Fort Bragg-Mendocino Coast Historical Society:
Celebrating Ten Years at the Guest House Museum

Story by Debbie L. Holmer

The Guest House Museum is a Fort Bragg treasure.
—Denise Stenberg, FB-MCHS treasurer and director

The Fort Bragg-Mendocino Coast Historical Society, the first formal historical society in the city’s 110-year history, is a membership organization whose mission is to preserve and interpret our past for the present and the future. As of the first of August, the society will have successfully operated the Guest House Museum, a local jewel, for ten years. There are events scheduled for each weekend of the month. They invite everyone, and especially their members, to celebrate their first decade as a nonprofit society.

The Mendocino Coast is no stranger to citizen activism. Our local history is filled with the stories of individuals determined to make the world a better place through their involvement in social, political and environmental causes. —Mark Ruedrich, FB-MCHS president

Fort Bragg-Mendocino Coast Historical Society

Today is a special day in Fort Bragg’s history. Today begins a new era in the formal custodianship of our city’s historical record. We can be proud that on this day the Fort Bragg-Mendocino Coast Historic al Society embraces the responsibility of preserving the history of those before us, those that are here now, and those that will come in the future. We do so with sincere caring, a passion for what was, and hope for the future.
—The opening words of John Skinner at the dedication of the Fort Bragg-Mendocino Coast Historical Society into the Guest House Museum, August 1, 1999

According to the FB-MCHS website, www.fortbragghistory.com, it was in early 1985 that the Fort Bragg City Council voted unanimously to accept a donation by Georgia-Pacific of the Guest House Museum, the land upon which it stands, and certain artifacts of coastal history. The purpose of this donation, as outlined in the agreement between the city of Fort Bragg and Georgia-Pacific Corporation, was “to insure the continued use of the Guest House as a museum for the Fort Bragg, Mendocino County, community…”

Fast forward to 1999, to a time when the city was searching for cost-cutting alternatives to running the museum itself. The Fort Bragg-Mendocino Coast Historical Society was formed by a small group of concerned citizens interested in preserving local history and, by assuming responsibility for running the Guest House Museum, helping the city fulfill its agreement with Georgia-Pacific. According to John Skinner, founding president of FB-MCHS, “folks were energized into getting a historical society formed when the Skunk Train asked the city to let them use the Guest House for a second business location. Most everyone asked immediately said no, the Guest House belongs to the citizens of Fort Bragg and should remain a museum, as Georgia-Pacific stipulated. Even having a business in one room would take away the feeling you get when you enter this incredible guest house.” Ten years later their group, with the help and support of a membership has grown to nearly a hundred members strong, along with a dedicated corps of volunteer museum docents.

The founding officers of the Fort Bragg-Mendocino Coast Historical Society were John Skinner, president; Susan Winding, vice president; Denise Stenberg, secretary; and John Winding, treasurer. The first committee members (all historians) were: Sylvia and Russell Bartley, Gayle Bowman, Eleanor Campbell, Betty Carr, Wilbur Lawson, Horace Mann, Don Nelson, Ro Peterson, Marie Richards, Mark Ruedrich, Michael Salamone, Mike Stenberg and Theresa Estep.

The historical society’s headquarters is located in the Guest House Museum, located at 343 North Main Street, Fort Bragg.

Tomorrow is made of many yesterdays—and the yesterdays of the days before the Guest House has combined the yesterdays and the dreams of tomorrow into a living, vibrant present.
—Alder Thurman, Noyo Chief, 1953, a Union Lumber Company publication, provided by FB-MCHS.

Charles C. R. Johnson
Charles Russell Johnson (1859–1940), known familiarly as C.R., first arrived on the coast as a young man in 1882. Within a decade he had become a prominent mill owner, Fort Bragg’s founding mayor (1889), and an ideal model of Victorian-era lumber barons who influenced virtually every aspect of daily life in their communities.

C.R. founded the Fort Bragg Redwood Company in 1885 which became the Union Lumber Company in 1891 through a merger of his own company with a neighboring Noyo River enterprise.

