Entertaining times are returning to the Antioch Historical Museum this June. Recalling the rollicking Roaring Twenties fun time at the pre-Covid “Funeral for a Gangster,” put on by Caught in the Act Theater in September, 2019, the Museum is bringing back the theater with their western themed mystery to solve, “Death Near Dead Man’s Holler.” Ticket holders will gather on Saturday evening at 5:00 until 9:00 p.m., June 17, 2023, in the Museum’s Riverview Room, dressed in their western finest, ready to dine on western BBQ vittles at 6:00, then solve the mystery. A no-host bar will be in the Saloon Room. There will be prizes for the best costumes and best detectives.
The early-bird ticket price of $65 ends June 4, 2023, before going up to $75. Tickets are available through Eventbrite, or by mailing a check for reservations to the Museum, 1500 W. 4th St., Antioch, CA, 94509. For further information, please call the Museum at 925-757-1326.
The Drama Factory is super excited to announce that our late Summer / Fall program is in the works. The script is being written and the dates are being submitted so hold onto your hats! To allow for the current recommendations from our Board of Directors – we will no longer be making COVID vaccination mandatory for our actors. You can see our updated policy on our website https://www.dramafactory.org
Auditions are coming up on August 7 th and August 8th from 6:30 – 8:30 pm at the Nick Rodriguez Theatre. Put it on your calendar now so you will be ready to go. Save the Date – because the Fall Halloween production is going to be the Drama Factory event of the year.
Keep your eyes on your in-box for all the details. It’s only a matter of days.
See you there.
The Drama Factory is a 501(c)3 non-profit company and all contributions are tax deductible.
Referred to as the River Town Square on the former Antioch Lumber Company lot
The City of Antioch is excited to announce the development of a new gathering place in downtown Antioch. We invite you to share your vision for the future central attraction of historic Rivertown. This new outdoor public space is uniquely situated along the Sacramento-San Joaquin River. It will benefit our diverse community by fostering a vibrant, thriving downtown.
As previously reported by the Herald, during the Nov. 23, 2021 Antioch City Council meeting, after years of advocating for a park and event center on the former Antioch Lumber Company lot in the city’s historic, downtown Rivertown, former Antioch Mayor Pro Tem Joy Motts and members of the group, Save The Yard, got the go ahead from the city council. All five council members agreed to pursue the idea during their meeting Tuesday night, Nov. 23.
To celebrate Independence Day this year, sign up today to be part of the City of Antioch’s Annual Fourth of July Celebration and Parade on Saturday ! Schools, residents, and local teams and organizations are all welcome!
Presented by RFY Metropolis Dance and City of Antioch
The Pittsburg-based RFY Metropolis Dance and Academic Academy and City of Antioch’s Youth Services division of the Public Safety & Community Resources Department presents “A Night on Broadway” at the Nick Rodriguez Center in historic Rivertown, Wednesday afternoon, May 24 from 4:30-5:00 p.m. The event is free to attend.
Antioch’s first constable and mayor, Roswell Butler Hard and The Hard House on Front (now First) Street. Photos courtesy of Antioch Historical Society.
Historian says he helped start the fire in the City’s Chinatown to protect his home
By Allen D. Payton
The Roswell Butler Hard House is one of the remaining historic buildings in Antioch’s downtown Rivertown, and it was built and owned by the city’s first mayor. The Hard House is a state landmark as it was the location of the first meeting of the city’s board of directors on February 6, 1872 – the date of the City’s incorporation. Hard was the first president of the board, which later became the city council, and the brass plaque from the state for the building is currently at the Antioch Historical Museum.
Located at 815 W. First Street, the building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 30, 1993, was once going to be donated to a non-profit organization, Friends of the Hard House. The group planned to reinforce it to earthquake standards and completely restore the building. Other ideas were to turn it into a bistro or offices. But the City dragged its feet and the non-profit’s effort ended as the members got older and the man who was going to do the construction fell ill, and their organization lost its non-profit status from the IRS.
Then the state disbanded all redevelopment agencies in California and tried to take control of the Hard House, as money from the City’s redevelopment agency had been spent to purchase the home. But since it sits on the same lot as the Lynn House, next door, and the lot would have to be subdivided, first, the City was able to keep the Hard House.
Since then, Mayor Lamar Thorpe has proposed using it as office space for the council members, which he suggested at their meeting on Nov. 23, 2021.
The Hard House on W. First Street, today (May 11, 2023). Photo by Allen D. Payton
Burning Chinatown to Protect Hard’s House
According to former Councilwoman Elizabeth Rimbault, a former member of the Antioch Historical Society and co-author of the history book entitled Images of America: Antioch, Mr. Hard was also the city’s first constable and is the one who instigated setting the fire in the Chinese laundry in 1876. But the fire didn’t start there, she shared. It started in the white residents’ area of W. First, Second and Third Streets and was heading toward Chinatown. Two-thirds of the city was already burned down when Hard and others started the fire in the Chinese laundry as a backfire, to keep it from reaching his house on the other side of Chinatown.
They got away with it because the Chinese residents didn’t own the land nor the buildings because by state law they couldn’t, at that time. It was owned by white residents including Hard. But the Chinese residents did own the businesses inside the buildings.
In June 2021, Thorpe and the four other council members signed a resolution they adopted the previous month, apologizing on behalf of the city’s residents for their racism against Chinese immigrants in the late 1800’s including the burning down of the city’s Chinatown. But the resolution didn’t mention the actions of Hard and others nor the reason behind it. (See related article)
Hard was so mean, Rimbault shared, that he literally chased Rev. William Wiggin Smith, one of the community’s two founders, off of his own property. Smith’s original farm was built before Hard built his house right next door and they shared a fence line. When Smith was out of town, Hard would put Smith’s wife and children out on the street trying to evict them and take over their property. Finally, Smith had enough and over a three-day period, he and his son dismantled his farmhouse and moved it on ox-pulled sleds south of the John Marsh estate and rebuilt it there. It was called the Mountain House. That’s where Mountain House Road and the community in San Joaquin County derive their name.
On a side note, after his twin brother, Joseph Horton Smith, died, William bought the point (now called Rodger’s Point where the City’s old boat ramp is located across from the former Red Caboose Restaurant on Fulton Shipyard Road) and lived there, as well.
Rimbault wanted to make sure the Hard House is recognized for its historic value to Antioch and to set the record straight on the burning of Antioch’s Chinatown. But she doesn’t want Mr. Hard recognized. “Because he was a mean son-of-a- you know what,” Rimbault added.
