From left, Steve Smith, Teri Leih and Idyllwild School Principal Nels Carlson in February 1973. File photo/Norwood Hazard
From left, Steve Smith, Teri Leih and Idyllwild School Principal Nels Carlson in February 1973.
File photo/Norwood Hazard

65 years ago – 1950
Eleanor Johnson’s long-cherished project of beautifying Village Circle got underway.

60 years ago – 1955
Ted Belden filed a patent on the special design for the Pinecraft “Idyllwild Chair.” It was a fitted-to-size chair proportioned to small, average or big people.

55 years ago – 1960
The Christian Science Society, Idyllwild, formed in 1952, officially became the First Church of Christ, Scientist, Idyllwild.

50 years ago – 1965
The U.S. Forest Service announced that nearly 3 million board-feet of pine was to be cut in a sanitation-salvage logging operation in the Dark Canyon/Fuller Creek area.

45 years ago – 1970
County supervisors designated Garner Ranch a historic site. The ranch site was formerly the home of the Charles Thomas family who came to the mountains shortly after the Civil War.

40 years ago – 1975
Village Market was advertising avocados for 29 cents each, potatoes at 10 pounds for 89 cents, spinach for 19 cents a bunch and ground beef for 79 cents per pound.

35 years ago – 1980
Nearly 17.5 inches of rain had fallen over nine days. The runoff from all the creeks in the mountains resulted in the San Jacinto River levee breaking and what was reported to be the worst flooding ever in the city of San Jacinto.

30 years ago – 1985
For the first time, the County Service Area 38 Advisory Committee recommended a parcel lot fee to help meet a proposed budget that included a 39-percent increase over the previous year to pay for contract paramedic service.

25 years ago – 1990
ISOMATA (now Idyllwild Arts Academy) Headmaster Bill Lowman announced that he had recruited a concertmaster of the Leningrad Philharmonic, Igor Borodin, to serve for one year as the school’s guest violin instructor.

20 years ago – 1995
It was announced that the Peninsular bighorn sheep, which had once roamed the San Jacinto Mountains in large numbers, was on the verge of extinction. Kevin Brennan, a California Department of Fish and Game wildlife biologist, said there were only 15 adult bighorns left in the San Jacintos.

15 years ago – 2000
Part-time residents Richard Willis and his wife arrived at their Bicknell Drive home to discover that their house was being used as a possible meth lab. In addition to finding chemicals and equipment used for producing methamphetamine, the couple also discovered dinner heating on the stove and a just-opened beer in the kitchen. The intruder had apparently been frightened away.

10 years ago – 2005
The Idyllwild Community Recreation Council discussed taking over Town Hall recreational activities from the Chamber of Commerce.

5 years ago – 2010
The Goldspotted oak borer continued its northward progress from San Diego County toward the San Jacinto Mountains.

1 year ago – 2014
In a move designed to bring Hollywood back to Riverside County, supervisors Jeff Stone and Jon Benoit co-authored a revision to Ordinance 634 granting a variety of fee waivers to film crews.

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