With the financial backing of his father and two of his father’s Michigan business associates, C.R. successfully established himself on the Mendocino Coast. He expanded logging and milling operations into a veritable family empire that soon dominated life in Fort Bragg and its environs. He was proud of his exploits and this impressive Victorian home in downtown Fort Bragg reflects that pride.

Architect Designs a ‘Pretty Cottage’
The following article was first published in 1892 in The Advocate. It was reprinted in the “End of an Era”—a special section of Fort Bragg Advocate-News and The Mendocino Beacon on November 7, 2002:

The fine cottage being built by the Fort Bragg Redwood Company on Main Street, which has been in course of construction for several months past, will be shortly completed, the work of plastering being well advanced. It is a modern cottage, being fitted with every convenience to make it a model home, and when furnished, will be the finest residence on the Mendocino Coast, if not in the county. Nothing in the line of expense is being spared to make it the acme of perfection. Over 67,000 feet of lumber has been used in its construction, and the building will cost when finished $10,000, which is considered very cheap when it is taken into consideration the unique and costly design of the structure.

The residence from its commanding location, overlooks the town and bay and affords a good all around view. The plan is excellent, and the feature of the interior is the arrangement of the various apartments, which is most admirable.
On the first floor there is a commodious reception room, parlor, dining room, library, kitchen, washroom, pantry, china closet and bathroom, the ceilings being high and arched. The second floor contains five large bedrooms, hall, bathroom and linen room. In connection with each bedroom is a closet for holding clothes, with a set of drawers, each closet being ventilated from the top.

The attic floor contains a large billiard room, the shape of a capital T, the main part being 18x30 feet, and three closets and one spare room.

The house contains seven fireplaces and all the bedrooms are furnished with hot and cold water, and every room will be lit by electricity, except the kitchen.

The walls are a solid network of pipes and wires, and so interwoven in some places that they look as they were one mass of galvanized iron.

Mr. A. F. Carmichael, the architect, is a thorough mechanic, and the beautiful residence he has almost completed for the Fort Bragg Redwood Company will be a lasting and substantial masterpiece of his workmanship, and one that he can always refer to with pride.

The Guest House
The Guest House was built primarily of coast redwood in 1892 for Tom Johnson, a business partner in the Fort Bragg Redwood Company, as his private residence. The house occupies what prior to the Civil War had been the site of the Fort Bragg army post hospital. The post was established in 1857 “for the convenience and protection of the Indians.”

It was the California Gold Rush that first stimulated settlement of the Mendocino Coast—not for gold, as there was none here, but for the area’s majestic redwood forests, which would provide the lumber to build San Francisco and many other Gold Rush-era communities. (San Francisco would be rebuilt with north coast lumber following the great earthquake of 1906, which damaged or destroyed cities and towns from Monterey to Eureka, including Fort Bragg.)

Before the house could be finished the company’s founder, Charles Russell Johnson, directed the house become the lumber company’s guest house for visiting senior officials from the San Francisco headquarters and VIP guest visitors to the Fort Bragg mill and logging sites.

The Guest House served as a show place for Union Lumber wood products. It was constructed from the finest old-growth redwood and Douglas fir and contained sixty-seven thousand board feet of lumber. Noteworthy are the ornate woodwork, decorative moldings, door and window trim, and the spool, spindle banisters of the staircase along with the stained glass windows above the stairway’s first landing.

Originally the Guest House contained seven fireplaces, but the 1906 earthquake and installation of a more modern heating system has reduced that number to three. When first completed, all bedrooms in the house had hot and cold running water and every room except the kitchen had electric lights. There was a discreetly concealed wet bar on the first floor and a large billiard room on the third floor (not open to the public) where male guests could smoke and schmooze in private.

The Fort Bragg Redwood Company became Union Lumber Company in 1905 and the Guest House continued in its role until Union Lumber Company was sold to Boise-Cascade Corporation, and in turn was sold to Georgia-Pacific Corporation. At this time G-P used the home as a specialty boutique for their department store, Sea Fair, then as a museum. The home was donated to the city of Fort Bragg in 1985.

