Templeton Historical Museum Society, Templeton California

Tour The Musuem
A trip to the Templeton Museum is a trip down memory lane. The museum's Horstman house can be accessed either by ramp or up a few steps, after pausing to enjoy the beautifully landscaped front yard. A wooden bench, donated in memory of Nicholas Marquart, Sr., graces the front porch. As you enter the 1920s house, docents will greet you, ask you to sign the guest book and tell you about the museum. The front room contains a typical dining room table, a large aerial map of Templeton, a tabletop display of early Templeton photographs and other local memorabilia. Artifacts, on display in two other small rooms, which originally served as bedrooms, include vintage clothing, Templeton High School yearbooks, a beautiful piano, a portable organ and more.
A signature quilt hangs on one wall, which was made in the 1920s by the Ladies Aid Society of the Bethel Lutheran Church for a special fund-raising drawing. The quilt was won by Mathilda Peterson, grandmother of Evelyn Little, one of the museum's first board members.
Display cases house artifacts from the estate of Mel Frederickson, Templeton school bus driver, who left part of his estate to the museum; as well as items from the estate of long-time residents Claude and Richard "Dick" Booker.
	The kitchen, which had been remodeled over the years, has been returned to its original look of the 1920s. Bob and Janet Tullock donated an early electric refrigerator and a Wedgewood Hybrid cook stove, which used either gas or wood. Both items graced the kitchen of Margaret Tullock, Bob's mother, during the 1925 to 1935 era.
A recent 40ish-year-old visitor repeatedly exclaimed, as she looked at the various items in the kitchen hutch from spice cans to flour sifter to orange juicer to egg beater, "I remember that! My grandmother had one of those!"

	A beautiful tabletop coffee grinder is on the table. The table was used by the Tullock Family. Can you pick out the cherry pitter, bottle capper and meat grinder in the photo?

There is an old-fashioned wringer-washing machine on the porch. All it needs is some soap and hot water, and it will be ready to wash the clothes. The clothes needed to be manually fed through the wringer to squeeze out the excess water, and care had to be taken that fingers weren't caught in the wringer.

The museum's warehouse houses our all-original Model T Ford car. The Model T, purchased in 1925 for $525 by John S. Anderson at the Ford dealership in Paso Robles, was stored from 1925 until about 1956, and has an estimated 350 total miles. The Model T was graciously donated to the Templeton Historical Museum by John S. Anderson's nieces and nephews.
	This windmill is a 1938 Aermotor Model A-702 with an 8-foot wheel. It was donated by the Robert “Bob” Tullock Jr. family and originally came from the ranch owned by Art Von Dollen of San Miguel and installed at the Von Dollen Ranch by Templeton business owner Roy W. Knauftin 1938.
"For a brief 9-minute virtual tour of the museum properties, click here."

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