The following snippets of history are drawn from the pages of the Healdsburg Tribune, the Healdsburg Enterprise and the Sotoyome Scimitar, and are prepared by the volunteers at the Healdsburg Museum & Historical Society. Admission is always free at the museum, open Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
100 years ago – December 13, 1917
Ice creamless day
Henry Chaney has decided to recognize the recommendation for Hooverizing, and for a time will observe Thursdays as ice-creamless days. So if you are accustomed to daily enjoying the tasty dishes of this delicacy at Chaney’s, be sure to eat sufficient on Wednesday to pull you through until Friday. (The United States Food Administration, created during World War I and headed by Herbert Hoover, urged Americans to conserve in order that food could be delivered to Europe, where people were starving.)
50 years ago – December 14, 1967
300 Attend Reveillon de Noel
The Reveillon de Noel was another social highlight of the year for partygoers of Healdsburg, Geyservllle, Cloverdale and other county points gathering at the Villa with its traditional Yule decorations for a Saturday nightlong festivity. Three hundred were served from a long, long buffet along the west wall of the Villa’s dining room, the table laden with dozens of foods. Individual tables were located throughout the dining room … no speeches, of course. Ernie Heckscher is the leader of the orchestra in the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco and he had a five-man combo on the bandstand until two o’clock in the morning. All decorations were made available to partygoers via a silent auction. The highlight item was a huge, flocked fir tree in the middle of the ballroom. From each chandelier was suspended a large hanging gold and cream decoration and trees lined the foyer.
25 years ago – December 9, 1992
City’s cemetery is being abused, random violence
Imagine going to the cemetery to pay respects to your beloved late mother, husband, or great aunt and finding their tombstone spray-painted, your bouquet of flowers stomped on, or the mausoleum’s glass doors shattered into a million pieces. If you’ve visited Healdsburg’s Oak Mound Cemetery lately you don’t have to imagine it. You’ve seen it all, and more. Much of Healdsburg’s history is buried at the cemetery. Former town founders, clergy members, town doctors, attorneys, famous and infamous characters of Healdsburg’s past have one thing in common – they’re all resting at the cemetery. But there have been some unwelcome visitors to the cemetery lately. Some have come to create mischief, others are simply careless or unaware of the damage they are creating. Still others are out to destroy, desecrate, and damage all they can get their hands on.
