San Lorenzo Valley Museum


The San Lorenzo Valley Museum, formerly known as the Boulder Creek Museum, is a nonprofit educational institution in Boulder Creek, California, managed by the San Lorenzo Valley Historical Society. It is located at 12547 Highway 9. Its aim is to preserve and share the history of the San Lorenzo Valley.

Organisation history

The Boulder Creek Historical Society was founded in March 1976 with the primary museum housed on the second floor of an office building in south Boulder Creek. The museum grew steadily until relocated in 1999 to the former Grace Episcopal Church on the southern edge of Boulder Creek. Alongside the new home, a climate-controlled annex was built beside the church to house the museum's archive and administrative office. The original garden beside the church has also seen constant expansion and improvement since the museum took control over the property.
The Boulder Creek Historical Society officially became the San Lorenzo Valley Historical Society in 2012, reflecting the renaming of the museum to the San Lorenzo Valley Museum upon its relocation in 1999. In addition to annual events held at the museum and on behalf of the museum, the monthly meeting of the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors Fifth District is held inside the museum.

Museum structure

The main museum resides in what was originally the Grace Episcopal Church, built in November 1906 and currently the oldest religious structure in downtown Boulder Creek. The Episcopal Church never attracted a large following in Boulder Creek with most residents instead attending the nearby Presbyterian Church or the Catholic Church and most Episcopalians attending St. Andrew's Church in Ben Lomond. The Episcopal Church abandoned the structure in 1915. In 1923, the structure was purchased by the Christian Science Society of Boulder Creek and eventually, in 1955, became a full member church as the First Church of Christ Scientist, Boulder Creek. The Boulder Creek Historical Society purchased the ailing structure to use as its main museum in 1995 and they restored it to working condition over the next four years. It finally opened at its new facilities in 1999. The former church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006, the centenary of its construction.