Historical Society works to bring Colony Heritage Center to reality
Site plan for the Atascadero Historical Society’s Colony Historical Society.
–The Atascadero Historical Society announced its plans for its Colony Heritage Center, which encompasses nearly three acres on the site of the original Tent City near the Atascadero library on Capistrano Avenue. The society is looking at a three-year time frame for the first phase if funding is obtained from the California Cultural Historical Endowment.
The project came about when Atascadero Historical Society President Jim Wilkins told fellow board member Tom Lewis how nice it would be to have all of the society’s collections organized and easily accessible. He said he knew at the time that two homes on the property where Walmart and the Annex are proposed to go would be available soon after he made that comment.
“A few years later I was notified by Glen Lewis that we were beneficiaries of the William and Thelma Vetter estate trust,” Wilkins said. “I told Glen much of what I had said to Tom Lewis, with things naturally fall-ing into place. Those funds purchased the 2.88 acres that the Atascadero Historical Society now owns next to the new library.”
This rendering shows what the Atascadero Historical Society Colony Heritage Center’s is planned to look like.
While the land was donated to the society, the organization is working to raise funds to pay for the project. One way it’s doing that is with The Heritage Walk, for which people can buy bricks. Bricks will be available for a donation of $100 each.
“We’re planning to have sections that would represent the different decades in the early days — the teens, ’20s, ’30s, ’40s, and so on — so that families that had relatives living here say, in 1914, could buy a brick in the teens, making it easier to find their family,” Wilkins said. “There will be several sidewalks connecting from different structures and a central plaza with a life-size statue of Mr. E.G. Lewis. The whole Heritage Walk would eventually connect to the trail system coming from the city along the creek and up to Stadium Park.”
Additionally, the society is planning to use its Colony House Museum on Palma Avenue across from City Administration Building is by renting out the house as a wedding venue. The Colony Heritage Center will also include Alumni Cafe, which could be leased or rented to a chef. Wilkins also said the society has kicked around the idea of renting out space for meetings for smaller local groups.
According to a poster by the historical society, the society’s plans for the site, which was gifted to the group, will include relocating up to four Colony period home – homes built between 1914 and 1924. Each home will be used to tell Atascadero’s unique story and history.
Atascadero was founded by E.G. Lewis, who purchased the land that makes up the city, from the United States Army for $1 million in 1913. He planned the community, soliciting new residents by mail. The first Tent City was in 1914 when perspective residents visited the area to pick out their lot. The second Tent City was in 1915.
The first Atascadero citizens lived in the second Tent City in the area where Bank of America is currently located, while their homes were being constructed. Tent City was connected to electricity and had all the modern comforts of the time. Lewis first had the infrastructure – streets, utilities and civic buildings – constructed before the homes.
Key components of the Colony Heritage Center site plan:
- E.G. Lewis statue and plaza will contain a larger-than-life-sized statue of Lewis. The initial model of this statue was completed by William H. Lewis IV, grandnephew of E.G. Lewis. The plaza will be centrally located in the project.
- The Heritage Walk will be a set of brick pathways around the site connecting to the downtown Historic Colony District and to city-planned trails along Atascadero Creek.
- The Doug Lewis Natural History Museum will be located near the creek and will display the society’s collection of Native American artifacts, fossils, native plants and animal species found locally.
- The Alumni Café will contain the society’s collection of Atascadero High School memorabilia and artifacts from the early 1920s to the present day. It may also include a small café that would be leased out to a chef.
- The Community House will be filled with our collection of past residents’ household and business belongings. The society plans for meeting rooms available for community use for meetings, events and other functions are included.
- The Thelma Archival Center will be used to store all the society’s photo and paper artifacts. The general public will have access to a bank of computers to do research using the archives.
The Colony Heritage Center comes during the year that the society celebrates its 50th anniversary since it was formed in early 1965 after Marj Mackey assembled a group of like-minded citizens who wished to see E.G. Lewis’ headquarters saved, rather than burned to make room for a grocery store. Headquarters was located where Vons is today. Though the citizens were unsuccessful in their bid to save the homes, they did form Atascadero Historical Society.
