Historical Stories by
Lynne Schmitz

List of historical stories by Lynne Schmitz, courtesy of Paso Robles Magazine. Click on a link or scroll below to read each historical story.

• Hoffmann Electric Plant - March 2009
• San Miguel Flouring Mill - April 2009
• Memoirs from the 1970s - May 2009
• Rios-Caledonia Adobe - June 2009
• San Miguel School - July 2009
• San Miguel Organizations - August 2009
• Mission San Miguel - September 2009
• Pioneer Day Queen Maggie Vandergon - October 2009
• Mission Restoration History - November 2009
• Camp Roberts USO - December 2009
• Camp Roberts Museum - January 2010
• San Miguel Cemetery - April 2010

Hoffmann Electric Plant

San Miguel was one of the first towns in the county to be ‘electrified’, due to the lively and inventive mind of an early resident, C F (Christian Frederich) Hoffmann.  Born in Germany in 1866, he came to America in 1882.  He was an accomplished musician and a lifelong student.  His studies included engineering and electricity, and he was keenly interested in politics and current events.  
In 1887, he became a naturalized citizen, moved to California and to San Miguel, where he bought and farmed land east of town between Lowe’s and Mahoney Canyons.  He built a house and outbuildings, and planted a family orchard.  In 1890, he and Frieda Krauter were married in San Miguel.  At the time, raising livestock was the primary enterprise for local ranchers.  Hoffmann was one of the first to plant grain. He built a stationary thresher and a steam engine to power it.
Severe drought in the late 1890’s dried up wells and in 1899, the family of nine decided to move to Oregon.  Hoffmann built an original “house-on-wheels” which was pulled by four horses.  It caused quite a stir as they traveled, stopping to work along the way.  The family got as far as Anderson, near Redding, where they farmed successfully for a couple of years.  Around 1901, they returned to San Miguel and he purchased the Maxwell Hotel, including 11 lots.  He covered the walls and ceilings with decorative hammered metal which is still in excellent condition. 
The historic building perches on the hill at the top of 13th Street, between L and K Streets, along with a couple of the outbuildings where Hoffmann worked. It was built in the late 1800s in what is now called San Lawrence Terrace, to accommodate passengers on the new railroad which was expected to be built along the bluffs east of the Salinas River.  However, Southern Pacific crossed the river at Bradley and brought the tracks through on the west side.  The building was then moved in two pieces across the river to its present site. 
In 1910, Hoffmann designed, personally funded, and built a power plant to replace the gaslights.  One of several innovations was using incandescent bulbs in the streetlights.  Initially, power was run to the businesses downtown and turned on from 4 am until daylight, then from sundown to 10 pm.  Eventually he sold the company to Midland Counties Public Service Corporation which became San Joaquin Light and Power Co. They later became Pacific Gas & Electric.
Early in the 1920’s, he and his son, Bill, rebuilt the San Miguel Water Works.  C F became the superintendent at a minimal salary, doing repairs, installations, and maintenance, reading meters, keeping books, and collecting the bills.  It was the only self-supporting water district in the county at the time and paid off all the bonds in less than nine years.  
In 1915, Hoffmann was the Secretary of the Board of the independent San Miguel Interurban Telephone Company.  He urged the directors to put in an automated system he had in mind, but was voted down. 
C F Hoffmann passed away in 1941.  Their youngest son Ben, who had moved away, returned with his wife, Esther, and purchased the property from his mother, Frieda.  He opened an auto repair business there and served the people of the area honestly and fairly as an excellent mechanic for many years while raising his family.  His sons, Dick and wife Jean Thacker Hoffmann and Don and JoAnn Joy Hoffmann maintain the interior in original style, giving a glimpse into its past life. 
Thanks to the Hoffmann family for the information. 

