Photo courtesy of Benicia Historical Museum

Pictured: On April 9th, 1956 the "new" library (since replaced) opened its doors at 144 G Street in Benicia with 7,000 volumes. The dedication ceremony (pictured) took place on June 2nd, 1956. This photo shows the outdoor ceremony with attendees standing and seated in chairs in front of the library. The "old" library was located in the old Capitol building from 1910 to 1955 when the building was declared unsafe.The library vacated and moved to 813 First Street temporarily. Benicia never did have a Carnegie Library because it was one of the few towns in the country to refuse a Carnegie grant.

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Rachel B. Lain

Vallejo's first woman doctor was Rachel Brown Lain, M.D., who practiced medicine in Vallejo from 1891 until her death in 1918. She was born in Pennsylvania in 1863. She maintained hospital beds in her home at the southwest corner of Marin and Carolina streets. Dr. Lain also owned the first automobile seen in Vallejo, a 1904 Maxwell. Photo courtesy of Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum.

Member Benefits

Newsletter:

Our monthly newletter, Taproot, is mailed electronically to members in good standing. It is also available in the "members only" section of this website. It contains details on meeting programs locally and nearby, family stories of members, selected research items, and more.

Reference Library:

Located at the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum in Room 9 on the 2nd floor (enter through Room 10). Open on 2nd Thursdays from 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm and every Tuesday afternoon from 12:00 noon to 3:30 pm for individual research and discussion. NEW! Our research library will now be open on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays from 12 noon to 3:30 pm in addition to the abovementioned hours starting January 7th, 2023!

Program Meetings:

Regular programs are scheduled on the 1st Thursday of every month at 1:30 pm. Sometimes a guest speaker is featured, sometimes an informal group discussion on a selected topic, sometimes a DVD viewing followed by a group discussion. Some of our meetings are held in person while others are on Zoom only. Please check individual listings for details.

Field Trips:

Once or twice a year a field trip may be scheduled for those interested in visiting nearby repositories of historical or genealogical interest.

And learning from each other ...