| In the News
February 2008 A diorama of San Anselmo, c.1915, is now installed in the Historical Museum. Commissioners Patricia and Chuck Swensen worked for many months on this detailed representation of the downtown area.
The diorama is approximately 6 feet x 3 feet and uses model railroad Z Scale (220:1). While using this small scale allowed the entire downtown area from the Hub to Tunstead Avenue to be depicted, it made construction of the buildings, trees and people difficult. The diorama demonstrates how vital the railroad was to the development of San Anselmo. With most traces of the town’s railroad landmarks long gone, it is good to be reminded of the prominence the town had as a major junction, and that, in fact, the railroad was the reason for the town’s existence. The 1915 time period was chosen for the diorama because the town had begun to look somewhat like it does today. Some of the buildings recognizable today – the Library, Town Hall, Cheda Building – had been constructed by 1915. The Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps for San Anselmo for 1909 and 1919 were an invaluable resource. These maps were drawn to a scale of 600:1 and show the footprint of buildings, indicating the type of construction, use of structures, the addresses, and sometimes the names of businesses. A Northwestern Pacific Railroad construction drawing from 1916 provided additional information. Research of some of the details, however, proved to be difficult since no map exists for 1915 and some areas of downtown do not appear in early photographs. Commissioner Judy Coy combed through the photographic collection looking for clues to exterior details and hunted through the old issues of the San Anselmo Herald on microfilm looking for construction dates and building occupants. Chuck, a model railroader, constructed the base and the model layout, including the typography with land forms, creek, roads and railroad tracks. He cut wood blocks for the buildings to scale. Patricia used CAD software on her computer to draw the façades of the buildings to scale and then meticulously hand-painted the exterior details with water colors. These were then glued to the wooden blocks. It is all extremely well done. Several commissioners “made” trees and painted the tiny people. The diorama features as many types of trees as there were people making them! Visit the Museum and see this exciting new display!
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