San Miguel Flouring Mill

Memoirs From the 1970s

Just for fun, I delved into my musty files and dusted off a sheaf of old columns written by my good friend Gay Walker Garrison and me as “Lynne & Gay” back when “green” was only a color, and the net was something with which to catch butterflies.
Gay and I got the writing bug in the 1970s.  We would get together one evening each week at either house, and pound out our columns on an old typewriter, finishing up around 1 or 2 am.  Both of us being word-phreaks (coined, I believe, by Herb Caen of San Francisco), we endeavored to make it interesting.  As the hours grew late, we would sometimes dissolve into the hysteria of borrowed energy when some mundane phrase seemed just too funny. We tried not to wake the children, whom, we later found out, would be listening to us type and whisper and giggle.  Some things were not for publication, but we would speculate about how they might be written.  Our column appeared in several different local newspapers through the years.
As I browsed through columns written in 1975, I was picturing the faces of so many good friends and neighbors who are no longer here, some living in other places and others we will never be able to see again.  The Witcosky family owned Witcosky’s Grocery.  Larry and Shirley Upton owned the Chevron Station.  Both families could be counted on when there was an event or need in town. 
The columns were liberally sprinkled with the doings of families, such as entertaining out of town guests or where they went on their vacations.  A lot of space was dedicated to the school news and the doings of the Parent-Teacher Organization.  Our children were attending Lillian Larsen School and we were both busy ‘room mothers’. 
In February, 1975, the San Miguel Advisory Committee was formed with the blessing of the county.  Manuel Cisneros and Art Robinson were part of the Formulating Committee.  Both were also very active members of the San Miguel Lions Club.  That same month, two buildings on Mission Street north of 12th burned.  The Weekend Gardener now occupies the place that was then Turner’s Tavern.  Over the years, fires destroyed several buildings that have not been replaced.
That spring, building was begun on the new waste water disposal plant. 
The San Miguel Youth Association was formed to sponsor activities for the town’s children.  It was quite successful, with a gratifying number of parents involved.  The old USO building behind the Mission had been purchased by the Franciscans for the Old Mission parish and renamed the Padre Martin Hall.  The SMYA held dances there and a memorable haunted house one Halloween.  It was the venue for the school Christmas program that year.  Unfortunately, the hall was eventually torn down after being ruined by a rainstorm during some repair work.  Today, a new, much anticipated Parish Community Center is rising on the site. 
In September, there was a big ruckus over a rise in water rates (some things never change).  The Mission Fiesta Princess was Juli Krolak, with attendants Teri Rambo and Belinda Martin.  A Bicentennial Committee was formed by the Lillian Larsen PTO to prepare for the 1976 celebration.  Lillian Larsen school children still paraded through town in their Halloween finery, a custom of many years which fell by the wayside some time ago. 
Thirty years ago our lives were different as they will be thirty years hence.  “Memories are made of this…” sings the old song.  Enjoy your memories. 

Rios-Caledonia Adobe

Approaching San Miguel on Highway 101 from the south, the first building you see is the historic Rios-Caledonia Adobe. The two-story adobe was built around 1835 by Petronillo Rios with Indian labor on land claimed by Mission San Miguel.  In 1846, Rios, William Reed, & Miguel Garcia purchased the mission and land around it from Governor Pio Pico, who illegally sold several missions.  In 1846, Garcia gave up all of his interest in the property to Rios. 
The Reed family lived in the mission until they were viciously murdered in 1848 by two outlaws and four sailors who had deserted their ship. That left Rios solely in charge of the property.  In the 1850s, he was able to obtain a clear title from US Land Commission.  In 1861, Petronillo and Esteban Rios transferred their interest in San Miguel Mission to the Catholic Church. 
Petronillo and Caterina Avila Rios had twelve children, of which nine survived.   The family lived in the adobe for a time in the 1850s.  There were six rooms inside and several outbuildings. 
Guests at the hotel were treated with great hospitality. In 1861, it became a stop for stage coaches running between San Francisco and Los Angeles. 
In 1868, Scotsman George Butchart purchased property, naming it ‘Caledonia’ for his native land.  Over the next few years, he remodeled the stage stop, including installation of doors and windows for the saloon, store, and hotel.   In 1878, Mr. Butchart sold the property. 
That year, a severe drought devastated the area.  The property changed hands three times.   At the end of the 1800s, three businesses being conducted in the adobe were a doctor’s office, a Mattress and Upholstery Shop, and a Dressmaker and Tailor Shop. In 1886, a Wells, Fargo & Co agent moved his office into the adobe. 
The railroad had arrived in San Miguel.  The town, which had originally been built south of the mission and had suffered some fires, was rebuilt north of the mission where the new train depot was located.   In 1887, school classes were held in two of the rooms. 
In 1903, Swedish immigrants Alfred and Anna Nygren bought the adobe, the last family to live there.  Two daughters were born in the adobe, Lillian in 1904 and Anna in 1907.  In 1910, they built a new home on the property.  Over the years, portions of the Caledonia property were being gradually sold.  The adobe became abandoned and neglected. 
In 1923, Charles and Sarah Dorries, from southern CA, purchased the relic. They enthusiastically restored and improved it, building an extension on the north side, an almond stand, and installing a gasoline pump.  The grounds were landscaped, with a wishing well, an aviary of canaries, and a large fruit orchard.  They displayed artifacts and antiques to their visitors. 
In the early 1930s, Mr. Dorries saved the adobe from being destroyed by State of CA to realign the highway, which was relocated to the west side of the building.  In 1954, he was seriously injured and hospitalized for the rest of his life.  The adobe was again abandoned, vandalized severely, and left in ruins. 
In 1964, San Luis Obispo County bought the adobe to restore it. With help from the Native Daughters of the Golden West, money was raised for the restoration. 
In 1968, local San Miguel women formed Friends of the Adobes to assist in fund-raising.  The historic building was again opened to the public in 1978.  Today, the adobe rooms have been appointed to show various uses from the past.  The Dorries’ addition houses a gift shop. 

