Built in 1861, Mendocino County’s Kelley House Museum is a window into the past

FOR OVER 50 YEARS, the Kelley House has been a center of historical collecting and research on the Mendocino Coast. The house was built in 1861 for William and Eliza Kelley, who raised four children in the home. The property remained in the family for many years and was used as a rental home until the early 1970s when it took on a new life.

In 1969, Beth Stebbins and Dorothy Bear moved to Mendocino from Palm Springs. The two women were interested in the town’s history. They met many local historians, including Nannie and Emery Escola, and began researching Mendocino’s pioneer families and early history. In 1973, Stebbins and Bear established the Mendocino Historical Research, Inc. (MHRI) and published “Mendocino,” a brief history of the town’s architecture, families, and more.