‘Happily Ever After’ exhibit pays tribute to wedding anniversaries in a romantic Victorian home

For Alison Young, a matrimonial exhibit coming to Santa Ana for one day this week will be a very personal and poignant reminder of the power of love.

Young herself has contributed a vintage anniversary card for the “first anniversary” part of the display.

“I found boxes of beautiful anniversary, Valentine and birthday cards that my parents had exchanged in the 1940s and 50s, and this was a great example,” Young said. “My parents met as pen pals when Dad was in the Navy and married during his service in WWII. He loved her dearly all his life and sought out beautiful and elaborate cards to express this to her.”

The Santa Ana Historical Preservation Society will host its first open house of the year on Feb. 6 with a tribute to the wedding anniversary. “Happily Ever After” will include a tour of the Dr. Willella Howe-Waffle House and Medical Museum, where the exhibit will be held.

The event will feature a display of 24 items representing annual wedding milestones, from the first anniversary gift of paper to the 60th anniversary of diamond.

Several items were from the personal collections of the society’s board members, including Young.

“In setting up the display, wherever possible we included vintage or antique items, and a few were passed down through my family,” said Young.

The event will also include a barn sale of antique furniture and decor at Carriage Barn.

The museum, a restored 1889 Queen Anne Victorian home, once belonged to one of the first female physicians in Orange County, Willella Howe-Waffle, who built the house with her first husband and Santa Ana’s second mayor, Dr. Alvin Howe.

Howe-Waffle graduated from Hahnemann Medical College in Chicago in 1886.

The two-story mansion, which took two years to build at a cost of $3,000, features stained glass windows, pocket doors, crown molding and intricately carved staircase and woodwork reminiscent of the era.

The house is also where Howe-Waffle set up her practice. She delivered more than 1,000 babies during her 38 years as an obstetrician. She died in 1924 at 74.

“This was their dream home,” said Max Schmidl, vice president of the Santa Ana Historical Preservation Society.

The historical society saved the house from demolition in the 1970s and relocated it from Bush and Seventh streets to its current spot on Civic Center Drive. The house is now a museum operated by an all-volunteer staff. The open house, held on even-numbered months, helps to support the museum’s upkeep and keep preservation relevant, Schmidl said.

“With the open house, we hope to inspire people to be interested in history and learn more about Santa Ana and Orange County history,” she said. “And also we hope people become excited about preserving elements of our past that can disappear.”

Admission to the “Happily Ever After” open house is $5 for adults, $4 for society members and $3 for students from kindergarten through high school.

The open house will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Feb. 6. The Howe-Waffle House and Medical Museum is located at 120 Civic Center Drive W., in downtown Santa Ana. Free parking is available in the museum lot or at the UCI Family Health Center at the northeast corner of Sycamore and Civic Center Drive.

A Downtown Landmark Architectural Walking Tour will start at the Dr. Willella Howe-Waffle House at 2:30 p.m. Tickets for the walking tour are $8.

For more information, visit santaanahistory.com or call (714) 547-9645.