By Brooklynn Wong
Head one mile west of Anaheim City Hall, into the Anaheim Colony Historic District this time of year, and you just may be fooled into believing you’ve stepped into a picture-perfect 19th century Christmas.
The Woelke-Stoffel House and the Mother Colony House, in Founders’ Park, have been decked out in Victorian finery and have been open to the public two Saturdays in December, and will be again on Jan. 5, with docents dressed in period wear.
The park, which backs up to Anaheim High School, is meant to convey what 19th-century Anaheim looked like at the time of its founding by German settlers. The grounds are immaculately kept, and contain two homes, a carriage house and a huge Moreton Bay Fig tree that’s been around since the 1870s and that the Swiss Family Robinson—now Tarzan—Treehouse at Disneyland was modeled after.
One of the houses, The Mother Colony House, was built in 1857, and is now the oldest wood frame structure in Orange County. It is a plain, single-story house that is reflective of the earliest homes built in the area. George Hansen built the house. Hansen was a surveyor and superintendent of the Los Angeles Vineyard Society, and served as the first superintendent of the Anaheim colony, which turned into the city of Anaheim. The early colonists originally settled in the area to attempt grape-growing. After experiencing some success, a disease wiped out nearly all of their vines in the 1880s. The colony then turned its attention to citrus, as well as some other crops.
Hansen’s home was originally located at 235 North Anaheim Blvd., but was saved from destruction and moved in 1928 by the Mother Colony Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Conversely, the Woelke-Stoffel House is an illustration of a later, more ornate model, with gingerbread grillwork, stained glass and other decorative features, unlike the strictly practical model of the earlier Mother Colony House.
It was built in 1894.
The two homes are beautifully decorated, with evergreen and big red bows, a beautiful Christmas tree in the larger Woelke-Stoffel House and a woman playing carols on the harp.
Docents explained the history of the home and were available to answer questions.
Both pre-Christmas dates for the Victorian Christmas Open House at Founders’ Park have now passed, but one date remains in January, on Saturday, Jan. 5, from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. The event is free, at 400 N West St.
