History in Person, or On Line-

Settlement of Merced County Exhibit Brings the Museum to the Device

Some of the storyboards in the Merced Courthouse Museum exhibit Settlement of Merced County: From Homestead to Colonization.  Photo: Steve Newvine

Did you ever think about how the area we now know as Merced County got started? 

Have you ever given any thought to how certain communities seem to have a link to specific nationalities?

There’s an exhibit at the Merced County Courthouse Museum that offers some insights, shows many interesting photographs, and provides the tools needed to learn more about these communities.

Settlement of Merced County: From Homestead to Colonization is an exhibit that opened in October. 

Storyboard with old photographs and a synopsis of how Merced’s Chinatown community started.  Photo:  Steve Newvine

What started with homesteaders led to many making a commitment to live right here in Merced County. 

Their reasons were varied. 

In some cases, it was the availability of fertile land. 

Certainly, climate and water availability were factors. 

Throughout the County, these homesteaders were the foundation for colonies where ethnicity, national origin, geography, and religion created clusters of families settling into specific regions.

The exhibit looks at how these clusters led to the creation of Merced’s settlements which in turn became colonies within the greater community. 

With about fifteen maps and nearly three-dozen story panels, this exhibit represents the first comprehensive look at the early development of Merced County.

The Settlement of Merced County: From Homestead to Colonization exhibit includes an on-line feature so the visitor can drill down to get more information on each colony.  Photo: Steve Newvine

On the night the exhibit opened, Kristi Kelechenyi of the County Geographic Information System (GIS) Department showed attendees how to trace the settlements with a mobile device. 

The story behind these communities awaits amidst the rooms off the main hallway of the Museum:

• Merced Falls' Indian Reservation

• Snelling's Southern influence

• Robla's Irish settlement, Badger Flat's Italian farmers

• Buhach Colony’s Portuguese roots

• South Dos Palos’ Black community

• Delhi State Land Settlement

• Hilmar’s Swedish Colony

• Merced’s Jewish community

• Calpak’s Mexican migrant camps

The colonization of Crocker-Huffman land:

• British Colony (English)

• Merced Colony #2 (Mennonite)

• Rotterdam Colony (Dutch)

• Amsterdam Colony (Dutch)

• Yamato Colony (Japanese)

• Deane Colony (Easterner)

The black and white photographs bring the story alive. 

The visitor gets the opportunity to think back to what it must have been like when these Merced neighborhoods were formed. 

Those neighborhoods include: 

• Chinatown

• Little Snelling

• Spanish Town

• Spaghetti Acres

• Bradley Addition

• Ragsdale Addition

• South Merced

The Mennonite colony in Winton is one of several neighborhoods featured in the exhibit Settlement of Merced County: From Homestead to Colonization at the Merced Courthouse Museum.  Photo:  Steve Newvine

Thanks to the web enhancement, this exhibit is effectively available online. 

A visitor can see the exhibit without going to the museum by following this link: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/0455ea6a5c87451c8d880329670e4908/

 One might spend a great deal of time clicking on the images, recognizing features on the many maps, and appreciating the hard work of the forebearers who built the community. 

But nothing can beat going to the Museum, strolling through the exhibits, and experiencing the presentation in person.

On top of the specific exhibit, there are plenty of other rooms with more things to see and more history to appreciate.

This exhibit represents an investment of the visitor.  It is not an investment of money, but rather an investment of time.  Every minute spent looking at the storyboards, maps, and photographs helps to bring about a better understanding of what it took to build the community we know as Merced County.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced. 

His book Can-Do Californians is now available in hardcover as well as softcover from Lulu.com.  The softcover version is available as well at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.com