Sarah A. Mooney Memorial Museum
Help Preserve the Carriage House
Built along with the Mooney home in 1890s, the Carriage House was used by Aaron to house his horse drawn hearse, sample caskets, and funeral memorabilia. The horses that were used to pull the hearse were kept nearby in a corral on the property.
Like the Mooney home the Carriage House is 130 years old. It was constructed like all barns of the 1890s sitting directly on the ground. It was built with Sierra redwood, the upper portion of the structure has weathered well, but the sill plates have deteriorated over time due to ground moisture and dry rot. Preserving the structure will require the Carriage House to be raised to install proper footings, install a concrete slab, replace the sill plates, and upgrade the electrical and plumbing to current standards.
The Museum has been sustained over the past fifty years by generous donations from the community. We are hoping the community will come together again on the Museums 50th anniversary, to raise the funds necessary to preserve this community treasure.
Aaron, Sarah and Harriet Mooney came to Lemoore in 1875. Mr. Mooney prospered as the proprietor of the general store and funeral director. Mrs. Mooney and her daughter, Harriet, were very active in civic affairs. In 1893 Aaron and Sarah built their Victorian home.
This home was left by Sarah Mooney to her granddaughter Marie Blakeley in 1925. Marie and her husband L.M. ‘Buzz” Blakeley along with their family wanted this property to stand in the memory of their grandmother. In 1974, after the Lemoore Centennial, they donated it to the Lemoore District Chamber of Commerce to be used as a memorial museum. The museum was opened to the public on October 17, 1976.
View a transcript of articles that appeared in the Hanford Sentinel reporting the donation of the house and the opening of the museum here.
The Sarah A. Memorial Museum receives NO public funding! It is totally dependent on generous donations from individuals, businesses, and community organizations; fundraising events; and our engraved brick program.