About a half-hour drive away from Fullerton, straight down Euclid, sits the Ware-Stanley House, a historic home from the late 1800s that has now been converted into a museum. Run by volunteers from the Garden Grove Historical Society, this house is a remnant of Orange County’s past that has been preserved as part of a much larger historical village, which includes the city’s first lumber business, a one-room schoolhouse, a blacksmith shop, and a garage that was originally used by Walt Disney in 1923 as an animation studio, among many other buildings that have connections to Orange County’s past.

Karl Knickrehm, President of the Garden Grove Historical Society, discusses the history behind Walt Disney’s first garage studio in California in the historical village behind the Stanley Museum

The two-acre Stanley Ranch Museum and Historical Village is open to the public for two-hour tours on the first and third Sunday of each month; suggested donations of $5 for adults and $1 for students (up to the age of eighteen) are strongly encouraged. I recently had a chance to interview Karl Knickrehm, President of the Garden Grove Historical Society and owner of the Stanley Ranch museum, about how the nonprofit organization he leads is celebrating 60 years of preserving Orange County history.

“The Garden Grove Historical Society started in April of 1966, actually on the doorstep of a house that we now have on the property, and it grew from there,” said Knickrehm. “In 1970, when Agnes Stanley, who was the owner, sold her farm (she was 93 years old), the family donated this piece of land we’re sitting on now to the society. In 1971, her son, Emerson, donated the original Ware-Stanley house, his own house, the barn, and the tank house to the society. Since then, more buildings have been moved onto the property, including Walt Disney’s first garage studio.”

An old movie projector sits in the corner of Walt Disney’s Garage at the Garden Grove Historical Society

The historical society has been hosting tours since the 1970s. After the farmhouse was restored and moved about 500 feet. to its current location on the farm, they decided to give tours to educate people about the house and the people who lived there, to support the operations of the Garden Grove Historical Society. Oftentimes, Knickrehm says, they get visitors who have been driving down Euclid for fifty years and never knew this place existed.

“When you go down the street, and you look over and see the farmhouse, and you see this building we’re sitting in, and the red barn, you don’t see everything else that we have back here,” said Knickrehm. “On the tours, I try to hit the high points of what the rooms in the Ware farmhouse were, and the history with Ware’s daughter, Agnes, who finished the farm, because the beauty of this place is that the house was only owned by one family, so it wasn’t remodeled extensively. So you get to see what the house looked like when it was built in 1893.”

Plaque indicating that Walt Disney’s first garage studio was donated to the Garden Grove Historical Society in March 1984.

Knickrehm remembers taking a tour through the Ware-Stanley House in the 1980s, which inspired him to volunteer with the historical society. He explained that the two-story farmhouse was built by Edward G. Ware, a noted horticulturist who also co-developed the Eureka walnut and introduced the first Valencia orange trees to the Garden Grove area. Looking at old photos, the house used to be surrounded by orange groves, which, according to Knickrehm, had their last crop picked in 1971.

Inside the present-day home, antique displays showcase what family life was like in the early 1900s. In the parlor, some of the highlights include an Edison player (circa 1915) that plays cylinders instead of platters, and paintings of both the house and likenesses of family members from the home’s history, including Agnes Stanley and her father, Edward Ware. In the dining room area, there’s an organ dating back to the 1890s.

Garden Grove historic fire engine no. 1 is stored inside a replica of the city’s first fire house and will be driven in this year’s Strawberry festival.

The house is also rumored to be haunted, especially the paintings in the parlor and stairway leading up to the upstairs bedrooms. In fact, my dad and grandparents took a tour here in the 1970s because of these rumors.
Next to the Ware-Stanley House, down Strawberry Lane (a road named after the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival Association), visitors may spot lampposts lining the parking lot that were originally on Euclid. Strangely enough, there’s even a hall here with my name (Emerson Hall), which was named after Agnes Stanley’s son.

Today, this is where the historical society holds its meetings and has its archive room. Further down Strawberry Lane, Knickrehm pointed out a barn that was built in 1922, where the society holds used book sales in spring and fall. He showed me inside a replica of the city’s first fire station, which houses Garden Grove’s first fire truck, a restored and working 1926 La France that will be driven in this year’s Strawberry Festival.

One of the most fascinating buildings in this historical village is the Disney Garage, which was originally owned by Robert Disney (uncle of Roy and Walt) in North Hollywood. According to the Garden Grove Historical Society, Walt used this garage as a studio in the early 1920s as he perfected the “animation machine to produce cartoons.” Interestingly, I learned from Knickrehm that when the structure was set to be demolished, a group of actors called

A barn where the Garden Grove Historical Society holds used book sales in Spring and Fall, and an Electric Shoe Shop are part of the historical village at the Stanley Ranch Museum

“The Friends of Walt Disney” stepped in and bought the garage to preserve Walt’s studio. Since they couldn’t find a home for the garage, the group dismantled it, and in 1984, it was moved to Garden Grove’s historical village and rebuilt, according to Knickrehm. A bunch of cartoonists and employees who had personally worked with Walt came to the dedication ceremony for the garage. Currently, it houses a lot of Disney antique memorabilia, including an old film projector and work-in-progress photos of the Anaheim amusement park being built, all of which have been donated to the historical society.

“We’re an all-volunteer organization…We have done some much-needed maintenance; we have tried to spruce the place up a little bit. Some of the buildings here need more painting; we have several buildings that need restoring. We’re looking for an angel,” said Knickrehm. “We need volunteers… if you know someone who’s retired who’s looking for something to do, or high school or college kids who need community service credits, just volunteer. If anyone is interested in going into public relations or hospitality, being a docent here is a good way to start because it’s an easy job.”

For anyone in Fullerton interested in volunteering, reach out to the Garden Grove Historical Society via email at gardengrovehistsoc@att.net or stop by the Stanley Ranch Museum on any Tuesday or Friday morning to work and socialize.