Historic Homes of Healdsburg
Adna Phelps, a carpenter who later became involved in the winery business, built the Italianate home at 68 Front Street in 1875. By 1897, he had moved to Sacramento and sold the home to Peter and Guiseppe Simi. The Italian immigrant brothers had founded the Simi Winery in the stone building across the street in 1883. After Guiseppe's death in 1904, the property passed to his daughter Isabelle who married Fred Haigh in 1908 and took control of the winery and the Simi Land Company.
Oscar Walker originally built the farmhouse at 541 Mason Street for his large family. In 1895 he opened a resort on the property called the Riverside Villa.
James A. Meade, a Vermont native, crossed the plains to Placerville in 1850 and became a Sierra County merchant and ran a pack train from Marysville to Downieville. He came to Healdsburg in 1856 and built the farmhouse at 327 Mason Street and the original Geysers Hotel. Later, he went into partnership with Ransom Powell in a saw mill and was twice elected Supervisor before his death in 1907.
The Transitional Queen Anne house at 321 Haydon Street was built in 1912 for Andrew D. Passalacqua, who came to Healdsburg from St. Louis in 1885. He went into the grocery and grain business with Robert Cook soon after his arrival in Healdsburg. He also owned several residential properties, which he developed for resale. In 1889 he married Rosa Passalacqua, daughter of the unrelated Frank Passalacqua family.
William W. Ferguson, Sr., moved his family from Indiana to the California gold fields in 1849, where his son William Ferguson, Jr. was born in 1855. In 1857, William Ferguson, Sr., settled in Alexander Valley and of his seven children only his son William was interested in farming. He built the Neo-classic home at 417 Haydon Street in 1908, after he retired from farming in the Alexander Valley.
In 1901, local contractor J. W. Terry built the house at 502 Tucker Street for store owner George Ferguson. Three similar homes were built nearby by sons and grandsons of William W. Ferguson. George Ferguson's father H. O. Ferguson started a hardware store on the downtown plaza with a man named Gunn in 1890. The store passed into George Ferguson's hands in 1920. He married Ana Smith, the daughter of the pioneer local grocier, Hiram Smith.
The original owner of the house built in 1888 at 204 Second Street was Thomas J. Cottle, who sold it to wealthy widow Sarah Cole in 1890. Mrs. Cole, a native Georgian, came here from Texas with several of her twelve children. Her daughter Nettie set up house-keeping here in 1892 when she married Edward Snook. Snook was associated with the Miller and Hotchkiss fruit packing plant, the First National Bank of Healdsburg, and a mausoleum company. Nettie later bought the wooded lot across the street. The lot was donated to the City in 1977. Her daughter Cleone lived first in the Tudor home across Tucker Street and then in the more modern house next door.
Loren Foreman moved his family to Healdsburg in 1907 and bought the house at 515 Tucker Street. The house was built around 1895 and in 1907 it was moved to it's present location. The Foremans, prominant agriculture, owned extensive prune orchards in the nearby Westside Road area. Loren Foreman and his wife Mamie lived here until they built their retirement home at 315 Fitch Street.
Local contractor James W. Terry built the home at 419 Tucker Street in 1895 for local banker George Alexander, the tenth child of pioneers Cyrus and Rufena Alexander. It served the family for a decade before they built a larger home at 423 Matheson Street. The house was sold to the McMinns in 1907. Joseph McMinn was a popular politician who served as County Supervisor, Sheriff and City Mayor. His second wife Nora Terry McMinn was the daughter of the contractor J. W. Terry. She died in this house her father built.
Illinois native John Tucker met his his future wife Mary, an Irish immigrant, while both were attending the Institute for the Blind in Berkeley. After their marriage in 1872, the Tuckers moved to Healdsburg and opened a variety and candy store in downtown Healdsburg which they operated from 1874 to 1929. In 1895 they had the house at 411 Tucker Street built for them. Mary died here in 1906 and John in 1932.
Ohio natives, James and Eliza Thompson first settled on farmland in nearby Dry Creek Valley in 1849. In 1864 the Thompsons built the house at 317 Tucker Street and moved to town. Mr. Thompson died here in the mid 1870s and his wife in 1909. Seven of their nine children moved away from Healdsburg. Their daughter Emma died here in 1925 and their son Harvey died in 1934.
