NEWSLETTERS
The Guild produces monthly newsletters with information about our activities, acquisitions, displays and other information of interest. They are items of historical interest in themselves. A list of newsletters that are available on-line appears below.
All documents and photos are copyright protected and may only be used for personal, educational, or scholarly purposes. If you wish to use any of these items for a commercial or other purpose, please contact the Guild at P.O. Box 961, Livermore, CA 94551-0961, by phone at 925 449-9927, or visit our office at 2155 Third Street in Livermore. High resolution scans of photos are available for sale in the Guild Office.
Click on any date to download that newsletter.
An index of Guild newletter topics by subject through
December 2005. All newsletters are available at the Carnegie
Museum at 2155 Third Street in Livermore. (14 pages in PDF
format)
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| JAN-FEB 2012 |
Featured article: "Seagrave Fire Engine Restoration Nears Completion," by Irv Stowers. |
| NOV-DEC 2011 |
Featured article: "Noachian" California Flood of 1862 - 150th Anniversary" by Jason Bezis |
| SEP-OCT 2011 |
Featured article: "Townsend School Building (1875) Rediscovered" by Jeff Kaskey |
| JUL-AUG 2011 |
Featured article: "Agua Puerca/Oak Spring: Forgotten Valley Landmark," a history of water in the Livermore Valley by Jason Bezis. |
| MAY-JUN 2011 |
Featured article is "A Carnegie Library for Livermore," the continuing story of the creation and history of our community's first library, now the home of the Livermore Heritage Guild. Written by Loretta Kaskey. |
| Featured Article: In mid-May of 1911, Livermore’s brand new Carnegie Library opened to the public. On Saturday, May 14, 2011, the Livermore Heritage Guild is joining forces with the Livermore Art Association (L.A.A.) to hold an art and history fair in celebration of this anniversary. | |
| JAN-FEB 2011 |
Featured Article: Altamont Rock Festival of 1969: The Aftermath (Part II of II) by Jason Bezis |
The featured article tells the story of the new “Firefighters' Parade” mural, dedicated on September 21st. Lead artist Vera Gordeev Lowdermilk and assistant Kean Adair Butterfield painted the mural, paid for by the City Commission for the Arts, on the easterly wall of the old city firehouse at 2369 First St. |
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The featured article covers the 100th Anniversary of the Wester Pacific Railroad's coming to Livermore. On August 22, 1910, the first Western Pacific (WP) passenger train stopped in Livermore en route to Oakland from Salt Lake City, via California's Feather River Canyon. The nation had its final transcontinental railroad line and Livermore its second set of tracks. |
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| JUL-AUG 2010 |
Irving Stowers writes about the restoration of the 1920 Seagrave fire engine that began service as Livermore's fire engine in 1919. |
| MAY-JUN 2010 |
Jason Bezis' tribute to Livermore's World War I "Gold Star"veterans. Jeff Kaskey writes of a "Springtime Visit to Sweet/Young Ranch" in the Altamont. |
| MAR-APR 2010 |
Part I of Jason Bezis' article, "Ältamont Rock Festival: '60s Abruptly End". Also, Rich Buckley writes of "Chief John Michelis: 1950's 'Çommunity Policing'" |
| JAN-FEB 2010 |
Jason Bezis contributes several articles: "Livermore Masonic Building Is 100 Years Old." "Remembering the 1980 Livermore Earthquakes," and "In Memoriam: Al Ofiesh." |
| NOV-DEC 2009 |
Coming Soon |
| SEP-OCT 2009 |
Gary Drummond describes the Army motor convoy's trip through Livermore in 1919 and again in 2009. "September 5, 1919 was expected to be a gala day in Livermore because the U. S. Army Motor Transport Corps would be in town. A welcoming committee had been organized, the Boy Scouts would meet the convoy at the county line. The convoy entered the town on east First Street, turned onto Junction Avenue , passed the Duane Garage and continued west on the Dublin Road." |
| JUL-AUG 2009 |
Gary Drummond writes about "Americans Hit The Road." Americans began to move across the country by automobile as early as 1919. A number of communities across the nation set aside pieces of woodland where a traveling family could stay over night. Most had no conveniences. In the spring of 1919, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors considered establishing auto camps along county roads. But the State Board of Health got into the picture and insisted on minimum facilities. Auto parks were required to have a source of water, a caretaker and comfort stations." |
Gary Drummond writes of the career of Edward Livernash, owner of Livermore's Herald newspaper. "Three months after Edward Livernash purchased the Herald from W. P. Bartlett in June 1891, the newspaper building burned in an early morning fire. It had been insured for $2,200. Livernash had also spent $1,000 dollars for new type fonts and improvements of the shop. But Livernash was not in town the morning the fire occurred. That day he had been arrested at the Ferry Building in San Francisco. Disguised as a Negro woman, complete with black face, he had in his possession a can of chloroform and a container of prussic acid. The police were surprised to find they had arrested a man. His explanation for the chloroform was that he was a restless sleeper and had insomnia. As for the costume, he had come to San Francisco to play a trick on his wife." |
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This month's featured article is by Gary Drummond and describes early newspapers in Livermore. "Small town newspapers in the 19th century usually
were made up of four pages: the first and fourth were made up of boilerplate (patent medicine cures, hair dye ads and often a serial novel). Page 2 was usually editorial matter and Page 3 was local news (births, marriages, and deaths) and ads of local merchants." |
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This month's featured article is by Gary Dummond and is about the Alameda County bifurcation and consolidation plan. "The Niles newspaper initiated the discussion in a published article pointing out that the three South County townships of Eden, Washington, and Murray were paying in taxes 20 percent
of the total raised in Alameda County, but were not receiving commensurate services. The advantages of Bifurcation, proponents claimed, were that a new county could be composed of a territory of like interests,
that there would be no rule by large city machine politics, that “water-front evils would be unusual” and, most importantly, that a lower tax rate would result." |
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By 1940 the war in Europe became more intense. After the fall of France, the U. S. Government began action to identify non-citizens by requiring them to be registered and fingerprinted. All local aliens over age 14 were subject to registration with the government by December 30, 1940. ...
