This Week in Marin History
Archives
December 2009

Early recycler

On Dec. 26, 1855, Samuel P. Taylor and his partner Victor B. Post paid $505 for 100 acres of timberland in what is today Samuel P. Taylor State Park. Taylor then opened the West’s first paper mill (water-powered), converting scrap paper and rags collected by Chinese in San Francisco into election ballots, wrapping paper, flat-bottomed paper bags (a novelty at the time) and of course newsprint. (The paper products were originally shipped via schooner—if the boat was late, so were the San Francisco newspapers.) Taylor’s environmental sensibilities also extended to the local salmon and steelhead, inspiring him to create the West Coast’s first fish ladder.

Paper Mill Creek Dam with fish ladder, lower right corner, late 1880s. Marin History Museum, Roy Farrington Jones Collection.

Christmas in Corte Madera

Christmas Tree Hill in west Corte Madera was so named when, in the 1920s, PG&E used colored bulbs in streetlights to form the shape of a giant Christmas tree. Hillside dwellers revived the custom during WWII when they lit the outside of their homes, topping the resulting 900-foot “tree” with a revolving star. (A Ripley’s “Believe It or Not” column called it the world’s tallest Christmas tree.) Christmas lit up Corte Madera in other ways, too—in the 1950s and early 1960s residents enjoyed a post-holiday celebration by gathering around a huge bonfire of used Christmas trees piled high in the center of town. (The local fire department was fortunately close at hand.)

Looking toward Corte Madera from present location of Corte Madera Shopping Center, 1932. Marin History Museum, George Thierbach Collection.

Booming Belvedere

On Dec. 21, 1896, Belvedere incorporated by a vote of 33 to 24. The first post office opened in 1897, and by 1899 the city boasted a 50-room hotel and 50 houses, many of which were built by Dan McLean, contractor, fire chief, and city councilman. Life was bustling, with Belvedere “matrons” eschewing Tiburon’s “rough and tumble” Main Street for Beach Road, which offered everything from produce vendors to a beauty shop. Arks flocked to Belvedere Lagoon, as did tourists who enjoyed the annual “A Night in Venice” event replete with music, fireworks and Chinese lanterns. The festival ended in 1927, when mud pumped into the lagoon paved the way for more roads and homes.

View from Corinthian Island toward Beach Road in Belvedere, c.1890. Photograph courtesy of California State Library Collection, from the Belvedere-Tiburon Landmarks Society.

Justice is served

On Dec. 13, 1969, the Civic Center Hall of Justice was introduced to the public at an open house. According to the Independent Journal, “The first thing that impresses about the new wing…is its length—858 feet compared to 530 feet of the administration wing. It is equal to a 40-story building laid on its side. …It is overpoweringly, unmistakably Frank Lloyd Wright. Let us walk the long corridors, ogle the décor, and rejoice in what is without doubt the most unusual county building in the United States.” The construction of the $11.8 million Hall of Justice began in 1966, four years after the completion of the administration wing and seven years after Wright’s death.

Cornerstone ceremony for the new Civic Center Hall of Justice, c.1960.

Top hat house

On Dec. 1, 1888, renowned San Francisco attorney and orator Hall McAllister, owner of the 52-room Mira Monte estate in Kentfield, died after suffering from “nervous prostration brought on by overwork.” (McAllister St. in San Francisco is named after him.) After the Yale-educated lawyer arrived in the city, he quickly established a reputation in substance and style. Dressed “with dignity in a black frock coat and top hat,” it was said that his court appearances “rivaled opening night at the opera.” His elegance was also apparent in his properties, including Mira Monte, his stained-glass windowed “country home” in Marin County. It was taken down in the 1950s.

Hall McAllister?fs Mira Monte estate in Kentfield, 1898.