The Ruth and Charles Gilb Arcadia Historical Museum opened with a grand ceremony and ribbon cutting. A photograph shows Charles Gilb, Ruth Gilb, Micky Segal, Floretta Lauber and Carol Libby. A List of major donors is included.
The Ruth and Charles Gilb Arcadia Historical Museum is now in a city-owned building, with a curator paid through the city, and is managed by the library and museum director Janet Sporleder. The Arcadia Historical Society owns the collection and a new agreement commits the city and the society to jointly pay for an insurance policy.
Santa Anita Park race track will unveil a 1000-pound bronze statue of popular race horse John Henry and a historical marker covering 75 years of the race track's history, as part of its 75th anniversary this Saturday. The bronze statue cost more than $100,000. The marker was done by the Arcadia Historical Society.
The Ruth and Charles Gilb Arcadia Historical Museum celebrates its fifth anniversary with a birthday party and other programs. Curator Alycia Wood in seen in a photo. The caption has her name misspelled.
Charles Cooper continues his Arcadia city centennial series "Memories of Arcadia" with a story about Arcadia's mayors. A. N. Multer was the first person to be given the title of mayor of Arcadia. City founder Elias J. "Lucky" Baldwin was the city's first presiding officer, but he held the title of president of the Board of Trustees. The title of mayor was not adopted until 1927, when the Board of Trustees changed to the City Council. Arcadia will have 4 mayors this year to mark the city's centennial. Each city council member will rotate into the position. More interesting facts: Floretta Lauber was the first woman to serve as mayor. She paved the way for Mary Young, Barbara Kuhn, and Gail Marshall to follow. Other history of mayors is recapped. The first city manager was William J. Richards in 1951, when a charter was adopted. The longest serving city official was City Clerk Christine Van Mannen, who held the job for 32 years. See hard copy in VF Arcadia (City) History.
As part of Arcadia's centennial, the city is considering putting up historical markers around town as reminders of past people and events that have shaped Arcadia. There has been $12,000 in centennial funds allocated for the program and a tentative list of some 30 sites presented to Arcadia City Council. Some potential marker locations are given.
Dr. Sheng Chang has been elected mayor of Arcadia. He is the first Asian-American mayor of Arcadia. In 1994, he was the first Chinese-American Arcadia City Council member.
Carol Libby was honored as Arcadia Senior of the Year for 2001 by the Arcadia Rotary Club. Carol has been in Arcadia since 1956 and is Curator at Arcadia Historical Society.
A black-tie centennial ball was held in Ayres Hall at Los Angeles County Arboretum, with a Greek theme. Dinner was catered by The Derby Restaurant. Pictured at Pamela Blackwood (Chairman of the Centennial Ball committee, George Fasching, Susan Guirguis, Mayor Gary Kovacic, Gail Marshall, Mickey Segal, John Wuo, Bob Margett, Jim Helms, Floretta Lauber, Robert Harbicht, Edward Butterworth and Charles Gilb.
With construction nearly complete on the Arcadia Historical Museum, city officials are mulling possible litigation against the contractor because the $1 million project is three months behind schedule.
The Arcadia Historical Museum opened October 20, 2001, 3 months past the target date. Admission is free. See also related story Arcadia Weekly p. 1, October 18, 2001.