Numerous events planned to celebrate city’s centennial
Morgan Hill – A year-long commemoration of the community’s 100th birthday begins tonight with a Centennial Celebration to ring in the new year.
The New Year’s Eve celebration will be held at the Morgan Hill Community Center. The evening will include dancing to Fast Lane band, casino games, raffle prizes, cocktails, party favors, midnight champagne provided by Pedrezzeti Winery and a New Year’s breakfast provided by the Plaza restaurant.
“Tickets are still available,” Centennial Committee President Jennifer Tate said Monday. “It should be a really fun night, kicking off a very special year. We can’t wait for the excitement to begin.”
Tickets are available today at BookSmart in downtown Morgan Hill, 778-6467, and at the Community Center tonight.
The city of Morgan Hill was incorporated in 1906, after much of the land that makes up the city was inherited by Diane Murphy and managed by her husband, Hiram Morgan Hill.
Visitors to the couple at their Villa Mira Monte home would ask the conductor to stop at “the Morgan Hill’s.” The name stuck, though some thought the city should be called Murphysboro, after the city’s founder, Martin Murphy, Sr.
During the coming year, residents can participate in the city’s centennial celebrations in a variety of ways.
“It’s going to be the best year,” Tate said. “We’ve got the commemorative wines, we have someone who’s going to be Hiram Morgan Hill. He’s been studying up on his role, doing background research.”
Tate said there will be many more events throughout the year. The American Association of University Women is planning History Week and the committee is hosting Centennial Days in August at the Community Center.
Then on Nov. 10, the actual day of the city’s incorporation, the committee will have a celebration event, “a county fair, picnic kind of thing.”
The commemorative wine with a special centennial label will be available all year at the Guglielmo Winery and at BookSmart.
Tate said the Centennial Committee is working to incorporate as much of the community as possible into the events throughout the year. The celebration on Nov. 10 is a perfect example, she said, though the details are still being worked out.
“We’re in the process of trying to figure out how we can have the event at the Morgan Hill House,” she said. “We thought it would be perfect to go right back to the beginning. But we want a large number of people to attend, so we may have to get tents to set up on the grounds or something. We’re going to get busy and ask nonprofit organizations in the community to man the food booths to make this a real community thing. This is not about the Centennial Committee making money, it’s about letting community organizations profit from this. We want it to be a good old-fashioned, down home event.”
For the city’s 100th birthday, the committee has also chosen a commemorative poster and project.
“Summer Afternoon Bliss,” by Marie-Christine Briot-Connolly, was selected the to be the Centennial Poster. The poster will be displayed around the city throughout the centennial year.
A Morgan Hill History Trail Timeline will serve as the central element in a project to commemorate the centennial.
Along the trail, the project committee has planned to include a gazebo, a centennial bell and a time capsule trail.
The trail will be made up of plaques, markers and historical items and will be located on the grounds of Villa Mira Monte, the 1884 home of Hiram Morgan Hill and his wife, Diana Murphy Hill.
Centennial Year Events:
Kickoff Celebration – Dec. 31
History Week – spring 2006
Centennial Days – Aug. 5 and 6
Incorporation Celebration – Nov. 10