Sam Meyer immigrated from Prussia at age 17 to found the town's second general store in 1858. In 1871, he built the house at 308 Tucker Street. In 1882 when he built his new home at 219 North Street, he sold the home to a wool merchant, W. Crockett Gaines. They later sold the home to George and Genevieve Warfield. When Sam Meyer moved to San Francisco in 1909, he owned most of the comercial properties fronting the plaza.
Polly E. Keeler first married George Jewell who brought her west to a dairy ranch in Petaluma in 1856. After George died in 1863, Polly ran the ranch until she sold it in 1871. She moved to Healdsburg and built the home at 105 Fitch Street. When her third husband J. R. Reynolds died in 1895, Polly moved to Dry Creek.
Martin Scatena was an Italian immigrant who arrived in San Francisco in 1870 before buying a ranch northeast of Healdsburg in 1884. In 1889 he started the Roma Wine Company. In 1909, he moved his wife Josephine DeMartini and their seven children from San Francisco to the house he built at 104 East Street.
Jacob Primm, a native of Toronto, Canada married Anna McCay a native of Scottland in 1846. Years later, they moved to Healdsburg, following their son-in-law John Marshall who had established a blacksmith shop here in 1865. The Pimms lived in the Marshall home until the house at 204 Center Street was built. Pimm remained Marshall's business partner until his death in 1881. Later, Pimm became a contractor and real estate developer.
The Kruse building at 112 Matheson Street was designed by San Franciscan architect, A. J. Barnett. The first owner, Frederick Kruse, along with his brothers James and August, were agents for Wells Fargo and Company here.
The lot at 100 Matheson Street was originally the site of Healdsburg's first grist mill owned by John D. Hassett. It was purchased in 1876 by the Odd Fellows Lodge. The contractors for the original building, Stanley and Sawyer were called to rebuild it after the earthquake in 1906.
When Harmon Heald laid the town out in 1857, he donated the lot located at 300 Healdsburg Avenue, later to become the Healdsburg Plaza. A bell tower and bandstand were added in 1878. In 1895 a gazebo replaced the bell tower.
The first bank of Healdsburg was Smith Bank located at 320 Healdsburg Avenue in 1868. It became the Bank of Healdsburg in 1874, which moved to another location in 1908. The Healdsburg National Bank built the current structure in 1920. Joining the Giannini Bank chain in 1925, it became known as the Liberty Bank, then the Bank of Italy, before finally becoming Bank of America until 1981.
In 1883, Ransom Powell built the brick commercial building at 113 Plaza Street. The original owner was John S. Tucker who ran a variety store and rented to various retailers. By 1900 the store was Schwab Brothers Shoe Store, which it remained until 1969. F. A. Schwab and his brother came to Healdsburg in 1877 and by 1885 had formed the shoe business.
The house at 309 Fitch Street was built in 1917 for Walter and Susie Field. Walter was the son of Thomas and Emma Field and Susie was the daughter of William Ruffner who built the Fields' first home at 427 Matheson Street. Later they moved to West Grant Street in Dry Creek Valley before moving to town with their daughters Gertrude and Edith and building the home on Fitch Street.
The house at 301 Plaza Street was built in 1924 for Fred and Hazel Young. Fred was the son of John Young who established his business here as a cabinet maker in 1859. John Young made coffins as well as furniture and the business eventually became a mortuary run by Fred Young until his death.
Gustavus H. Peterson built the modest homestead at 228 Fitch Street in 1858. Peterson ran a mercantile store near the plaza. In 1885, he managed Fair's ranch at Knight's Landing. He died at his home in 1896.
The Field's purchased the property at 320 Matheson Street in 1865. After Thomas Field died in 1874, Emma Field built a home on the property in 1880, as a second home in hown. In 1899, G. W. Harmon purchased the property as a location for his nursury and renovated the home shortly before his death in 1904.
The home at 326 Matheson Street was built for Eli Bush in 1903. Bush was an early partner in the Rosenburg and Bush Department Store established in 1865. During the 1920's, the home was owned by Edward Beeson, Jr., and his wife Bera. Beeson was a local dentist and active in local civic affairs.
