Work begins on Folsom's historic Chan House

The next time you visit Sutter Street in Folsom's Historic District, you may be surprised to see that the old boarded-up house at 917 Sutter St. has been raised seven feet off the ground. This is the Folsom Historical Society's next step in restoring the Chan House as the future home of the Folsom Chinese Heritage Museum. We are planning to build a new foundation and then set the building down again. The steps of moving the building and creating the foundation will be handled by experienced contractors. After that, we would welcome volunteer help to complete the building restoration effort. Construction skills would be valuable but we will also have volunteer tasks that just require the ability to lift and carry. The Historical Society does have challenges ahead beyond the building restoration. Currently known documentation about the local Chinese community is incomplete and often contradictory. We could use help with historic research to fill in as many missing pieces as we can find. There are many other ways the community can help complete this project. They could use help with fundraising, marketing, exhibit design, designing and building a Chinese Garden, or translating text between English and Chinese. Another volunteer opportunity is if anyone has stories or artifacts about Folsom from your own family history that you would be willing to share. You don't have to be Chinese to contribute. Stories from any perspective will be valuable to us. The society's long-term goal is to gain insights from each of the unique cultures that are part of California history. All of these must be woven together to fully understand Folsom's complex history. Want to be part of the cause, consider becoming a member of or donating to the Folsom Historical Society. If you'd like to help in any of these ways you can learn more any email or photo at: jferreirapro@att.net or 916-792-9438. For more information about the project, you can check out folsomhistoricalsociety.org or their social media postings on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. You can also call them at 916-985-2707; however, you may need to leave a message because the Folsom History Museum at 823 Sutter St. and Pioneer Village at 196 Wool St. remain closed for now, due to the pandemic.