Stansbury Home Preservation Assoc.

2020 was a busy year in the gardens at the Stansbury Home. Coordinated by board member Michael Bertain, peonies, hibiscus, hydrangeas and roses, Victorian plants typical for the period were donated by Mike Bertain and certified rosarian Julie Matlin. A brick walkway through the cutting garden was created and beautiful Victorian style hose supports were also donated by Julie Matlin. In addition, the the irrigation & drip system has been improved. Special thanks for all this work to Julie Matlin, Mike Bertain with Dana Matlin assisting and help from Abshire and Son’s metalworks of Durham.

As we enter the Holiday Season, we remember the Stansbury Family and especially Angeline Stansbury who passed away on December 25th, 1974. In 1976 the home was acquired by the City of Chico through a generous donation from the Stansbury family heirs combined with a partial purchase and what a wonderful gift it has been!

As the holiday season approaches, we think of former years when we were able to host our Victorian Christmas. We look forward to bringing it back next year, but in the meantime, enjoy some images of years past!

Today is December 1st and in 1885, Ellen Gilder Stansbury was born. She was the youngest child of Libbie and Dr. Stansbury. She married Francis Albert Clough in September of 1907 in a parlor wedding at The Stansbury Home. When you are able to visit the home, make sure you look at the ceiling in her bedroom.

Happy Birthday Ellen Gilder Stansbury! On December 1st, 1885 Ellen was born to Dr. and Libbie Stansbury in Chico, CA. She married Francis Albert Clough on September 25, 1907, in a parlor wedding. Libbie lived a long life, passing away at age 100 on Dec. 18, 1985.

This beautiful stained glass window inside the Stansbury Home is a memorable piece of art and was purchased back east for the astounding amount of $35. If you have attended A Very Chico Nutcracker at Chico State in recent years, you would have seen it featured in the set. Check out this clip from 2016 https://youtu.be/hU2G-J_-AfE.

Recognize any of the top songs of 1883, the year the Stansbury Home was built are listed below? (source Library of Congress) Forget-Me-Not. The piece was long a favorite in American café concerts.) God Be with You [Till We Meet Again.] Hymn... My Dad's Dinner Pail When the Mists Have Rolled Away. Hymn There's a Tavern in the Town When the Robins Nest Again The Edison player in this post can be found in the living room of The Stansbury Home. It is a cylinder music player.

What a wonderful community we live in. Special thanks to Dorothy Daun for her gift to the Stansbury Home of these Victorian items: a tall case clock, bedroom set, oval marble table and a Eastlake settee and 5 Parlor chairs. Her generosity is greatly appreciated.

The Alamo in San Antonio, Texas is the site of the eponymous 1836 battle and a symbol of Texas independence. Did you know it was originally built as part of a Franciscan mission system established in 1718?

Since 1742, Faneuil Hall has served as a platform for some of America’s most important historical moments. Samuel Adams, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, gave a particularly famous and inspiring speech about independence here.

Check out the wonderful video created by Jason Weinrich, a digital Marketing Consultant & Content Creator who generously donated his time and talent to highlighting the Stansbury Home

Special thanks to Jason Weinrich for the video he created of the Stansbury Home

Tremont Street Subway, the oldest subway in North America, became a National Historic Landmark in 1964. Did you know when the subway was opened in 1897, over 100,000 Bostonians used it on its first day in action.

No place is a place until things that have happened in it are remembered in history, ballads, yarns, legends, or monuments. Fictions serve as well as facts. - Wallace Stegner

Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York, which opened in 1838, became a National Historic Landmark in 2006. It’s not only a resting place for New Yorkers, but it's also the location of the Revolutionary War Battle of Long Island.

Independence Hall in Philadelphia holds a great historical significance. It is the place where the Declaration of Independence was debated and signed in 1776. This elegant red building later became the birthplace of the US Constitution.

Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina is the site at which the American Civil War began. It was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1966.

Manassas National Battlefield Park, Virginia was the site of the First Battle of Bull Run during the Civil War, and also the pivotal Second Battle of Bull Run. This place of somber beauty became an historical landmark in 1966.