Historical Society to celebrate 40 years in 2026

By RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY

Staff Writer

 

As the year 2026 begins, it will be a year filled with many anniversaries nationally and locally.  The USA’s 250^th anniversary will be July 4 and celebrated by Jamboree Days in Crestline and fireworks over the lakes. The 100^th anniversary of the completion and opening of the building of Green Valley Lake and the beginning of Arrowhead Villas, plus the 40^th anniversary of the establishment of the Rim of the World Historical Society, will all be celebrated in various ways.

The Rim of the World Historical Society was begun in 1986, after the Honorary Mayor election sponsored by the various bars in Crestline in conjunction with Jamboree Days. Tom Powell Jr., who worked for Caltrans, ran for the honorary position on the campaign platform of starting a historical society if he won. He was sponsored by the Enchantment Lodge Restaurant in Valley of Enchantment.

The idea was that the long-time residents would share their stories with the newer residents to give them a feeling of how the town had grown and some knowledge of who had done what to create the community. Don Foster, who had been the town’s cab driver for several decades – and who knew almost everyone in town – had frequented the Enchantment Lodge restaurant and was a great storyteller. It was Foster who had inspired Powell with the historical society idea.

After Powell won, he arranged organizational meetings, the first one in the upstairs room of the Rim Bowling lanes on Lake Drive. About 60 members, mostly old-timers, had a charter signing party later that summer at the Enchantment Lodge.

The society began printing calendars with photos of old-time days and historic places. Powell got the photos from Foster, who had tried to start a museum in the 1960s and still had a large collection of everything he had collected. The society continued printing calendars through 1999 and, since calendars repeat dates, you could use the 1988 Crest Forest Historical Society calendar that you’ve saved and use it for this year, 2026. They held monthly meetings and dreamed of opening a museum.

During those years much happened because of the historical society. The old-timers shared their stories at the monthly meetings and the community learned so much about its past. Through newspaper articles, these meetings at the library were documented and shared and a historical display cabinet was set up in the Crestline post office to get the community involved.

Over the years, many of their members have written books related to the mountains and its history. Some were published through Arcadia Publishing, others through History Press, some self-published, and the museum has financed the publication of other titles including the Mountain guidebooks. So far about 20 local interest history books have been written by its members.

The historical society has also operated three museums over these 39 years. The first was a movie museum based on Lee Cozad’s book Those Magnificent Mountain Movies. It was located in the lobby of the closed Crestline Quonset hut movie theater that was then owned by a local church. The volunteer docents opened it every Sunday afternoon, snagging visitors from those driving and walking by on Lake Drive.

It was focused on movies made all over the mountain, which Cozad had documented in his two-volume book set. The walls were covered with movie posters and pictures of those locally made movies. From there the docents could point to the location of the Leo Maloney Movie Studio with its western sets, just two blocks away.

In the center of this museum was the old movie projector from the theater, which the historical society still has on display in the current museum in Lake Arrowhead. During this time, they had a monthly historical segment on the community news and weather TV show on the local public access cable TV channel.

The second was a historical museum built on the lower level of Lake Arrowhead Village adjacent to the former Lake Arrowhead Children’s Museum, across from the yacht club in a former art gallery. Most of the items in that museum were photographs and had extensive written captions. That small historical museum closed at the same time the Lake Arrowhead Children’s Museum closed and the historical society’s items went into storage when the village wanted their space back.

For the past 19 years, the Mountain History Museum has been in their current location in the old Lake Arrowhead Fire Department Station #94 building, on Peninsula Drive in Lake Arrowhead.  They were able to secure a lease for the space before the Old Fire but, since the fire threat was so serious, they had to wait to move in as the building was being used to house extra fire crews coming to the area.

When the historical society was able to begin to move in and establish the current museum, they had many local professionals step up and volunteer their expertise in design, lighting, museum management and docent training. The community also assisted by loaning and donating many items for display, as they have continued to do through the years. Educators, authors, foresters and former museum directors have all helped create the current museum, which they offer to the community with no admission charge, as it is a community amenity for residents and visitors.

The Rim of the World Historical Society and Mountain History Museum were honored by the Native Sons and Daughters of the Golden West with a plaque at the museum in 2011 recognizing their dedication to collecting and preserving local history. In 2017, the completely volunteer organization was recognized as the “Non-Profit of the Year” by the Lake Arrowhead Communities Chamber of Commerce.

For their 35^th anniversary, they had a wonderful celebration planned. They were going to ride up the ski lift at Snow Valley for a champagne and cheese reception at the top of the mountain and afterwards enjoy a catered dinner in Snow Valley’s dining room. There was to be a program on the history of Snow Valley. Almost all of the past presidents were planning to attend and the anniversary gala was a sell-out. The entire party was suddenly canceled just days before the scheduled event due to the federal shutdown of everything due to COVID. It was never rescheduled.

This coming year, they hope to plan a big party to recognize the momentous milestone of their 40^th anniversary. They are one of the largest local nonprofit organizations on the mountain, with family memberships still only $35 per year. The museum and its all-volunteer board of directors have many plans for this coming year, including many new displays in the museum itself. They will spend this winter getting it all coordinated.

The historical society conducts tours of historical locations and offers historical talks and presentations to community groups. To schedule a tour or presentation for your Scout or other group, call them at (909) 744-8625 and leave a message or contact them through the website, www.mtnmuseum.org.

The museum at 27176 Peninsula Drive is open to groups by appointment during their non-scheduled hours and to the public on weekends during the summer season. They plan to be open one weekend a month through this winter on holiday weekends only, beginning in February, weather permitting, see the website for exact dates.