A Look Back: IRWD Preserves History

July 26, 2011 - PRLog -- Remembering the Past, Stengthens Our Future
Irvine Ranch Water District is a treasure trove of history. Visit the IRWD San Joaquin Marsh and you will see a living time capsule of three farmhouses, a duck hunting club and an old bunkhouse, all restored and reborn for modern use. Before it was temporarily removed during construction on the Michelson Water Recycling Plant, an old windmill from the Irvine Ranch dating to the early 20th century sat at the entry to the plant.

“The District is proud to help the community preserve some of the early history of Irvine by participating in saving the structures as a reminder of the historical activities on the Irvine Ranch,” said IRWD Board Member John Withers.

The farmhouses are a fine example of those many structures that once dotted the vast Irvine Ranch. Some of the houses that were still standing in the 1980s were slated for demolition. With cooperation from the Irvine Company, the City of Irvine and the Irvine Historical Society, IRWD was able to preserve three of the farmhouses and move them to the Marsh in April 1990.

After the farmhouses were restored, IRWD employees lived in each of them as onsite caretakers until 2007, when they were moved and reconfigured to become part of the San Joaquin Marsh Campus.

In 1995, a fourth farmhouse was relocated to the Rattlesnake Reservoir and restored to serve as a caretaker’s home.

The Cook Home

The oldest of the three homes at the Marsh dates to the early 1900s and once sat in the middle of what became the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. George Cook lived there and had leased 17,000 acres from James Irvine to grow lima beans. In 1941 when the Marine base was established, the house was moved to Sand Canyon Avenue.

This home is now used as administrative offices for the Sea and Sage Audubon Society, which offers educational programs at the marsh.

The Spencer Home

This house was built around 1910 and was originally located on Trabuco Road. It was leased to one of the first orange growers on the Ranch. This house has the distinction of being one of the first homes in Orange County to have running water with a motorized pump. The well house was moved to Old Town Irvine in 1987 and restored as a display of the area’s heritage.

The home is now called the San Joaquin Marsh House and serves as the IRWD Visitor’s Center, with interpretive displays about the marsh and the District’s Natural Treatment System projects. The Visitor’s Center is open to the public from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., seven days a week.

The Jimmy Irvine Home

This “newest” of the three farmhouses was built in 1935 for Jimmy Irvine, son of James Irvine, Sr.,. James Sr. ordered the house built for Jimmy across the railroad tracks from the bean and grain warehouse on Sand Canyon, anticipating the day he would take over as manager of the company’s shipping center. Unfortunately, Jimmy died before he could occupy the home.

This home was heavily vandalized in its previous corner near the historic center of East Irvine. It took more than five months of restoration work to repair the damage, including more than 650 hours of labor on the part of the home’s tenants.

The home now serves as an IRWD caretaker’s residence.

The Duck Club & Audubon House

The Marsh was once home to two duck hunting clubs which were in operation when the Michelson Water Recycling Plant was built in 1966. Both the Ricker-McHone and Old San Joaquin Duck Clubs operated under permits from the Department of Fish and Game and the City of Irvine until 1988.

The current Duck Club building and the Audubon House building were originally located at what became the Tustin Marine Base. They were relocated to their present location at the Marsh in the 1940s when the base was established. The Audubon House served as the bunk house for the hunters, while the Duck Club was an area where they could gather before a roaring fire and have their dinners after a long day of hunting.

Over the years, the Duck Club has been expanded and is available as a meeting room to non-profit organizations within our service area.

The old bunkhouse is now the Audubon House and is staffed by Sea and Sage Audubon Society volunteers from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. It now serves as the Audubon visitor’s center.

Historic Windmill

The windmill that once pumped water to crops and animals on the Irvine Ranch was moved to IRWD in 1988. Until the mid-1980s, the 40-foot structure sat in front of the old Irvine Ranch Market on Myford Road and the I-5 Freeway. It was slated for destruction until the Irvine Historical Society stepped in and led the effort to preserve the windmill as part of the city’s agricultural history.

In 2008, the windmill was damaged beyond repair during high winds. The top was removed for safety and the parts placed in storage until a decision could be made about repairs. The old wooden tower was riddled with dry rot and deemed structurally unsafe. A year later, the tower and wheel were replaced, but the original wind vane was used in order to preserve a remnant of the structure.

Red Farmhouse

For many years, a red farmhouse built for James Irvine, Sr. in the 1930s, sat on Irvine Center Drive at what is now the entrance to Oak Creek Golf Club. When plans became known in the 1990s to develop the golf course, IRWD stepped in and offered to take the house. The structure was cut into two pieces and moved to the rear of the future golf course. In 1995, the house was moved to Rattlesnake Reservoir and restored for use as a caretaker’s house. It is now painted gray.

For more information on IRWD historical preservation, please visit our website.