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18 Destination San Anselmo 2015 | 16 San Anselmo Past & Present 1907 Town of San Anselmo incorporates. An independent volunteer Fire Department is organized. 1908 San Anselmo Chamber of Commerce forms. St. Anselm Church opens. 1911 Town Hall is built, thanks to James Tunstead, who donates the land. 1915 San Anselmo Carnegie Library is dedicated. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16 n San Anselmo was a popular tourist destination in the early 1900s. Accommodations could be found in numerous hotels, but many preferred roughing it in campsites along the creek. n Upper Ross Avenue was dubbed San Anselmo's Little Italy because it was populated by 1906 quake refugees from North Beach who planted grapevines on the hills. Neighbors made wine together, taking the grape press from house to house. On hot autumn evenings, you could smell crushed grapes and fermenting wine in the air. n In the early 1900s, San Anselmo's few businesses were clustered along the dusty county roads of today's Sir Francis Drake Boulevard and Ross Avenue. When ex-sheriff James Tunstead donated land for a town hall and firehouse in 1911, businesses moved to what is now San Anselmo Avenue instead. n e Bank of San Anselmo was held up in broad daylight in 1914 by a bandit armed with pistols who fled on a grey horse. A posse searched, but the bold bandit was never apprehended. n e town was once a hot spot for filming silent movies, such as Cowpuncher's Law (1911) and Two-Gun Man (1931). Filmmaker George Lucas had an early office on San Anselmo Avenue. n San Anselmo's Ongaro Plumbing Company has been a family-run operation since 1932. Same with Sunnyside Nursery, which opened in 1940 and is run by the great-great-grandsons of early Marin pioneer James Ross. n e Montgomery Chapel's architecture contains unusual symbols that would have had strong appeal to men steeped in the lore of Freemasonry, as was Alexander Montgomery who is interred there. San Anselmo Town Hall. Photo by Lawrence E. Frauens The Carnegie Library in San Anselmo. Photo by Lawrence E. Frauens.