The Perristorian - Perris Valley Historical Museum

T h e Pe r r i st o r i a n
Third Quarter 2014
Perris Valley Historical Museum
Perris Valley Historical Archives
In this issue:
Fun Times at the 14th Annual Silent Auction
and
socializing,
delicious food and
wine, and after
everyone’s shopping
Everyone enjoyed the delicious meal.
14th
The
Annual Silent
Auction came home this year to
the Perris Santa Fe Depot
Gardens. What a nice venue, if
we do say so ourselves. Everyone
had an opportunity to peruse the
museum displays and rummage
around in the gift shop during the
course of the evening. Outside, in
beautiful late summer weather,
our guests had many items to look
over and bid on. There were tickets, coupons, experiences, handmade items, jewelry, art, antiques
and holiday goodies – a little
something for everyone.
There
951-657-0274
was
Valley Heritage Fund,‖ to ensure
that our history is not forgotten.
Officers & Directors
1
PVHM in the 21st Century
2
2
Shopping at
2
Email
2
Technology vs Human Touch
2
Panel Displays Complete
3
Passport to Perris
3
Clampers Coming to Town
3
Do you know your history?
4
Upcoming Events
5
So Cal Fair
5
How did you do?
5
Dues & Don’ts
6
Officers
President……….…...Quinn Hawley
1st Vice President…...Bill Hulstrom
2nd Vice President……...Ann Motte
Secretary……………...Mae Minnich
Treasurer…….…..Dennise Manning
Thanks again and see you next
year!
Directors
Mike Behrens
Kay Busch
Cindy Chambers
Katie Keyes
Vincent Magana
Midgie Parker
Marie Spradlin
conversation
www.perrismuseum.com
1
us on Facebook
genes kicked in, the
bidding came to a
close. Another great
fundraising event;
the Museum walked
away with over
$5,000. As always,
our proceeds will be
deposited to our
endowment, the ―Perris
The PVHM thanks Barry
Busch for his amazing grilling
talents, the volunteers for their
tasteful dishes, the docents for
another superior job as wait staff,
and most importantly our members and friends for attending.
Silent Auction
info@perrismuseum.com
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The Perristorian
Third Quarter 2014
The PVHM in the Twenty-first Century
Let’s Go Shopping!
Do you shop on Amazon.com? The Perris Valley Historical Museum is now part of the AmazonSmile program. Now it can be simple and automatic
for you to support the PVHM whenever you shop
online at Amazon.
When you shop at
smile.amazon.com, you will find the exact same low
prices, vast selection and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added bonus that
Amazon will donate a half a percent of the purchase
price to the PVHM.
To shop at AmazonSmile simply go to
smile.amazon.com from your web browser on your
computer or mobile device. You can use the same account on Amazon.com and AmazonSmile. On your
first visit to AmazonSmile, you need to select us as
your charitable organization before you begin shopping. Your selection will be remembered so that every
eligible purchase you make on AmazonSmile will result in a donation to the Perris Valley Historical Museum.
This is an easy way for you to support the
PVHM whenever you shop online. Thank you.
We are now on social media.
So…
Like us on Facebook
Email
Would you like to receive your newsletter by
email? Would you like to get email updates on what
the PVHM is doing? Reminders of special events
coming up?
Please help us update our email database so
that we can continue to move forward in the twentyfirst century and be able to communicate quickly
with our members. Don’t worry, we will always have
a hard-copy newsletter available to our members that
do not have email or prefer it in paper form, however,
by using less paper, ink and postage we can redirect
those funds to running the museum and archives, ensuring that our history continues to be protected and
shared with future generations.
Drop us a line, give us a call or email us with
your email address and we will update our records.
Thank you again.
info@perrismuseum.com
Technology
vs
The Human Touch
While we are excited to be participating in the technological age of the 21st Century, it still takes many human helpers to
keep the PVHM going strong. There are tours to give, information to record, meetings to attend, bookkeeping to be done,
artifacts to be managed, fundraising, grant writing, collecting,
archiving, exhibits to build, research to be done….we could go
on and on.
Please keep in touch through social media, and participate in any way that you enjoy and are comfortable with. It
takes a village...and a computer, and technology, and interaction, and networking, and...
