The Moving Story of Anaheim’s Mother Colony House

There’s an ongoing debate in Anaheim whether to let some of its history stand still.

The city staff wants to move the Mother Colony House--the oldest wooden house in Orange County--from its present West Street site to a location closer to City Hall.

The neighbors, led by Realtor Paul Kott, have signed a petition opposing that plan, with some 400 signatures. The city’s Arts Council opposes moving the old house, which has been moved twice before. But even some who are historically minded say that a move might be best.

The house originally was at what is now Anaheim Boulevard and Sycamore Street. It was owned by George Hansen, considered the city’s founder. He was superintendent of the Los Angeles Vineyard Society that bought 1,165 acres to create the city in the 1850s.

The house was moved to 418 N. West St. in 1929 and then moved one lot down the street, to 414, in 1947.

This latest move proposal almost became a done deal with few people knowing about it. The city’s community services staff had recommended the move and it was placed on the City Council’s agenda last fall. Charlotte Brady of the Arts Council spotted the item and came forward to protest.

The problem is this: For years the buses that take schoolchildren to tour the Mother Colony House have used the parking lot behind it, either to park or turn around. But that lot actually belongs to a neighbor next door. Two years ago, the neighbor chose not to continue an easement agreement.

City officials apparently haven’t gotten anywhere in trying to negotiate a solution to the problem, so they decided the house should be moved closer to downtown--to Center and Olive streets, next to the new senior center. Community services director Chris Jarvi argues that it would be more accessible to the public.

Both sides have good points to make. Me, I’d like to see it stay put.

The neighbors argue that the house has been on West Street so long that it’s now a part of the neighborhood. Another point: How many times can you move an old house without causing damage?

I’d like to emphasize a third argument: The Mother Colony House is in a perfect location for the historically minded.

The house to its north is the historic Stoffel House, built in 1894. The original owners used to gaze upon their land holdings from its magnificent third floor turret. The house is now owned by the Orange County chapter of the American Red Cross.

Ideally, what should be done is to combine the two houses in a single tour. But no one has yet put this plan together.

To add to the area’s history, just two doors south of the Mother Colony House is the most beautiful old tree I’ve ever seen. It’s a ficus tree well over 100 feet tall and more than 100 years old. It’s surrounded by wave after wave of roots, some more than two feet above the ground. If you haven’t seen it, a view of that magnificent tree alone is worth a trip down West Street.

Another point: The Mother Colony House backs up to the grounds of Anaheim High School, which has its own important history in the community. And another: West Street is also the west boundary line for the city’s original 1,165 acres.

The Mother Colony House’s future is in limbo right now. It’s just hard to believe that something can’t be worked out about the parking. Sometimes history needs to be left alone.

For the Leatherjackets: The soldier barracks at Mission San Juan Capistrano date back even further than the Mother Colony House. They were built in 1791 for Spanish soldiers. The barracks have been in such disrepair in recent years that visitors can only view them from the outside.

Now comes the Orange County chapter of the Building Industry Assn. to its rescue. The group is donating $300,000 in labor and materials toward restoration of the barracks. Its wood shingle roof, for example, will be replaced with a clay tile roof, the same style originally used. Other work will include waterproofing the barracks and strengthening walls to meet seismic codes.

The soldiers who stayed there were known as Leatherjackets, because they wore heavy leather vests in an attempt to protect themselves from the arrows of their adversaries.

Land of Cotten: The only time you’ll catch Patricia Medina Cotten on screen these days is on a late night movie on TV, or cable’s AMC. But her movie career kept her in touch with many names you do know--like Rex Harrison, Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Alan Ladd.

She will appear at the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach today to talk about all of them and promote her new book, “Laid Back in Hollywood,” at a Round Table West luncheon. The one very special man in the book, of course, is the late Joseph Cotten, her husband.

Wrap-Up: Wednesday morning, I slipped into the tour of the Mother Colony House taken by Loara Elementary teacher Jenny Frank’s third-grade class.

The tours are operated by the city library. Ann Ehrlich of the library staff, who has been giving these tours some 15 years, did a splendid job of making the house’s history interesting to the youngsters.

The house is open for tours each Wednesday morning, but only if you call ahead to the library for an appointment--(714) 765-1850.

The house still has its original redwood floors. The only original piece from the house’s turn-of-the-century owners is a chandelier in the parlor, originally kerosene but later converted to electricity.

There’s a beautiful Emerson piano, which has its own unique history. It had washed away in the huge flood of 1884. Someone found it buried in silt in a riverbed and restored it.

The house is filled with pioneer items--a sewing machine, a washing machine (the catalog open next to it lists the price at $2.98), a baby buggy, scores of pictures of old Anaheim.

It doesn’t take a lot of time to see it all; the house is only three rooms. But for the time you are there, you get a good sense of Anaheim’s history. And it makes you appreciate there are people around dedicated to preserving it for the rest of us.

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Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling The Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823, by fax at (714) 966-7711 or by e-mail at jerry.hicks@latimes.com.