Vignettes

Last Thursday the Mill Valley Historical Society issued my final Mill Valley History Vignette. Since 2013, there have been 302 vignettes. Each vignette documented a little bit of history in…

Mr. and Mrs. James Thompson frequently hosted dinner parties at their home, on Molino. Dinner for five guests on a Saturday in 1894: Oxtail Soup, Sweetbreads, Saddle of Mutton, Peas,…

At the 1890 auction, San Francisco banker James Thompson and his wife, Josephine bought two acres on the corner of Molino and Wildomar. In 1895 they were living there in…

In the early 1900s, Mill Valley’s most prolific Mill Valley developer was J. Fred Schlingman. Most of his subdivisions were between Edgewood Ave. and Cascade Canyon. It took him only…

Analysis of historical events can lead to speculating about the future. Throughout the 20th century, storms caused serious flooding in the Mill Valley area on several occasions. Today, frequent flooding…

In 1903, Herman Heckman, his wife and their eight children lived in a small town in Wisconsin. His brother-in-law, John Yost, who owned a lumberyard in Mill Valley, invited Herman…