Museum Brings the Past to the Present

Fillmore’s colorful history lives on in a collection of artifacts that fills a former railroad depot, thanks largely to a local resident who has continued the work of the late Edith Moore Jarrett.

Jarrett, a retired schoolteacher who died two years ago at age 89, painstakingly preserved the city’s past for decades as a volunteer historian.

Born near Piru in 1899, Jarrett had many memories of Fillmore’s early years. She loved to observe and record detail, making her a likely candidate to chronicle its journey from the horse-and-buggy era to the 20th Century.

Twenty years ago, the local Chamber of Commerce asked Jarrett to establish a museum of local history.

From 1971 when the Fillmore Historical Museum opened in temporary quarters on Central Avenue until 1980, when illness prevented her from continuing, Jarrett often worked 40-hour weeks collecting relics, photographs and stories, curator Dorothy Haase said.

Haase, 62, is a Fillmore native who married into one of the founding families of nearby Bardsdale. Always a collector, she had an eye for the value in old items others might see as discards, and worked with Jarrett from the start.

Since much of Fillmore’s history had gone undocumented, Jarrett and Haase wrote letters asking for donations of memorabilia from about 100 families who had been in town since 1900.

“People were a little hesitant to give things at first--they weren’t so sure that this was going to come off,” Haase said. She smiled, recalling the early struggles to fill a single room with antiques. Today, the museum is overflowing with material.

Until Southern Pacific laid track along the Santa Clara River in 1886, the Fillmore area was populated by a few settlers. Fillmore grew up with the railroad into the agricultural community of about 11,000 residents it is today.

In 1974, Jarrett bought Fillmore’s former railroad depot for $1.05 to house the expanding array of artifacts, and moved it for about $3,000 from Southern Pacific land to an alley at 447 Main St. Later, a boxcar annex was added to complete the railroad theme and provide much-needed storage space.

The eclectic collection inside the old depot is displayed informally. Turn-of-the-century kitchen gadgets and clothing mix with farm implements and Chumash relics. Walls are lined with old photographs, captioned by Jarrett with her characteristic brevity and humor.

Jarrett endowed the museum with at least $15,000. The museum is also supported by donations and sales from the gift shop. Admission is free. For information and hours, call 524-0948.

One room primarily contains musical instruments, including a 100-year-old organ that still functions. Maintaining a tradition that Jarrett established, Haase often plays for visitors.

Cataloguing the collection is a monumental task that Haase estimated is about 75% complete. Afternoon visiting hours can be busy, so she devotes mornings to chronicling the collection.

While she works to preserve the past, Haase plans for the future. She would like to publish a sequel to a book produced by a group of residents to celebrate the city’s centennial in 1988. She dreams of purchasing a historic home to complement the museum and furnishing it in the style of the 1900s.

And Haase hopes to find someone to carry on when she is no longer able to. “I’d like to find someone,” she said. “But right now, I just don’t know.”