Driving down the Sacramento River a couple of miles below Walnut Grove your attention is likely to be caught by a tall, black water tower sticking above the trees. This is the first glimpse you get of Ryde. The water tower is in back of a huge old barn of a hotel that remains one of the most interesting landmarks in the Delta area.
Just mention the Ryde Hotel to old-timers up and down the river -- even as far away as Sacramento -- and you are apt to be rewarded with a knowing nod and "Ah yes! Quite a place in its day,' or some such remark. And from all accounts it really was. Built in 1926 at the height of the prohibition experiment, this old inn has seen its share of good-time Charlies and uproarious parties through the years, and there are those who still express regret at its passing.
Because today it is empty and forlorn, sitting like an old bawd and staring with many vacant eyes at the river and the endless expanse of farm land. When you come upon it for the first time you wonder how on earth it got there -- all 51 rooms of it. Then you look around Ryde and wonder how it got there. And just as you can find oldtimers who can recall when Herbert Hoover sparked a political rally at the hotel, so you can find those who remember the beginnings of the town. These beginnings were not as long ago as they might seem.
It was in 1891 that W.A. Kesner came to Grand Island--one of the largest in the Delta region with 17,000 acres and bought 40 acres of land from a large ranching interest called Willaim and Bixler, owners of the biggest part of the island.
Williams, whose first name nobody seems to know, was called Judge Williams for some obscure reason. It is said that he made his money from horse racing in England before settling on Grand Island. Williams was from the Isle of Wright, just off the southern coast of England, and when a town started to spring up on the Kesner property along the river it was he who suggested the town be called Ryde after a community on the Isle of Wright, because both were "important watering places." So the name was tacked to the post office, and W.A. Kewner became the first postmaster. This was around 1893 and there already was a store and a hotel on the Kesner property. Ryde had taken its place among the family-owned towns alongs the Sacramento. There was quite a bit of dredging activity going on along the river in those days, and the men from the dredges made the Ryde Hotel their home.
The land was all reclaimed by this time, Grand Island Reclamation District being one of the first in the state, and the old wing dam stretched along the bank of the river for the protection of the ranches. Few even remember the wing dam, but Milo Dye of Walnut Grove recalls that it was opposite the the Leary property on Grand Island.
Dennis Leary was one of the earliest ranchers in the area and probably the first banker. As the story goes, Leary hid his money in a hole in one of the many sycamore trees surrounding his property and when someone wanted to borrow some of it Leary would go out to the tree, take out the cash, and put the remainder back, sealing the hole again. "How do you know someone won't come along and clean you out?" one borrower was supposed to have asked. "Because only two people know where it is--you and me." Leary would reply with a steady look. Apparently it worked.
Then there was Ed Shelley who owned 640 acres on the west side of Grand Island facing Howard's Landing on Steamboat Slough. This land is now held by Shelly's adopted daughter.
And no mention of Grand Island would be complete without the story of Louis Meyers. Meyers was also a farmer on the west side of the island. The wealth from the earth had attached itself to him by the First World War and he decided to build a mansion. And what a mansion! It was started in 1918 and finished in 1921, just in time for the builder to die before he could enjoy it. But the mansion remains one of the most impressive sights in the Delta. It has 40 rooms and occupies a full acre of land, sunken Roman baths, a ballroom that will accommodate 300 persons, marble fireplaces that will take a suckling pig on a spit with room to spare, tall precast concrete columns along the front, a balcony with wrought iron railing--these are only a few of the features. It would take days to describe the entire place. After Meyers lost his ranch and home and his life in the early 20's, the place started going to seed. It was used for grain storage during the war and later as quarters for agricultural workers.
Today (1959) Mrs. W.C. Kesner, the last of the family and the granddaughter of Ryde's founder, still lives in Ryde. She recently sold the town's 40 acres to Craig and Robert James. Gone are the two big canneries that were there when Ryde was the center of the world's asparagus basket. A large pickle works is missing too. Miss Inez Shelley, a niece of Ed Shelley, is principal of Beaver Union School on the island, and there are those who remember this school as a one-room affair called Good Hope.
It was a teacher at this school, Mrs. Mary Drake, who was responsible for an interesting sidelight. Mrs. Drake is retired now, but when she was active, she started her classes corresponding with students in the town of Ryde on the Isle of Wright. And it is she who retains the link with the old English town. Mrs. Drake visited a teacher on the Isle of Wright for two weeks in 1957 and for three weeks again later.
She describes Ryde as a beautiful resort town surrounded with green, rolling hills. Is it like its California namesake? Well, it is near water and it is on an island. But there the resemblance ends. It has 20,000 persons and 1,000 years of history.
But one thing is sure. It doesn't have a hotel anything like the one down the river.