GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) – As the nation approaches its 250th anniversary on July 4, the Gridley Museum marked Butte County Museum Weekend with a special screening of Ken Burns documentaries on the Revolutionary War.
The program was part of the seventh annual Museum Weekend, hosted by Explore Butte County. The two-day event that began Feb. 28 featured 15 participating museums, galleries and cultural centers across the county, all open both days with special programming.
Inside the Gridley Museum, visitors moved from the nation’s founding story on screen to permanent exhibits highlighting local military service members.
Mitchell Layton, of Oroville, said he hoped to visit each of the participating museums during the two-day event and was collecting stamps in his Museum Weekend passport to redeem for discounts at selected eateries.
“Each stop has been a blast,” Layton said.
It was Layton’s first visit to the Gridley Museum. He said he especially appreciated the military exhibits centered on real people.
Among those featured is Lloyd Andes, of Biggs, a U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel who flew more than 100 missions in World War II, survived two crashes and was held as a prisoner of war in France. Eleanor Webb Williams served as an Aviation Machinist Mate, 2nd Class, in the U.S. Navy WAVES during World War II. William Freeman Farr served 23 months in the Pacific with the U.S. Navy during World War II and later in the Air Force during the Korean conflict, and Retired Brig. Gen. Dianne Hale-O’Conner served 29 years in the U.S. Air Force and flew medical evacuation missions during the Vietnam War.
The museum itself reflects the city’s early development. The building was constructed in 1909 by H.C. Veatch as the Gridley State Bank, with office space upstairs for dentists, doctors and attorneys. Today, those turn-of-the-century spaces and artifacts from the era are carefully preserved as part of the museum’s attractions.
Museum Weekend also featured a guided historical walking tour of downtown Gridley led by museum docent RayAnn King. Docent Pat Teague held up historic photographs as King described the buildings, allowing visitors to compare early storefronts with how downtown appears today.
Among the buildings discussed was the Hazel Hotel, constructed between 1888 and 1890 and widely recognized as the oldest surviving commercial building in Gridley. The Italianate brick structure remains one of the few pre-1900 buildings tied directly to the town’s railroad-era development.
Built in 1893, Hall’s General Store was a two-story mercantile that sold shoes, hats, and other goods downtown. The upstairs was used by the Odd Fellows and Rebekah Lodge until it was removed for safety concerns.
“What’s interesting now that the top flooring is no longer there, is that you go around the corner, there’s a door,” King said. “There’s still stairs in there that go to nowhere.”
Other landmarks highlighted on the tour included the Stone Building, constructed in 1887 after an earlier wood-frame structure was destroyed by fire; the Presbyterian Church, built in 1884; and the former Carnegie Library, a 1912 project of the Ladies Improvement Club funded in part by Andrew Carnegie.
The tour began at The Plaza, the site of the town’s original railroad depot. King explained how the arrival of the California and Oregon Railroad in 1870 shaped the community and how the town was named for George Washington Gridley after he became the first local resident to ship goods by rail.
“Prior to that, the area was known as Hamilton Township,” King said.
Jeanette Brosnan, of Chico, said she joined the Gridley tour as part of the countywide event.
“It was the free museum weekend, so we’re checking out a bunch of museums that we haven’t had a chance to do yet,” Brosnan said.
After completing the walk, she said she enjoyed seeing how older photographs aligned with present-day buildings and learning more about the town’s early development.
The Gridley Museum is dedicated to collecting and promoting interest in the historical development of the city and surrounding areas of Butte and northern Sutter counties from the 19th and 20th centuries into the present, a mission reflected in its permanent exhibits and programs. Other participating locations during Museum Weekend included the Museum of Northern California Art and the Janet Turner Print Museum in Chico, the Valene L. Smith Museum of Anthropology at CSU, Chico, and the Gateway Science Museum. In Oroville, sites included the Pioneer History Museum, the C.F. Lott Historic Home and the Oroville Chinese Temple. Organizers said the annual event was created as a free opportunity to explore the county’s network of museums.