San Anselmo Town Hall Greeting Card

Hand made note card with envelope.
Letterpress printed on 130lb. FSC Certified paper.
Blank inside.

Size: 4.25" x 5.50" (folded) 

The San Anselmo Town Hall and the Library received a fresh coat of paint in 2014, and the Town Hall tower roof was restored to its original design after 75 years.

In August 1910, the town accepted James Tunstead’s donation of land on which to build a town hall and firehouse. The Mission-style building, with a lofty bell tower, was completed in June 1911. In the days before motorized fire engines, the fire station had stalls and a hay loft for feed for Colonel and Major, the town’s trained fire horses.

The tower, originally with a square hip roof, had five floors. Historical Commissioner Antone Sousa, son of former Fire Chief Frank Sousa, and retired Battalion Chief Marty Marcucci, son of former Fire Chief Nello Marcucci, have memories of the tower dating back to their childhoods and provided details of the original interior configuration.

The ground floor had a bathroom with a toilet in a closet. The second level was the kitchen with a small gas stove, cupboards and a window; hose was stored on the third; the fourth was used for storage; and the fifth held the bell and striking mechanism. The fire bell, from the McShane Foundry in Baltimore, Maryland, called the volunteer force to action.

A shaft ran from the ground floor of the tower to the fifth floor in which 50 foot lengths of hose were hung to dry. The hoses, heavy cotton with brass fittings, would rot if not properly dried. Using a rope and pulley system, the men on the fifth/bell floor would hoist the lengths of hose up and drop the butt ends into hangers where they hung until dry.

In the mid-1930s, an antenna was placed on the backside of the tower for emergency radio communications. The antenna allowed the drivers of the two radio-equipped police cars and the fire chief’s automobile to converse with the operator in town hall. A short time later, the peak of the square hip roof was removed, and a 20-foot wooden support structure was constructed by Frank Sousa in order to raise the antenna. Antone recalls that his father was unafraid of heights and would climb the wooden structure each year to string Christmas lights.