Mark Read/Pages From The Past
(Editor’s note: This feature recounts vignettes of Marin’s past through the pages of the Novato Advance.)
100 Years Ago
November 1920
— It is not generally known that the Bugeia Bros., have fifteen thoroughbred horses on their ranch from one to two years old. They contemplate laying out a track for the training of their entries at next year’s fair. Lovers of racehorses are invited to visit their ranch at any time. All these colts are sired by the famous Kenilworth.
— J. Lane, who has been employed as a meat cutter at Edsberg’s market has bought a market at San Rafael.
75 Years Ago
November 1945
— Final services were held for Mrs. Minnie Porcella. She was a lifelong resident of Marin County, passed away in a San Rafael hospital early Saturday morning. She was 74 years of age. The deceased is survived by her husband, Stephen, and a daughter, Mrs. Enid Langley. Other survivors include three sisters, Mrs. Victor P. Orella, Mrs. Jeanette Jiminez and Miss Gertrude Saunders. Mrs. Porcella had lived in Novato for many years, where her husband is engaged in the blacksmith business, and where she made many friends who mourn her passing.
— Watch This Paper for the RE-OPENING SOON OF GALLI’S “AT THE SAME OLD SPOT IN IGNACIO” Phone Ignacio 1.
— The building at the corner of Grant and Sherman avenues, owned by Mr. A. E. Pulley is being torn down by John Lee who will use the lumber on his recently acquired Novato property.
50 Years Ago
November 1970
— Two firsts seem to be the legitimate claim of the first phase of the Western Oaks Village townhouse project being developed by Western Hosts Inc. among the hills east of Lynwood Heights and fronting on Highway 101. It appears to be the first townhouse development to be realized in Novato after many years of discussing the practicability of such cluster developments in providing open space areas. Also, it is the first unit of what was once known as the Scottsdale project to actually see development. Groundbreaking was held last Friday, and occupancy of the first townhouse is expected by March 1 of next spring.
25 Years Ago
November 1995
Marie Togni Stafford, a former longtime Novato resident, died Tuesday, Nov. 14, 1995 at the Air Force Village West Skilled Nursing Facility in Riverside. She was 87 years old and was born in Visalia and lived in Novato for 45 years before moving to Riverside in 1981 to live with her daughter. Both Mrs. Stafford and her veterinarian husband, Charles D. Stafford, were very active in the community. After his death, Novato Creek Lake was renamed Stafford Lake in his honor. The couple came to Novato in 1936; Dr. Stafford maintained his veterinary practice here until his death in 1955. He had served as fire commissioner for Novato from 1942 to 1955. He’d also served as chairman of the North Marin Water District Board of Directors, as second vice president of the California State Veterinary Medical Association, as consulting veterinarian for Guide Dogs for the Blind, and as a member of the San Rafael Rotary Club and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Dr. Stafford helped organize the Novato Rotary Club and was a member of the Novato Lions Club, the Druids and the Novato Horsemen’s Association. Mrs. Stafford was just as active. She was a member of the Sunny Hills Auxiliary, the Fireman’s Auxiliary, the Novato Horsemen’s Association and the Novato Garden Club. She served on the Novato School Board for many years prior to 1955. In 1956, she began teaching art at the new Novato High School. She retired from Novato High as a counselor in 1972.
— The Ruth Creek property is one of the most significant in Novato’s history and is linked to one of the area’s most notorious crimes of the 19th century After buying 406 acres of what was part of the original Rancho de Novato Spanish Land Grant in the 1850a, German immigrant Carl Peter Rush sent for his bride-to-be, Anna, from Germany and they were married Jury 8, 1864. One day in 1877, Carl Ruth, then 51, went to work on some fencing on the property and never came back. That same day, Anna, who was inside the house reading, was fired upon. Three days after his disappearance, Peter Rush’s body was found on the property. His jaw was broken and be had been shot in the back. He was buried on the west ride of his property. The murder created a statewide outrage and the Governor of California put up a $300 reward for the culprit. Meanwhile, local authorities arrested Anna Ruth who was indicted and charged, but ultimately released by a Grand Jury. In 1893, 16 years after the murder, a former Marin County sheriff, who had continued to pursue the case, gathered enough evidence for the arrest of a local man, who was eventually convicted and hanged. Anna Ruth lived until 1901 when the died at age 78. She was buried by her husband and the property was inherited by the couple’s nephew, Johannes Ludwig Vilhelm Braun.
— Novato’s old railroad depot, gutted by fire and allowed to fall into disrepair, is one of Novato’s most historic points of interest. At long last it’s being spruced up. A team of dedicated volunteers, the Save the Depot Task Force, has already made strides with plans to reconstruct the 1917 railroad depot. The volunteers have begun cleaning up the wood frame building, which has been an eyesore for years. They Tilled a dumpster with debris, then installed protective covering over the old passenger and freight depots.
— Starbucks Coffee is slated to open Dec. 16 at the former site of Pizza Hut at 880 DeLong Ave. The 1,800-square-foot store will offer specialty coffees, espresso, cappuccino, tea, ciders, juices, desserts and packaged foods. The shop will also carry drip machines and other coffee accessories. Starbucks opened its first location in 1971 and in the ’90s has experienced so much growth that by December, 700 sites will be open nationwide.
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