicz packed issue. You are a special group of Gary Shows people very much appreciated for taking the Mid Doman time to gather informaion that many others Liz McDonald enjoy reading. But please remember that Mary Highfill there is just so much space in this booklet Pam Wilson and not everything that you send is Mid Doman guaranteed to b e p rinted. 1 a m t hinking o f changing to a slightly smaller font for the base of TPIT........any comments on that? We are grateful to Mid Doman for the thoughtful and skillful way she obtained PRIDE money for history purposes. Having these funds is very exciting because both the kiosk project and the plaque project have been on our “backbumers” for a long time and both should now proceed. The entire This is the old Kaiser Hospital, picture taken history oriented community thanks you Mid! March 31. 2002, is this the same building altered from the cover photo? Let me know please. The Cover: Kaiser’s Shipyard Three’s first aid station taken from a employee manual donated by LaVerne Rentfro Woolman, it belonged to her father. We are grateful for many items LaVerne has donated, you will find several images in this newsletter from that item. It will be available at the PRHA Museum after the next issue of TPIT. I cannot decide if this 1943 First Aid Station is the same structure as the old Kaiser Hospital on Cutting Blvd, see picture above, can you help? This Point.... in time 3 Mid Dornan (510-234-5334) Question:What is it that you throw *** away the outside, cook the inside, eat the Tired of looking at the old dishes? outside and throw away the inside? Too much junk in the garage? N eed new Answer at end of trivia. furniture? You are just in time to get rid of it for the Annual Juntique Sale at the It’s no April Fool joke! Energetic, Methodist Church on Saturday, May 4th. tireless Anna Schwarz is an April 1st baby, Call the church to learn when/where to drop who will celebrate her 90th birthday this it off or for more info, at 236-0527. year. Coming to share the birthday Need it picked up? celebration are relatives from Germany and *** good friend, Dody Peny, will host a Remember when being all washed up luncheon in her honor. P.S. Anna fell and meant you were ready to eat dinner. cracked some ribs but that didn’t deter her from playing the organ at a commitment the Deborah Haley has found an old bell next day! Happy 90th Anna!! And, on the top of the old firehouse. Does MANY MORE. anyone know about a bell that may have *** been t aken down a s 1 ong ago as the 1906 Celebrating their April birthdays Pam earthquake? Wilson, Membership chairman, and her twin sister Paula Israili, flew to London to Many words infiltrate our language attend a few plays, and enjoy England. but when do they head for the dictionary? (You were missed at the April collating, Lencographers are obligated to be selective Pam!) and figure which words have staying *** power. Many words, like chad, fade Donna Wilson, mother of the twins, quickly. New words being considered are returned in March from a trip to Italy. But, burqu, ground zero, Taliban, 9/11 to be she claims this time she didn’t throw any alphabetized by the spelling of the first coins into the Trevi Fountain - having done digit - between ‘nine days wonder and nine that three times before and didn’t care pin.’ about returning. Donna also ran into a *** friend from her former work there. Bette Tarr’s Wig Wag note cards and *** posters have been selling like ‘hot cakes’. Lucky Phil, Pete and Hannah Darling, Proceeds go to the Wig Wag Defense Fund. grandchildren of Wally & Marilyn Darling, Have you seen Jim DeWitt’s painting of the who took them to the Winter Olympics in wig wags? He , also, is donating $40 per Salt Lake City! picture to the fund. 4 This Point in time The man who invented Voice Mail, and Helen and Robert Stewart returned died in February, made millions but he has from t he C anary I slands just in time t o c ast caused headaches and confusion to as many their votes on March 5th. others. Have you tried to connect with a real By Bibliotek *** voice with SBC (Pac Bell) recently? When a Filed your taxes with the IRS? One live person was finally contacted, that person thing a lot of people have after taxes is a wasn’t knowledgeable of the required guilty conscience. - Or not! information and still couldn’t get a live voice * * * who could be of help! Sadly, the devastating four alarm fire in downtown Point Richmond that Sunday Interested in planning the future of could have been avoided had someone Point Richmond? Have ideas you think are notified authorities of an illegal drug lab. worth presenting? You are invited to attend Thanks to Richmond firemen were heroic in the “ Envision P oint R ichmond” meeting 1 ed battling a potential catastrophic fire in our by Planner Allan Folks on Saturday, April 20, historic district of wooden buildings. Their 2002, 10 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. at the Quality Inn, praises were heard from many viewing the Cutting and Canal. This is another of the damages. Thanks, too, to all those engines Pride Fund rewards in action. coming from San Ramon, El Cerrito, Pinole, Crockett/Carquinez, Orinda/Moraga, Congratulations to Our Lady of Mercy Chevron and Contra Costa County just in Catholic Church as they celebrate a hundred case. years: 1902-2002.