more history
Controversy swirls around pastor
by Ruth Roberts and Rick Lemyre
Mar 31, 2011 | 24 24 comments | 150 150 recommendations | email to a friend
UPDATED 5:10 A.M., March 31, 2011 A local pastor with a history of lawsuits, tax liens and bankruptcy is under fire from parishioners for questionable financial dealings, and may have been operat...
Mystery house, mystery woman
Mar 31, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 10 10 recommendations | email to a friend
This month’s History Mystery Postcard is inscribed with gelatin (silver) print and features a divided back. It was sent from Brentwood to Martinez and is clearly postmarked March 17, 1914. This mon...
Excelsior revisited
Mar 24, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 6 6 recommendations | email to a friend
George Gambel became mayor of Brentwood in 1970. Before that, he attended the first Excelsior School, located at the corner of Marsh Creek Road and Highway 4. George forwards this picture, which he...
Remembering Oakley’s women pioneers
by Samie Hartley
Mar 16, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 15 15 recommendations | email to a friend
Traditionally, the mayor reads proclamations at Oakley City Council meetings, but Mayor Jim Frazier returned the duty to three-time Mayor Pat Anderson for the reading of the Women’s History Month p...
Historical docents needed
Mar 10, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 8 8 recommendations | email to a friend
The East Contra Costa Historical Society is looking for people interested in local history to become museum docents. No experience is necessary, and membership is not required. One session of docen...
Tapping into Liberty’s past digitally
by Samie Hartley
Mar 02, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 9 9 recommendations | email to a friend
Some say high school was the best four years of their lives while others are content leaving the past in the past, abandoning outdated lingo or bad hair styles in the history books. But if you were...
History Mystery goes farming for answers
Feb 17, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 8 8 recommendations | email to a friend
This month’s History Mystery postcard is an unsent, real photo postcard (RPP), gelatin (silver) print, divided back card featuring a team of four horses pulling what appears to be a grain wagon. Fo...
Hunting for local history
Feb 10, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 10 10 recommendations | email to a friend
Discovery Bay resident Virgil Koehne solved last month’s History Mystery by correctly identifying the images in an old postcard. Koehne, the Discovery Bay water and wastewater manager, and his coll...
Searching for Discovery Bay
Jan 20, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 10 10 recommendations | email to a friend
While historian Carol Jensen owns a vast collection of historical postcards, she’s looking to add to it, and she needs your help. Jensen’s collection features images of old Brentwood, Oakley and Kn...
Great catch
Jan 05, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 12 12 recommendations | email to a friend
Thanks to the help of Press reader Ray Parkins, local historian Carol Jensen has identified Bethel Island’s History Mystery fisherman as William “Bill” E. Schaadt. December’s History Mystery featur...
Annals of Antioch revisited and revised
by Justin Lafferty
Jan 04, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 8 8 recommendations | email to a friend
Longtime Antioch historian Charlie Bohakel has studied this area extensively for most of his life. He can picture when the Antioch Lumber Company was a bustling major employer, identify when the ci...
Donations needed for new gateway
Dec 23, 2010 | 0 0 comments | 6 6 recommendations | email to a friend
Brentwood’s downtown enhancement project currently underway will take a year to complete, but once it’s finished, the city’s historical district is expected to be transformed into a vibrant, pedest...
Fish mystery begs history
Dec 09, 2010 | 0 0 comments | 8 8 recommendations | email to a friend
For the December History Mystery, historian Carol Jensen is asking Press readers to help identify the man in this postcard from the 1950s. Jensen has no information other than what’s printed on the...
Another History Mystery solved
Dec 01, 2010 | 0 0 comments | 14 14 recommendations | email to a friend
New information about Knightsen’s history has been revealed as a result of November’s History Mystery contest, but the winner isn’t from East County. Ed Kreyenhagen, a resident of Coalinga, was abl...
Seeking to right historical wrong
by Justin Lafferty
Nov 25, 2010 | 0 0 comments | 12 12 recommendations | email to a friend
Antioch historian and lifelong resident Elizabeth Rimbault is working to correct what she feels has been a long-overlooked mistake. When William Wiggin Smith founded Antioch in 1851, he staked out ...
Iconic Taylor Ranch up for sale
by Samie Hartley
Nov 18, 2010 | 0 0 comments | 25 25 recommendations | email to a friend
Byron’s historic Taylor Ranch, home to four generations of the Taylor-Cross family, is now on the housing market, and for a cool $1.89 million, it could be yours. The Tim Abney Estate currently own...
If these walls could talk
Nov 18, 2010 | 1 1 comments | 20 20 recommendations | email to a friend
This month’s History Mystery historical postcard was sent from Knightsen to Oakland in 1910 and saved as one of more than 800 postcards in a collection found by local resident John Gonzales in the ...
Founder’s diary refreshed
Nov 18, 2010 | 0 0 comments | 6 6 recommendations | email to a friend
The Antioch Historical Society Museum got an early Christmas present this week with the arrival of the first copies of the restored diary of Antioch founder William Wiggin (W.W.) Smith. The origina...
New state park plan faces roadblocks
by Justin Lafferty
Nov 11, 2010 | 0 0 comments | 10 10 recommendations | email to a friend
State and local park officials have drafted a general plan for a state historic park south of Brentwood, but funding problems could make it hard for the park to open anytime soon. The area for the ...
History Mystery unsolved
Nov 02, 2010 | 0 0 comments | 12 12 recommendations | email to a friend
No one was able to identify the photographer or the people sitting on the porch in the Press’ October History Mystery. The closest guess to identifying the photographer came from retired LIFE Magaz...