A Brief History of the Pope Valley Farm CenterLen Owens was given six months to live. In despair, he left San Francisco in the early 1880’s to try the curative power of mineral waters at the Aetna Springs Resort in Pope Valley. Within a short time his health was restored, a miracle he attributed to the healing qualities of the natural springs at the spa. So impressed was he that he bought Aetna Springs and thereafter enjoyed fifty-five years as its owner and operator. Throngs from San Francisco and elsewhere came to drink the mineral waters and to testify to their own health cures.
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Always the entrepreneur, Owens constructed a bottling works over one of the springs in the center of the resort’s nine-hole golf course. The bottled water became a popular retail item and, in 1904, Aetna Springs water won a silver medal at the Universal Exposition in St. Louis; in 1906 it won a gold medal at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. When whiskey was $9 a case, Aetna Springs bottled water sold for $11.
Sale of the water waned, however, as stricter health laws were enacted and the bottling operation became unprofitable. Thus, in 1922, when the Pope Valley community began to discuss the need for a community hall, Owens offered the bottling building to them for $700. Also in 1922, in response to the community's desire for a hall, Henry and Celia Scheaffer donated 1.24 acres of land on Pope Valley-Chiles Valley Road as the future site.
The people of Pope Valley gratefully accepted the building and land and en masse stepped forward to work on the project. By 1923 they had completely dismantled the bottling building and moved the lumber to the new site. They then reconstructed the building as the new community hall and christened it “The Pope Valley Farm Center”. One problem still remained: outstanding bills and insufficient funds to pay. Once again, Len Owens stepped up to the plate, paid the bills, and canceled the $700 owed to himself.
Generosity created the Farm Center and has kept it going for more than a century.
Sale of the water waned, however, as stricter health laws were enacted and the bottling operation became unprofitable. Thus, in 1922, when the Pope Valley community began to discuss the need for a community hall, Owens offered the bottling building to them for $700. Also in 1922, in response to the community's desire for a hall, Henry and Celia Scheaffer donated 1.24 acres of land on Pope Valley-Chiles Valley Road as the future site.
The people of Pope Valley gratefully accepted the building and land and en masse stepped forward to work on the project. By 1923 they had completely dismantled the bottling building and moved the lumber to the new site. They then reconstructed the building as the new community hall and christened it “The Pope Valley Farm Center”. One problem still remained: outstanding bills and insufficient funds to pay. Once again, Len Owens stepped up to the plate, paid the bills, and canceled the $700 owed to himself.
Generosity created the Farm Center and has kept it going for more than a century.