Charles Augustus Elster built a two-story brick business block on Main Street in the little foothill community of Springville in 1912. For well over a hundred years now, this classic structure has anchored Springville’s “downtown.” It has had many different owners and tenants and survived two fires, but its handsome Main Street exterior remains almost unchanged from the long-ago day of its grand opening, and it continues to house a variety of businesses serving locals and visitors alike.

     Charles’s parents, Alonzo and Rebecca Elster, arrived in Tulare County with their eight children in 1866, when Charles was three. They settled first in Visalia, then moved to the foothills of the Tule River watershed to engage in logging, milling, and ranching, which, for over forty years, through booms and busts, were staples of the area’s industries.

     Charles bought his first land claim before he was 21, labored hands-on and learned his way up through the hard jobs in the forest, and in 1903, built his own mill just a few hundred yards above the old Mountain Home Hotel.

     In 1888, he wed 20-year-old Eva May Hubbs, daughter of local pioneer timber man James R. Hubbs. Two years later, Eva May died soon after birthing Charles’s only son, Irvy. In 1892, he married Eva’s younger sister, Mary Arminda “Minnie” Hubbs, age 17, who bore Charles’s only daughter, Lora, in 1894.

     Despite financial difficulties as the area’s timber industry began shutting down in 1904, the amputation of most of son Irvy’s right leg in 1902, and the death of daughter Lora, age 13, in 1907, Charles and his family persevered. Charles turned to ranching and stock raising and became active in large enterprises, including developing reliable water supplies and distribution, rail transportation, electric power — and Springville as a business center — all essential to the commercial success of these industries and the Springville region.

     He and other visionaries formed the Tulare County Power Company and secured valuable water rights on the Middle Fork of the Tule, which would be developed to provide electricity to the growing town. Their corporation also worked to bring an electric railroad to Springville, but a competing, steam-powered line, the Porterville Northeastern Railroad, got there first, with its inaugural engine rolling into town on September 9, 1911.

     The advent of electricity and rail transport boosted Springville into the modern age. In 1911, the community’s first “permanent” structure, the Wilkinson Building (now the Springville Inn) was erected on Main Street (now Highway 190). In 1912, Charles, having acquired 47 acres of property in the townsite, built the prominent, two-story, brick Elster Building right across the street.

     Springville became a weekend resort destination as the train and improving local roads sped visitors from the valley up to the dance halls on Main Street and at the nearby Soda Spring, tennis courts in town, and regular baseball games that drew large crowds. The new Elster Building became the retail center of Springville, and Charles became one of the largest taxpayers in the community. (He also owned an olive nursery, an orchard, and a large, comfortable residence near by.)

     Located on a main corner, the 48′ x 60′ Elster building cost $12,000. It was designed in an impressive architectural style found in many small California towns of the period, and its handsome front and east facades remain virtually unchanged today.

     Its various tenants have included the Pioneer Bank (1912-1918), the post office, the Odd Fellows Fraternal Hall, a drug store, the first telephone in town (1912), a meat market, a restaurant, many different professional offices, a bar, a drywall company, a real estate office, a personal trainer, a grocery store, and the Springville Visitors Center. Its basement housed the first ice plant in town. Its second floor provided lodging for tourists and new arrivals to Springville. The solid, attractive, busy building marked the prosperity and growth of its community and rural Tulare County.

     Charles got back into the lumber business with his Hot Springs sawmill by 1914, and then, in 1920, a new sawmill at Harper’s Point, near Mountain Home, that he established with A.M. Coburn. But hard times came again. Coburn died in an auto accident in 1921. Charles’s wife, Minnie, only 54, died of pneumonia in 1929. Less than three weeks later, the Elster Building was owned by the J.D. Miller Realty Company.

     As America sank into its Great Depression in 1930, Charles and his son, Irvy, were regularly receiving delinquent tax notices on their Springville properties, including the Elster Building, which they no longer owned. Charles sold his mill property in 1941 and died two years later, at age 84. (Irvy, known today mostly as the storied “Hermit of SCICON,” never married; he was found dead in his mountain cabin in 1965.)

 

     The Elster Building continued to change hands, in 1930, 1931, 1932, 1939, 1959, and 1964. In 1974, it was acquired by Leland E. Sweetser, an officer of Lesco Ltd., of Compton, California (who may have been urged by Springville residents to save the town’s principal building by acquiring and restoring it), and then by Lesco Ltd. in 1976.

