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The Marin Art and Garden Center had its origin in the 1940's as a vision of two members of the Marin Conservation League, Caroline Livermore and Gladys Smith. Using the Allied Arts Guild in Menlo Park as a model, they envisioned a self-supporting colony of artists and craftsmen creating and selling their wares within a park-like setting. As America was embroiled in a world war at the time, they also saw it as a "living memorial" to those that had sacrificed their lives in the service of their country.
Once owned by James Ross, the land went to his daughter Annie and her husband George Worn, Ross' business partner, in 1863. While their house "Sunnyside" was being constructed, the Worns' lived in an octagonal shaped structure built over a well, and began planning and planting extensive gardens. By 1882, faced with financial difficulties, they sold their beloved home and land to the Kittle family. After a fire in 1931 destroyed much of the main house the Kittles tore down the house, leaving only a barn and the "Octagon House." None of the Kittle family wanted to rebuild and the property remained idle for the next fifteen years. 1n 1941, Livermore rallied to preserve the beautiful and historic property replete with its lovely, though languishing gardens and irreplaceable trees, and within two years, she had brought together eight autonomous groups and purchased the property. The Center was incorporated in 1945 as a Living Memorial, its primary mission to promote appreciation and education of the arts, horticulture and environmental conservation. MAGC became a reality.
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