Albert W. Garrett was able to build the home at 403 Matheson Street for his bride Cordelia Hall due to the success of Garrett's Hardware Store. He hired contractor J. W. Terry to build the home. Garrett came to Healdsburg at the age of three with his father, Albert, Sr., who opened a glove factory here in 1868. Albert Jr., opened a plumbing shop with F. E. Cook in 1889 and ran the business until the 1940's. He was later fire chief and the first president of the Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce.
The large two story home at 410 Matheson Street was built as a retirement home for Charles H. Patchett and his wife Rosella Hall Patchett. Rosella was the daughter of land baron Lieuallen J. Hall who settled in nearby Alexander Valley in 1854. The Patchetts were married in 1907 and raised hops in Alexander Valley for a number of years. In 1919, they sold Rosella's inheritance of 1600 acres to Grace Brother's Brewery and retired here two years later. Rosella's brother Lieuallen Hall, Jr., had been living down the street at 314 Matheson Street with his family since 1907. The Patchett house is now a retirement home.
The home at 423 Matheson Street was built in 1905 by local contractor W. H. Chaney for George Alexander, son of Cyrus and Rufena Alexander. Cyrus was already a wealthy rancher by the time his tenth son George was born in 1869. Like hhis father George became prominant in agriculture affairs. George and his wife Nellie made this their home until 1922.
Colonel Roderick Matheson built the home at 751 So. Fitch Mountain Rd. in 1857. Matheson, a Scot, came to the gold fields in 1849. At age 25 he became General of a Mexican army division. For this he received a 300 acre farm in Healdsburg in 1856. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was appointed Colonel of the 1st. California Regiment. He died of battle wounds in 1862. His daughter Nina Luce remodeled the home in 1904. In 1920 it was purchased by bank president George Warfield and his wife Genevieve.
The house at 141 North St. was built for Elizabeth Lewis, a native of Boston, who was twice widowed before she came to Healdsburg and married wealthy Dry Creek Rancher, Jeremiah Lewis, in 1888. At his death she inherited a large amount of valley and town property, some of which she gave to her daughter and son-in-law, Ora and W. H. Skinner. The Skinners later inherited all of Mrs. Lewis' property. In 1915, the home was sold to Louis Koberg, a prominent jeweler, whose family owned it for many years.
Contractor, William H. Middleton built the home at 211 North St. for pioneer Ranson Powell in 1871. Powell, son of a Tennessee farmer, was a tailor before fighting in the Mexican War. He came to the Mother Lode in 1849, but failing to find gold, profited by hauling freight. He returned east to get his wife, but she died on the plains in 1852. Settling in Healdsburg in 1856, he began several ventures, the real estate ventures making him his fortune. Powell's first four wives died, but was married 23 years to his fifth wife, Louise Madeira, before his death in 1910. In 1892, Powell builta new home at 644 West Grant St., selling this one to Dr. J. W. Seawell, who established the first hospital here, and whose family retained ownership until 1969.
The original owner of the home built at 219 North St., in 1882 was Samuel Meyer, an immigrant from Prussia. Beginning with a grocery store in 1858, he eventually became the largest local commercial property owner. Meyer's first resident was at 308 Tucker St.
The home at 227 North St. was built by pioneer blacksmith, John Marchall who established a business here in 1865. After he built the house in 1870, he returned to Canada to retrieve his wife, Sarah Pimm, the daughter of Jacob Pimm. Marshall shared his home and business with his in-laws until his death in 1881. Marshall was born in Ireland in 1840, orphaned at age four when his parents died trying to enter Canada. He and his brother were adopted by a carriage maker and eventually made their was to Healdsburg.
The house at 152 Piper St. was built for Gustav Meisner, a saloon keeper and carpenter who brought his family here from Washington State in 1903. He died the next year and his wife and three children inherited this house and several other properties, including a commercial building on Healdsburg Ave. Meisner's widow Frances married prominent Santa Clara rancher John Hartman in 1906, but the family remained at this residence. Frances opened the first theatre in town, where he daughter Helen played piano. Her son Frank Meisner continued to operate the theatre later known as the Liberty and Plaza until the early 1940's.
The home at 201 Piper St. was built for John and Maggie Cook who crossed the plains in 1862. John, a native of Kentucky and born in 1827, and his wife, born in Indiana in 1842, first settled at Lake Tahoe where they ran a sawmill and later a hotel. In 1865, the Cooks settled on a seven acre fruit ranch on the Russian River, one mile south of Healdsburg. They built this home in 1901, five years after they purchased the property. The Cooks continued to live here until his death at age 86 in 1913. Maggie died here in 1917.
