YesterYears 2024

YESTERYEARS

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YESTER

BACK IN THE 1800’S

YEARS

C O N T E N T S

Stanislaus County Population • 1860 — 2,245 • 1870 — 6,499

• 1880 — 8.951

State Population • 1860 — 379,994 • 1870 — 560,247

• 1880 — 864,686

Turlock’s Schools in 1880 Fair View School District, M. B. Kittrell District Clerk • Turlock had 37 boys enrolled and 24 girls enrolled • Average daily attendance of 30 • Monthly salary of $80 paid to teachers • Valuation of lots, school houses, and furniture: $500 Union School District, Levi Jones District Clerk • Turlock had16 boys enrolled and 8 girls enrolled • Average daily attendance of 11 • Monthly salary of $60 paid to teachers • Valuation of lots, school houses, and furniture: $100

KEEPING HISTORY ALIVE............................................... 4 KEEPING TURLOCK BEAUTIFUL....................................... 5 EAGLES SOAR.............................................................. 6 REMEMBERING THE STAGE........................................... 7 MAIN ST THROUGH THE YEARS.................................... 8 CELEBRATING 75 YEARS............................................. 10

Election Results in the 1800’s Presidential Election 1860 votes cast in Stanislaus County • John Breckenridge, Southern Democratic, 433 votes • Steven Douglass, Northern Democratic, 232 votes • Abraham Lincoln, Republican, 167 votes • John Bell, Constitutional Union, 67 votes

Photo contributed by

COVER: Turlock Historical Society Museum

PUBLISHER Hank Vander Veen

Presidential Election 1864, votes cast in Stanislaus County • George B. McClellan, Democrat, 345 votes • Abraham Lincoln, Republican, 277 votes

EDITOR Kristina H. Hacker

Vote for location of county seat, 1871 • Modesto, 893 votes • Knight’s Ferry, 340 votes • Oak Dale, 79 votes • Waterford, 12 votes • LaGrange, 3 votes • Graysonville, 2 votes

ART DIRECTOR Harold L. George DESIGN Sharon R. Hoffman ADVERTISING Beth Flanagan

Presidential Election 1876, votes cast in Turlock • Samuel Tilden, Democrat, 88 votes • Rutherford B. Hayes, Republican, 56 votes

WRITERS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS Joe Cortez Christopher Correa

Presidential Election 1880, votes cast in Turlock • Winfield Hancock, Democrat, 90 votes • James Garfield, Republican, 71 votes

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YESTERYEARS

Keeping Turlock’s history alive

BY JOE CORTEZ

The best way to take a trip to yesteryear is to visit the Turlock Historical Society Museum in downtown Turlock.

Reading the “Yesteryears” special section is a great start, but when you visit THSM, the past is transformed from black and white to glorious Technicolor — kind of like when Dorothy first steps out of her house and into the land of Oz. “We were closed for 2 1/2 years during the pandemic,” said Turlock Historical Society president Bill Ferriera. “We’d been talking about wanting to update it, because it was getting about time. It was opened in 2003. So, it was a great time to

update it a to move everything out and put in all the new exhibits we have.”

Now only does the museum have new exhibits, but the museum’s layout has been reimagined, as well, providing visitors with a well-structured, partitioned pathway through the exhibits, which highlights Turlock’s founding families, the city’s police and fire departments and schools, and the different nationalities that have thrived in the community over the years, to name just a few.

There’s also an exhibit that showcases all the shoulder patches from Turlock’s service members throughout years.

The museum is open each Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and ice cream is

served at the museum’s antique soda fountain the first Saturday of each month.

The soda fountain isn’t actually from Turlock — it was relocated from Sonora — but it resembles closely the one that used to be in Hauck’s Pharmacy, located on the corner of Main and Broadway.

A visit through the museum will also point out that almonds didn’t always dominate Turlock ag land. Turlock used to be melon territory, with Ferriera pointing out pictures of Turlock’s 1911 Watermelon Festival.

