For the Downey Conservancy and Historical Society, the present is in the past

The Downey Conservancy at the rededication of “The Button Hole” earlier this year.

This story was written as part of the D150 Celebration, commemorating the 150th anniversary of the city’s founding.

DOWNEY - Downey has accumulated a lot of history over its 150-year existence, but it’s not worth much if it becomes lost to time.

That’s where organizations like the Downey Conservancy and the Downey Historical Society come in.

The Downey Conservancy was established in 2010 by George Redfox and Harold Tseklenis.

Redfox, who has had an affinity for history since he was a young child took his first steps towards historic preservation – and ultimately, the establishment of the Conservancy - as a young adult.

“I remember, probably right around [age] 22-ish, somewhere in there when the McDonalds closed down because of the earthquake in Whittier…When that happened, they closed the McDonalds and they were going to tear that place down, and I wrote a little article, a little comment for the Downey Eagle,” said Redfox. “That was my first kind of thing that I wrote for the city as far as stuff as far as stuff going on with historical stuff.”

According to Redfox, the purpose of the conservancy is education and preservation.

“Our main thing is educating the public on historic sites, buildings, places, trees, whatever it might be. strive to save those places if we possibly can,” said Redfox. “I think knowledge and people knowing what they have a lot of times helps them think, ‘Maybe this is something worth saving.’”

Board Member Gabriel Enamorado said the city’s historic resources “make Downey.”

“What is a community without its culture? What is a city’s identity without its history,” said Enamorado. “When you speak and think about Downey, we always tend to go back to what we once had or were, or what we started with.”

He added that the Conservancy’s work was “about preserving and maintaining our identity as a community.”

The mission isn’t always easy or successful. It’s the Conservancy’s hope that a historical preservation ordinance can be established in the city to help.

“We can advocate, we can publicize, we can promote, but if there is no layer of real protection for those resources, then there’s not much we can do,” said current Conservancy President Kathy Perez. “We have been successful in the last year or so.

“The current council has been very open. Back in February, the council did send back to staff, the historic preservation ordinance, which that is one of our goals; definitely to have a historic preservation ordinance.”

She continued:

“That provides that layer; not that it will save it completely, it just gives everybody a heads up this is what’s happening. How could we might work with the owner, doing an adaptive reuse, doing something rather than a tear-down.”

Started in 1965 by Joe Coss, the Downey Historical Society handles many of the articles, documents, and artifacts from Downey’s past.

“History is a prologue,” said Nick Curry, board member.

“There’s an old saying, ‘Those who fail to learn from their history are doomed to repeat it,’” added Roger Miller, also a board member. “Also too, what I’m discovering is the more people know about the history...the more connected you feel to it, the more connected you feel to it, the less you’re likely to vandalize and tear it down, and you wanna stay and build on the successes of the people who came before us.”

Members of the Downey Historical Society ride in the Downey Christmas Parade.

Located in a small building at Apollo Park, the Historical Society is practically filled to the brim with information and resources just begging to be discovered by passersby.

Much of what the Historical Society has has been donated throughout the years.

Bobbi Bruce, docent and board member, described the Historical Society as a “suppository for people’s memories.”

“People that have grown up here, they’ll come in here and want to share their stories of their life and their journey growing up here in Downey,” said Bruce. “We have been very fortunate enough to maintain the yearbooks, the newspapers, personal items of people, what they experienced in their life, that they’ve donated to us.

“When they come in, we have this so we can share it with the people that are trying to remember things when they were growing up: places, restaurants, orange fields, walnut groves. And also, people that went to school here, some of the famous people and that, to be able to feel a certain amount of pride in the people who grew up here and went on to bigger and better things.”

That sense of pride is something shared by and deeply rooted within each member of the society.

President Bob Thompson says he “loves Downey.”

“I’ve seen a lot of changes and so on, but this city, I feel is like my city,” said Thompson. “My children were born here; my sisters and brothers were born here in the old and new hospital.

“I try to tell the young folks that come in to please protect your city of Downey; love it, protect it, don’t let it fall on bad hands, and that’s how I feel about it. I love Downey.”