This Week in Marin History
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September 2008

A Flowery Delight

In a letter dated September 23, 1909, naturalist John Muir paid tribute to Mt. Tamalpais: “The whole Tamalpais region is delightful and many times more interesting and instructive than is generally known by those living within an hour or two of it.”  However, Muir Woods’ namesake visited the mountain only briefly, hiking there when working in San Francisco. Another of his writings: “…I used to run out on short excursions to Mount Tamalpais, and I always brought back a lot of flowers—as many as I could carry—and it was most touching to see the quick natural enthusiasm in the hearts of the ragged, neglected, defrauded, dirty little wretches of the Tar Flat water-front of the city I used to pass through on my way home…”

John Muir and William Kent outside the Muir Woods lodge, c.1908.

“You’ll find in town no drunken lout”

On September 12, 1865, a Methodist minister organized members of the Sons of Temperance, Bolinas Division no. 8, to pledge “total abstinence from intoxicating drinks.”  Amused, the Marin County Journal cast doubts that hard-drinking Bolinas could suddenly become a teetotaling town. Not amused, Bolinas demanded an apology. Chastened, the paper then wrote: “ Instead of a hooting, yelling crowd of half-drunken men, may now be seen staid, sober citizens who deport themselves well, presenting a good moral example to the rising generation.”  Promoted by other temperance groups, including the United Ancient Order of Druids, sobriety in West Marin locales was maintained for some 20 years.

Bolinas, c.1900

Civic pride

On September 5, 1918, the first meeting of the Sausalito Woman’s Club was held in a new clubhouse designed by California architect Julia Morgan. The previous year, the president of the Bank of Sausalito donated a site on Central Avenue for the club, but money still needed to cover construction costs. Members sold olive oil and homemade rugs door-to-door, but fundraising efforts were overshadowed by a more pressing need to support American troops fighting in Europe. Not to worry—the Club’s president at the time related the dilemma to her husband, who was serving in France. His reply: He would be “greatly comforted in the trenches” if he knew events at home were “proceeding in a normal way.” The clubhouse was completed at a total cost of $5,757.50.

Sausalito Woman's Club, built in 1918