Denise Stenberg is a walking catalog of information.
—Ruth Sparks, past Guest House Museum docent and FB-MCHS member

Guest House Boutique: High Fashion, Low Prices
It was in 1974 that Sea Fair Boutique was opened in the Guest House. The boutique featured items “nice and sort of special” at “prices that will offer a pleasant surprise for the bargain-hunter, with prices ranging from $1.19 to over $100.”

Quality merchandise at prices lower than Santa Rosa and San Francisco.
—George DeShiell, Sea Fair general manager, referring to the large collection of clothing and gifts in the Guest House Boutique.

Guest House Tour

Men have lived here, dreamed their dreams, moved on, and other men have taken their places. Time passes, but the Guest House remains to welcome the present and the future.
—Alder Thurman, Noyo Chief, 1953, publication by Union Lumber Company, provided by FB-MCHS.

I had the wonderful privilege of a private tour of the Guest House Museum last week with Denise Stenberg leading the way. “Denise,” according to past president John Skinner, “along with her son Mike Stenberg, are the backbone of the FB-MCHS and do an immense amount of work. Without them the society would not be where it is.”

The Guest House Museum is filled with city of Fort Bragg photographs, maps, documents and artifacts related to Fort Bragg Redwood Company, its successors Union Lumber Company, Boise-Cascade and Georgia-Pacific corporations, affiliated businesses including National Steamship Company and California Western Railroad, and the C.R. Johnson family, founders of FBRCo and ULCo.

In an article that appeared in a 1953 Noyo Chief, a Union Lumber Company publication, Alder Thurman writes, “There’s an atmosphere, an aura of something magnificent about the Guest House. It must come from the people who filled its rooms with hope and love, laughter, and tears. It’s a house that has been lived in. It is a house that has acquired an intimate knowledge of the innermost feeling of men’s souls, for here in the quiet of the surrounding trees and garden, men have had time to relax, to think, to talk and, as they talked, their visions, were made known and sometimes their shattered dreams…There’s something about the Guest House that takes hold of one as he enters the portals of other days.”

On the day that I tour the Guest House Museum I feel the same as Alder Thurman did many years ago. As I step inside, I feel very small against the backdrop of the twelve-foot high ceilings with the afternoon sun streaming through the large stained glass windows overlooking the dramatic stairway and entrance hall. As I look through the guest book, Denise Stenberg, my wonderful tour guide, tells me that in “September 1912, one of the first names listed was a Mr. and Mrs. Williams. From that day to this many hundreds of names have been added.” Denise goes on to tell me that,
“Since the FB-MCHS took over caring for the Guest House Museum ten years ago, 70,028 people have toured the museum and docents have provided ninety-five hundred hours of their time.”

On the first floor is the large entrance hall, the parlor, the dining room, the kitchen, the butler’s pantry (I always wanted a butler’s pantry), and a room formerly an office. Although Denise points out that there is no longer a fireplace in the dining room, she says, “I’ve always been able to picture C. R. Johnson here sitting at the place of honor with a fire warming the room.” The room that was formerly an office has a display of photographs by Carleton Watkins. The photos were taken in 1863 of this area—Albion, Mendocino, Noyo, etc.

On the second floor, in three of the five bedrooms can be seen the marble-top basins of more pretentious days. C. R. Johnson’s bedroom has commanding views of Main Street and Fort Bragg Landing, the cove where the wharf and mill were in the early days. Denise says about the photo I took of the fireplace, “I’m sure he didn’t have the ox yoke there.”
Another upstairs bedroom is filled with displays of various mill pictures that were on this coast.

One of my favorite upstairs rooms is the room that houses a display by Denise’s son, Mike Stenberg, a timeline of photos for the California Western Railroad. It’s a wonderful display. Denise laughingly says, “It’s Mike’s life work. He’s spent so much time on this.” This room also houses an antique bed covered by a basic scrap quilt loaned to the museum by Susan Winding, a willow rocker chair and ship’s wheel.

Up on the third floor, which is not on the tour, is a large room formerly a playroom, two store rooms, a bath and what were the living quarters for the housekeeper.

It was such an elegant time. It’s a graceful house, this house that C. R. Johnson loved. A lot of living happened here. I’m told that, “Mrs. Johnson passed away here and Marion Marvin Jones, the first descendant of C. R. Johnson to be born in Fort Bragg since Otis Johnson, was christened here in 1949.”

