Corte Madera Memories
  • WELCOME
    • HOW IT ALL BEGAN....
  • EARLY HISTORY
    • WHAT'S IN A NAME?
    • FIRST SETTLERS
    • RACETRACKS IN CORTE MADERA?
    • A VILLAGE EMERGES
    • BITS & PIECES >
      • Views from East Peak
    • 1913 "BOOSTERS"
    • RAILROADS
    • 1899 to 2014 VIEWS >
      • ANNOTATED PHOTO & MAP
    • PUSH FOR GROWTH
  • CORTE MADERA BECOMES A TOWN
    • CHRISTMAS TREE HILL HISTORY >
      • EARLY MAP - CHRISTMAS TREE HILL
    • HOMES ARE BUILT
    • HISTORIC PHOTOS
    • HISTORIC PLACES
    • CORTE MADERA WOMEN'S CLUB HISTORY >
      • CM WOMEN'S CLUB IN THE 2000'S
    • 1926 Aerial View from 15,000 Feet
    • LOCAL GOVERNMENT
    • REAL ESTATE AD
    • FAMILIES GROW
    • SCHOOLS
    • BUSINESSES
    • CHURCHES
    • SPORTS
    • OLD TOWN SQUARE
    • MEADOWSWEET DAIRY >
      • STREETS RENAMED
  • OLDTIMERS' MEMORIES SHARED
    • WILLIAM ISAAC PIXLEY
    • HARRY RICHARDS
    • SONIA DELEW
    • LLOYD REA
    • HAROLD & MARY BATES
    • ELSIE THIERBACH
    • AUDA BORDANARO
    • HARRIET CONOW MADEIROS
    • FRED MORRIS
    • LOUISE LAMB
    • JAN VALK
    • AUGUSTINE HALL
    • ALBERT & JEAN LEVESQUE
    • MARY SCHWERDT
    • EDITH SCHLOBOM
    • WILLIAM TALLEY
    • GERALD GRANUCCI
    • ELVA WILSON
    • A VISIT WITH DOROTHY MALMGREN
  • BIG CHANGES AFTER WW II
    • 1952 MASSIVE GROWTH
    • REC CENTER
    • LIONS CLUB
    • BUSINESS BOOM
    • LIBRARY
    • SCHOOLS
    • NEIGHBORHOODS >
      • CHRISTMAS TREE HILL HISTORY
      • MARINER COVE
      • VISTA DEL BAHIA
      • MADERA DEL PRESIDIO
      • MIRA VISTA
  • PUTTING THE BRAKES ON GROWTH
    • NEW ZONING ORDINANCE CUTS DENSITY
    • PUBLIC OPEN SPACE >
      • CORTE MADERA NORTHRIDGE
      • RING MOUNTAIN OPEN SPACE PRESERVE
      • CORTE MADERA ECOLOGICAL RESERVE >
        • HEERDT MARSH
        • CORTE MADERA MARSHES
  • SHARE YOUR OWN STORY
    • ROBERT CARLETON
    • EARL & DONNA HART FAMILY
    • SUE BIGALL
    • KURT NORSTAD
    • ANNETTE PERRY
    • HARRY RICHARDS
    • BILL & PEGGY THOMAS
    • HARRY & ANNETTE SCHRIEBMAN
    • ANDY VIRENO
    • BOB VOGEL
    • ART DONATI
    • LUIS KUBICHEK & BOYS' SOCCER
  • THE TOWN WE LOVE
    • CORTE MADERA SONG
    • SCENIC VISTAS
    • CELEBRATIONS >
      • 50TH ANNIVERSARY
      • COMMEMORATIVE PLAQUE
      • 75TH ANNIVERSARY
      • WOMEN'S CLUB 100TH BIRTHDAY
      • CIVIC ORGANIZATIONS
      • MARQUART LAGOON REGATTA
      • JULY 4TH PARADE 2017
      • 4th of JULY PARADES
      • OKTOBERFEST
      • OKTOBERFEST 2018
      • CMWIC SPRING TEA 2019
      • CORTE MADERA WOMEN'S CLUB
  • CENTENNIAL YEAR EVENTS 1916-2017
    • NEW YEAR'S EVE KICKOFF
    • RAGTIME NIGHT
    • HISTORY WALKS
    • VINTAGE CAR SHOW
    • RING MOUNTAIN HIKE
    • WEEKEND100 EVENTS >
      • 75th ANNIVERSARY TIME CAPSULE
      • FAMILY FUN NIGHT >
        • 2016 TIME CAPSULE
      • WEEKEND100 BIKE PARADE, GAMES, MUSIC, CAKE