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The Perristorian
Perris Centennial Displays - A Huge Success
Third Quarter 2014
As some of you
know, our Perris Centennial Panel Exhibits have
been rotating through the
Perris and Val Verde
Elementary Schools and
some local businesses this
year. With that project
complete, the panels have
come home to rest in our
collections.
Passport to Perris
In keeping with our Passport to Perris program
(a private-public partnership promoting tourism in the
city,) some of our directors joined Perris supporters
from the City, the Chamber of Commerce, and local
businesses on a day out (by limosine, no less) to show
off local entertainment landmarks to representatives of
―Discover IE,‖ a non-profit agency promoting travel
and tourism.
The group stopped in at City Hall, the Orange
Empire Railway Museum, and the Motte Historical
Museum. They visited Big League Dreams Sports
Complex, Drop Zone Aquatics Center and Perris Auto
Speedway. Lunch at the Bomb Shelter was combined
with a tour of Skydive Perris and the
Windtunnel.
We
believe that this energetic group was
able to show our
guests some history,
culture and the variety of places and
On the track at Perris Auto Speedway
activities that Perris
has to offer.
During the school
year teachers used the panels as a tool for teaching
their students and the general public was exposed to
their history at such businesses as Lowe’s, NPG Asphalt, Big League Dreams,
Perris Auto Speedway, and Ritchie Bros. Some people even found images of relatives and information
about their families in the displays. That was exciting!
We would like to sincerely thank Dan Yost, of
Powerflow Communications and representatives from
the businesses mentioned above for getting the
displays set up and rotated through all of the
locations over the last school year. The project was
well received and inquiries have been made about its
coming back. Maybe we should do it again – one can
always use a refresher course.
Perhaps this will lead into our town being featured online as a ―destination‖ for the Golden State.
We certainly think there is a lot to attract visitors to
our little ―neck of the woods.‖
“Clampers” coming to Perris Valley
A fraternal organization dedicated to the study
and preservation of the heritage of the American West,
especially the history of the Mother Lode and gold
mining regions of the area.
brother is a brother for life and members have many
times come to the aid of brothers, their widows and
orphans.
The ECV has also been responsible for placing
historic plaques throughout the West, often recognizing such edifices as bordellos and saloons – hey, it is all
history.
Founded in 1849 and coming to California in
1851, with its only purpose to initiate new members, E
Clampus Vitus (ECV) was most likely born out of a
need for levity and escape from the harsh conditions of
prospecting for gold in those early years. Its history is
steeped in mythology but perhaps we could call it the
layman’s secret society, parodying Freemasons, Oddfellows and the like. Titles such as ―Supreme Grand
Humbug, Clampatriarch, and Grand Imperturbable
Hangman,‖ explains their credo that ―every member is
an officer and all officers are of equal indignity.‖
What does the name E Clampus Vitus mean,
you ask? That is the only true secret this ―secret society‖ has. Its meaning has been lost to history and no
living member knows the answer to that question.
Nevertheless, 200 ―clampers‖ from the Billy
Holcomb Chapter of this interesting group will be visiting Perris Valley next year. We will be welcoming
them and hope that they enjoy learning a little about
our piece of California history.
Despite the humor and rowdiness of ECV, the
members do take their brotherhood seriously. A
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The Perristorian
Third Quarter 2014
Do You Know Your Perris History?
Take this quiz and see how you fare.
that overlooks Perris, made their living as:
Go ahead – no one is looking.
a) stockbrokers
b) veterinarians
c) service station owners
d) teachers
1. Prior to Spanish contact, the local people of what is
now known as Perris Valley called themselves:
a) Malki
b) Cahuilla
c) Puyumkowitchum
9. In 1887, the first Christian church to come to Perris
was:
d) Luiseno
a) The German Methodist Episcopal Church
b) First Baptist Church
c) Menno-nite Brethren in Christ Church
d) First Congregational Church
2. In the early 1800’s, the driving force that brought
people to California was:
a) the missions b) gold c) deep sea fishing d) oil
10. From the late 1920’s through the 1960’s, potato farming drove the valley’s livelihood. During Potato Festival each year, a larger than life figure, ―Potato Pete,‖
lined ―D‖ Street in downtown Perris. He was named
for:
3. Pinacate (the small settlement established prior to the
Perris of today) is a Nahuatl word meaning:
a) stinkbug
b) watering hole
c) mountain shadow d) bright star
a) Pete Peterson
b) Pete Eller
c) Pete Seeger
d) Peter Pan
4. In late 1885 and early 1886, the town of Perris was
planned and surveyed by:
a) Leman D. Reynolds
11. Who was the youngest man elected to the position of
Mayor for the City of Perris?
