1 M. J. and EDNA MURPHY. . . . . .CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA PIONEERS REVISED 8 June 2019 In 1902 Michael Murphy built a storybook style house – a home for his mom and sisters – on a forested parcel dotted with pines, oaks, and, later, hydrangeas. The seventeen-year-old’s first project in Carmel-by-the-Sea, its distinctive roof, diamond-pane windows, and centered front door welcomed all. A sleeping-porch stretched across the back of the little house; the outhouse was a quick-step beyond the clothesline. Thus, the Murphys, newly arrived to California and a historied but undeveloped land on the edge of Carmel Bay, could be counted among the handful of residents whose simple cottages of the day were connected by paths leading through the frequently foggy paradise. Michael’s next family project would be the home he built on the SE corner of Monte Verde and 9th – a home for the sweetheart he would fetch from the land he left behind near Malad City, Idaho. Edna Owens and Michael Murphy Jr. married February, 1904, in Malad. Carmel would be their home. The house, extant and no longer in the family, grew through the years to accommodate their four children and the oft-visiting extended family of full and half-siblings, nieces, and nephews . . . . . . And the land beside it grew to accommodate their mushrooming contracting and building supply business. Together, the Murphys pioneered the lumber and construction business in Carmel. Indeed, Edna’s and Michael’s first M. J. Murphy Lumberyard probably had its birth as a pile of lumber in their backyard. The Murphys owned six neighboring lots on the east side of Monte Verde and more on the west side. Their home and yard were sandwiched between M. J.’s half-sister Maggie Wilkinson and her husband Enoch Lewis’s home on the NE corner [the Lewises owned two lots] across 9th and that of Michael’s niece Bernice Place Beckett’s home on the NE corner at 10th on the south end of the sandy street. Nephew Bill Beckett Jr., 92 at this writing, remembers the blacksmith shop, the paint shop, the office, the cabinet shop and “Aunt Edna’s greenhouse, she loved to garden, across the street.” In the late 1920s, the lumberyard moved to property the Murphys owned on Ocean Avenue – the block known since 1960 as Carmel Plaza. The lumber company’s fleet of Mack trucks – purchased to haul building supplies for the Bixby Creek Bridge in the early 1930s – remained in the yard on Monte Verde – as did the blacksmith and machine shops. Later, in 1946, under the management of M. J. and Edna’s son, Franklin, the yard in Carmel Valley Village was added. It is, today, the location of M. J. Murphy Lumber & Hardware and is under the watch of Tom and Judy Gladney; Tom, the Murphy’s grandson, president of the family-held company. With Murphy came the ethos of the hardscrabble ways of a pioneering life. He was no stranger to hard work. It was not at all unusual for him to take a crew and supplies by buckboard to remote local locations to camp for the work week – as he did, for example, when building what is known today as The Hacienda at The Preserve and, among others, the Vanderbilt stables – today’s Los Laureles Lodge – when the crew camped across the street at the corner of Boronda and Carmel Valley Roads. Murphy was a perfectionist and a quick study. Between 1907 and the early 1920s, M. J. designed and constructed most of the homes and commercial buildings in Carmel – local historians credit him with 300 to 350 projects. Murphy established the carpenter/builder vernacular look of the village up to that time. Redwood and “Carmel Stone” were the building materials of choice. Building traditions established by M. J. Murphy still prevail.0F 1 , OCR Text: 1 M. J. and EDNA MURPHY. . . . . .CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA PIONEERS REVISED 8 June 2019 In 1902 Michael Murphy built a storybook style house – a home for his mom and sisters – on a forested parcel dotted with pines, oaks, and, later, hydrangeas. The seventeen-year-old’s first project in Carmel-by-the-Sea, its distinctive roof, diamond-pane windows, and centered front door welcomed all. A sleeping-porch stretched across the back of the little house; the outhouse was a quick-step beyond the clothesline. Thus, the Murphys, newly arrived to California and a historied but undeveloped land on the edge of Carmel Bay, could be counted among the handful of residents whose simple cottages of the day were connected by paths leading through the frequently foggy paradise. Michael’s next family project would be the home he built on the SE corner of Monte Verde and 9th – a home for the sweetheart he would fetch from the land he left behind near Malad City, Idaho. Edna Owens and Michael Murphy Jr. married February, 1904, in Malad. Carmel would be their home. The house, extant and no longer in the family, grew through the years to accommodate their four children and the oft-visiting extended family of full and half-siblings, nieces, and nephews . . . . . . And the land beside it grew to accommodate their mushrooming contracting and building supply business. Together, the Murphys pioneered the lumber and construction business in Carmel. Indeed, Edna’s and Michael’s first M. J. Murphy Lumberyard probably had its birth as a pile of lumber in their backyard. The Murphys owned six neighboring lots on the east side of Monte Verde and more on the west side. Their home and yard were sandwiched between M. J.’s half-sister Maggie Wilkinson and her husband Enoch Lewis’s home on the NE corner [the Lewises owned two lots] across 9th and that of Michael’s niece Bernice Place Beckett’s home on the NE corner at 10th on the south end of the sandy street. Nephew Bill Beckett Jr., 92 at this writing, remembers the blacksmith shop, the paint shop, the office, the cabinet shop and “Aunt Edna’s greenhouse, she loved to garden, across the street.” In the late 1920s, the lumberyard moved to property the Murphys owned on Ocean Avenue – the block known since 1960 as Carmel Plaza. The lumber company’s fleet of Mack trucks – purchased to haul building supplies for the Bixby Creek Bridge in the early 1930s – remained in the yard on Monte Verde – as did the blacksmith and machine shops. Later, in 1946, under the management of M. J. and Edna’s son, Franklin, the yard in Carmel Valley Village was added. It is, today, the location of M. J. Murphy Lumber & Hardware and is under the watch of Tom and Judy Gladney; Tom, the Murphy’s grandson, president of the family-held company. With Murphy came the ethos of the hardscrabble ways of a pioneering life. He was no stranger to hard work. It was not at all unusual for him to take a crew and supplies by buckboard to remote local locations to camp for the work week – as he did, for example, when building what is known today as The Hacienda at The Preserve and, among others, the Vanderbilt stables – today’s Los Laureles Lodge – when the crew camped across the street at the corner of Boronda and Carmel Valley Roads. Murphy was a perfectionist and a quick study. Between 1907 and the early 1920s, M. J. designed and constructed most of the homes and commercial buildings in Carmel – local historians credit him with 300 to 350 projects. Murphy established the carpenter/builder vernacular look of the village up to that time. Redwood and “Carmel Stone” were the building materials of choice. Building traditions established by M. J. Murphy still prevail.0F 1 , Heritage Society of Pacific Grove,Historical Collections,Green Plaque Research,Green Plaque Research by Names,M. J. Murphy,Murphy,M. J. MURPHY 3.14.16, 4.17.16, 2.6.17, 10.1.18.pdf Page 1, M. J. MURPHY 3.14.16, 4.17.16, 2.6.17, 10.1.18.pdf Page 1