By SARAH LIM
Special to the Times
What better name for a building than “Land of Sunshine”? To many Chicagoans in the late 19th century, that meant a sunny life in California. Playing into that state of mind, the Land of Sunshine Company promoted the settlement on the land purchased from the Crocker-Huffman Land and Water Company to the labor unions in Chicago.
One of the very first settlements was in today’s Winton, designed to accommodate 108 families from Belvidere, Illinois, with houses arranged in a circle on streets. Within the circle would be public buildings and parks; outside the circle would be pasture, stables, and vegetable gardens; and the outermost area would be 108 farms devoted to fruit culture. This planned town would be called Copperopolis.
The promoters were particularly enthusiastic about cultivating canaigre (wild rhubarb), a plant used for tanning leather. They imagined that a canaigre plantation on irrigated land would not only fill their pocketbooks nicely but also make “Merced plains blossom as the rose.”
Such optimistic rhetoric echoed in the El Capitan Hotel at a banquet hosted by the Land of Sunshine Company in 1894. Several orators from Chicago praised California’s bountiful natural resources, with one saying, “Here in California you have the most wonderful mountain scenery, the sublimest of waterfalls, the sustaining force of God-given sunshine, beautiful flowers …”
The Land of Sunshine Company was so hopeful about the canaigre project and the success of the colonization that they were going to establish 63 more colonies like Copperopolis. In 1895, they erected a business office on the northeast corner of 16th and N Streets. The Land of Sunshine Building was a very ornate structure with large arched windows and a bell cupola, resembling more of a schoolhouse or church than an office.
Unfortunately, their optimism faded when the canaigre scheme failed, the Copperopolis Colony was never realized, and the Land of Sunshine Company ultimately closed its doors. However, the building remained, beginning an adventurous life as a newspaper printing shop, a store, a real estate office, a library, a home, a Salvation Army headquarters, and eventually a church.
R. Kaehler, a liquor merchant, bought the Land of Sunshine Building and moved it to his property on Canal Street next to the Purington Building (home of the Commercial Bank of Merced). In 1900, Charles Harris, the publisher of the Merced Star, acquired the building from Kaehler and moved the newspaper office into it.
As a newspaperman, Harris had a great deal of influence in the political scene and curried favor with Presidents Roosevelt and Taft, which helped him secure an appointment as Merced Postmaster. Around 1903, Charles Harris relocated the Land of Sunshine Building to the corner of the alley to accommodate the construction of a new two-story brick building for the post office and his newspaper. In the following years, various tenants occupied the Sunshine Building, including the Cowan brothers, draymen; J.T. Harrell, the ice dealer; and Walter Casad, the real estate agent.
In 1910, Harris partnered with J. B. Garibaldi to build a one-story brick structure with three store rooms at this location, so Harris moved the Land of Sunshine Building to 455 18th Street. The Sunshine Building found its new purpose as the headquarters of the Merced County Free Library, though it was only for two years before the library moved to the Shaffer Building.
By 1914, the Land of Sunshine Building became the home of Martin J. Maloney, where he conducted his tent and awning business. Maloney was active in local politics and even ran for State Assembly in 1916, although he did not win the election.
When Maloney left Merced for Santa Cruz in 1921, the Sunshine Building welcomed new occupants. Initially, Crandall & Johnston Realty took up the space, and around 1926, the Salvation Army moved in. Under Major A. M. Holbrook, the Army grew significantly in service and soon outgrew the Sunshine Building, so it moved to its own building on 16th Street in 1939.
What happened to the Land of Sunshine Building?
You guessed it – the building was moved again. The Mt. Pisgah AME Zion Church relocated it to the northeast corner of 14th and Canal Streets and remodeled it into a church. The bell tower was removed, and the porch entrance was added. The congregation worshipped there from 1940 to 1961, before moving it one final time to 742 N Street.
The Land of Sunshine Building truly found its “calling.” The building name is most fitting for both the Salvation Army and the Mt. AME Zion Church, as it reminds us of the hymn, “There Is Sunshine in My Soul Today.”
The AME Zion Church at the corner of N and 8th streets is home to a building with a long, fascinating past in Merced.
The AME Zion Church when it was located on Canal and 14th Streets in 1958.
The interior of Merced County Free Library in the Land of Sunshine Building, circa 1910-1912.
The Land of Sunshine Building as the Merced County Free Library Headquarters in Jan. 22, 1912.
The Land of Sunshine building can be seen in the background of this picture during a T.F.B. convention and drill teams competition in April 26, 1912.