“There’s a committee that’s meeting now and they’re going to recreate this watermelon festival in September,”

said Ferriera. “Watermelon and cantaloupe used to be the big things. In fact, the first year — the 1911 festival — they had a queen contest, and a parade, and a watermelon-rolling contest. Then, they didn’t have one again until 1924, which the American Legion took over; and that was the precursor to the Stanislaus County Fair.”

In fact, on top of an antique Bush & Gerts piano, you can see sheet music for a song titled “Way Down in Turlock Where the Watermelons Grow.”

The new Turlock Watermelon Festival will be held Sept. 20-21, which details be featured in July’s edition of the THSM’s Turlock Pioneer newsletter.

JOE CORTEZ/The Journal

Historical Society President Bill Ferriera stands next to the Bush and Gerts piano that has been converted into a player piano at the Turlock Historical Society Museum.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 2024

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YESTERYEARS

Keeping Turlock beautiful

BY KRISTINA HACKER

For over 75 years, the Turlock Garden Club has helped beautify the city while giving local gardeners a community for continued learning and fellowship.

The club was founded by Mrs. Gerald James on July 29, 1948, and in the early days of the organization, the group of 12 to 15 members would meet at different members’ homes. Seventy-six years later there are over 120 members in the club, who now meet in the Turlock Senior Center.

Club president Judy Moore credits the club’s growth in membership to its recent focus on encouraging young gardeners.

In that vein, the club hosted a booth at the city’s National Night Out evet in August at Columbia Park where they helped children plant flowers and to take home. They club then held a planting session with the Turlock Mom’s Club. The club has an event planned at the Turlock Certified Farmers Market in June where they will help young gardeners with a planting and give them a free a book about gardening or nature.

Moore said the club continues to ask ‘what more can we do?’

“We don’t want to be those ladies that just sit and drink coffee,” she said.

Club members are seen around the community maintaining the raised garden beds at Jessica’s House and along Main Street in downtown Turlock.

Wearing green aprons and gardening gloves, club members plant downtown flowers in the area’s 40 pots twice a year — once in the spring and once in the fall.

Volunteers work on the pots once a month year-long to maintain the flowers, cleaning up any spent blooms and trimming excess plants down.

In recent years, the club has also hosted annual plant sales and a garden tour featuring the homes and gardens of local residents with the money raised from the

tours used for scholarships. The 2024 Spring Plant Sale will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 13 at 2531 El Camino, Turlock. The Garden Tour will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 4, with locations given out with the purchase of tickets at The Greenery nursery or from any member.

The Turlock Garden Club meets on the second Monday of each month September through June at the Turlock Carnegie Arts Center, located at 250 N. Broadway in Turlock. The club has a “bring your own lunch” social time starting at 12 noon in the Gemperle Room on the 2nd floor, followed by a program that begins at 12:30 p.m. New members are always welcome. For

Photos contributed

TOP RIGHT: Turlock Garden Club members plant flowers in downtown Turlock’s 40 pots twice a year; BOTTOM RIGHT: Turlock Garden Club members maintain the raised garden beds at Jessica’s House, a grief counseling center for children and their families; BOTTOM LEFT: Turlock Garden Club members encourage the next generation of gardeners at a Turlock Mom’s Club event.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 2024

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YESTERYEARS

more information about the club email turlockgardenclub@gmail.com or visit their Facebook page, Turlock Garden Club.

Eagles soar within Turlock Christian Schools

Photo contributed

Journ al file photo

Turlock Christian FFA alumni Ben Bylma (left) and Ian McFarlane (right) share their experiences at the 2023 National FFA Convention in Indianapolis. Bylsma served as a National FFA Delegate for the California FFA Association while McFarlane received the American FFA Degree award.

The Turlock Christian Eagles earned the Division VII CIF Sac-Joaquin Section championship in 2022.

