La Mesa History Center

50 Facts about the La Mesa History Center #20 - McKinney Garage/Archives Storage Building

Hiding off to the side or in the corner of various pictures of the McKinney House and yard is another building: the family’s garage. The building was 18' x 20' with an unfinished interior. When a Building Committee was formed in February, 1987, one of its goals was to “Create a safe storage area for the Society’s collections, which include photographs from the 1880s to the present, La Mesa Scout newspapers from 1916 to 1985, costumes, and maps. Committee member and architect James Hart oversaw the conversion of the garage for storage of the archival collection. The original plans for converting the structure to a storage building included replacing the sliding garage doors with double-door entry and installing insulation, dry wall, a heating/air conditioning unit for climate control, and security and fire protection systems. The plan also included moving the building to its current location in far back corner of the L-shaped lot, behind what would become the Palermo Building. In early 2025, the storage building received a new coat of paint and some refurbishments to its exterior.

Where is it Wednesday follow-up...this was a tough one but the photo here should give you a clue to its use. The item in yesterday's post is a wax cylinder - originally patented 1910. Wax cylinders were the earliest commercially available form of sound recording, invented by Thomas Edison in 1877. These cylinders were made of a wax material and used to record and play back sound by way of a rotating stylus that etched grooves into the wax. You can see ours in use here.

What is it Wednesday? We gave you a bit of a hint with the object on the right which is the housing for the object on the left. Guesses? This lives in the McKinney House Museum dining room. #WhatIsItWednesday #lookclosely👀