b) Henry W. Akin
c) Fred T. Perris
d) E. Dexter
a) Bob Warren
b) Daryl Busch
c) Fred T. Perris
d) A. W. Hook
5. During WWII the Japanese cut off our access to rubber in Southeast Asia. Perris farmers did their part by
growing what crop to replace rubber with latex?
a) Rye
b) Guava
c) Guayule
12. OERM is the acronym for:
a) Original East Riverside Museum
b) Old English Radial Motors
c) Orange Empire Railway Museum
d) O’Reilly Educational Reading Mission
d) Mint
6. What Hollywood mogul raised racehorses in Perris in
the 1940’s?
a) Louis B. Mayer b) Samuel Goldwyn
c) Lionel Barrymore
d) Jack Warner
13. The Perris Valley Airport is famous for:
a) Renting historic airplanes to the film industry
b) Skydiving
c) Reenacting WWII aerial fight scenes
d) Hot Air ballooning
7. The City of Perris was incorporated in:
a)1892
b)1909
c) 1911
d) 1922.
How did you do? - answers on page 5.
8. The Ragsdale’s, the builders of the iconic rock house
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The Perristorian
Third Quarter 2014
Southern California Fair
October 4 through 12
The PVHM will be acting as superintendant of the Fine Arts and Photography Exhibits this year. Come see
the interesting and beautiful offerings on display in Harrison Hall. (see article below)
Haunted Museum
Halloween—October 31
3:30-5:30 PM
Perris Santa Fe Depot—4th & ―D‖ Streets
Before ―trick or treating,‖ let the kids join us for a costume contest, kids activities, and a scary graveyard!
Bazaar @ the Perris Depot
Sunday, November
Antiques—Collectables—Anything & Everything
City of Perris and Chamber of Commerce Christmas
Saturday, December 13
Christmas Revisited
Join us.
Parade
Everyone loves a Christmas Parade. We will be there—will you?
December 13 Open House—all day
120 W. 4th Street (between C & D Streets)
A Victorian Affair in the Victorian Perris Santa Fe Depot… experience a bit of what it was like in the
late 1800’s. Hot cider and cookies among Victorian inspired decorations. Please join us.
A Concise History of the Southern California Fair
The Southern California Fair has passed
through many incarnations since its inception in 1913.
From the Riverside County Fair, held at the Chemawa Park, it became the Southern California Fair in
1918. In 1927 it became a festival sponsored by the
46th District Agricultural Association. From 1936 to
1942 the 46thDAA sponsored a Turkey Show in
Hemet. The Farmers Fair and the Farmers Fair and
Expo were held in Hemet until 1987, when it moved
to its current location at the Lake Perris Fairgrounds
and settled on the name Southern California Fair,
again.
all ages. The PVHM will be participating this year as
Superintendant of the Fine Arts and Photography exhibits on display in Harrison Hall. Please stop by and
see the creative and inspired items submitted by our
clever citizens. We hope to see you there.
Whatever the name, it has proven to be a staple for families in our community for over a hundred
years. It is exciting yet wholesome entertainment for
10—b) Pete Eller
11—a) Bob Warren
5—c) Guayule 6—a) Louis B. Mayer
History Quiz Answers (from page 4)
12—c) Orange Empire Railway Museum
7—c) 1911
13—b) skydiving.
8—d) First Congregational Church
1—c/ Puyumkowitchum
5
2—b) gold
9—c) service station owners
3—a) stinkbug
4—d) E. Dexter
P O BOX 343, PERRIS CA 92572
PERRIS VALLEY HISTORICAL ARCHIVES
PERRIS VALLEY HISTORICAL MUSEUM
Dues & Don’ts
Dues: please pay your dues.
Don’t: eat yellow snow.
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Individual Lifetime $100.00
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Thank you for your generous contribution.
Contributions to PVHM and PVHA are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. All information is kept private and is not shared with others.
Please mail this form with your payment to:
PVHM, P O Box 343, Perris CA 92572