Denise tells me that the first hostess of the Guest House (after it became a guest house in 1912) was Mrs. Brown, who was followed seventeen years later by a Miss Ide from Massachusetts and then followed by Mary “Mazie” Morton Swales, ably assisted by Emma Sullivan as housekeeper-cook (Emma lived on the third floor for quite a number of years), and John Pimentel as gardener. Mazie served as hostess from 1935 until 1953 and was much loved by all who made her acquaintance.

Denise Stenberg herself was born in Fort Bragg. Raised in the Santa Barbara area, she eventually returned to Fort Bragg. And by the way, Denise Stenberg’s father-in-law, Paddy Stenberg, was both a businessman and constable in Fort Bragg for many years.

A trip to the Guest House Museum on Main Street in downtown Fort Bragg is truly a walk down memory lane. Stop by and enjoy a visit back in time to one of our community treasures.

A people without history is like the wind upon the buffalo grass.
—A quote from an Ogala Sioux, taken from founding president John Skinner’s opening words at the dedication of the Fort Bragg-Mendocino Coast Historical Society into the Guest House Museum, August 1, 1999.

Fort Bragg-Mendocino Coast Historical Society 2009–2010 Officers and Directors
Mark Ruedrich, President
John Skinner, Past President
David Foucheaux, Vice President
Betty Carr, Secretary
Denise Stenberg, Treasurer, Director
Sylvia Bartley, Director
Derek Hoyle, Director
Michael Stenberg, Director
Diana Stuart, Director
Wilbur (Bill) Lawson, Director
William Scott, Director

There are many ways you can support and become part of the local history team. Here are some of the advantages and important ways you can help by becoming a Fort Bragg-Mendocino Coast Historical Society member:

Help support the preservation of our local history
Become a docent at the Guest House Museum
Research local history questions
Assist researchers and students
Create new historical displays
Collect donated historical materials
Learn how to safely handle historical materials
Research and write local history for the press
Research and write local history for the newsletter
Publish local history in pamphlets and books
Attend FB-MCHS sponsored historical programs
Tell your friends about FB-MCHS
Bring your guests to visit the museum

A membership is a great gift. Your membership also brings you the Voice of the Past—the historical society’s quarterly newsletter, each one filled with interesting stories and facts about local history.

Help support and preserve our local history by becoming a FB-MCHS member. For more information on the Fort Bragg-Mendocino Coast Historical Society write to P.O. Box 71, Fort Bragg, CA 95437 or call 964-4251. Their website address is www.fortbragghistory.org.

Special Thanks: I am ever so thankful of the quick response and input from Ruth Sparks, Hal Miller, and FB-MCHS officers and directors Mark Ruedrich, president; John Skinner, past president; David Foucheaux, vice president; Denise Stenberg, treasurer (and museum director); and Mike Stenberg. Thank you, Denise and Ruth, for the wonderful private tour of the Guest House Museum. Like the museum itself, you are all treasures of our community.

Celebration Events as Scheduled
August 1, 1999 the Fort Bragg-Mendocino Coast Historical Society began operating the Guest House Museum on lease from the city of Fort Bragg. The Society, a volunteer non-profit, is celebrating ten successful years operating the Guest House Museum.

August 1, Saturday, 11:00 a.m.—Downtown History Walk. Meet at the Guest House Museum. Walk Leader: Denise Stenberg. Donation for all walks, $5 per person.

August 7, First Friday, 5:30 p.m.—Open House at the Museum, all are welcome.

August 8, Saturday, 10:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.—Celebration at the Guest House Museum. Thirty-minute local history talks with time for questions in the museum parlor.

10:00 a.m.–11:00 a.m.—David Foucheaux will review the history of the Guest House over the years from 1857 to the present.

11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.—Michael Stenberg will tell the story of the California Western Railroad that changed from a line hauling logs to a recreational route, The Skunk.

12:00 p.m.–1:30 p.m.—Lunch Break

1:30 p.m.—Presenting the Alder Thurman Historical Contribution Award. An award to some one who had made a contribution to local history. Expected to be an annual presentation.

