Tuolumne County Museum

By 1960, the Tuolumne County jail, built in 1866, was obsolete and a new jail was constructed one block north. At the time, the Tuolumne County Museum and History Collection was located in the Veterans Memorial Hall on Washington Street in downtown Sonora. Carlo De Ferrari, County Clerk, was assigned the administrative responsibility of the museum after the retirement of Ruth Ann Newport. The Board of Directors, of the newly formed Tuolumne County Historical Society, discussed the need for expanding exhibit and storage space. At the request of the Society, the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors designated the old jail as the Tuolumne County Museum and the Society became stewards of the Tuolumne County History Collection.

“Board committees were busy with planning for the conversion of the jail to a museum, and looking forward to the day when a library and research center could be added….Remodeling was under way by January 1962 and finally completed in 1965….Next came the cases, ten of which were ready in November 1967, and exhibits were installed in the former jailor’s quarters.” Chispa, Vol. 25, No. 4, April-June, 1986