Ground breaking of new Mt. Baldy Museum on Saturday

The Mt. Baldy Community Association will have a ground breaking ceremony for the Mt. Baldy Museum-Dorothy Wisely History Center at noon on June 4.

The museum at 6778 Mt. Baldy Road is a project of the Mt. Baldy Community Association, a non-profit organization established to promote culture, history and public education in Mt. Baldy as well as to make the unique history of the small mountain town available to the region.

Association president, Marta Escanuelas and board members Dave and Maci Siriani, Daven Gray, Cathy Granger, Tanja Adam and Joey Martin will be in attendance for the ground breaking.

Board and sub-committee members Charlene Delgado, Missy Poore and Nancy Strickland have been organizing and cataloging items for display in the museum.

This is the organization's next step in the conversion of an unused Ranger's House at the U.S. Forest Service Visitor Center Compound in the center of Mt. Baldy Village.

When completed, the museum will house a variety of exhibits and displays conveying San Antonio Canyon's history form the mining days to the present.

Also to be included will be displays about the pioneers, the native Tongva Indian tribe, the development of hydroelectric power, Mt. Baldy as a getaway frequented by Hollywood movie stars in the 1920's and 1930's, the development of the ski area after World War II as well as the devastating fires and floods.

The museum will be named in part to honor the late Dorothy Wisely, who was the canyon's unofficial historian. Her family donated extensive archives to the community for preservations and exhibit to the public.