FULLERTON : City OKs Rebuilding Burned Log Cabin

The City Council agreed this week to rebuild a log cabin on the same spot in Hillcrest Park where it burned to the ground three years ago.

The cabin was built in 1931 from discarded telephone poles and had been used for decades by Boy Scouts and other groups. A stone entrance porch and stairway built by a Work Progress Administration crew in 1938 remain intact and will be reused as the entrance to the new cabin.

The local chapter of the Izzak Walton League, a national environmental conservation group, built the cabin and managed it for 60 years. Members of the conservation group lobbied Tuesday for its reconstruction.

The council voted 4 to 1 to use $137,000 from fire insurance to rebuild the cabin in a remote spot in the central Fullerton park.

Councilman A.B. (Buck) Catlin voted against the plan, arguing that the cabin should be rebuilt in a more public part of the park. The site is far from roads and a parking lot.

Police Chief Patrick McKinley told the council that the remote cabin could attract criminals.

But Boy Scouts who attended Tuesday’s council meeting said the remoteness of the cabin was one reason they liked it.

“I’ve always liked cabins, and being out in the woods,” said scout Nathan Sheffield, 17. Sheffield, a Fullerton resident, said he joined the Cub Scout Troop 292 in 1984. The scout troop also uses the cabin for retreats and meetings.

Boy Scout Troop 292 was displaced from the cabin when it burned in December, 1990. “We’ve been wandering around from place to place,” said Sheffield, who recounted meetings in community centers, churches and homes.

The scout troop’s membership has fallen from 30 boys to seven, Sheffield said.

Council members said they would like more people to use the cabin when it is rebuilt. Councilman Don Bankhead said he thinks the city should manage the new cabin and charge a small fee to user groups.

Catlin argued that the fire insurance money would be better spent on the Hillcrest Recreation Center, which is also in the park and needs repairs on its first floor. The money does not have to be spent to rebuild the cabin.

But Councilman Chris Norby argued that the cabin is a symbol of America’s history and should be rebuilt.

Mayor Molly McClanahan also spoke fondly of the cabin. “There is this little magic hill in this city,” she said. “It became something in this community.”

Members of the Izzak Walton League told the council they had received pledges of $16,000 for the rebuilding of the cabin. The city estimate for the total construction cost is about $150,000.

Norby said any cost overruns could be covered by redevelopment funds.

Izzak Walton League President Robert J. Green said construction should be completed by March, 1994.