Adventure 051, Site 161 – McHenry Mansion

Capture California, the Game-2012

Adventure: 051, Site 161 – McHenry Mansion

National Registry ID: 1978000805

Team: Thing One, Thing Two

Date:  October 6, 2012

Location:

Latitude: 37° 38.599′ N

Longitude: 120° 59.665′ W

Address: 906 15th Street , Modesto, CA

Description:

Date Built: 1883

Without a doubt, McHenry Mansion was the building everybody envied in Modesto at the time of its completion and for a hundred years. While Thing One and Thing Two lived in Modesto, the name McHenry was everywhere, but the Mansion had deteriorated. Since then, this mansion has been rebuilt to resemble its pass beauty and to honor the man who built it. See the background below on the man for more detail.

There is a plaque on the premise, but after reading the plaque it is not a National Historic plaque, even though the house is on the registry. McHenry Manson is a couple of blocks seperate from McHenry Museum.

From NRHP:
Situated near the heart of downtown Modesto is a handsome Victorian Italianate structure which was once the home of a prominent ranching and banking family in the San Joaquin Valley, the McHenry family.

The McHenry Mansion has undergone extensive changes to its original grounds and to its exterior and interior appearance as the result of efforts by subsequent owners to make the house a profit-making concern. This has meant the selling off of most of the grounds over a period of years, and the conversion* of the house into fifteen apartments in the 1920's.

Originally, the grounds occupied almost the entire half of the block and were defined by the alley bisecting the block (and parallel to 15th Street) and the property line of a small house on the corner of J and 15th Streets. In the corner furthest from the house, and adjoining the alley, was the barn. A driveway connected this one and one-half story structure with 15th Street. Between the barn and the house was a grove of orange trees. Other buildings on the property were a woodshed near the barn and a child's playhouse.

This house was built in 1883 for Robert McHenry as his house in town. McHenry was a self-made man. Born in Vermont, he moved around frequently before settling in Modesto: Initially, he lived in New York State for a few years before he headed for Louisiana where he managed a plantation. During the Mexican War, he came to California via the Isthmus of Panama. In 1949, he established a draying business in Stockton. Later that year, he spent six months mining at Chinese Camp. When he returned, he purchased the property which he would develop into the Bald Eagle Ranch. Under his business acumen, the ranch expanded from 2,640 acres to over 4,000 acres. In 1878, he became the cashier of the Modesto Bank, and later, President of the First National Bank of Modesto. As befitted his increasing stature in the community, McHenry had a house built in town on land purchased in 1880 from Charles Crocker.

Robert McHenry also was civic minded. In 1856, he was elected a member of the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors,and in the same year, helped organize the first school district. McHenry was instrumental in the formation of the Modesto and Turlock Irrigation Districts in 1887, and was elected the first President of the Modesto Irrigation District's Board of Directors.

After the death of Robert McHenry and his wife; their only son, Oramil McHenry, moved into the house. Oramil greatly expanded the family fortune. At the time of his death in 1906, he owned the controlling interest in the First National Bank of Modesto, the Turlock Bank, the Modesto Bank and G. P. Schafer and Company (at one time the leading department store in the Valley). The O. McHenry Packing Company,which had a capital stock of one million dollars, was another one of his businesses. He invested heavily in the Modesto and Turlock Irrigation Districts. One of his bequests was the money and land for the public library. The house was inhabited by the family until 1920 when it was converted into a sanatorium and then into apartments. It has remained as apartments until its present acquisition in 1976, for restoration.

References:

• Wikipedia
  
• National Registry of Historical Places-Documents and Photos
  
• Noehill
  
• Historical Marker Database (HMDB.org)
  
• Waymarking
  
• McHenry Mansion Web Site
  
• Historic Modesto
  

Overall Landmark References:

• National Registry of Historical Places (NRHP)
  
• Noehill (NOE)
  
• Historical Marker Database (HMDB)
  
• WayMarking (WAY)