The Winters Museum
The Winters Museum is OPEN
Thursday through Sunday from 1:00 to 5:00 PM.
Or contact the Museum for an appointment.
Admission is free.
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Our exhibits--
Winters Businesses
Remembering Monticello
Lost Japanese Community
Winters Agriculture
Charley's Section
--are open now.
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The Museum's New Exhibit
They're Our Businesses!
We still have the Japanese exhibit, plus Agriculture and Monticello…and now we have Businesses!
We are open for business! Come visit!
Our Latest Newsletter
Our Latest Newsletter
In the latest edition of the Historical Society of Winters Newsletter, we review the year 2024 and look forward to the next exhibits at the Museum.
President's Year-End Message
Reflecting on 2024 and Looking Forward to 2025
The year 2024 has certainly been a busy, productive, and heart-warming year! The crowning glory of the year was the installation and dedication of the Japantown monument. It was the culmination of several years of work. The exhibit, “The Lost Japanese Community,” premiered in 2021. That sparked the idea of building a monument to memorialize the rich history of the Japanese community and its part in Winters’ history. The dedication of the monument on May 4 brought together in Winters over 400 people. Many attendees were direct descendants of the original Japanese families. The Museum also brought back the original exhibit, which again has been very popular.
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Another exhibit that was brought back was “Remembering Monticello.” Visitors continue to visit the Museum wanting to see this exhibit.
“Take a Look Back at Winters History” was a new exhibit featuring several newly discovered photos. Included in this exhibit was a historical review of agriculture in Winters.
As a small local museum, we recognize that it is the people that make the community. In that vein, we have begun a new oral history project. Our goal is to interview local citizens and record their experiences of living in Winters. This will be a project that is ongoing and will become an important part of our acquisitions. Do you know of someone that would be a good addition to this project? Please let us know.
In order to accommodate all of these exhibits, the Museum needed to expand! A new room as well as two new walls were added during 2024. Our intention is to rotate our popular exhibits with new ones. So, in January a new exhibit, “They’re Our Businesses” will open. During the summer of 2025, we hope to add an exhibit honoring the history and contributions of the Spanish immigrants and their families.
As all of you know, change and progress, as well as continuing obligations such as rent, utilities, and curation expenses, include the need for financial support. As we bring this year to an end and welcome the new year, please remember the Historical Society of Winters and the Museum in your year-end donations. Donations can be made by check or online.
We sincerely appreciate your continued support.
On behalf of the Board, I wish you a joyous holiday season and a very Happy New Year! And don’t forget to visit the Winters Museum in 2025!
--Gloria Lopez for the Historical Society of Winters
The Museum's Holiday Candy Shop
Thank you!
We appreciate the support of everyone who purchased See's candy from the Museum Candy Shop.
Happy Holidays!
Museum Hours
Winters Museum Schedule
Open Thursday - Sunday: 1:00 - 5:00 PM.
Or contact the Museum for an appointment.
Please be safe and stay healthy.
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Museum Location
The Winters History Museum is centrally located in downtown Winters at 13 Russell Street, on the corner of Russell and First Streets, a short walk from Buckhorn Steakhouse, Putah Creek Cafe, Preserve, Steady Eddy's, Ficelle, Hooby's, Chuy's, Pizza Factory, Ocean Restaurant, Carboni's, Winters Hotel, Turkovich Family Wines, Berryessa Gap Tasting Room, L'Apéro les Trois, Winters City Hall, Winters Community Center, and Sam Spade's Office.
You Can Help
Help with upcoming museum exhibit!
The Winters Museum is asking the community for help in gathering photos, artifacts and stories about current and past businesses. Our next exhibit is scheduled for January 2025, but we are developing it now!
Businesses come and go in Winters as they do everywhere. Many businesses have survived through multiple generations. Some downtown buildings have a rich history of housing various types of businesses.
Our new exhibit will include restaurants, car dealerships, banks, bars, insurance companies, service stations, antique stores, barbers/hairstylists, bakeries and more! Do you have any photos, artifacts, and stories that you can contribute? We can scan photos so you keep the originals, artifacts can be on loan, and your stories can be printed and shared.
At present, we are planning to span many decades but we will see what our research turns up and perhaps we will concentrate on specific decades (50s and 60s?) and/or buildings (Greenwoods for example).
If any of you would like to join our exhibits committee and help with this exhibit, please let us know! Contact the Winters Museum at wintersmuseum@gmail.com to let us know what you have to offer or how you would like to help.
