Weather Weary : Historic Buildings Threatened by the Ravages of Nature

More than 25 years of hard work by the Garden Grove Historical Society is being threatened by years of rainfall and the blistering sun.

Elderly volunteers who have saved many of Garden Grove’s oldest homes from demolition say they do not have the expertise or numbers to protect the old wooden buildings from the elements.

Heavy rains in January and February and the newly arrived hot sun of late spring have worsened the condition of about half the 15 significant buildings that the society has moved to a small park on Euclid Avenue since 1966.

There, the volunteers restore them to their original condition for public tours. So far, the group has gathered five houses, a one-room schoolhouse, a blacksmith shop and an old post office, among others.

“We have to protect the wood,” said Faire Sax, 87, the group’s president. “If someone could just tell us how, we could preserve them through the summer.”

The most seriously damaged, the Reeder house, built in 1877, was exposed to recent rains when movers didn’t properly replace the roof after the house was transported to the park.

After years of enduring the searing sun, a combination shoe repair and barber shop needs to be repainted. And a gazebo, which is a popular spot for weddings and a source of revenue for restoration, is so ravaged by the elements it can no longer be used, Sax said.

The society has 240 members, but few can help with the job.

“We are lucky if we have 10 or 12 people who can do heavy work,” said Fred Coles, 71, the group’s founder. “We usually have only four people who can help at a time.”

The society is one of the only historical museums in Southern California run entirely by volunteers without city assistance, Coles said.

Volunteers have been remarkably successful in saving Garden Grove’s oldest houses, including the home of one of the community’s earliest settlers, Edward G. Ware.

This dwelling, the centerpiece of the historical park, has so far remained undamaged by the seasons, according to volunteers.

Ware arrived in Garden Grove in 1876, two years after the village was founded, to farm an orange grove. His daughter, L. Agnes Stanley, donated the family’s home to the society in 1970, along with two acres of the family’s orange grove.

The two-story farmhouse contains many of its original furnishings, including an 1830 bedspread and an Edison phonograph. The kitchen has a separate area for baking. And its cabinets boast reminders of old-time staples, such as Carnation Mush Wheat Flakes and Faine’s Sweet Scented Starch.

“It brings back memories,” said Gertrude Nielsen, 76, who visited the home from Orange.

Down a partially paved village street, visitors can also tour a dentist shop and look at glass bottles of medicine that were carried on horseback.

Across the way, a 1926 LaFrance-Brockway Torpedo fire engine, complete with cotton hoses and a wooden ladder, sits in a replica of Garden Grove’s first firehouse.

“Our aim is to be able to save a little bit of history so that [younger generations] will know what the village of [Garden Grove] was like,” Coles said.

In time, the group would like to restore its schoolhouse and install an old-fashioned gas station with a gravity-fed gas pump, Coles said. But those projects will have to wait until they find funding and solve the immediate problem of preservation.

“We can’t go down to the lumber company with a MasterCharge,” Coles said with a smile.

The group raises money through book and craft sales, recycling and a $2 admission charge. Coles said he could not estimate how much restorations have cost so far.

The village, even if only partly complete, still brings joy to its visitors.

“It reminds me of my home,” said Frances Watts, 80, of Santa Ana.