History of San Miguel School

In San Miguel, one of the oldest townships in San Luis Obispo County, the history of the school also goes back a long way.  One might say that the very first school here was Franciscan missionaries teaching the Indians in 1798. The first official school ‘building’ was a large circle of sagebrush just north of town in 1870.
Probably the first inside school rooms were those used in the Old Mission and the Rios-Caledonia Adobe.  The San Miguel Joint Union School District was formed in 1871.  Soon after, a small schoolhouse was built in the area of 14th and N Streets, made of adobe bricks gleaned from crumbled Old Mission walls. A beautiful two-story red brick schoolhouse with four rooms and a belfry was erected in 1888 near the intersection of 13th and K Streets, on property between 11th and 13th Streets which was donated by the Pacific Improvement Company.  The bricks were made of local clay and burned in a new kiln on the Salinas River near the Caledonia Adobe.  It was one of the first brick buildings built here after the kiln was established.  Two wooden outhouses, one for boys and one for girls, were built in back (replaced with modern facilities in the 1940s). As enrollment increased, individual classrooms built of wood were added, situated along a sidewalk which still meanders through the park. A long building housing two classrooms was built at the south end of the school property. Across K Street was the ball field.  In the late 1940s, a building was moved in from Camp Roberts and made into a cafeteria.  In 1950, when the present Highway 101 was built on the west side of town, the school was relocated to its present site on 16th Street and dedicated to Mrs. Lillian Larsen, who taught there for 27 years.  The brick schoolhouse was torn down.  The old cafeteria building was moved across the ball field to the other side of the alley to be used as community center.  The wood classrooms were resituated at the new school site and renovated with stucco siding and windows sealed to eliminate highway traffic noise.  In the 1980s, a new administration building was built, including a cafeteria, a teacher’s lounge, and a small library.  Later, the building of a new, larger cafeteria with a teacher’s lounge enabled expansion of the library in the administration building, and addition of a computer lab. In 2002, the Don Wolf Memorial Recreation Center was built, adding a much-needed gymnasium to the school. 
Part of Heritage Ranch and all of Oak Shores were incorporated into the District following the building of Lake Nacimiento.  The number of children attending school from those outlying areas became an impetus to build a school nearby.  Cappy Culver School, built just north of Heritage Ranch, was dedicated in 2006 and named for an outstanding sixth grade teacher.  San Miguel schools have always served grades K-8.  The area is included in the Paso Robles Joint High School District. Some years ago, efforts to unify the districts were voted down by the independent people from San Miguel. The old school site on K Street was made into a county park with a swimming pool.  The original school bell, which was cast in San Francisco in 1870, is showcased there in a monument reminiscent of the belfry.  It was designed by Dolly Awalt’s brother, Bunn Turnbow. But the sturdy metal bars, rings, merry-go-round, and slides on which school children played happily for many years were removed a few years ago by the county because they were considered dangerous. 