      • WEEKEND100 VIDEO
      • WEEKEND100 GROUP PHOTO
      • WEEKEND100 FIREWORKS
      • WEEKEND100 CHILI COOK-OFF & BALL GAME
    • FRED ASTAIRE NIGHT
    • ICE CREAM SOCIAL
    • OKTOBERFEST
    • SNOW DAY
    • TURKEY TROT 2016
    • TURKEY TROT 2017
  • THE BOOK: A HISTORY OF CORTE MADERA
  • LEGAL DISCLAIMER
  • CONTACT US
  • Women's Club Photos
  • WELCOME
    • HOW IT ALL BEGAN....
  • EARLY HISTORY
    • WHAT'S IN A NAME?
    • FIRST SETTLERS
    • RACETRACKS IN CORTE MADERA?
    • A VILLAGE EMERGES
    • BITS & PIECES >
      • Views from East Peak
    • 1913 "BOOSTERS"
    • RAILROADS
    • 1899 to 2014 VIEWS >
      • ANNOTATED PHOTO & MAP
    • PUSH FOR GROWTH
  • CORTE MADERA BECOMES A TOWN
    • CHRISTMAS TREE HILL HISTORY >
      • EARLY MAP - CHRISTMAS TREE HILL
    • HOMES ARE BUILT
    • HISTORIC PHOTOS
    • HISTORIC PLACES
    • CORTE MADERA WOMEN'S CLUB HISTORY >
      • CM WOMEN'S CLUB IN THE 2000'S
    • 1926 Aerial View from 15,000 Feet
    • LOCAL GOVERNMENT
    • REAL ESTATE AD
    • FAMILIES GROW
    • SCHOOLS
    • BUSINESSES
    • CHURCHES
    • SPORTS
    • OLD TOWN SQUARE
    • MEADOWSWEET DAIRY >
      • STREETS RENAMED
  • OLDTIMERS' MEMORIES SHARED
    • WILLIAM ISAAC PIXLEY
    • HARRY RICHARDS
    • SONIA DELEW
    • LLOYD REA
    • HAROLD & MARY BATES
    • ELSIE THIERBACH
    • AUDA BORDANARO
    • HARRIET CONOW MADEIROS
    • FRED MORRIS
    • LOUISE LAMB
    • JAN VALK
    • AUGUSTINE HALL
    • ALBERT & JEAN LEVESQUE
    • MARY SCHWERDT
    • EDITH SCHLOBOM
    • WILLIAM TALLEY
    • GERALD GRANUCCI
    • ELVA WILSON
    • A VISIT WITH DOROTHY MALMGREN
  • BIG CHANGES AFTER WW II
    • 1952 MASSIVE GROWTH
    • REC CENTER
    • LIONS CLUB
    • BUSINESS BOOM
    • LIBRARY
    • SCHOOLS
    • NEIGHBORHOODS >
      • CHRISTMAS TREE HILL HISTORY
      • MARINER COVE
      • VISTA DEL BAHIA
      • MADERA DEL PRESIDIO
      • MIRA VISTA
  • PUTTING THE BRAKES ON GROWTH
    • NEW ZONING ORDINANCE CUTS DENSITY
    • PUBLIC OPEN SPACE >
      • CORTE MADERA NORTHRIDGE
      • RING MOUNTAIN OPEN SPACE PRESERVE
      • CORTE MADERA ECOLOGICAL RESERVE >
        • HEERDT MARSH
        • CORTE MADERA MARSHES
  • SHARE YOUR OWN STORY
    • ROBERT CARLETON
    • EARL & DONNA HART FAMILY
    • SUE BIGALL
    • KURT NORSTAD
    • ANNETTE PERRY
    • HARRY RICHARDS
    • BILL & PEGGY THOMAS
    • HARRY & ANNETTE SCHRIEBMAN
    • ANDY VIRENO
    • BOB VOGEL
    • ART DONATI
    • LUIS KUBICHEK & BOYS' SOCCER
  • THE TOWN WE LOVE
    • CORTE MADERA SONG
    • SCENIC VISTAS
    • CELEBRATIONS >
      • 50TH ANNIVERSARY
      • COMMEMORATIVE PLAQUE
      • 75TH ANNIVERSARY
      • WOMEN'S CLUB 100TH BIRTHDAY
      • CIVIC ORGANIZATIONS
      • MARQUART LAGOON REGATTA
      • JULY 4TH PARADE 2017
      • 4th of JULY PARADES
      • OKTOBERFEST
      • OKTOBERFEST 2018
      • CMWIC SPRING TEA 2019
      • CORTE MADERA WOMEN'S CLUB