BY CHRISTOPHER CORREA

This year marks the 55th year of anniversary of the establishment of Turlock Christian School. In that time, the institution has had a continued focus on preparing students for college and life in the vital areas of faith, virtue and knowledge.

Back in 1969, only 12 students were enrolled when Turlock Christian offered learning for grades K-2. Five years later, 13 students were enrolled in their inaugural junior high and high school classes, which were held at Monte Vista Chapel, just like they continue to be today. After receiving accreditation in 1978 and nonprofit status the next year, the Eagles honored their first graduating class of 21 students in 1980.

Turlock Christian School uniquely expanded in 1989 with a new preschool that welcomed 36 children. The campus, at 2006 E. Tuolumne Rd., further expanded in 1997 to provide infant and toddler care. With growing interest and popularity, a second preschool was opened in 2001, which was later moved to the institution’s newest campus at 2323 Colorado Ave. in 2016 alongside the elementary classes.

The Colorado campus also marked a major milestone for Turlock Christian

School in the fact that it was their first standalone, state-of-the-art campus. The campus features technology such as a green screen room, science, robotics, and art labs as well as an Apple film and computer lab.

The Eagles have also made their mark in athletics, offering sports like baseball, basketball, volleyball, golf, tennis, swimming, cheerleading and trap-shooting, among others depending on participation.

Fast forward to August of last year, growth is still in the sights of those at Turlock Christian, as an application was submitted to the City of Turlock Planning Commission to construct a new 32,025 square foot building to house new classrooms, a multi-purpose gym and a 3,000 square foot storage building at the Colorado Avenue campus. In addition, approximately 4,196 square feet of existing classroom space would be remodeled.

Those are just some of the ways that Turlock Christian School is hoping to keep working towards their mission of preparing students for outstanding college careers while “making an impact for Jesus in every role and facet of their lives.”

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YESTERYEARS

‘Arrival of the Stage’ not forgotten

BY JOE CORTEZ

A large crowd has gathered in a Western town as a stagecoach arrives. Some men wear cowboy hats and gun belts around their waists. Others wear top hats are dressed more regally. Another man makes his way through the crowd, along with his dog and donkey, while yet another wears the apron of a tradesman, perhaps a blacksmith.

Meanwhile, the women wear bonnets and petticoats beneath their ankle-length dresses It could be a scene right out of Dodge City. But it’s not.

It’s Turlock, California.

British-born painter James Albert Holden (1881-1956) was commissioned to do a western-themed painting — “Arrival of the Stage” — as part of the public art projects funded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal program during the Great Depression.

“Arrival of the Stage” was painted around 1937 for the old Turlock Post Office, before the piece was sold and eventually acquired by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, though it is currently not on view.

A collection of art, put together by a grant from the San Diego State University Grant Program, has attempted to document all the murals and relief undertaken in the state of California as part of art projects funded by the New

Image courtesy of San Diego State University

British-born painter James Albert Holden was commissioned to do a western-themed painting — “Arrival of the Stage” — for the Turlock Post Office around 1937.

Deal. This includes not only work undertaken through the Federal Art Project as part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), but also post office murals funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts in the United States Department of the Treasury.

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YESTERYEARS

When Turlock was founded in 1881 by John W. Mitchell, all that existed was a train depot, a grain building and a post office — a post office that would one day feature an original art piece of a bygone era. An art piece that now belongs to the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Main Street through the years

Photo courtesy of Mike Ertmoed

Photo courtesy of the Turlock Historical Society

Main Street and Lander circa pre 1900. (We know it is after the railroad was installed as the railroad crossing sign is in the photo.)

Turlock 4th of July parade, 1908

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Photo courtesy of the Turlock Historical Society

Main Street circa late 1940s bankofstockton.com

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YESTERYEARS

In Turlock | 134 S. Golden State Blvd.