     When Lesco purchased the Elster, then known as “the old Palace Hotel,” it had been condemned by the County and required major renovation to meet building codes for safety, plumbing, structural, and electrical requirements. Lesco spent over $250,000 on a new foundation, exit stairwells, structural support, and reconstructed office space, ensuring that the work would comply with the standards of the National Register of Historic Places, on which it got listed in 1982.

     Fire damaged the building in 1983, but Lesco again restored it to NRHP standards, and in 1985 quitclaimed the deed back to Sweetser. In 1997, Robert Gillett of Porterville purchased the Elster, then sold it in 2003 to Max and Valerie Walden, the developers of Hanford’s Courthouse Square.

     The Elster Building is currently owned by Bob Tucker, who had been coming to Springville since boyhood and loved the small community. In the 1970s, he bought a ranch nearby, and in 2019 he bought the building that he had long admired and considered to be a Springville focal point. “The building has good bones,” says Bob, who taught Industrial Decoration Arts for decades and enjoys doing historical restoration work himself. Bob’s nephew, Derrick Usher, a realtor, is managing the Elster from his upstairs office onsite. And so it appears that this classic edifice is once again in good hands for the next chapter of its long life as Springville’s landmark commercial center, still linking its community’s past to its future.

September, 2025

    The First Congregational Church’s pipe organ is considered to be the oldest functioning Wurlitzer in California. It was built in 1916 to accompany silent films of the day in a Los Angeles movie house.

  That day passed when “talkies” took over in the late 1920s. The only large market left for the theater organs would be churches. But it was then considered “improper” for churches to use theater organs which had provided music for entertainment and sometimes risqué vaudeville shows.

     With their sales value rapidly dropping, the now almost worthless organs were stripped of their “toy ranks” that produced the sound effects — such as drums, whistles, and horns — for the movies. Their remaining ranks were renamed to sound more ecclesiastical, their consoles were stained darker to look more ecclesiastical, and the instruments were rebranded as “Robert Hope-Jones Concert Organs” and given false provenances that would make them more saleable to conservative churches.

     The First Congregational Church’s pipe organ was delivered in 1931, church officers having been told that it came from a large church in Chicago. But when the Crome Organ Company of Los Angeles came to rebuild the organ after it was damaged in the 1936 fire, the workmen recognized it as the old Wurlitzer from the Los Angeles Deluxe Theater.

     In 1963, a four-manual [keyboard] Moller console with a full AGO pedal board was purchased from Pomona College’s Little Bridges Hall of Music. Famous organists have played on this console: Albert Schweitzer and E. Power Biggs. Over the years, the church has methodically added back the stripped toy ranks so that silent films can be shown in the sanctuary with full accompaniment for the community’s enjoyment.

     A major organ funding drive in 1991 raised over $45,000. In addition to upgrades, an endowment fund for future maintenance was established. The organ now has 24 ranks (rows of pipes) which can be expanded to thirty eight in the future. While false pipes have been added as architectural features behind the choir loft and pulpit, operating pipes are spread throughout the sanctuary.

     Many generous congregation members — musicians and technicians, fundraisers and donors — have worked tirelessly to keep this great organ singing. Its magnificent voice may well resound for another hundred years.

April, 2017

     As the peals of the carillon bells from the First Congregational Church steeple drift over Porterville’s downtown, residents are reminded daily that the church is a longstanding element in the city’s life.

     The nationally recognized structure sits on three city lots east of downtown at the southeast corner of Mill and Fourth streets. With no nearby buildings, the church is clearly visible with its distinctive Late Gothic Revival architecture, arched stained-glass windows, cedar shingle siding, native stonework, and soaring steeple. It was approved for recognition on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998, ninety years after its construction.

   Still, the story of the First Congregational Church dates farther back and is uniquely linked to the history of the Porterville. A cornerstone marker on the building is dated 1891-1908, marking the church’s establishment before construction of the current facility.

     Church member Joe Faure is a frequent tour guide for visitors who want to see inside the building. As he explains it, the city was first just a cluster of houses, saloons, and shops serving as a stopover for land schooners carrying newcomers eager to search the gold fields farther north. When Royal Porter Putnam, a shopkeeper and owner of 40 acres on the banks of the Tule River, began laying out a grid for streets and lots for a new town in 1864, his wife, dismayed by the “wild west” feel of the village, insisted he set aside three lots for churches.

