Captain Robert R. Thompson once lived in a stately mansion in today’s Lincoln Park. Before coming to Alameda he made his fortune as a principal shareholder of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company. Thompson came overland to Oregon in 1846 on an emigrant wagon train.  

Taaffe’s 19th-century estate is today’s Lincoln Park

Repairs needed to carriage house

Ship captain James D. Farwell arrived in San Francisco in the spring of 1850. He had safely captained the steamboat Tehama from Panama. Farwell, who hailed from Maine, opened a chandlery on Clay Street in San Francisco. As a chandler he supplied the ships in port with their wares.

In 1880 Adolph H. Schnabel hired Edward Childs to build a home for him at 2233 Santa Clara Ave. The federal census, taken in June of that year, shows Adolph and his brother Augustus living in Otto Beck’s hotel on Montgomery Street in San Francisco.

The World War II Air Force squadron, the Doolittle Raiders, was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by President Obama on May 23. The medal is considered the highest honor Congress can give a civilian. 

A British-born architect whose name we associate with the Arts and Crafts movement designed the house that Girls Inc. of the Island City call home today.

Girls Inc. of the Island City, 1724 Santa Clara Ave., will host an open house to celebrate its 50th birthday from 1 to 5 p.m.., this Saturday, May 3. Girls Inc. will mark the day with live music, refreshments and birthday cake.

The Meyers House is the only vintage home in Alameda open to the public. 
For the past 16 years, the home has been open only one day each month, staffed by volunteers under the direction of Alameda Museum Curator George Gunn.