2:00 p.m.—An entertaining presentation by Katy Tahja and Marty Simpson.

Additional notes:

If you’d like a peek into the racy naughty side of Fort Bragg history join two historians in costume discussing times gone by in the parlor of the Guest House Museum Saturday, August 8 at 2:00 p.m.

Madam Kate, the proprietor of a whorehouse of “soiled doves” in Mendocino a century ago, is the historic persona of Katy Tahja, a Kelley House docent and author of books on local history. Joining her is J. D. Johnson, a respectable, upstanding businessman in Mendocino in years gone by, portrayed by Martin Simpson, also a Kelley House docent.

All the material Madam Kate and J. D. Johnson share is gleaned from local newspapers and oral history interviews of local residents. Respectable townsfolk like J. D. Johnson didn’t want to recognize that prostitution existed in those days, but everyone knew where to find “ladies of negotiable virtue.”

Lumberjacks coming out of the woods camps for a weekend on the town came for wine, women and song. If it wasn’t available, they moved on. So bordellos were seen as a necessary evil.

For a good laugh and a look at local history often ignored, join Madam Kate and J. D. Johnson at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, August 8 at the Guest House Museum.

August 16, Sunday, 11:00 a.m.—Cemetery Walk. Meet at Rose Memorial Park. Led by David Foucheaux.

August 22, Saturday, 11:00 a.m.—Downtown History Walk. Meet at the Museum. Led by Betty Carr.

August 30, Sunday, 11:00 a.m.—Cemetery Walk. Meet at Rose Memorial Park.

The First Hundred Years—Guest House Museum Timeline
1892: The Army Fort Hospital was located on the Guest House site. The hospital building was home to the C. R. Johnson family until 1890. Both of their children, Emily and Otis were born there.
1892: T. L. Johnson, C. R.’s brother, engaged A. F. Carmichael to build a “cottage” on the property. Home to the C. R. Johnsons when family members were in Fort Bragg.
1906: The April 18 earthquake shook down several of the fireplace chimneys in the house. According to Denise Stenberg, “although only three fireplaces remain of the original seven, it is still a tie with the past. The ornate woodwork of the 1890s is still the same with decorative moulding and trim over the windows, the spool, and spindle framework of the stairs.”
1912: The house officially became the Guest House of the Union Lumber Company. This was about the same time that the California Northwestern tracks finally reached Willits and made it a day trip from San Francisco.
1955: The Fort commissary building was given the role of museum by the Union Lumber Company; and, it was the starting place for mill tours.
1969: The Union Lumber Company was sold to Boise Cascade. The house was used as a residence.
1973: Boise Cascade sold to Georgia-Pacific. The Guest House was turned into a boutique and was part of the Sea Fair operation.
1979 and 1981: Georgia-Pacific began renovating the Guest House and opened it as a museum with a gala celebration on May 30 and 31 of 1981. For that occasion the foyer, living room, dining room and master bedroom were furnished much as they might have been in 1892.
1985: The Guest House Museum was given to the city of Fort Bragg.
1987: 1863 photos of the Mendocino Coast taken by Carlton Watkins were put on display in May of 1987. These photos, given the ULCO and hung in their museum, were given to the city by Georgia-Pacific and copied for display for the city by Mr. Gillette.
1989: Fire destroyed the library building, damaged the court house and singed the Guest House. Following the fire, planning for a revitalization of the court house, library and Guest House area, resulted in the dismantling of the gardens around the Guest House.
1992: The Guest House, occupied in December of 1892, became a hundred years old. The gardens were reestablished and the rhododendrons replanted. A curved walk and ramp were constructed to make the downstairs accessible to the handicapped. On December 6, 1992, the Centennial Celebration was held. The house was given a thorough cleaning, the foyer, dining room, and stairway were decorated and the exhibits were revamped. There was music, a program and refreshments at the rebuilt Town Center. Patricia Campbell, city councilmember and chairperson for the Museum committee, spearheaded and worked hard herself to bring this about.

(Note: The above timeline was provided by the Fort Bragg-Mendocino Coast Historical Society.)