lThe Novato Historical Guild will hold its Quarterly Membership Meeting on Saturday, March 16, 10 a.m. to 12 Noon, at Novato City Hall, 901 Sherman Ave. Featured speaker will be 57-year Novato resident Ed Ryken. His topic: “This Old Rock: The 500-year Story of How Alcatraz transformed the Bay Area and the world.” Ryken serves as a National Park Service-designated Citizen Scientist for Alcatraz, Presidio Officers Club, and the Farallones Marine Sanctuary. Public is invited; there is no charge.
Mr. Ryken will cover Juan Gaspar de Portola’s discovery of the San Francisco Bay in 1769, and the Spanish personalities who settled who subsequently settled in the area. He will review the transition of ownership from Mexican Governor Pio Pico to the U.S Military, and the role played by John Fremont.
Moving on to the Gold Rush and Civil War periods, Ryken will feature the men who built the fort and prison, what was planned and did not happen. He will review the role the fort played in the Spanish American War and, in the aftermath of the Great Quake of 1906, explain how it helped to save San Francisco.
Ryken will share a story or two he learned from former Alcatraz prisoners who today he regards as friends. He will conclude by explaining what happened when Native American activists occupied Alcatraz from 1969-1971, and tell the story of how the nation’s largest urban National Park—of which Alcatraz is an integral part—came to be.
The Novato History Museum is in the 1850 Postmaster’s House at 815 DeLong Avenue. For more information, please call 415-897-4320 or go to the website: www.novatohistory.org/novato-history-museum.
The Hamilton Field History Museum is in the 1935 Hamilton Firehouse, 555 Hangar Avenue. For more information, please call 415-382-8614 or go to the website: www.novatohistory.org/hamilton-air-field.
Both museums are open Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday from 12-4.
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