1913 photograph of the Russian Baptist Church’s Youth GroupThis photograph of the Russian Baptist Church’s Youth Group was given to the View by Mark Gavre, a former Hill resident who now practices law in Salt Lake City, and whose sister, Yvonne, lives on Mariposa Street. Their family, originally named Gavrelenka, lived at 950 Rhode Island Street, not far from the Russian Baptist Church. -- Abigail Johnston March 2008A View from the PastBy Abigail Johnston, The Potrero Hill Archives ProjectOn Rhode Island Street, at Southern Heights Boulevard’s western end, there’s a cheerily painted private home with interestingly shaped second-story windows. The windows provide a clue that the building might have once had a holy purpose. And so it did: For many years it was the Hill’s other Russian church, the Russian Baptist Church. This month’s photograph depicts the church’s youth group in 1913, holding Bibles (most likely) and wearing numbered lapel pins, the significance of which is a mystery. The young man at the far right in the second-from-the-top row is 25-year-old Ivan Krasilnikoff. Ivan, who later anglicized his name to John, was born in a town east of Moscow and came to the United States in 1910 – via Hawaii – from Harbin, China. Why Harbin? In the waning years of the 19th century, Russia was granted a concession to turn the once sleepy Manchurian village into a hub of activity for the construction of an extension of the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Many Russians left their hometowns to find work there, Ivan/John being one of them. At some point, the bloom perhaps being off the rose, Ivan/John moved on, winding up in another sleepy village with a large contingent of Russians: Potrero Hill. There he made friends and learned English in the youth group, worked as a house painter, and married Thelma Artushenkoff, another Russian emigrant via Harbin and Hawaii. Together they raised a family at 1106 De Haro Street. In the 1940s, their daughter Tania and her husband William Gavrelenko began nurturing the next generation at 950 Rhode Island Street, just doors away from the church both Krasilnikoffs and Gavrelenkos attended. The Potrero Hill Archives Project thanks Mark and Yvonne Gavre, members of that next generation, for sharing this photograph and their family history with us. Readers who have more information about this picture, or who have their own old Hill photographs or histories to share, are invited to contact The Potrero Hill Archives Project at either aldwj@sbcglobal.net or ppotreo@pacbell.net.
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