100 years ago – April 26, 1923
Plan to Beautify Gateway to City
In connection with Clean-Up Week, which is to be held here beginning on April 30, members of the board of trustees and the Chamber of Commerce are discussing a plan to do away with the unsightly conditions at the septic tanks, at the southern gateway to the city.
In the present condition, the vicinity of the tanks present an eye-sore noticed by every traveler entering by the highway. It has been proposed that a corporation yard be purchased for the storing of pipe and other city equipment, and that the septic tank site be covered over and made into a garden spot. The plan is understood to have the approval of the trustees.
75 years ago – April 30, 1948
Recreation Park to Be Setting for May Festival
A colorful May Pole dance, a costume parade and the crowning of kings and queens will turn Recreation Park into a veritable fairy land next Friday afternoon, when students of the Elementary School present for the community a May Festival.
Less fanciful, but no doubt as colorful, will be the softball game to be played by sixth graders following the pageant.
The May Pole dance will be staged by fourth graders. Students of the first, second and third grades will parade in costume, and a king and queen from each class will be crowned. Folk dances will be presented by the various classes, and sixth, seventh and eighth graders of the folk dance club will offer special dances. Girls’ physical education classes of the seventh and eighth grades will also contribute special numbers.
50 years ago – April 26, 1973
Buses to Windsor?
The State Allocation Board approved a $480,212 loan to the Healdsburg High School District to rebuild the main classroom building of Healdsburg Junior High on the present site. Superintendent Bob Malone and Principal Ed Matteoli represented the district at the hearing.
However, it is not certain that the school will be rebuilt on the present site. After hearing reports from a geologist, engineer, architect and state department representatives in a special meeting Monday night, trustees ordered a feasibility study on expansion of Windsor Junior High. This would be tantamount to abandoning the present site and daily busing of 325 pupils to and from Windsor.
Geological conditions, the structural safety of the gymnasium and the adequacy of the present site apparently caused the board to consider another site. Geologist Paul Vincilione told the board the majority of Healdsburg is located on an earthquake fault line of some degree, and that it is possibly as safe to rebuild where it is as anywhere.
In the case of a severe earthquake, Vincilione estimated the main building of 1918 vintage would crumble with little chance of saving personnel. Depending on the severity of a quake, he said, the gym might also be wrecked, but the chances of saving lives there would be better. It was built in 1934.
Thanks to the Healdsburg Museum and Historical Society.