     As settlement in the area by farmers began, it brought an influx of mid-Westerners, many of them of the Congregational faith. Sharing similar theological views, they merged with a dwindling Presbyterian church at the site, and in 1891 the congregation became affiliated with the Congregational Church. It was identified as an “institutional church” — providing not only religious services but multiple uses for the entire community, with culture, education, recreation, and respectable entertainment – meant to help tame the rough and tumble town.

  Thus, they built a multi-level edifice in 1908 where young people could develop body, mind, and spirit with physical fitness, mental training, religious ideals, citizenship, and service. They brought the first daily kindergarten to the area, provided an indoor swimming pool with a gymnasium on the second story – the first in southern Tulare County, and a 250 seat sanctuary that doubled as the town’s only auditorium. The church even bought two additional lots south of the building in 1915 to construct the first tennis courts in town for public use.

     Some alterations have been made over the years, but the church building today is essentially unchanged from its original plan, as attested to by the framed blueprints on display, the work of San Francisco Bay Area architects George C. Meeker and Francis W. Reed. Its design is in the Shingle/Bay Tradition of the Gothic Revival style. It is now the only site representative of this architectural style in the south San Joaquin Valley – others of the era having been mostly destroyed by fire.

     However, fire did significantly change the church in 1936, burning the south wall of the sanctuary, a portion of the altar and recessed chancel, and the entire gymnasium. Since area high schools were now providing swimming, gymnasium, and tennis venues to the public, the Congregationalists replaced theirs with a social hall, complete with a modern kitchen and raised stage over the original swimming pool. This lower level addition adjoins the Fireside Room, a large area with comfortable seating and a fireplace.

     In 1961, a separate building south of the church was built for classrooms; and in 1978, an elevator was installed from the ground level Mill Street entrance side to the upper vestibule for wheelchair access. The church still provides a home for gatherings of community groups such as Girl and Boy Scout troops, quilters, and Alcoholics Anonymous, and for entertainment in the form of plays and musical concerts.

     Music has been an important part of the Congregational church since its beginning. The church maintains two Steinway pianos, a magnificent pipe organ, and its original pump organ, which is still used for special occasions, such as the church’s 125th anniversary celebration in 2016.

     Another source of pride and contributory factor in the church’s selection for National Register recognition are its outstanding stained glass windows. The unique windows were designed by a San Francisco artisan who was unfamiliar with the region and was fascinated by its changing seasons and the emerging citrus industry on the nearby hillsides. Thus, the windows feature the greens and golds of spring and fall, and each is anchored at the bottom by a panel featuring a cluster of three oranges and leaves. This motif, many congregants believe, suggests the Christian doctrine of the Trinity.

     This brings us full circle in our tour of the church and back to the carillon system. It, too, has a story. The sound system was a gift to the church in memory of Richard Moore from his family and friends. It was first installed in 1957 by the Maas-Rowe Company of Escondido. It served well for twenty two years, when the installing company was re-hired to upgrade the parts and system. Once again the carillon sounds marked the passage of time for the city, with songs at 8 a.m., noon, and 5 p.m., and chimes on the hour in between — a fix that lasted until 2001.

     After 15 years of silence from the carillon, the family of the late Harry and Virginia Falconer pledged the entire sum for the carillon replacement project in their memory, providing a modern, digital system with over 600 songs to choose from. And so, just before Christmas 2016, the familiar musical interludes once again emanated from the First Congregational Church spire daily and for special occasions. It is an audible indicator that the church continues to serve its community well into its second century.

April, 2017

  Movie theaters today are often built with little attention to ambiance or architectural sparkle, box-like on the outside and unadorned on the inside. But such disregard for cinematic splendor wasn’t always the case. When Visalia’s Fox Theatre was built in 1930, not only did the movie on the screen thrill the audience; the theater itself was enchanting, and an integral part of the movie-goer’s experience. Back then, just a few coins would buy a ticket to paradise.

     The story of the Visalia Fox Theatre began in January, 1928, when the well-known William Fox film company announced it had acquired all 250 theaters in the West Coast Theatres, Inc. chain. One of these was the Visalia Theatre, a playhouse on the northeast corner of Court and Acequia streets that had been built in 1889 as the National Guard Armory and remodeled several times since then. After examining the tired old building, Fox officials decided to replace it with a modern movie house suited to the glitzy golden age of motion pictures.

     Fox bought land on the northwest corner of Main and Encina streets. Los Angeles architects Floyd Stanbery and Clifford Balch drew the building plans, and by April, 1929, the site was cleared and ready for the contractor, Beller Construction of Los Angeles. Howard Sheehan, Fox’s Vice President, known for his keen eye for “the new, the better and the beautiful,” made all the design decisions.

