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The first marker at the Miners Foundry placed in May 1966, by the local Clamper chapter honors Lester A. Pelton and his water wheel.
photos by Bob Wyckoff
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Three views, same arched doorway entrance to Stone Hall. (a) mid-1960s, while it was an operating foundry
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mid-1970s, operating as the AVM, from left, David Osborn and Charles Woods
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2008; Executive Director of the Miners Foundry Cultural Center Gretchen Bond. Forty years of the same doorway.
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Today's Feature Candidates
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A Nevada City landmark still serving the community
By Bob Wyckoff
» More from Bob Wyckoff
12:01 a.m. PT Apr 26, 2008
In recent columns we have outlined the history and many uses which have made Nevada City's 152 year old Miners' Foundry a vital part of western county society since the old Stone Hall was built in 1856, and was the first building in what became the foundry complex.
First, it served as a general metal foundry under a number of ownership's until 1972, when it was purchased in the Nique of Tyme as rumors began circulating that it was about to be extensively altered (part was to be torn down) and a gigantic parking lot dedicated to 20th Century Mobility would lie in its place.
The Foundry's new owners art historians and keepers of the 19th century flame David Osborn and Charles Woods, conceived the idea of and implemented the establishment of a museum dedicated to displaying and interpreting that which typified a large part of the 19th century Victorian society.
In fall of 1973, the American Victorian Museum was born and the momentum caused by its formation as a multi-purpose historic preserving facility continues today unabated under the banner of The Miners Foundry Cultural Center. The new group took over the premises in 1990.
The foundry has also been recognized in bronze for its historic importance. First to place a plaque was those inveterate plaque placers the Wm. Bull Meek-Wm. Morris Stewart, Chapter #10, Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus (Clampers), Nevada City, when on May 4, 1966, they placed a plaque on the Pelton Wheel in front of the foundry, see photo. That was eight years before the AVM was founded and almost 25 years before the cultural center. In the years following, additional tablets have been mounted.
Today, the foundry offers a variety of meeting rooms including a kitchen and two large multi-purpose rooms used for banquets, lectures, entertainment productions: e.g. plays, musical groups, singers and dancers. It also serves as a popular location for weddings with the reception following in another area of the same building.
An active group of volunteers, "Friends of the Foundry" contribute to the facilities operation and maintenance. Like the AVM before it, the Miners Foundry Cultural Center is dedicated to "fostering and promoting culture and the arts... (and the preservation of) Nevada County('s) historical, cultural, and artistic heritage." For more information visit their Web site at www.minersfoundry.org or 325 Spring Street, Nevada City CA 95959.
BOB WYCKOFF is a retired Nevada County newspaper editor/publisher and author of local history. His latest title, "The Way It Was; Looking Back in Nevada County," is published by and available at The Union newspaper, 464 Sutton Way, Grass Valley CA 95945. You can reach him at: bobwyckoff@sbcglobal.net or PO Box 216, Nevada City CA 95959.
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