  • CENTENNIAL YEAR EVENTS 1916-2017
    • NEW YEAR'S EVE KICKOFF
    • RAGTIME NIGHT
    • HISTORY WALKS
    • VINTAGE CAR SHOW
    • RING MOUNTAIN HIKE
    • WEEKEND100 EVENTS >
      • 75th ANNIVERSARY TIME CAPSULE
      • FAMILY FUN NIGHT >
        • 2016 TIME CAPSULE
      • WEEKEND100 BIKE PARADE, GAMES, MUSIC, CAKE
      • WEEKEND100 VIDEO
      • WEEKEND100 GROUP PHOTO
      • WEEKEND100 FIREWORKS
      • WEEKEND100 CHILI COOK-OFF & BALL GAME
    • FRED ASTAIRE NIGHT
    • ICE CREAM SOCIAL
    • OKTOBERFEST
    • SNOW DAY
    • TURKEY TROT 2016
    • TURKEY TROT 2017
  • THE BOOK: A HISTORY OF CORTE MADERA
  • LEGAL DISCLAIMER
  • CONTACT US
  • Women's Club Photos
  Corte Madera Memories
FIRST SETTLERS...
The first settlers of this area, other than the native Miwoks, were the Reeds, who received the Rancho Corte Madera land grant from the Mexican government in 1834.  After California became a state in 1850, homesteaders Van Reynegom, Dowd, Collins, Gardiner, Cummins, Dolan, and Tierney claimed the land for dairies on the grassy hillsides above the wetlands.  Speculators Valentine, Forbes, and Coleman later obtained much of this land and sold it to McCue, Pixley, Adams, Chapman, and Bradbury in the later 1800s.  As the new owners then developed their properties, a community began to emerge.  The excerpt below from the 1870 Marin District Map below shows the location of the various homesteaders' lands that later became part of Corte Madera, Larkspur, and Mill Valley.
Picture


James mccue

a colorful character who
CREATED the first tracts for
homes in 1876

Picture
Picture
Picture
McCue's Remedy

Click here to read about James McCue.
Click here to read more about James McCue.
Click here to read another story about James McCue.
Click here to read of James McCue's death.
Click here to read about probate of his estate.

AMelia van reynegom and Frank Morrison Pixley

John Van Reynegom, a sea captain whose crew abandoned ship in 1848 to head for the gold fields, was the first homesteader in Corte Madera, filing a claim in 1861 for 160 acres stretching from what is now Chapman Meadows to Baltimore Canyon, where he and his family had built a simple dwelling and established a small farm in 1848.  When his daughter Amelia married Frank M. Pixley in 1853,
she set the course for the history of Corte Madera.


Click here to read about the Van Reynegom family and the Pixley family.
Click here to read a biography of Frank Morrison Pixley.
Click here to read the article published when Frank M. Pixley died in 1895.
Click here to read about Amelia Van Reynegom Pixley.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_M._Pixley

        Amelia Van Reynegom Pixley,                                          Frank Morrison Pixley,                                      Frank Morrison Pixley in 1890s
Picture

SAN FRANCISCO CALL - 5 January 1913

Picture