Mike Read/Pages From The Past
(Editor’s Note: Pages From The Past remembers Novato through the years via the pages of the historic Novato Advance.)
100 Years Ago
October 1922
– O.W. Hall has resigned as local station agent and is succeeded by Vernon Clark, who is promoted from Petaluma. Mr. Hall will devote all his time to his warehouse business, handling eggs for the poultry association. May he succeed beyond his expectation.
– The Novato Pharmacy has been sold by Dr. W. H. Busher to R. S. Teachout, who has taken possession. Mr. Teachout is an experienced pharmacist of many years, and since coming to Novato has won the confidence and respect of our people. Dr. Busher will devote his whole time to his veterinary practice, which is steadily growing and in which he is most successful.
– Cobb, Owens and Wright, San Francisco owners of a large tract of land near Novato, are dredging a canal through their property from the Black Point cut-off to the railroad between Burdell and this place to facilitate the handling of their produce by water. The canal is to be large enough to permit the navigation of the smaller bay craft.
75 Years Ago
October 1947
– TO MEET the rising crime rate in Novato, a full-time deputy sheriff was installed in that area by resolution of the board of supervisors. The action called for the deputy to be equipped with a car and a two-way radio and if he cooperates with the township’s constable. As soon as the board approved the appointment of a deputy for Novato, Constable Fred C. Nave asked the board who would have authority in the area, himself or the sheriff’s office. While the constable has complete authority over matters falling under his Jurisdiction. Nave also draws pay as a part-time deputy sheriff. After trying to determine when he would be acting as a constable and when he would be acting as a deputy sheriff, Chairman T, Fred Bagshaw declared that it was strictly a matter to be worked out between Nave and Sheriff Walter B. Sellmer.
– To relieve the overcrowded school rooms of the unionized schools of Black Point and Novato, with an enrollment of 311 pupils, the largest in its history, it has been found necessary to operate on a split shift basis. Beginning Oct. 27, two divisions of the first, second, third and seventh graders, attend school from 8:05 to 12:05 p.m., while the fourth, fifth and eighth grades’ attend from. 12:05 to 4:20 p. m. Sanitary conditions at Black Point prevented the third graders from going there as originally planned.
50 Years Ago
October 1972
– Funeral services were held yesterday for Jessie E. McDermed of 72 Palm Lane, who died Sunday in a Santa Rosa hospital at the age of 92. A native of Kansas, Mrs. McDermed came to Novato in 1922 with her first husband, Charles Thompson. After his death she married Joseph E. McDermed, an architect, in 1945 and moved with him to Monterey. In 1958 the family returned to Novato after Mr. McDermed became an amputee. He died nine years ago. Mrs. McDermed was a member of the Novato Presbyterian Church, the Novato Open Door Club and the Senior Citizens here.
– Officer Scott Sibbald responded to a call Monday morning from a citizen who reported a pig was loose near Bill’s Texico station on San Marin Drive. The pig had apparently been struck by a car and wandered off injured by the time Sibbald arrived. He reports he searched the area with negative results and at one point asked a passer-by if he’d seen any pigs around. “No sir,” was the reply, “you’re the first one I’ve seen today.”
– The Renaissance Pleasure Faire, which ran for six weekends in September and October, drew a total attendance of about 150,000 according to a spokesman for the Faire. That compares with close to 100,000 last year. The Faire was held in Black Point.
– Harley McAskill, former mayor of Novato, has Joined the staff of Womack Realty, 1215 Grant Avenue. Wayne Womack is also a former mayor. Womack Realty now can boast of two ex-mayors in its salesmen’s ranks.
– Frank Beale of Novato poses with his 1967 Comoro which set a new world elapsed time record at the recent American Hot Rod Association world finals in Fremont. The $10,000 vehicle was clocked at 11.25 seconds on the quarter-mile track, breaking the old mark of 11.28.
25 Years Ago
October 1997
– Members of the Novato High School Key Club welcomed freshmen to the campus this fall with a free barbecue lunch during Freshman Orientation Day. Members of the Key Club’s sponsoring Novato Kiwanis Club were on hand to help with the cooking and to donate a new barbecue to the Novato School District’s Food Service.
– Birkenstock Footprint Sandals and Novato Office Supply have been named Businesses of the Year by the Novato Chamber of Commerce. Birkenstock was chosen the Large Business of the Year and Novato Office Supply the Small Business of the Year.
– If you loved the elevator to the 13th floor and enjoyed the mansion with its mystery doors; if you like the castle with its drawbridge and moat, just wait until you board the haunted boat. It seems that a pirate ship has crashed; the mast is broken, the deck is smashed. You’re invited to see it, but just so you know, the ship is haunted, so anything goes. This will mark the 10th year the Rugani family has turned its home into Novato’s personal haunted whatever—one year it was a castle, one year a mansion, one year a hotel. This year it is a pirate ship.
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