Thank you.
Gloria Lopez for the Historical Society of Winters
Japantown Monument Dedication
Japantown Monument Dedication
The Japantown Monument Dedication took place in Winters on Saturday, May 4, 2024.
Floyd Shimomura described the day as "magical."
Thanks to all who helped make it a special event. Special thanks go to Mark Wilson who made sure that we had this video to share.
Japantown Monument Photo
This photo serves as the centerpiece of the Winters Japantown Monument. In F.H. Kuroko's photo, Japanese mourners at the funeral of Mrs. N. Nishida are lined up with their floral tributes in front of buildings that once constituted the Asian business district. Originally owned by the Chinese, the structures shown, c.1930, include two Chinese residences on the left, the fish store of Yoshiye and Kabata, the Buddhist Temple (with the swastika, a Buddhist symbol), and the Horai Co., located nearest the railroad bridge. These buildings were partially burned on V-J Day in 1945. Soon after they were demolished in 1948, the City of Winters purchased the three-acre site.
[Photo Source: Yolo County Archives. Text Source: Joann Leach Larkey, Winters: A Heritage of Horticulture, A Harmony of Purpose.]
Japantown Monument
Monument Dedication Photos
Lunch (Photos by Mark Wilson)
Drummers (Photos by Mark Wilson)
Program (Photos by Mark Wilson)
Outside (Photos by Mark Wilson)
Buddhist Service at Winters Cemetery
Miscellaneous Photos
Monument News
Our Photo Travels to San Francisco
Floyd Shimomura recently attended a meeting in Japanese Consul General Yo Osumi's office in San Francisco.
Floyd wrote in his Facebook post: "Japanese Consul General Yo Osumi hosted an informal discussion with Japanese American leaders at his offices overlooking San Francisco Bay on Wednesday. Emily Murase moderated with Glen Fukushima and others sharing their insights. Also in attendance were Dianne Fukami, Kaz Maniwa, and Consulate officials. I showed a 1930 photograph of the Winters Japantown which was later destroyed by fire in 1945 after V-J Day celebrations. This photo will be placed on a monument to be dedicated in April 2024."
The Museum's Year-End Message
The Museum's Year-End Message
Greetings to Our Donors, Friends, and Visitors!
A lot has happened at the Winters Museum this year. We published our first quarterly newsletter in the fall. We welcome any suggestions for stories that you think may be of interest.
Our current exhibit is Take a Look Back at Winters History. This exhibit brings back many wonderful photos that were previously on display, adds some new ones, and features the Ackley Collection—historic photos taken by Brenda Nickerson Ackley's grandfather which she brought to us to share publicly.
Our last exhibit was The Wide World of Winters Sports. This one-of-a-kind exhibit featured many examples of Winters athletes who rose to the top of their fields in college, professional, and even Olympic-level sports. This exhibit marked the fifth year of our museum, and we could not have done it without the support from all of you.
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On a sad note, one of our Historical Society founders, Joann Larkey passed away this fall. She wrote the book Winters: A Heritage of Horticulture, a Harmony of Purpose. Her scholarship, inspiration, and enthusiasm for history were responsible for much of what we have accomplished. Her legacy will be perpetuated by the Joann Larkey Historical Writers' Fund, a scholarship for authors going into historical research.
We are currently making plans to expand our exhibition space. We hope to create a permanent collection and continue having rotating exhibits. In the new year, we look forward to celebrating the bicentennial year of Theodore Winters, our town's namesake. The coming year will also bring a return of The Lost Japanese Community of Winters exhibit when we unveil and celebrate the arrival of the Japantown marker in Rotary Park.
To accomplish these goals, we need continuing funding. We greatly appreciate your support.
If you can help, a tax-deductible donation can be made here or by visiting us in person at the Museum, 13 Russell St., Winters.
We can also use volunteer docents! Being a docent is a great way to learn more about Winters and meet other community members and our many visitors. Please call or email the Museum and we will arrange an orientation session
Again, we truly appreciate your continued support and hope to see you at the Museum in 2024!
Sincerely,
Board Members of the Historical Society of Winters
Sad News
Joann Larkey will be missed. . . .
On a sad note, Joann Larkey, one of the Historical Society founders, passed away this fall. She wrote the book Winters: A Heritage of Horticulture, a Harmony of Purpose. Her scholarship, inspiration, and enthusiasm for history were responsible for much of what we have accomplished.