The house at 518 Johnson St was built for cigar store owner, Jacob Gleichman, an Austrian immigrant, who came here in 1899. A year later he married a German girl named Idea. They built this house in 1904, but sold it two years later to Charles Wickham and moved to San Francisco.
In 1895, the house at 219 Piper St was built for the Joseph Bucknam Price family, who owned the Sotoyome Lumber Company established on Mill Creek in 1891. Born in 1858, Prince came to Healdsburg from nearby Tomales at age six with his parents, Thomas and Abbey Prince. Prince married local girl Louella Wolcott in 1891 and went into the lumber business two years later. The Prince's only son died at a young age. Prince owned two grocery stores and served as postmaster and city trustee before his death in 1915.
Henry and Almira Alexander built the home at 528 Fitch St, in 1884. They had moved to Healdsburg from Iowa with their eleven children in 1881. Henry was the nephew of Cyrus Alexander, who settled in the area in 1841. Henry born in Illinois in 1824, met and married Almira in Chicago and in 1855 the couple moved to Mono, Iowa. Soo after the family's arrival in Healdsburg, Henry's three sons started the Alexander Brothers grocery on Center St. Henry died here in 1891 and Amira in 1899.
The home at 425 Grant St. sits on what was once a 23 acre parcel owned by A. E. S. DeWiederhold, a native of England who came to the area in 1877 and purchased the land from George Miller. Upon his death in 1888, the land passed to his widow Alice and in 1900 to his daughter Amelia who married William Ross that same year. Ross, a Scottish immigrant, was a carpenter and built this home about 1901.
The home at 734 Brown St. was built by a father and son contracting team. George M. Bobst and his father J. I. Bobst for George's new bride Flossie Button in 1903. In 1906, the family left the area andit was sold to rancher James W. Seawell, who also owned the Sotoyome Meat Market. His son Dr. J. W. Seawell became one of the town's best known doctors.
The home at 837 Fitch St. served as the home of the President of Healdsburg College, William C. Grainger. The house was moved from the site of the college dormitory at Fitch and Grants Streets in 1909. Grainger born in Missouri in 1844, graduated from Missouri State University and was admitted to the bar in 1870, before coming to California in 1876. He remained President until 1894 when he went to Japan where he died in 1899.
The house built at 736 Fitch St. in 1884 was the home of brickmason William Burgett. His sons Robert and James carried on the business until the 1960's. Burgett, born in Wisconsin in 1855, came to California with his parents as a young boy. In 1875 Burgett came to Healdsburg to work in the brickyard of his relative, Henry Mizer, on Powell Ave. In 1879 he married Elizabeth Walker, daughter of Cloverdale pioneer Frank Walker. His two sons lived at this house until their deaths and it is still owned by his daughter-in-law.
The house at 726 Fitch St. was built in 1914 for Frank Passalacqua, an Italian immigrant who arrived in New York in 1865 at age 18. That same year he worked as a gold miner in California and in 1872 moved to Vallejo where he married Laura Biocelli. In 1882 he moved to Healdsburg but Laura and her two children returned to Italy two years later where she died. Laura's sister Rachele cared for the two children until 1887 when Frank returned to Italy, married Rachele and brought the family back to Healdsburg.
The home at 221 Grant St. was originally owned by Jane Kelley, the widow of Captain W. Kelley. Kelley, born in New York in 1833 married Jane Gray in 1860. They arrived in San Francisco in 1876 and settled in Healdsburg and bought the lot the house is on in 1883. The house was built in 1907.
Local contractor W. H. Pierce built the home at 539 Johnson St. in 1900 for blacksmith August Lund. Born in Sweden in 1863, Lund immigrated to the U.S. in 1884 and purchased this property in 1894. In 1898 Lund went into partnership with a Mr. York in a blacksmith shop on Healdsburg Ave, but by the end of the year Lund was the sole owner. In 1907 Lund sold this home and blacksmith business to N. A. Seipel and bought land in Alexander Valley where he and his wife Lillie farmed until his death in 1938.
