The History of the William Kerr House

By Carey Casey

This article is part of the MAH’s Online History Journal, a collection of original research on local history. Dive deep into Santa Cruz County history in this ever-growing forum and start creating your own.

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Santa Cruz County still has many of its Victorian-era residential buildings, but many more have disappeared over the years: victims of fire, flood, and earthquake — but especially redevelopment. Old houses were not always valued as much as they are today, and many were demolished simply to make way for something new. The William Kerr house was one such casualty, but it had a long and interesting history before its demise.