Let's connect!
Enjoy Mill Valley
  • HOME
  • EVENTS & GUIDES
    • 2020-21 EMV Guide
    • 2021 Mill Valley Wine, Beer & Gourmet Food Tasting
    • Winterfest >
      • About Winterfest
    • Calendar
    • Special Events
  • EAT
  • Stay
  • VISIT
    • Muir Woods
    • PLAY
    • Tour
    • Map
    • PRESS
  • SHOP
    • Enjoy Mill Valley Store
    • Shopping Areas
    • Apparel and Jewelry
    • Automotive
    • Banking & Financial Services
    • Biz, Consumer & Professional Services
    • Beauty & Grooming
    • Fitness & Sports
    • Food & Wine
    • Home & Garden
    • Kids & Pets
    • Health & Wellness
    • Nonprofit Organizations
    • Real Estate
    • Specialty Shops
  • A&E
  • EMV Films
  • BLOG
  • Mill Valley Chamber
  • City of Mill Valley
  • CONTACT US
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise on Enjoy Mill Valley
  • ShopMV

City of Mill Valley Hosts Plaque Dedication Honoring Depot Plaza Mastermind Richard 'Dick' Jessup – Oct. 20

10/10/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Dick Jessup, at top, and the Depot Plaza he created, at bottom. Courtesy images.
Two weeks before he passed away at the age of 87 in July 2012, longtime local architect and civic leader Richard “Dick” Jessup hosted more than a dozen fellow former Mill Valley mayors at his home, an indication of Jessup's stature in town and a realization that the end was near.

The group made small talk but mostly paid their respects to the man who came up with the idea to transform the former train station-turned-bus station at the center of Mill Valley’s downtown into the Depot Plaza, a community gathering place surrounded by parking. In 1982, the City of Mill Valley created the Depot Plaza based on Jessup’s design, and it remains the home of chalk drawings, fledgling two-wheel pedaling and scooting and relaxing.

Six years later, Mayor Stephanie Moulton-Peters, Mill Valley City Councilmembers and City officials are spearheading an event to honor Dick Jessup with a plaque dedication in honor of Jessup on October 20 at 11am in the Depot Plaza. A celebration with refreshments will follow the dedication.

"He was a renaissance man," said his daughter and local architect Kim Jessup at the time of her father’s death. "He was a great architect, a very talented craftsman, he loved gardening, a good athlete, a gentleman, a visionary, a great husband and father and just a very kind man."
 
"It's probably his crown jewel because it's such an important part of downtown and it looks like it's been there forever," she added about the plaza. "You almost can't imagine now what it looked like before."

Jessup's plans were later used by Royston Hanamoto Alley & Abey, which was hired by the city to implement the project, which did not have universal support in town, according to former Mill Valley Mayor Dick Spotswood, who succeeded Jessup on the City Council.

"Everybody got on board and the minute they voted for it, the opposition went away," Spotswood said. "Now if you look back and someone says, 'Let's demolish the plaza and put in a bus turnaround there,' folks would go nuts."

Born in Roslyn, N.Y., Jessup moved to Prescott, Ariz., when he was 10 years old to live with the Ormes, family friends in the central Arizona high country, in an effort to see if the dry air there would help his severe asthma. It did. He returned to New York to finish his schooling, attending Princeton University as an undergraduate and getting his architectural degree from the Pratt Institute in New York City.

Dick and Lyn Jessup moved to the Bay Area in 1956, immediately settling into the Cornelia Ave. home where they'd live for the next 56 years.
​
Jessup first got involved with the city in 1971 as a planning commissioner. He was elected to the City Council 1976 and served one term.

​The 411: The City of Mill Valley hosts a plaque dedication and celebration of Richard "Dick" Jessup on Saturday, Oct. 20 at 11am in the Depot Plaza. 

​Want to know what's happening around town? Click here to subscribe to the Enjoy Mill Valley Blog by Email!
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Subscribe to the free Enjoy Mill Valley Blog

    * required
    Click here to subscribe to the free Enjoy Mill Valley Blog by Email!

    RSS Feed

    Blog Archives

    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    Categories

    All
    142 Throckmorton
    Art
    Arts & Entertainment
    City Council
    City Of Mill Valley
    County Of Marin
    Depot Plaza
    Downtown Mill Valley
    Emergency Preparedness
    First Tuesday Artwalk
    Food & Drink
    Holidays
    Kiddo!
    Live Music
    Local Laws
    Marin Mommies
    Marin Theatre Company
    Miller Avenue
    Mill Valley Fall Arts Festival
    Mill Valley Film Festival
    Mill Valley History
    Mill-valley-in-the-news
    Mill Valley Library
    Mill Valley Market
    Mill Valley School District
    Mount Tamalpais
    MV Chamber Biz Buzz
    Parks & Recreation
    Philanthropy
    Public Restrooms
    Restaurants
    Shopping
    Strawberry Village
    Sweetwater Music Hall
    Tam High
    Tam Junction
    Tam Valley
    The Redwoods
    Volunteerism

Picture
   
85 Throckmorton Avenue
Mill Valley, Callifornia 94941
415.388.9700
info@millvalley.org



Copyright 2018 Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center
All images used with permission and/or source attribution.
Site Design by Linda Rosso Marketing and Communications