San Miguel Organizations

San Miguel has a long history of organizations and can-do people who have been instrumental in adding to our quality of life.  Looking at the list of organizations on the community calendar each month gives a sense of energy and viability in the community.  
The San Miguel Lions Club has been a fixture in the town for many busy and productive years. Thanks to their efforts, San Miguel children have been swimming free of charge for several years.  Over the years, they have seen needs and dependably filled them, including building a nice barbecue area in our park.  As part of the national organization, they provide vision care and glasses for those in need.  Meetings are held at 7 pm on the first and third Tuesdays of each month at the Community Building in the park.  For information, call Jeff Clark at 423-7952.  
Men and women born in California or of California-born parents on military assignments outside of the state are invited to be members of the Native Sons and the Native Daughters of the Golden West.  Both organizations work to restore and preserve California’s history and historical sites.  The Native Daughters have given funds individually and as an organization to help with the restoration of our own Mission San Miguel. As part of the state organization, the Native Sons help children with cranial/facial abnormalities.  They meet on the third Thursday of the month at the Senior Center.  The Children’s Foundation Committee of Native Daughters aids children with medical/dental needs not covered by insurance.  They meet on the second Wednesday of the month at 7 pm at the Senior Center. For information, call Judi or Fred Thacker at 467-0093. 
The Friends of the Adobes was founded when restoration of the long-neglected Rios-Caledonia was undertaken. They are active in maintaining the Adobe and preserving local history.  Meetings are at noon on the fourth Wednesday of the month at the Rios-Caledonia. 
The San Miguel Resource Connection is a new group, formed about five years ago to provide art and music at Lillian Larsen School and to form partnerships (connections) with other groups and individuals to help improve the town and community.  Their innovative and successful school program, Masters at Their Trade, provides professional artists, artisans, and musicians who teach classes during the after-school programs. A well-attended business fair last year acquainted people with the opportunities in San Miguel.  Their web site is Discoversanmiguel.com, where you can check the Community Calendar for events and information about the town.  Meetings are held at 7 pm each month at Lillian Larsen School. For information, call Jean Hoffmann at 467-0194. 
Lighthouse Community Church (467-3636) and Mission San Miguel (467-2131) both have active groups whose members work to sustain them and help those in need. 
The San Miguel Senior Citizens maintain the Senior Center, which is available to the community for events.  To raise funds, they hold a Dinner and Bingo night on the second and fourth Fridays and a Pancake Breakfast on the last Sunday of the month.  A sewing and craft group, Twisted Stitchers, meets there on Thursdays from 9 am to 2 pm.  For information, call Bette at 467-3445 or 674-2965. 
San Miguel has always had a Volunteer Fire Department (467-3300).  They provide training and gear for the firefighters. 
More opportunities include the School Board, Cemetery Board, San Miguel Advisory Council, Friends of the Library, and San Miguel Community Services District Board. For youth, there are 4-H Clubs and scouting.  Interest and involvement of citizens can make a happy and successful community.  Volunteers are welcome and needed everywhere.  Call today. 

Mission San Miguel

Mission San Miguel Arcangel, 16th in a chain of the 21 California missions, has been through a lot during its 212-year history, but has so far survived events that nearly destroyed other missions.   It was founded in 1797 by Franciscan Father Fermin de Lasuen. 
In the early days, it was one of the more affluent missions, with large numbers of converted natives, crops, and livestock.  San Miguel claimed hundreds of surrounding acres, as did the other missions.  But by 1830, various upheavals in the state had decimated their lands and their assets. 
In 1813, the California missions were secularized, taken from the Franciscans by the Mexican governors.  A secular priest was assigned to the church.  An appropriate building was chosen for his residence, and all the other buildings were given over for public use.  The extensive lands were sold.  From around 1840 to 1849, there was no priest here and few Indians remained.  The buildings, except for the church and the front rooms which were used, were falling into ruin.  San Miguel was returned to the Catholic Church in 1859.  By the 1880s, the town was growing north of the mission, and the parish once again began to thrive with the new settlers.  In 1897, a large celebration was held to celebrate the 100th anniversary of founding.  Repairs were being made. 
In the 1930s, then-pastor Fr. Tiburtius Wand, asked the Crettol family to move from Wasco to San Miguel to help with restoration.  Jess Crettol, born in Switzerland, was a stonemason who knew how to make and build with adobe bricks.  He and his sons rebuilt the back of the quadrangle, which had been reduced to rubble, on the old foundations, adding plumbing and wiring.  In the mid-1930s, Jess designed and built the stone bell tower which holds the bells in the cemetery adjoining the church.  A few years ago it was threatened with destruction as ‘un-reinforced masonry’, but further examination proved it to be well supported. 
In the 1950s, young men studying to become Franciscan priests or brothers spent one year of their novitiate here, and the Franciscans built a new wing to house them. Jess Crettol’s oldest son, Jesse, made the adobe and supervised this project.  The wall around the south end of the property was completed, and he built the brick campanile that has come to symbolize the town. 
Then, in December of 2003, the earthquake threatened to close the mission entirely although the newer building, built to earthquake standards, was undamaged.  The parish again was decimated, but many parishioners refused to leave in spite of hardships.  They and friends of the mission from all over, from school children to those who could give very generously, contributed to the restoration.  After six years, it is nearly completed.  A special evening mass in the renovated church, which houses the oldest original murals in the western United States, is planned for the end of September with Bishop Richard Garcia of the Monterey Diocese officiating.  It will also honor the 800th anniversary of the rule of St. Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor (OFM). 
For over 70 years, a fiesta has been held in September near the feast day of mission namesake, St. Michael the Archangel. The event provides funds to maintain the friars and the mission.  The outdoor Fiesta Mass is at 10 am.  The traditional barbecue is served from noon to 4 pm.  Games and entertainment fill the afternoon.  Please join the growing parish and friends of Mission San Miguel on Sunday, September 20 to celebrate and share in our future!

