When We Arrived Here Fifty Years Ago

Coming up Mtn. Ranch Road there was one yellow line down the middle of the road with no white line on each side.  No guard rails or caution signs.  What a pleasant drive and everyone waved at each other as you met on the road.

Just past Cave City Road Mr. Bob Burge was raising turkeys on what is now the Mayo property.  The El Dorado Ranch did not have the stone entrance.  Johnny Jones lived in the little house at the entrance.

The beauty shop was a small home.  The cafe and landscape business was not there.

The vacant lot where Joe Thomas has his tractors on display had two houses green in color on it that some local hippies converted into a hot tub business.  A family by the name of Goff lived in one.

Bob Leidecker drove the local school bus.  Bob and Mary lived in the next home where their daughter Jeanie now lives.    Bob Leidecker's mother lived in the little house next to the swimming pool.

The bike trail was not there.

The baseball field and park was a large walnut orchard.

The Resource Center was a school for handicap ed students.

The large lot where the Blunder Inn now stands and the gas station was an equipment yard, for Al  Pargett.  The firehouse was not here.  We built it later to become Mtn. Ranch Fire Department.

The building where Stark Realty is now was just an old vacant shack.  Later Bill Stark redid the building and opened his office.

The Community Hall had an oak tree in front, a fireplace and wood burning kitchen stove, and a large wood shed in front.  The Town Hall received their water from the Domenghini system with a pipe line under the county road.

When we arrived in Mtn. Ranch on a Sunday in late June of 1965 the street was littered with paper cups, crepe paper and plates.  What a mess.  We could not figure out why this quaint little town we saw earlier looked so bad.  Later we learned that was the weekend that Erick and Paulie got married.  The only other person we saw that Sunday morning was a huge an with full beard picking up all this trash.  We learned later that was Paul Morse, Paulie Senders father.

The new post office was not there.  That lot was a large garden tended later by Harry Rilea, Florence Alberts father.

The home across from the Town Hall was occupied by Mr. & Mrs. Cook.  Her mother lived in the home which is now the Lutheran Church.

The large adobe building known as the Dughi building was in bad shape and Slim Thomas lived in one downstairs room.

There was an outhouse and Slim got his water from the Domenghini system.  The new porch and balcony were added later to look original.

The small house across the street was owned by the Cuslidge family but it was not used.  Florence Alberts parents moved into it much later.

The house where the Mtn. Ranch Realty office is was occupied by Dave Zwinge and his wife Lola. That's where we lived when we came.  They moved over across by the sawmill.

On the opposite corner was the post office where Virginia Butterfield was the Postmaster.  That building, along with the original small post office is restored and on display with the old fire truck across from the Dughi building.

There was no Ace Hardware, lumber yard or supermarket.  There was a big square two story stone building at the end of Washington Street.  Across the street was the Tisher building, it is vacant today.

On Garabaldi  Street was Senders Market.  Gus Sender and his son Erick operated this store which was famous throughout the area for quality meat.  There is a large photo of the original Senders Market hanging at the end of the meat counter. 

A lean-to was added to Senders market and opened as "Opa's Smokehouse" which was a beer bar operated by Gus Sender.  There was a bridge across the creek which is now covered by parking lot.

Next to Senders was the old dance hall used at this time by the Domenghini Family as a warehouse for their hardware business.

The stone building with iron doors was the General Store operated by Francis Devoto after Louie Domenghini died in 1962.

An old-fashioned store with a wood-burning stove, coffee pot and chairs with plenty of conversation.  This store had gas pumps out front, also a large walk-in box and barrels with white gas and kerosene.

Clorinda Domenghini was the owner and Francis had worked for the family for many years.  She lived in the old house now occupied by the Alberts.  The pole barn used as a garage is gone, which she had built when she married in 1899.

Across the street was where Edith lived, the daughter-in-law of Clorinda.  This house was moved across the street in 1938 when the large porches were added.

Further up Garabaldi Street there were five cabins built in the 1940's for the sawmill workers; only 2 remain today.  Because of drunks living there, the street was called Wobbly Lane.

Across the field from the cabins was a stagecoach barn, a beautiful old barn which has long disappeared.

Up the hill was the cemetary which is now twice the size it was then.  The iron fence and gate is a recent addition.

There was no mini-storage but the house was there.  Bill Copley lived at the corner of Mtn. Ranch Road and Ave. "A".  His father Howard Copley lived on Ave. "A" where the tall redwood trees are.

The old Hotel was occupied by Eldon Lane and wife Blossom, part-time.  It was in rough condition and they worked on it continuously.

Of course the Joses Ranch a mile north was here and operating in full swing.

The Community Church out there on East Murray Creek was not here yet.

All in all there have been many physical changes to our town especially since all these ranches were subdivided in the 1970's and 1980's.  The influx of people helped build the many businesses and changes you see today.

Can you remember what it looked like when you got here?

Phil and Florence Alberts