People packed in to the front room and spilled in to a couple of adjoining rooms at the ‘Prowse House’ in Oakdale on Saturday morning, June 17, as Friends of Oakdale Heritage, FOH, officially dedicated the Tim Haidlen Research Room.
Part of what is included in the room are the bound volumes of The Oakdale Leader and at least one of its predecessors, with issues dating back to the 1880s.
“Thank you all for taking time out of your busy weekend to show up to our rare little occasion,” Friends of Oakdale Heritage President Barbara Torres said in welcoming the crowd, then offered a little background on the Oakdale Museum and History Center at 212 W. F St. “The home was built in 1869 by Robert Sydnor, one of Oakdale’s earliest pioneers, who had a general store and was Oakdale’s first postmaster.”
After Sydnor’s death in 1877, his family left the area and William Rutherford and his family lived at the home for two generations, from about 1885 to 1933. Then, Torres said, Tom Prowse bought the home and lived there until his death in 1978, at the age of 101.
It wasn’t long after that when the property became a piece of history.
“By 1985, the Oakdale Historical Society was formed with the aid of Tim Haidlen’s extensive collection of local memorabilia. This included recorded interviews and family photos of early area residents. The City of Oakdale acquired the home … converting it into the Oakdale Museum with an agreement that the City would maintain the property and the Historical Society would operate within those confines,” Torres explained.
Haidlen sadly passed away in 1990, though the museum arrangement between the City and the Historical Society remained in effect until 2007.
“At that time, the museum was closed and everything in it was boxed up for storage,” said Torres.
Behind the scenes, a group was working to get the doors open once again and the Friends of Oakdale Heritage was formed a couple of years later in pursuit of that goal. The non-profit included board members Torres, Don Riise, Gretchen Arbini, Cindy Robinson and Vern Gladney; they were successful in getting the doors open to the public in May, 2009.
“None of us had much actual experience running a museum, but we all shared a vested interest in preserving local history. With the wealth of knowledge acquired by Tim and the amount of fundraising that had preceded our efforts by the Haidlen Family, it was our privilege to put our best efforts toward continuing Tim’s legacy,” Torres told the crowd at the dedication, a crowd that included several members of the Haidlen family.
By 2014, the City of Oakdale had transferred all operations and management of the building, grounds, collection and associated properties and artifacts to Friends of Oakdale Heritage.
“All of which would not have been possible without the dedication of the Haidlen family and their tireless efforts to establish and maintain Tim’s legacy,” Torres noted. “Since then, we’ve managed to reclaim, reorganize and renovate both the collection and the building.”
Among the newest exhibits for the museum is a pharmaceutical collection from Ken Cosner at River Oak Pharmacy, which dates back to very early compounding pharmacists like Seeber and Morrison.
“Like many smaller museums, COVID made an impact on our ability to stay open. But the behind-the-scenes work still continued,” Torres said.
The latest project, taking up residence in the Tim Haidlen Research Room, involves past issues of The Leader. When making plans to move to a smaller location, it was determined the multiple ‘bound volumes’ from the old Leader office on South Third Avenue could not be taken, as there was no room for storage at the new office on West F Street.
“We stepped in to reclaim the nearly 250 volumes and made the commitment to house them by transforming this room from what had been a storage area in 2007 to the “School Room” by 2011 and now, the Tim Haidlen Research Room, in 2023,” Torres said. “Funding for the project was allocated using the Haidlen Funds, resources gathered through years of fundraising efforts by Tom and Julia Haidlen. We thank you for your tireless support.”
Torres also offered some thanks for the room makeover, which included work done by John’s Premium Painting; John Montes and his crew removed three layers of wallpaper, along with patching and painting the walls. Also, Hardwood Floors of Modesto, Matthew Barney for sanding and “refinishing the original flooring to its glory” and Jason Turner Construction, Torres citing “Jason Turner for his tireless commitment to making sure we have the custom shelving needed for the project.”
Monschein Industries was responsible for the actual construction, Torres said, while “Jason and Joe were the ones who installed them.”
Along with members of the Haidlen family and several interested citizens, one of the dignitaries on hand Saturday was Stan Cook, retired longtime publisher/owner of The Leader.
Assisting with the ceremony, stepping up to cut the ribbon to officially open the Tim Haidlen Research Room was his mother, Beverly Haidlen.
Torres said she was eager for the ceremony and couldn’t be happier about the outcome of the room makeover and the chance to welcome residents in to see the new arrivals.
“Exhilarated, exhausted, excited,” she summarized of how she was feeling on Saturday.
And, now that they have gotten all the pieces in place, she said the Oakdale Museum and History Center will resume regular “open hours” – open to the public from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays; 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays.