Pioneer Day Queen
Maggie Vandergon

This year’s Pioneer Day Queen Margaret Rice Vandergon, known to all as Maggie, has roots deep in the San Miguel area.  Her father, Frank Adams, purchased and settled on a hard-scrabble ranch in Vineyard Canyon, about 10 miles northeast of San Miguel in 1916, following his service in World War I.  Her mother, Ella Wolf Adams, lived ‘a couple of canyons over’ to the east, in Portuguese Canyon.  They were married at the Old Mission San Miguel in 1926 and settled in Vineyard Canyon.  Maggie arrived the next year, followed 15 months later by her brother, Don. 
When old enough to attend school at the age of 6, she was sent off on a horse to ride the four miles alone to and from the one-room Vineyard School in Indian Valley.  When her brother Don started school, they rode tandem on horseback.  At school, the older boys would help settle the horses for the day.  During recess, students played dodge-ball and marbles, and a very popular game called “Stab Toad”.  A circle was drawn in the dirt and they took turns flipping their pocket knives into different patterns drawn in the circle.  A pocket-knife was a cherished and useful gift for a child then.  When tractors came to farms in the area and fuel was delivered in 50-gallon drums, some farmers were persuaded to bring a few drums to the school.  The children climbed up and rolled them like logs.  The largest student body during that time numbered 13 children, in various grades.  School was not only for lessons, but was also a social center where dances were held during the year.  Her parents were very good dancers and taught them to dance.   Elections were held at the school-house which was also a social occasion.  Living a somewhat solitary life, Maggie became, and still is, an avid reader.  Ranch life was always busy, with each child assigned to chores after school.  Don kept the kindling box filled and Maggie was in charge of the chicken-house.  One onerous chore was to sandpaper the eggs clean so they could be traded for groceries at Thralls Market in San Miguel (which became Witcosky’s). She also patched gunny sacks with a curved needle and twine for the grain harvest, using old sacks for patching material. Exciting things sometimes happened.  One memorable day, her father was forking loose hay into the hay wagon where Maggie spread it evenly.  Suddenly a snake was pitched into the wagon with some hay.  She jumped out unhurt and, although Frank looked carefully, the snake had disappeared.  She made spending money by running trap lines to help rid the farm of varmints.  Her father paid her a penny for a field mouse, two cents for a kangaroo rat, a nickel for a squirrel, and ten cents for a cottontail or jackrabbit.  A coyote was worth a quarter because they preyed on the chickens. She was about nine years old when they got running water in the house.  There was no electricity but they got a battery operated radio.  An antenna wire about 100 feet long was strung through the oak trees.  She listened and laughed as New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia read the Sunday funny papers on the air.  On Sundays, the family attended Mass at Old Mission San Miguel then shopped for groceries. She remembers the Bank of Italy on the corner of 12th and Mission Streets, Eddy’s Mercantile Store, where one could buy nylons during the war, and Louis Larsen’s Garage at 14th and Mission Streets.  Pioneer Day is her favorite holiday.  Congratulations, Maggie!

