Reedley Historical Society Opens Five Historic Homes for April Tour

One of the homes on this year's tour was ordered from a Sears catalog a century ago. That mail-order kit house, built in the 1920s, is among five private Reedley residences the Reedley Historical Society will open to the public April 4 for its fourth annual historic home tour, running 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and raising money for the volunteer-run Reedley Museum.

Tickets cost $40 per person and are available at the Reedley Museum, 1752 10th St., or through Historical Society members. Specific addresses and route details will be provided only to ticket buyers, a privacy measure for the homeowners who volunteered their properties.

The five homes stretch across nearly a century of Reedley residential history. Three were built in the 1920s, including the Sears kit house. A fourth dates to the 1960s and still preserves its original era décor. The fifth, built in 2020, serves as an event venue set on four and a half acres overlooking the Kings River.

Museum volunteer Joyce Huebert noted that all five homes differ from those featured on last year's tour. "We really want people to come to the museum because we're trying to preserve the local history, and we always have a revolving display that features different topics," Huebert said. She is most excited, she added, for participants to see the uniqueness of each home.

Docents and volunteer guides will accompany visitors through each property, providing historical and architectural context at every stop. The range of homes, from a catalog-assembled house of the 1920s to a modern riverside estate, offers a rarely available look at how Reedley has been built and lived in across generations.

The tour is one of the Reedley Museum's biggest annual fundraisers. Entirely volunteer-run, the museum depends on events like this to sustain its exhibitions, artifact conservation, and community education programs. The museum at 1752 10th St. is open 9 a.m. to noon on Tuesdays and Saturdays with no admission fee, though donations are encouraged.