San Joaquin County museum gets $1.6M for Pioneer Village project

Jun. 22—For the last few years, the San Joaquin County Historical Society has been drawing up plans for a project that will take visitors back to the 19th century.

On Tuesday, that project — Pioneer Village — received a financial shot in the arm as the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors approved as much as $1.6 million for its development.

Last summer, supervisors approved the funding, and the historical society said it would need additional time to raise matching funds.

The society was able to raise $600,000, and was recently gifted $1 million from the Sheila Wishek trust, giving the it the ability to move forward with the project.

Wishek was a former Lodi resident who passed away earlier this year in San Francisco and left millions of dollars to 18 organizations, including St. Anne's Church and school, the Lodi Woman's Club, the Lodi Community Foundation, Salvation Army, Lodi Memorial Hospital Foundation, Lodi Boys and Girls Club, the Hutchins Street Square Foundation and the Lodi Public Library Foundation.

"She left us $1 million in her estate, which was a substantial life-sustaining gift for us," museum executive director Philip Merlo said. "We expect to break ground in September, and we expect to finish by June 2025."

The Pioneer Village project will consist of a centralized, ADA-compliant, and architecturally-planned space in the northern area of the museum's campus at Micke Grove Regional Park, between the Ledbetter Family Barn, the Hammer Restoration Workshop and the Great Lawn, according to staff.

In addition, the facade and northern half of the Hammer Building will be remodeled, and five small structures will be constructed in a circular orientation in the lot between it and the barn.

These new structures include a blacksmith shop, farm/loafing shed, cookshack, print shop, and tannery/harness shop.

The Hammer Building will be reskinned, and the whole vicinity will be graded and improved with an ADA-compliant hardscape and drainage system.

Supervisors also approved allocating $20,000 of District 4 funding to PALS Haven in order to provide low-cost spay and neuter surgeries, as well as reduced adoption fees.

"We've talked about pet spaying and neutering, and we've all participated with (the Animal Protection League) and talked how important it was," Supervisor Steve Ding said. "We think we understand the problem until you get a call from your neighbor."

Ding related a story Tuesday about how a neighbor recently called him at 3 a.m. asking for help in recovering her escaped husky.

He was able to help the neighbor find the dog — which had been injured during its adventure — as well as another husky.

San Joaquin County Animal Services was called and transported the neighbor's dog for treatment. Ding had to take the second animal into his care, and said he did not know what he was going to do with the dog.

"(My thoughts) went back to the efforts of this board and the importance of spaying and neutering," he said. "And lo and behold, thinking what further can I do, I get a message from Bob Mathews talking about the PALS clinic, and he had my attention right off the bat."

PALS Haven has provided adoption, sheltering, and spay and neuter services to Lodi since 2004, and moved to its new location at 5113 Sargent Road three years ago.

Mathews is a PALS Board of Directors member, and told supervisors the $20,000 was much-needed to continue providing services to the community.

"We got a vet about a year ago, and we only have a part-time vet because we just don't have the funds," he said. "This money will help with that because we have to have a receptionist when we have our clinic. We need some money behind it. We're trying to keep (costs) inexpensive to help more animals."

The PALS Haven campus consists of 13,000 square feet located on two acres of land, and includes a main building that houses viewing rooms, cattery, free roam cat room, medical isolation units for cats and dogs, a grooming room and an in-house vet clinic, the latter of which is still in progress.

The second building on campus houses kennels for larger dog, as well as a smaller kennel section for senior and small dogs.

The facility has a total of 14 outdoor dog yards, including three large grass yards and four artificial grass meet and greet yards.

Supervisors approved re-establishing their district funds last year in order to address specific needs their constituents might need.

With Tuesday's approval, District 4 will have $24,216 remaining to use before July 1, the start of the 2024-25 fiscal year.