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Description
Charlotte Switzer was born in 1905 in Mill Valley, the youngest of four children. Charlotte's family lived in the upper flat of a barn on the family-owned business, Dowd's Fashion Stables. The stables burned down in a fire in 1910, though Charlotte's father, Charles Dowd, would go on to rebuild the stables. Charles taught Charlotte how to drive a horse and buggy from an early age, which proved to be one of Charlotte's main modes of transportation around town. Charlotte attended Summit School, Tamalpais High School, and went on to graduate from University of California, Berkeley. In 1925, she married her husband, Gordon. Together, Charlotte and Gordon raised three children. In her oral history, Switzer fondly recounts her childhood growing up in Mill Valley - the freedom to explore Corte Madera Creek, riding horses, spending time in downtown establishments including Lockwood's Drug Store and Kingwell's Ice Cream Store, the development of Tamalpais High, her father's various businesses, and her family's strong ties with the Mill Valley community.
Identifier
5AE1C875-79B2-464B-86B7-695657883358 2017.019.001
Subject
Abraham, Belle Boericke, Ruth Business - Mill Valley Business enterprises Cappelmann, Oscar Dowd's Moving and Storage Dowd's stable Dowd, Charles James Dowd, Emma Dowd, George Dowd, Irvine Dowd, Margaret Wosser Dowd, Michael Dowd's Fashion Livery Stables Esposti's Ice Cream Parlor Fire Funeral homes Horseback riding Horses Hub Theatre Kingwell's Ice Cream Store Livery stables Local transit Lockwood's Drug Store Muir Woods MV history - Early Mill Valley to 1915 MV history - Interwar years Northwestern Pacific Railroad Ryan, Edward "Pat Stables Sturken, Lillian Dowd Switzer, Barbara Switzer, Gordon Switzer, Stanley Teulie, Vivian Dowd
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