When postage was only 10-cents and the Historical Society did not have a History Room, the only means of communication was a bulletin published monthly. Today postage is 49-cents, we have the History Room to visit and electronic means of communication. Times have changed drastically in 40 years, but as you’ll see in the following newsletter from September 1975, many things have not.
The Lafayette Historical Society published Bulletin Vol. V No. 1
Chris Schreiber president of LHS – Martha Gridley editor.
MEMBERSHIP
Membership chairman, Betsy Willcuts reports 52 new members and 148 renewals for a total of 200 members. (Note: LHS currently has just about the same number of members!) Latest new members are: The Donald Dawsons, John Parkanys, Jack Pedders, Louis Koenigs, H. K. Bartons, Lloyde Kindalls, Robert Mathias’, Thomas Henrys, Evan Sawderys, Jack Baileys, Roy Hedtkes, Dwight Swobes, Lloyd Peras, Ernest Andersons, Theodore w. Craigs, Norman L. Hawkins, Jr., Robert Hobsons and Steve Duncan. Welcome to all of you. (Do you recognize any names?)
PROGRAMS
The Orinda Historical Society will host the first meeting of the year on Sept. 23rd at 8 p.m. at the Orinda Library.
The Moraga Historical society will present the October meeting at the Moraga Library at 8 p.m. on October 9th. “Earthquakes and Faults” will be the subject. Moraga is holding a potluck dinner October 25th, details next month.
LHS presents Randy Millikin with his subject “A Bi-centennial Talk on Contra Costa County in 1776.” This will be the November meeting held at 8 p.m. at Lafayette school auditorium on November 18th.
Our program chairman, Mary McIvor, is in the process of planning a field trip by bus in May. Anyone with ideas of a place of interest we could visit are asked to call Mary at 555-1212.
BICENTENNIAL
Our bicentennial committee chairman, Lou Repetto, has been helping to make plans for the Lafayette celebration. There will be a town meeting at 8 p.m. on Oct 11 in room 14 at Stanley school to discuss plans. If you wish to have a voice in these plans, attend this meeting.
ORAL HISTORY
Oral histories have been taken from Nat Martin, Clarence Brown and Louie L. Stein, Jr. (LHS continues to collect oral histories from long time residents.)
PICTURES, LANDMARKS AND ARTIFACTS
Joan Merryman has been busy unearthing old pictures to reproduce for our file at the Lafayette library. LHS thanks her for her efforts and she is grateful for the cooperation of the following people: Ken Brown, Alice McNeil Russi, Louis L. Stein, Jr., Eleanor Starks Meyers, Nancy Flood, Genevieve Gallagher, Leela Stevens-Craig, MD, Moraga Historical Society, Clarence Brown, Sybil Wilkinson, Carroll Nelson of Carroll’s Upholstery, John Mustard, Jane Putnam of Lafayette Sun, Nat Martin and Brian McRae of East Bay Water.
Bill Wakeman whose family moved to Oakland Avenue in 1919 has given 24 Indian arrowheads to the LHS permanent collection. (The arrows are on display in the History Room today.)
Eleanor Starks Meyers and LeRoy Starks, whose family has been in this area since the 1880’s, have given the historical society valuable information about the early day activities of our town. Their mother, May Daley Starks, grew up in the house by the creek on Moraga Blvd. still referred to as the “Daley house”. Once part of a large farm, it is surrounded now by trees and neighboring homes. (The red house still stands on Moraga Blvd.) Photographs of the family market on Moraga Rd. as well as other scenes of Lafayette and its residents in the 1920’s and 30’s have been loaned to the LHS. These photos are now being processed and may soon be seen in the historical file cabinet in the Lafayette Library. (These photos and more are now available in the History Room as well as archived digital images.)
We hope you’ll recognize some names and places. We owe a great deal of gratitude to these pioneers of the Lafayette Historical Society for their dedication to Lafayette history. We hope that you’ll consider joining LHS and supporting our continued efforts.
Does anyone have history or photos of the helipad in Lafayette 1960’s that flew passengers to SFO ?
Thank you so much