October 2026 - History Corner

#203 in an ongoing series about the history of the Hillside Club

Once Upon a Hillside: 25, 50, 75, 100, and 125 years ago

October 1901

The Hillside Club was founded on 5 October 1898. There are no surviving records for the first four years, so we must make do with stories in the local newspapers. No newspaper articles about the young Hillside Club could be found for this month.

October 1926

Business Meeting, October 4

Prof. William S. Morgan will address the meeting on “Experiences of a Motorist in Europe.” Prof. and Mrs. Morgan recently returned to Berkeley after an absence of over a year during which they travelled extensively. We will be glad to welcome them back on this occasion.  [William Sacheus Morgan was born in Rhymney, in south Wales, in 1864, the eldest of thirteen children of a coal miner. He put himself through college by selling life insurance. He received his A.B. from Pontypool College in Wales, and came to the United States in 1895 on an annual $100 scholarship to Yale, where he received his Ph.D. in 1895. He was ordained a Baptist minister and served at the Greenport Baptist Church on Long Island, New York. In 1900 he joined the Unitarian Church and became pastor of the First Unitarian Church of Derby, Connecticut. In 1910, he came to Berkeley, appointed the Chair of Systematic Theology in the Divinity School of the University of California. His church was the First Unitarian Church of Berkeley, located in a beautiful building at the corner of Bancroft and Dana. The building was acquired by the University in 1960 and still exists as the Dramatic Arts Department’s dance facility. The congregation moved to Kensington in 1961.]

Annual Dinner, October 18

The Annual Dinner for the member of the will be given at the club house on October 18 at seven o’clock sharp. Tickets $1.50 each.

Annual Benefit, October 26

The annual Benefit Theatre Party will be given at the Fulton Theatre, Oakland. We have contracted for the whole house for this evening, and it is necessary that we have the hearty support of the members and their friends in order to assure a successful evening. [Your historian not known about an annual benefit theater party until now; I will look into it further. The Fulton Theatre was located at 1518 Franklin St. in Oakland, and no longer exists.]

Notes

The Hillside Club is to be congratulated in having fourteen of its members listed in Who’s Who, the volume of celebrities just issued.

October 1951

Fireside Meeting, October 1

A talk on “People to People Around the World” will be given by Mr. George H. Wilson at the October Fireside meeting. Mr. Wilson, an agricultural economist, world traveler, and an able speaker, saw fundamental things on his trip around the world. He studied the lives of the people on the land, saw human drudgery resulting from cheap labor and relates the condition of their agriculture to the welfare of the people. His analysis provides thought on our problem of promoting democracy in the nations of the world.

Harvest Festival, October 15

A “Country Fair” will be staged for the entertainment and ah yes, education if you will, of Hillsiders, members, and friends. Plan now to display your best in needlework, quilts, garden produce, flowers, pies, cakes, cookies, and canned fruit at the revival of the Harvest Festival. When the telephone committee calls, be ready to indicate the competition you will enter, for a board of eminent jurists will make the awards.

Hillside Assembly, October 20

The first of a series of five Hillside Assemblies [ballroom dances in formal attire] for the 1951-52 season will be held on October 20. Dring’s Orchestra will again provide their delightful dance music for this series of dances. The organizers ask that all Club members interested in dancing not only sign their subscriptions cards promptly but to turn in the names of couples they wish to sponsor, as fifteen additional members are needed to make the assemblies a financial as well as a social success. Despite higher costs of both music and refreshments the price remains as usual, $10 plus $2 federal tax, guests $3.

Dramatic Activities Section, October 22

The name of a play the members of the Dramatic Activities Section will read on this evening cannot be announced in this Bulletin, but Mr. and Mrs. Jayne, Chairmen, say it has been a recent Broadway success and a cast of eleven members will be happy to perform for your pleasure.

October 1976

Fireside Meeting, October 4

An “update on the Energy Problem” will be presented by member John A. Pierce. John, who earned his degree in Petroleum Engineering at UC Berkeley and his MBA at Stanford, has been associated for 25 years with a major oil company where he is in the Department of Economic Forecasting. Our country continues to consume energy at a fantastically faster rate than is being met by domestic production. Importation of foreign oil rose of 14% in the three months of May, June, and July. Our technicians and legislators are working on possible solutions ranging from increased domestic production of existing fuels and energy sources, the introduction of new types of energy systems, to strict conservation, and even the possible restricting of the private producing companies. John will give us the latest word on these developments and share his views with us.

Fall Dinner, October 11

The theme of the annual Fall Dinner will be “I Love You California” [the name of California’s official state song]. An informal program is being planned. The Hostesses will decorate the tables in various California themes. With a good dinner planned ana fun program it should be a lovely evening for all Hillsiders.

Civic Affairs Section, October 18

Since public schools are crucial to the maintenance and cohesion of our society, it is essential to understand the forces that are operating to shape public education in our own community. To further such an understanding, the Civic Affairs Committee has invited Mr. Marc Monheimer, long-time Director and recent President of the Bereley School Board, to speak to us on the general subject of “The Berkeley Schools—a Look Backward and Forward.” Director Monheimer has graciously accepted our invitation ad agreed to answer our questions on the subject.

October 2001

The Club’s archive of printed monthly newsletters ended with the May 1994 issue. If you know of a source for any newsletters between 1994 and the Club’s renaissance in the early 2000s, your historian would love to hear about it!