The Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum has a wealth of documents, old photos, paintings, maps and all sorts of artifacts carefully organized by staff and volunteers to keep our history alive. Those efforts have been possible because of strong community support over many years.
Museum leaders are counting on that community support for their annual fundraiser, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 9. The "Vallejo Music" gala will feature DJ music, a cocktail bar, dinner and live and silent auctions.
"Vallejo has such a rich history of music," says Trevor Allen, the museum's executive director. "We want to showcase a lot of these artists — those who came here on tour, like Ella Fitzgerald, and those who are from here, like Sly and the Family Stone, Roy Rogers, E-40 and H.E.R. Music has been baked into this city since it began."
Among the various auction items are gift baskets, works of art, a night-time museum tour (ghost possibly included), a personal Santa Claus visit for up to six children, and a guided tour of the historic Mare Island cemetery.
"All funds raised go to support the museum's mission to serve our community," Allen says. "Black tie optional, come prepared to have fun!" For more information call (707) 643-0077, or go to http://www.vallejomuseum.net or eventbrite.com.
The Vallejo museum, at 728 Marin St., was constructed in 1927 as Vallejo's second City Hall. The building also once housed our Police Department. The two-story, 25,000-square-foot building, now listed in the National Register of historic structures, was designed by architect Charles Perry of San Francisco.
Origins of the museum, operating since July 7, 1979, can be traced to the 1960s when a massive urban renewal project led to the razing of more than 500 buildings in Vallejo's old downtown and waterfront areas. The museum, a 501(c)(3), is the second one in Vallejo. A small museum was located for several years in the historic Herbert House at the foot of Kentucky Street, near the Vallejo Yacht Club.
Vallejo's urban renewal project included construction of a new City Hall on Santa Clara Street, closer to the waterfront, when the old city hall was in danger of being torn down and turned into a parking lot. But in 1974, the Vallejo City Council saved the building from the wrecking ball by agreeing that it could be leased.
A Museum Formation Committee was created in January 1974, with local businessman Richard Lemke as chairman. The following December, a shipyard memorial fund of $70,166 was transferred to the museum, and its long-term lease of the old city hall was finalized in early 1975, with strong support from then-Mayor Florence Douglas.
Also that year, Lemke and other community leaders, about 100 citizens and Navy officials gathered to raise money and perform other tasks needed for the new museum. Its first officers included Lemke as president, Robert Keith as vice-president, Lou Burgelin as secretary-treasurer, and Larry Klose as legal counsel.
Over the next few years leading up to the 1979 opening of the museum, volunteers put in countless hours, constructing display cases, building and refurbishing cabinets, ripping out old office partitions and false ceilings, and cataloging museum acquisitions that ranged from scrapbooks to a grand piano shipped around the Horn in about 1880. Construction included installation of an elevator at a cost of $144,000. Donations for the museum poured in, some small, some big.
An inscription carved in stone in 1927 over the entrance to the museum reads, "Though free, they are not absolutely free, for they have a master over them, the law." Those words, a long version of "nobody is above the law," are from Herodotus, an ancient Greek referred to as the father of history.
Perhaps there's space at the museum for another sentiment found in his writings and summarized centuries later by philosopher George Santayana, who wrote, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
That's where museums help — serving as vital cultural touchstones that ensure the past is not forgotten.
Link to museum event: vallejomuseum.net/event/vallejo-museum-annual-gala-vallejo-music/.
— Vallejo and other Solano County communities are treasure troves of early-day California history. My "Solano Chronicles" column highlights various aspects of that history. If you have local stories or photos to share, contact me on Facebook.