Mission Restoration History

The reopening of the church at Old Mission San Miguel is a reminder of previous restoration efforts on the historical structure that was left to crumble following its near-abandonment in the early 1800s. 
Mission restoration brought the Crettol family to San Miguel in 1933.  Jess Crettol was a stonemason from Switzerland.  He left home early and traveled through Europe, eventually settling in Wasco, California at the invitation of two of his brothers who were farming there, having arrived earlier via a different route.  As well as working with stone, Jess knew how to make and build with adobe. He began building adobe houses and as his sons grew they helped and learned from him. The pastor of Mission San Miguel at the time, Rev. Tiburtius Wand, invited Jess to San Miguel to do some work on the mission. 
The front section of the quadrangle, including the main church, was intact, having been used as living quarters and even shops in the mid- to late- 1800s, but the other three sections lay in ruins due to time, weather, and neglect.  The decision was made to rebuild the entire quadrangle. Paso Robles blacksmith Fred Cudett built a mixer in which the adobe was made on site for some 250,000 bricks used to rebuild on the existing stone foundations. A wall was built around the cemetery, on the north side of the mission, and across the frontage. Jess built the large stone bell tower inside the cemetery in 1937 or ‘38.
A Franciscan, Brother Benedict Schlickum, who was a master carpenter and mason, employed his expertise on every phase of the restoration.  He built the fishponds in the front garden and the garden inside the quadrangle.  In the 1950s, the Franciscans decided to build a new wing to accommodate the novices, young men studying to become Franciscan priests and brothers, who spent one year in study at Mission San Miguel.  They contacted Jesse Crettol, Jess’s eldest son.  Jesse built a new adobe mixer which he used to make all the adobe bricks in the building and to extend the wall around the south end of the mission property. His father, Jess, helped with this project, as did the young students.  Fr. Ray Tintle, current pastor, remembers working with and learning from Jesse during his novitiate here.  For recreation, they added tennis courts and a handball court.  Jesse was given a picture of an old, crumbling wall and asked to ‘age’ the new walls in a similar fashion.  The project included the building of the brick campanile which has become an icon for the town of San Miguel.  He built a form to make cement bells for the campanile. They were faux-painted to look old and weathered.  
Once settled here, the Crettol family also worked on restoring Mission San Antonio and the Estrella Adobe, and built several adobe houses in this area that are still standing strong.  In 1948, Jesse met a widow and her two small children who had recently moved to San Miguel, my mother Lucille Hadley Bebout, my brother Ralph, and me. They were married in the mission in 1949, and we all became immersed in parish activities. He was our dad for forty years. Jess passed away in 1958 and Jesse in 1989. Following completion of the early restoration, Jess had purchased four plots in the mission cemetery where several early-day families were buried. Jesse’s youngest brother, Joseph, who was killed in World War II, his mother, Blanche, Jess, Jesse, and Lucille are all buried there in the shadow of the mission they loved.

Camp Roberts USO

Camp Roberts & Old Town San Miguel

I recently paid a visit to the Camp Roberts Historical Museum a couple miles north of San Miguel.  The building of Camp Roberts played a large part in our history in the 1940s, and the museum is full of donated memorabilia.  A secondary building features more displays along with heavy equipment.  Hours are 11 am to 4 pm on Thursday and Saturday.  Construction of Camp Roberts began in 1940 and workers poured into the area.  They needed places to live, and descended on San Miguel, renting any place available.  Some enterprising land owners set up tent encampments in and around the town.  One such was the ‘Franklin Pear Camp’ set up in a pear orchard along the Salinas River at the south end of town.  Some of the ‘tents’ were built of wood from crates used to ship jeeps.  Just north of the Pear Camp, rows of silver trailers filled a field across from the Old Mission. They are immortalized in an historical photograph taken from old Highway 101 near the private railroad crossing which accessed both properties.  Another tent encampment was located on the east side of the river, just north of the bridge.  Located along old Highway 101, San Miguel’s downtown was much larger then and soon bustling with activity with the swelling numbers of new residents. Walking through San Miguel in the early 1940s, if you started in the 1400 block going south on the west side of Mission Street, you passed the Shady Rest Motel, the Cotton Club and Louis Larsen’s Park Garage.  His wife, Lillian Larsen, was the first-grade teacher for whom our present school is named.  In the next block, Howard and Dottie Negley operated the independent San Miguel Interurban Telephone Company. R.W. Mann’s Real Estate office was on the corner across the street.  Past the Bressler Hotel, you might stop at Chames Soda Fountain for a delicious ice cream concoction. Next door, the barbershop was operated by the same family.  On the east side of the street  the train depot was busy dispensing water to the steam engines from the big tower next to the station, and mail was picked up and delivered there on a large hook. Passenger service had been operating since the station was built in the late 1800s.  Continuing to the 1200 block, the Foodway Market was on the corner and Bill’s Barbecue Café next, then the grocery store known as Thralls Market from the 1800s which was purchased by the Witcosky family in 1946.  You walked past Arthur Eddy’s Market which provided a variety of items for purchase, including clothing, tools, and household goods. Next, The Elkhorn, owned by Jack and Ednal Stringham, was a favored restaurant and watering hole for locals.  Across the street was the little constable’s station.  In the 1100 block was Swede’s Union Station and Bob McKim’s Sportsman’s Club said to have the longest bar in California. At the corner of Mission and 11th Streets, the San Miguel Theater screened movies in an old brick building, next door to the Mission Drug Store.  Upstairs, the ladies of the Rebeccas and Eastern Star and the Native Daughters held meetings in a nicely appointed room. Across the street sat a Dutch windmill which had been moved to San Miguel from the 1939 World’s Fair in San Francisco to be a club for Camp Roberts soldiers which never opened.  Interspersed through town were other restaurants, clubs, bars, service stations, and motels.  This boom lasted through the 1950s.  It brought a lot of new families to San Miguel who have become an integral part of our town. 

