The Western Sonoma County Historical Society celebrates its 50th anniversary
The historical society, which oversees the West County Museum and the Burbank Experiment Farm, is having an anniversary gala tonight and you're invited
The Western Sonoma County Historical Society turned 50 this year, and they’re celebrating this anniversary at a gala tonight, Saturday, Nov. 16, from 6 pm to 9 pm, at the Holy Ghost Hall. There will be a video of Sebastopol Now and Then and displays of 50 years of Sebastopol memorabilia. There will be appetizers, a no-host wine bar, and a salsa bar. Gary Foster (a docent and well-known professional singer from Analy) will play music and sing songs from the past 50 years. If you’re interested in the history of Sebastopol, this is definitely where you want to be tonight.
Where it all began…
The Western Sonoma County Historical Society was founded in 1974. Most of its original founders have passed on, but West County Museum Director Donna Pittman and her wizards at the museum found an old scrapbook, filled with memorabilia from the Society’s early years.
It begins with a tiny notice from The Sebastopol Times of yore about the historical society’s very first meeting on Sept. 30, 1974. Subsequent pages trace the historical society’s renovation of the Burbank Experiment Farm and the creation of the West County Museum.
According to an undated article, written around the time of the organization’s founding, the idea for the historical society originated with then Sebastopol City Manager Mel Davis. Davis “thought forming a local heritage corporation would be a good way for Sebastopol to observe the country’s bicentennial,” which was by then just a year and a half away. Local architect John Hughes agreed, noting “We should salvage some of the local history before it falls down.”
An early membership flyer (typed on a typewriter—remember those!) gives a sense of the breadth of the historical society’s interests in the early days.
Over the years, it has become gospel around town that the historical society was founded primarily as a way to preserve the Burbank Experiment Farm. Looking through the pages of the scrapbook, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
From the very beginning, the group had three goals, described by the group’s first vice president Jeff Barone in the Sebastopol Times back in 1974:
1) A civic pride campaign aimed at making people aware of the history of their homes.
2) The restoration of Burbank gardens.
3) Establishing a museum for the town.
The organization’s first efforts were focused on the historic preservation of old Sebastopol homes and buildings. The historical society created a map and tour of historic homes and for years ran an awards competition for people who restored the town’s Victorian and early-twentieth-century-era homes, many of which had fallen into disrepair.
The Burbank Experiment Farm
The historical society’s efforts to preserve the Burbank Experiment Farm also started in these early years, and the battle to save the farm was a 20-year ordeal.
According to a Sebastopol Times article from June 15, 1978, Luther Burbank’s widow, Elizabeth, sold roughly 14.3 acres, including the Experiment Farm, to the Sebastopol Area Housing Coalition in 1973 so that the group could build Burbank Heights, a low-income senior housing development. The project was partially financed and guaranteed by HUD (Housing and Urban Development).
As a condition of its use permit, the city required the coalition to set aside and preserve the farm, which was overrun by blackberries and falling to ruin. In 1975, at the historical society’s urging, the city of Sebastopol hired a consultant to develop a master plan for the farm. The plan cost $10,000, half paid by the city and half paid by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
But for years, that study sat on the shelf, and the farm languished.
“Everything is being eaten up by rot, decay and weeds,” horticulturist Robert Hornbeck, who did a study of the property in 1979, told the Press Democrat in 1980.
HUD and the owners of Burbank Heights had concerns about making the property available to the public.
Though the historical society didn’t own the farm, in 1975, it filed applications to place the farm and Burbank’s cottage on the National Register of Historic Places. According to the historical society’s website, “The property was placed on the register in 1978, and the Society has continued since that time to work at restoring the farm.”
The city of Sebastopol, which purchased the 3.5-acre farm property in 1995, now leases it to the Western Sonoma County Historical Society for preservation and management.
In 2023, the Sebastopol Times interviewed Steve Fowler, a longtime historical society and farm volunteer who died earlier this year. He remembered what the farm was like when he first started with the organization.
“There were no paths. There was no electricity. There was no sprinkler system; there was nothing. We took it to the point where there was a new barn. That was built in '97 with help from the Pellini family. And they helped us get a tractor. And that meant we could put in better paths. And it went on from there. I would say that the farm is no longer what it was thought to be, which was a museum. It’s now become a working facility that produces lots and lots of nursery plants. It’s growing crops like potatoes and tomatoes and flowering plants.”
Volunteers tend the trees that Luther Burbank planted, and the small nursery, based on plants developed by Burbank, is open to the public. Farm volunteers also run Sebastopol’s community apple press and sponsor community events like the recent Press Fest and heirloom apple-tasting event.
West County Museum
There was less sturm and drang involved in the creation of the West County Museum, the historical society’s other baby, which is located in the old railway depot building on South Main Street.
The building was acquired by the city of Sebastopol in 1980, and, with the help of historical society donors and lots of volunteer labor, the museum opened its doors in 1993. It leases the building from the city for $1 a year.
The museum offers regular exhibits throughout the year, many drawn from the museum’s own archives, which are stored in a railway car behind the depot.
In the past, according to its director Donna Pittman, the museum has done exhibits about the Pomo people, the Hippies, the Japanese experience in Sebastopol, Sebastopol’s Hollywood connection, and many more. They’ve even done an exhibit about the history of the Sebastopol Times (founded in 1889).
Keeping it all afloat
According to its executive director, Teresa Ramondo, the Western Sonoma County Historical Society currently has 180 members and around 50 steady volunteers between the farm and museum. They have a goal of having 250 members by this time next year.
“Volunteers are essential to our work,” Ramondo said.
And so is raising money. The anniversary gala on Saturday is also a fundraiser.
“It takes money to maintain these properties,” she said, referring to the farm and the museum. “It’s our responsibility to preserve and protect these properties, to keep it all going and keep it open and to make sure it’s protected from any disruptions and infringements. The group really bands together to take on that responsibility. They have a real passion for what they’re doing, and that’s just a really nice thing to work around.”
The 50th Anniversary Gala for the Western Sonoma County Historical Society is tonight Saturday, Nov. 16, from 6 pm to 9 pm, at the Holy Ghost Hall, 7960 Mill Station Road, Sebastopol. Tickets are $55 online and $50 at the door. Get tickets.
Let’s give credit to Jamie Self, curator and landscape contractor, who continues to propagate Burbank’s trees and much more for the continuation of the garden.