1900 to 2005

Photo courtesy of the Turlock Historical Society

Photo courtesy of the Turlock Historical Society

This photo has to be after 1911 because the Women’s Improvement League raised money for the installation of three fountains for watering horses in that year. Also, there have “new” motorized vehicles and horses and buggies in the photo.

The interesting thing about this photo from the 1920s is the diagonal parking allowed from both directions in the middle of Main Street.

Photo courtesy of the Turlock Historical Society

Photo courtesy of the Turlock Irrigation District

Main Street circa 1950s

Main Street 2005

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YESTERYEARS

Kirkes Electric celebrates 75 years of family-owned service

BY CHRISTOPHER CORREA

It’s safe to say that when Neil Kirkes began doing electrical work in defense plants during World War II, he had no idea that his diligent work would result in a family-owned business that would be successful for three-quarters of a century and counting. But that’s exactly the case as Kirkes Electric, now stationed at 999 N. Golden State Blvd. and owned by grandson Kyle Kirkes, is set to celebrate their 75th anniversary this summer.

“It’s a big deal and it’s a testament to the hard work of everybody involved,” said Kyle.

In 1945 following the end of World War II, Neil Kirkes went to work as a meter reader and a lineman for the Turlock Irrigation District. Soon after, he worked under electrical contractor Neil McGarvey. It was there that he befriended electrician Ken Bannock.

The duo decided to start their own business together, named Bannock Electric. After Bannock went through a divorce in 1949, Krikes accepted an offer to buy out the business, thus launching the start of Kirkes Electric, with the operation running out of a small home garage on Flower Street until 1963.

That year, Kirkes Electric moved into their current space in Golden State. Prior to the move, the property was shared by Jackson’s Stove Oil Co. and the Van Gas Company.

In 1967, Kirkes passed away, leaving the business to his wife Maggie and their three sons, Roger, Gary and Michael.

Kirkes Electric and Van Gas shared the space until

Photos contributed

Maggie Kirkes, wife of Kirkes Electric founder Neil Kirkes, is pictured center with her son Roger and his wife Dolores Kirkes.

1988, when Roger Kirkes and his wife, Delores bought out the rest of the property. Under Roger in the mid1980s, nephew Kyle Kirkes was hired as a part-time worker during the summers, doing “pretty much everything,” as he pursued a higher education. In the ‘90s, Kyle took on a job as a manager at a banking center after getting his degree from UC Davis. It was in 1998 that his uncle asked him to return to the family business, and he hasn’t left since.

In 2010, Kyle accepted an offer from his uncle to become the co-owner of Kirkes Electric. In fact, it had been the third time that Roger asked for his nephew to

Then

take over.

“It wasn’t something that he and I had ever sat down and specifically said, ‘Hey, take it over one day.’ I just put my head down and went to work,” Kyle explained.

“But I knew that one day he was probably going to want me to run the business. He was just persistent… I think he just saw something in me that he wanted me to work for him. I definitely had a special bond with him. I would say he was my best friend. We spent a lot of time together. So I’m just continuing the work he and my grandfather started.”

Since that time, Kyle has become one of 12 current employees to have been a part of Kirkes Electric for more than 20 years, who take on jobs all the time in the commercial and residential spaces.

Another 20-year veteran is Vice President Larry Nathanson, who described the Kirkes team as a “family.”

Whether community members need electrical work in their homes or business, an HVAC needs to be repaired or replaced, or if families are interested in installing a home theater or state-of-the-art sound systems, Kyle is most proud of the way his team is able to help others in their community.

“I am so lucky and blessed to be able to work with good people,” he said. “Teamwork is the most important thing… There’s been a couple of guys that have been here longer than me, but I helped put them in the position that they are now in running their own departments. And when they’re successful, I’m successful.

And success comes when we get projects done and help meet the needs of our customers. That’s what makes me proud.”

Now Photos contributed

LEFT: Kirkes Electric ran out of a small home garage on Flower Street until 1963; RIGHT: Kirkes Electric today is located at 999 N. Golden State Blvd. in Turlock.

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