Marin County Civic Center Chronology
1952 Vera Schultz is elected to the Marin County Board of Supervisors. She was the first woman Supervisor in 102 years and the only Supervisor with a college education. She earned the title of Marin’s “First Lady” as a champion of good government and a quality environment.
1956 April 27: The Marin County Board of Supervisors purchases the 140-acre Scettrini Ranch in Santa Venetia for $551, 416. for use as the site of the new Civic Center and County Fairgrounds.
1957 April 26: Board members Walter Castro, William Gnoss, James Marshall & Vera Schultz as well as the entire Civic Center Committee meet Frank Lloyd Wright in San Francisco and attend his lecture at U.C. Berkeley.
1957 July 31: Frank Lloyd Wright speaks at a public meeting at San Rafael High School. His contract is signed after the meeting by four of the Supervisors (William Fusselman dissenting). The next day he is driven to the Civic Center site for the first time, and inspired by the landscape, announces that he has come up with his design.
1958 March 25: Wright presents his preliminary plan to the Board of Supervisors.
1958 March 25: Wright speaks to over 700 people who come to see his drawings at San Rafael High School.
1958 April 28: The Marin County Board of Supervisors votes 4 to 1 to accept Wright’s plans and authorizes the acceptance of bids for construction.
1958 September 3: Model of Wright’s master plan for the Civic Center is displayed.
1959 March: Frank Lloyd Wright is awarded the commission to design a post office on the Civic Center Campus site.
1959 April 9: Frank Lloyd Wright dies.
1959 April 15: Board votes to continue contract with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation for the construction of the Civic Center. William Wesley Peters, Chief Architect & Aaron Green AIA, Associated Architect, in charge.
1959 November 10: Blueprints for Civic Center Administration building are approved.
1959 December 22: Rothschild, Raffin & Weirick, Inc. of San Francisco are awarded construction contract for Administration building.
1960 February 15: Ground breaking for Administration building.
1960 June 7: Supervisors Schultz and Marshall defeated in general election. Supervisors J. Walter Blair and George Ludy voted in. The Board of Supervisors is now dominated by an anti-Frank Lloyd Wright faction, led by Supervisor Fusselman.
1961 January 10: Board votes 3 to 2, to halt work on Civic Center site and possibly convert it for use as a hospital.
1961 January 11: Work halts at Civic Center. With Harold Stockstad as its chairman, The Marin Council for Civic Affairs is formed to fight for the Civic Center.
1961 January 17: Work resumes on Civic Center after public is polled by the Marin Independent Journal and votes 8152 to 1225 against the work stoppage.
1961 October 31: Decision is made to change roof color from gold to blue.
1961 December 5: J. Walter Blair recalled from office and Peter Behr voted in to take his place.
1962 March 27: Landscaping bids solicited. Two firms are selected; Watkin & Sibbald of San Anselmo and Paradise Engineering Construction Inc. of Corte Madera.
1962 October 13: Administration Building completed and dedicated. Dedicatory remarks given by Dr. Theodore Gill, president of the San Francisco Theological Seminary. Vera Schultz one of the honored guests in attendance.
1962 November 20: Board of Supervisors officially accepts the Civic Center Administration Building.
1963 January 11: 100 Japanese cherry trees donated to the Civic Center by the Marin Nakayoshi Club.
1963 May 1: Approval by Board of Supervisors to proceed with second stage of Civic Center upon execution of a space analysis.
1963 November 12: Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation commissioned to proceed with preliminary drawings for the second phase of the Civic Center.
1964 William Fusselman defeated for reelection.
1965 $7.7 million bond issue passed to fund the construction of Phase II, the Hall of Justice.
1965 November 2: The Final Plans for the Hall of Justice, including Courtrooms and Jails, are accepted by the Board of Supervisors.
1966 $11 million construction contract for the Hall of Justice won by Robert E. McKee, Inc., of South San Francisco.
1966 May 25: Cornerstone & Ground breaking ceremony for the Hall of Justice. Governor Edmund D. Brown and Mrs. Wright in attendance.
1969 December 9: Official acceptance of the Hall of Justice by the Board of Supervisors.
1970 August 7: Shootout at Marin County Civic Center. Judge Haley killed.
1971 May 25: Old Marin County Courthouse on 4th Street in downtown San Rafael burns.
1971 July: 1872 time capsule from the old county courthouse opened and subsequently reburied with new items.
1971 August 13: The statue of the World War I doughboy (from the old courthouse) is moved to the Marin County Civic Center.
1971 September 25: Veterans Memorial Theater opens. Concert by the Marin Symphony Orchestra.
1973 August 7: Memorial to Judge Haley dedicated on the west side of the Hall of Justice.
1976 Marin Center Exhibit Hall Opens.
1979 Korean-Vietnam Memorial installed on Avenue of Flags.
1984 July: Committee appointed to review designs for a new jail.
1990 Committee approves Aaron Green’s concept for a jail to be built in the hilltop at the north end of the Hall of Justice.
1990 February 16-May 13: Frank Lloyd Wright: In the Realm of Ideas exhibit held at the Marin Civic Center Fairgrounds.
1990 Five-acre Lagoon Park opens as part of Marin Center Fairgrounds.
1992 September: Construction of the $18.1 million jail based on Aaron Green’s concept, begins. Architectural design by D.M.J.M. Construction contract awarded to the firm of Mark Diversified of Sacramento.
1994 November 17: The new jail opens.
2003 World War II monument unveiled on Avenue of Flags.
2004 Mark Cavagnero Associates hired to develop new master plan for Marin Center campus.
