On February 15, 1981, Marshall Angrave was asked to present his impressions of Galt as he remembered it as a child, for the “Galt History Night” at the United Methodist. Church. These are his recollections of Galt as he shared them that evening.
Much of my knowledge of the early days of Galt was handed down to me by word of mouth from my parents, grandparents and aunts and uncles.
The town of Galt was laid out by the Western Pacific Railroad Company in 1869. The first hotel and other frame buildings were moved here from the town of Liberty, which soon vanished as Galt grew. Front Street, now Fourth Street, was the main street and by 1880 Galt boasted of having two general merchandise stores, blacksmith shops, wagon and carriage manufacture and repair shops, barber shops, show stores, saloons, one variety store, hotel, harness shop, wood yard, meat market, livery stable, barley mill, a Wells Fargo & Co. Express Office, three physicians, and one attorney-at-law. Farming was mostly grain and cattle.
I’ve had an excellent view, or you might say a ringside seat, in the development of Galt and the activities of the Methodist Church since I was raised and still live in the house in which I was born, kitty-cornered across the street from the church.
The Methodist Church I attended was the one with the high steeple which was built in the 1800’s and later moved to the back of the lot. There was a Sunday morning service, Sunday School and a night service. Reverend Black, Dr. Black’s father, was a minister of great perseverance. As I recall those night services were only attended by Mrs. Haskens, the Black and Angrave families, and an alcoholic professor of the University.
Speaking of alcohol, Reverend Black was a very broad-minded, friendly man (you might say everyone’s friend) and he often paused to visit with the town’s inebriated as they stepped forth from the saloon, much to the disapproval of the ladies of the parish who had formed a W.C.T.U. (Women’s Christian Temperance Union). My mother was a very strong leader of that group. However, in spite of all their efforts, the saloon continued to thrive.
I recall a barbecue in the yard of the parish house. My father furnished the chickens and Mrs. Black rolled biscuits in wet paper and baked them in the coals. Maybe childhood memories become more vivid with age, but I have never tasted anything so delicious as those biscuits generously coated with homemade butter and jelly.
My father attended the first grammar school in Galt, located west of Second Street near where Dr. Greer now lives (near A Street). The grammar school I attended was on the north end of this block facing B Street. It was a four-room two-story wooden frame building with a high belfry at the front and outside stairway. There was a pump, woodshed, and outhouses at the back, and a pipe fence separated the school and church yards. Children from the country came by horse and buggy and often tied their horses to the hitching post at the north side of the I.O.O.F. Hall, and in the shed barn behind the hall on stormy days. Country children brought their lunch, but I always had to go home to eat except on very stormy days. It was such a treat to eat with the other children that I often wished for gale winds and thunder storm clouds. One of your very active church members, Beatrice Orr Smithson was a classmate, so you can see our friendship goes back a long way. When we were in the 4th or 5th grades we moved to the new grammar school facing E Street between Fifth and Sixth Streets, a wooden building with six room and a center auditorium.
The first high school was held in Dr. Montague’s house on the corner of Oak Avenue and A Street. The high school we attended was on the same site as Galt’s present high school. A two-story stucco building with basement rooms which burned the year after we graduated. Bea and I also attended Business College in Sacramento and I commuted by train.
Our first grammar school principal lived in an apartment above the library which was located west of this church across the alley from the present Pacific Telephone building. Louela Lindsey, the librarian, lived in an apartment building on the corner of C and Fifth Street, and there was a bakery in the lower part. Gann was the Constable and the jail was on Fifth across from the present fire department.
To the east of the church, on the corner of Sixth and C, is the house that was once owned by Mr. Farres. He must have been blessed with the Lord’s message, “It is more blessed to give than to receive”, as he always gave gifts to others on his birthday. The building became a boarding house managed by the Gibsons and was called the Sunny South. The depot night watchman boarded there and the last whipping I received was when I slipped off without permission with little Mary Gibson to deliver the night watchman’s lunch.
The I.O.O.F. Hall on the corner of Front Street (now Fourth) and B was the center of social activities. There was a stage in the banquet room on which traveling shows performed. The minstrel shows were always a favorite of mine, I might add that the Phoenix I.O.O.F. Lodge NO. 239 started the Galt Cemetery in 1877,
Town visitors and Lodge guests came by train and stayed all night in the local hotel and the depot by the tracks facing Front Street was often a buzz with activity.
The hotel I remember was the “Botzback Hotel”, on the corner of C and Fifth where the auto parts store is now. My mother baked our bread, but once in a while we would run out and I was sent to the hotel to buy a loaf. I’m not saying anything derogatory about my mother’s baking because she was an excellent cook, but it seemed that Botzback bread had an extra special taste.
Early day citizens of Galt were very patriotic and the 4th of July was always celebrated in grand style, often with a town picnic at Kreeger’s Grove on Kost Road. I recall hearing my mother had dressed a chicken, hung it on the porch and went off to practice with the young ones for a patriotic flag drill. A tramp came along, took the chicken and walked down the street. My father drove by, spotted the tramp and had an odd feeling about that chicken. My father turned the buggy around, drove up to the tramp and said, “I believe you’re carrying my chicken”. The tramp said, “Yes, I guess I am”, he handed it over and walked off.
My father ran the livery stable on the corner of B and Fifth and in some ways it was similar to the modern Hertz car rental agency, only the mode of transportation ate hay instead of gas. Salesmen, or drummers as they were called in those days, came by train and hired a horse and buggy, which often ended up in Stockton or Sacramento. My father would receive a telegram as to the location, would hop a train and drive the horse and buggy back to Galt. The livery stable burned and when the foundation for Dr. Greer’s Clinic was being dug, many horse shoes were unearthed, a reminder of horse shoes in the early livery stable days.
In early days, water for the town was furnished by the Hasken’s windmill located on the south side of C Street across from this church. Later a gasoline engine was installed at the Hasken’s waterworks. When the business section of Front Street caught fire, there was no water pressure and only volunteer fire fighters with buckets and garden hoses, so the Post Office, bank and stores burned to the ground. Then, for a while, the bank was moved to the I.O.O.F. building.
I’ve noted a lot of changes in our town, some for the best and others not. My parents and grandparents never locked their doors and felt free to step out on the street at any hour of the night. After all these years, I’m the only Angrave, and, I guess, the first Galt citizen to be mugged on the streets of Galt. However, its been a wonderful place to live and grow up in, and I’m happy my ancestors had the foresight to settle here.
The Galt Area Historical Society offers a book of our local history called Tapestry. Click here for more information.
Last edited 27 February, 2005
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