San Miguel Cemetery

“Do you know”, remarked my friend, Janice Kay Mumford who serves on the San Miguel Cemetery Board, “that Billy the Kid’s step-father is buried in our cemetery?” She immediately got my attention! 
Kay had come across a biography of William Henry Harrison Antrim whose life Cemetery Office Manager Bette Robinison researched after discovering his link to history.  Antrim was born in 1842 in Huntsville, Indiana.  In 1863, during the Civil War, he enlisted in the US Army as a ninety day volunteer in Company I 54th Regiment and was honorably discharged the following September.  In 1873, he married Catherine McCarty, the mother of one William H. Bonney, who came to be known as the outlaw Billy the Kid.  Although the family settled in Silver City, New Mexico, Antrim was a miner and a wanderer for much of his life.  Catherine passed away in 1874.  He left Billy and his older brother in New Mexico with other families and continued prospecting.  Eventually, he arrived in California and made his home with a niece (unnamed) living in Adelaida until his death on December 10, 1922 at the age of 80. 
The San Miguel Cemetery is located on Cemetery Road on the hill west of Highway 101, west of the Rios-Caledonia Adobe.  The site was originally part of the Adobe property.  According to writings of Anna Nygren Hebel, who was the last child born in the Adobe, Mr. Cooper (Charles J. Cooper, from whom her father purchased the Adobe) sold a portion of the property to Gaius Webster in 1895 for a cemetery.  However, the oldest grave identified is of Ella Montgomery in 1875, so it appears that portion may have already been in use for local burials.  According to county documents, on October 20, 1925 Gaius and Anna Webster deeded approximately four acres to the Rt. Rev. Francis Mora, Bishop of Monterey.  About the same time, Walter M. Jeffreys deeded an adjoining parcel of approximately three acres to the Rt. Rev. William Kip in trust to the Protestant Episcopal Church.  On June 19, 1939, the San Miguel Cemetery District was officially formed and recognized.  In 1970, the District received a properly drawn and recorded deed to the property. 
Kay and I paid a recent visit to the well-kept cemetery where many of our dear family and friends and those who are part and parcel of the history of the area now rest. The records were updated into a web base several years ago but efforts are ongoing to find and identify graves.  There are five areas, Mission Vista and Rio Vista (the oldest areas), Estrella and Paloma, Mesa Vista and Loma Linda.  The Veteran’s Cemetery and a columbarium are on the northeast corner. The office and rose garden is situated in the center facing south. Besides Mr. Antrim, three more Civil War veterans are interred there, William Paul Martin and George Sonnenberg, Sr., and Henry Kahl, Sr.  Two early graves lie fenced-in separately on the hillside above the cemetery proper.  “Jan Stroink, Native of Holland, died on March 11, 1887” is still clearly engraved on one headstone.  Beside it stands a wooden marker which has weathered away, said to be the resting place of a man of Chinese descent. Along the front driveway in the old area, a white wire enclosure resembling a crib guards one of the weathered wooden markers on what appears to be a child’s grave. Along the front fence a small obelisk engraved with the name of a 16-year-old girl stands alone and separate. These are little mysteries in the peacefulness of our San Miguel Cemetery.