The home at 607 Johnson St. was built in 1885 for J. W. Ragsdale, a real estate speculator and owner of the Russian River Flag and Santa Rosa Republican newspapers. He sold the home one year later to Dr. J. S. Stone, a local physician. In 1890 Catherine Byington purchased it for a summer residence, her son Charles taking it over when he married Kate Ryan in 1893. Charles died here in 1936 and Kate in 1966.
J. W. Terry built the house at 619 Johnson St. in 1885 for financier John King. Son of an Irish immigrant, King was raised on his father's New York farm. In 1854 he headed to San Francisco and engaged in cattle driving from 1866 to 1881, when he retired and purchased 1,080 acres of land near Lytton Springs. King sold the property in 1895 and moved his wife and seven children to Randsburg, where he died in 1908.
Contractor James Terry built the home at 642 Johnson St. in 1900-1903 for Dr. James Riley Swisher. Born in Illinois in 1849, Dr. Swisher entered the University of California Medical School in in 1875 and set up practice here in 1877. He had this house built for him after his home in Dry Creek burned. He lived here until his death in 1934.
The home at 702 Johnson St. was built for Gridley and Letitia Clement in 1934 by Letitia's father John Pordon, a well known contractor. Gridley Clement was born at the Blue Ravine Mine near Folsom. After the family moved to Healdsburg, Gridley's father Jabish, worked at the Socrates Quicksilver Mine in Pine Flat. Gridley went to work for the U.S. Postal Service in 1923, from which he retired in 1957 as assistant postmaster of the Healdsburg branch.
The house at 730 Johnson St. was built for James and Hattie Petray. A fruit buyer until he was elected sheriff in 1918, Summy Jim was gunned down in 1920, along with two San Francisco detectives, while tracking the notorious "Howard Street Gang". The gang was jailed immediately after the murders and five days later were lynched by an outraged mob. This is believed to be the last lynching in California.
The home at 201 Powell St. was originally built for Dr. Joseph H. Priest in 1871. Ellen G. White lived here from 1882 to 1908. Born in Maine in 1827, White was considered by her church to be a prophetess and traveled worldwide until coming to Healdsburg.
The house at 641 Healdsburg Ave. was built by Lindsay Carson, the brother of the famous Kit Carson. Carson bought this land from the original Mexican land grant owners before the town existed. In 1852 he married Marie Williams, the widow of Donner Party pioneer John Williams and two years later built this home. After Lindsay's death in Lampass, Texas in 1886, Marie returned to Healdsburg with her eleven children, but the house had been sold to W. A. C. Smith in 1864. Smith was part owner and editor of the Democratic Standard, one of the town's first newspapers.
John F. Miller had the home at 25 West Grant St. built by his father-in-law, contractor Samuel H. Kirkham, when he married Kirkham's daughter Minnie in 1902. John Miller was the son of pioneer George T. Miller, from whom he inherited this land.
The house at 14601 Grove St. was built for Lewis Norton, Jr., the son of Colonel Lewis Norton, in 1898. Arriving at the Placerville gold mines in 1852, Col. Lewis Norton made a fortune there as a lawyer settling claim disputes. Arriving in Healdsburg in 1856, he settled violent land disputes between squatters and legal land grant owners, before becoming the town's first mayor and City Attorney.
The house at 14851 Grove St. was built for George Washington Haigh by J. W. Terry in 1880. Haigh who crossed the plains from Missouri on a mule at age ten, settled with his family on a ranch near Lytton Springs in 1856. For many years Haight was a partner in the Sotoyome Stables and by 1972 he was able to buy a large cattle ranch near Skaggs Springs and this home. George married julia Smith in 1869 and they had six children.
The home at 14891 Grove St. was built by William Butcher who came from Vacaville to Healdsburg as a wealthy cattle rancher in 1883. This house was enentually inherited by Butcher's grandson, Dr. Herbert Honor and his doctor wife Vera.
The house at 14979 Grove St. was built by James Watson, Jr. in 1894. His father had come to Sonoma County in 1849 and James was raised on his father's ranch near the town of Bodega. After 18 years running another ranch James, Jr., and his wife Martha, daughter of W. W. Ferguson of Alexander Valley, settled here. When James, Jr. died in 1904, his widow sold the ranch to Alfred Butts, whose family owned the property until recent years.
Sources:
Historic Homes of Healdsburg - Healdsburg Historical Society
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