     For nine months, Visalians watched Sheehan’s Spanish-style building take shape, and when it was finished, they marveled. The tall clock tower attracted the most attention. The Visalia Times-Delta reported that it looked “like a lighthouse above a seaport.” Mounted on its dominating height were three clock faces, each over six feet in diameter, ringed with neon lights, and each facing in a different direction. The wonderful clock, touted as the largest of its type ever built, captivated the community.

     The new building’s interior was equally dramatic, with an East Indian theme contrasting with the Spanish exterior. Sheehan wanted visitors to experience the feeling of entering the garden courtyard of an Indian ruler, stepping from the “streets of Visalia to the mystic shrines of the gods.”

     But there was more to the inside than just elaborate decor. In the new Fox Theatre, built for “talkies,” the most advanced Western Electric audio gear was installed. Even the walls were shaped with acoustics in mind. And the projection room, according to Fox officials, was the “most superbly equipped booth in the state.”

     On February 27, 1930, at 6:30 p.m., with Klieg lights beaming skyward, the Visalia Fox Theatre doors opened for the first time to the public. The 1,460 seats filled quickly, as the audience was welcomed with music from the new $20,000 organ. Those in attendance enjoyed several motion pictures, including “The Lone Star Ranger,” starring George O’Brien and Sue Carol; Movietone News; a Mickey Mouse cartoon; and “Night Owls,” a Laurel and Hardy comedy. Opening night was a sensation at the beautiful $225,000 theater.

     For decades to come, the Fox served as an important Tulare County social center under a variety of owners. Not only were films shown there, but many performers entertained live on its stage.

     By the 1970s, however, single screen theaters were losing money, and more and more of them were being replaced by multi-screen or multiplex houses. In 1976, the Mann Theater Corporation, owner of Visalia’s Fox Theatre at the time, announced that the Fox would be remodeled and converted into a triplex.

     Despite this change, the aging landmark continued to struggle financially, and maintenance problems began to accumulate. In late 1996, Cinamerica-Mann, the company leasing the Fox, surprised the community by announcing that they were closing the theater doors. They had built a new 12-plex in the Sequoia Mall and were giving up on the old movie house. Soon, the vacant Fox was for sale.

     This series of decisions reverberated throughout the community. In its 66 years, the grand landmark theater had amassed a loyal fan base, and many were concerned about its future. The Tulare County Symphony began eyeing the building as a possible new home. The Visalia Times-Delta weighed in editorially and supported efforts to make it an arts center. Visalia Mayor Mary Louise Vivier publicly said she wanted the theater preserved and restored. Downtown merchants worried about the impact of the vacant entertainment center on downtown business.

     When by the end of 1996 no serious buyer had come forward, a local grassroots group called “Friends of the Fox” formed. Organized and led by Rami Cherami, a teacher in the Visalia Unified School District, the non-profit group began working on a plan to acquire the theater, restore it, and reopen it to the public.

     Then came the “Miracle on Main Street.” In December, 1997, the owners of the theater thrilled the community by donating the Fox to the Friends. The new owners spiritedly continued fundraising for its restoration. By 1999, with the help of many donations and hundreds of volunteer hours, the Friends had been able to complete many major renovation projects and to fix most of the Fox’s cosmetic needs. The Fox was again ready to receive a theater audience.

     November 20, 1999, was the date set for the “Grand Re-Opening,” featuring well-known pianist and composer Marvin Hamlisch as the guest performer. The long-awaited evening was truly a grand occasion, and a grateful and excited community flocked through the doors of the historic theater made enchanting and new once more.

     Since 1999, the Fox has been operating regularly, thanks to the Friends of the Fox, who continue to solicit financial support for the numerous expensive restoration projects yet to be completed.

     In 2011, the Friends’ Board of Directors and Paul Fry, Theatre Manager, made the decision to pursue National Register of Historic Places listing for the iconic Fox building. Chris Brewer, the architectural historian hired to complete the long application process, reports that National Register status seems assured.

     Visalia’s fabulous Fox has stood at Main and Encina since 1930. A treasured historic building that was saved by citizens of its community for future generations, it stands as a tribute to those groups and individuals who have worked so tirelessly to protect and preserve it. Thanks to them, the Fox will continue to be a magical place where memories are made for many years to come.

November, 2013