Her legacy will be perpetuated by the Joann Larkey Historical Writers' Fund, a scholarship for authors going into historical research.
Open Now: Take a Look Back at Winters History
Take a Look Back at Winters History
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A NEW EXHIBIT IS OPEN NOW!
The Winters Museum is open
Thursday through Sunday
from 1:00 PM until 5:00 PM.
Admission is free.
New Historical Panel
New Historical Panel
Celestino Galabasa, Jr. created this historical panel for the front of the Winters Museum from the 1879 lithograph of Winters drawn by W.T. Galloway and published in Frank T. Gilbert's The Illustrated Atlas and History of Yolo County, California (DePue & Company, San Francisco, CA 1879). [Photo by Joe Bristow]
Winters Museum Projects
Projects and Volunteers
Check out some of the projects underway at the Winters Museum. Where did Charley find that blinking red light? Where will he put it?
Open Now: Take a Look Back at Winters History
Take a Look Back at Winters History
The Winters Museum is featuring a new, eclectic exhibition titled “Take a Look Back at Winters History.” The exhibit brings back some of the photos that were on display previously and has added some new ones as well.
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The museum has a new collection of photos that is titled the Ackley Collection. In 2019, Brenda Nickerson Ackley brought in many photos that had been taken by her grandfather, Edward James Gannon. Brenda’s grandmother was Hazel Griffin who was the daughter of Alexander Rice Griffin who followed his brother, Joseph Griffin, from Missouri to California.
Tom Crisp was able to scan several of the photos and copies are now hanging in the museum. These are never-before-seen pictures of Winters, especially those that were taken on Main Street. This is definitely a highlight of the exhibit.
In addition, the exhibit has included a few pictures from the previous “Wide World of Winters’ Sports” exhibit, including those of an Olympic athlete, Jack Brinck, and Theodore Winters’ prized racehorse, Norfolk.
An emphasis on the importance of agriculture in the history of Winters is included with previously exhibited pictures and artifacts. Winters was known for its production, processing, and marketing of apricots, peaches, prunes, almonds, and walnuts. Stories and artifacts, as well as pictures, tell this story at the exhibit.
Many local history books by local authors are prominently displayed. Included are books by Tom Crisp, Gloria Lopez, Dorothy O’Neill, Lorraine Rominger, and others. There are also photos of Winters taken by the famed Dorothea Lange that were taken in the 1930s and 40s.
Finally, several of the photos from the “Lost Japanese Community of Winters” are displayed. The next exhibit, planned for the spring of 2024, will bring back this popular exhibit which will coincide with the unveiling of a monument honoring the Japanese community.
Recently Closed: Winters' Sports
Wide World of Winters' Sports
Tom Crisp, the exhibit's co-curator and primary collector, reports that the Winters Museum's Wide World of Winters Sports exhibit closed on Sunday, July 30.
A Special Closing Event
Exhibit Closes with Special Event
The Wednesday Ramblers wowed the crowd with a performance of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at the closing of the Wide World of Winters' Sports Exhibit.
Monument News
City Council Approves Monument Plan
The Winters City Council unanimously approved the placement of the monument commemorating the Lost Japanese Community of Winters in Rotary Park following a presentation by the Historical Society of Winters.
New Monticello Exhibition Video
Remembering Monticello--A Final Look
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Take a guided tour of the recent Remembering Monticello exhibit at the Winters Museum with narration by Carol McGinnis Fitzpatrick and Woody Fridae.
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Thank You!
Thank You!
We want to thank everyone for supporting the Historical Society of Winters and the Winters Museum during this year's Big Day of Giving!
Support the Winters Museum!
Support the Winters Museum with a donation to the Historical Society of Winters.
A Brief History of Winters
Newt Wallace writes his Express column
Thanks to the Winters Express for including an article which details the early history of our town in the Welcome to Winters 2020 publication. Please pick up a copy while they are available, or . . .
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More Winters History
The Saloons Have Moved!
A 1875 Los Angeles Herald news item mentions Buckeye and Winters. Learn how a decision regarding the routing of an extension of the Vaca Valley Railroad led to the demise of Buckeye and the rise of Winters.
(Source: Tom Crisp's The People of Buckeye and Early Winters)
Buckeye and Early Winters. . .
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John Reid Wolfskill
Theodore Winters
The Winters Express
1975 Centennial
In 1975, The Winters Express printed a special supplement commemorating the Winters Centennial.
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