The Heritage Guild would like to speak with any local family whose members were affected by the 1942 government restrictions. Please call us at 449-9927. |
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The featured article focuses on the Altamont HIghway and Vasco Road on their 70th and 50th birdays, respectively. The Altamont Highway, I-580 between Greenville Road and Grant Line Road, turned 70 this year. In 1938 its completion was regarded as a watershed event in Bay Area transportation history, on a par with the recently opened Golden Gate Bridge, Bay Bridge, and Caldecott Tunnel. Vasco Road went by four names until 1958: it was “Vasco Road” north of U.S. 50 (now I-580), “Washington Avenue” from U.S. 50 to the outhern Pacific tracks (now inactive), “Taylor Lane” from the Western Pacific tracks (now Union Pacific) to East Avenue, and “Las Positas Avenue . . . .” Article by Jason A. Bezis |
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You can call it the Brother’s War, the War Between
the States, the War of Southern Independence, or the
Civil War – the fact remains that hundreds of thousands
of the participants were injured. A number of
those eventually lived here in the Livermore. Article by Richard Finn |
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The featured article continues, from last month's newsletter, the description of homes on this year's Legacy Home Tour. |
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The featured article describes four homes on the “Old South Side” that were part of this year's Legacy Home Tour. |
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The featured article is Gary Drummond's The Silver Screen,
a history of the movie theater in Livermore. |
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The featured article is Gary Drummond's The Water Wars. There
is also a reprint of a March 1877 article from the Livermore Herald describing a "Soiree Party" held in the Palace Hall. |
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The featured article is Gary Drummond's The Automobile Comes
to Livermore. |
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The featured article is Gary Drummond's Baughman's Clothing
Store |
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Rev. Martin Luther King's historic visit to Tri-Valley 38 years ago.
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Building a Library: The story of Livermore's first libraries.
Article by Gary Drummond. |
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SEP-OCT 2006 |
Oil! In the latter quarter of the 19th Centery, a farmer dug a
water well and hit a gas pocket. Fearing it would distroy his crops, he covered it up. With rumors of the possibility of oil in the area, explorations began. The article by Gary Drummond describes the history of oil explorations in the valley. |
"William Wallace Brier, Pioneer Missionary." Over a 20 year
period, Brier organized Presbyterian Churches in Alvarado, Livermore (1871), Pleasanton (1876), Milpitas, and Red Bluff. |
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"Long-lost country school resurfaces on Mulqueeney Ranch."
A little country school that operated atop the Altamont for 72 years closed its doors in 1946 and was never heard from again - until this February when it was rediscovered on the Mulqueeney Ranch off Patterson Pass Road. |
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"Baughman's Clothing Store" by Gary Drummond. Baughman's
is the oldest continuous retail-clothing establishment in Livermore, indeed in Alameda County. |
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A Seditious Incident. In 1917, the Herald warned against
"whispering propaganda." "Whenever you hear a rumor of a disaster suppressed by the government, or an attack on the physical and moral welfare of American troops, you can rest assured that it originated in the evil mind of a paid German agent." |
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NOV-DEC 2005 |
Description of a display at the Carnegie Museum
about the Livermore Naval Air Station, Camp Parks and Camp Shoemakere in Dublin and the stories of local veterans from World War II. |
SEP-OCT 2005 |
"Forrestors of America, Livermore Court #77
by Larry Mauch (10 pages in PDF format) |
JUL-AUG 2005 |
A summary of the Guild's many recent activities
(4 pages in PDF format) |
MAY-JUN 2005 |
"The Automobile"
by Gary Drummond (4 pages in PDF format) |
MAR-APR 2005 |
"Providing Water to A New Community"
by Gary Drummond (4 pages in PDF format) |
JAN-FEB 2005 |
"The First 50 Years of Telephone Service in Livermore" |
NOV-DEC 2004 |
"The First Churches in Livermore"
by Gary Drummond (4 pages in PDF format) |
NOV-DEC 2004 |
"The First Churches in Livermore" by Gary Drummond (4 pages in PDF format) |
SEP-OCT 2004 |
"Building a Library" by Gary Drummond (4 pages in PDF format) |
JUL-AUG 2004 |
"Livermore's Wonderful Street Railway" by Gary Drummond (4 pages in PDF format) |
MAY-JUN 2004 |
Articles on the Seven Sisters Road and the history of the Historymobile |
MAR-APR 2004 |
"The Western Pacific Railroad" by Gary Drummond (4 pages in PDF format) |
JAN-FEB |
"Fraternal Organizations in Livmore"
by Gary Drummond (4 pages in PDF format) |
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