It took five years to iron out the details, but early Saturday
morning, the Morgan Hill Historical Museum pulled up stakes and
moved to a new location. The 1912 building, built by John Acton,
was pulled by a powerful-looking truck from its home on West Main
Avenue behind the library to its new home at 17860 Monterey Road,
in front of the old Morgan Hill House, on land Hiram Morgan Hill
and his wife, Diana, called Villa Mira Monte.
It took five years to iron out the details, but early Saturday morning, the Morgan Hill Historical Museum pulled up stakes and moved to a new location.
The 1912 building, built by John Acton, was pulled by a powerful-looking truck from its home on West Main Avenue behind the library to its new home at 17860 Monterey Road, in front of the old Morgan Hill House, on land Hiram Morgan Hill and his wife, Diana, called Villa Mira Monte.
To celebrate the move, members of the Historical Society Board of Directors walked along with the house as it made the 2-mile trek, starting at 6:30am. There were a few tricky moments, most notably when the house proved a bit too big to easily round the corner from East Main onto northbound Monterey, in front of the old police station.
Steve Pendleton, who shepherded the project for the city, said there were few problems with the move. He did have 10 specimen oak trees along the route pruned so they wouldn’t be damaged. While moving a house looks easy to the untrained eye, Pendleton said it isn’t.
“It is as much art as an engineering feat,” Pendleton said.
As dawn broke and residents emerged to jog or walk their dogs, people gathered to watch the house lumbering down the street. Two workers stationed on top of the house used their hands to lift up telephone lines when the building approached, since the house was taller than the lines in some places. The roof had been removed so electric lines, which are higher, would not have to be taken down and replaced – an expensive procedure.
PG&E had three crews follow the house, but all went well according to Shawn Ferguson, a PG&E employee who said this was his first house move.
Kelly Brothers House Movers did the actual work, led by Howard Kelly, the third generation of Kellys in the business. His three sons are the fourth generation that specializes in moving historic structures. The firm previously moved the museum building to its West Main location in 1983 and also moved the old Morgan Hill School from Dunne and Monterey to Llagas Avenue, a much larger job.
Historical Society President Gloria Pariseau said she listened to the police scanner while the house was making its stately way down Peak, West Dunne, Depot, East Main and Monterey.
“Lots of people called the police to complain that there was a house in the street,” Pariseau said. “I, however, am very pleased that there was a house in the street. It’s been a long time coming.”
Pariseau, whose day job is as a contractor, said the museum should have its new foundation, roof and rehabilitation – new paint inside and out and a few other details – within two months or so. Ken Link will be in charge of refurbishing the historic home.
Because 2006 is the city’s centennial year – beginning New Year’s Eve – Society members want the museum open as soon as possible so the public can visit Villa Mira Monte and take in both the museum and the historic house.
Councilman Steve Tate also walked along with the house, at one point helping to remove some median signs that were in the way near the Community Center. Tate was especially interested in getting the museum moved because it was perched on the site of the proposed new library.
“It’s a win-win thing,” Tate said. “We get our long, long overdue library, now cleared to get built. We are on track for 2007. This will also really enhance the overall ambiance of the Morgan Hill House site (Villa Mira Monte) turning it into a total history area.”
The property is what remains from a 6,000-acre ranch that Diana Murphy Hill, wife of Hiram Morgan Hill, inherited from her father, Daniel Murphy, in 1882. It has been under control of the Historical Society since 1992 when the group began to renovate the Morgan Hill House. It is now open for tours Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.
