BTW, Susie Van Kirk’s detailed report on the history of the Seeley & Titlow Building is posted HERE .
As many have noted, Arcata has suffered a number of truly horrific fires over the years. These photos provide a reminder of one – but also show how Arcata rebuilt and recovered, as it always does…
The photo below is Arcata before the fire of 1889- you’re looking at the corner of the Arcata Plaza at 8th & G – (there’s an article about the fire HERE). That’s the Brio Cafe location on the corner. Note the row of buildings on the left/ north block.
Below you see the same location, after the fire of 1889
This one shows some reconstruction
And the buildings below should look pretty familiar- the “Garage” is now Plaza, formerly Plaza Design, on the corner.
Look what I found: the east side of G Street, between 2nd and 3rd–and huh- I already have a category for “buildings we’ve lost to parking lots.” Sigh… This is apparently the Lindsay House.
Part 2 of my story on the early Red-Light Women of Eureka, is now posted on the North Coast Journal’s website. It is not an easy story to read- but I believe it IS an important story to read…
Gold eagle coins worth $10, double eagles worth $20 and various paper bills piled so high on the courtroom table that an officer was assigned to guard them. The fortune was the result of another Tithing Day held on Jan. 6, 1909, Eureka’s Daily Humboldt Standard explained, describing how one by one, 30 women had risen as the judge called their names, pleaded guilty to selling liquor without a license, and laid down $50, worth about $1,750 today. The windfall, the reporter observed, would allow the city to “buy more crushed rock for the streets.”
Stanford University has shared an absolutely fantastic “Birdseye View” of Eureka. You can enlarge and easily find your neighborhood or take a look at the busy wharf. You’ll also find detailed illustrations of homes and commercial buildings like the one below, which was at the corner of 1st and E Streets (the current home of Dick Taylor Chocolates).
About the map, per Stanford:
Large birdseye view of Eureka, California, published for the Humboldt Times. Includes a large panoramic view of Eureka and Humboldt Bay, with a key locating 79 locations. and text describing the virtues of Eureka and Humboldt County. The surrounding vignettes show a mixture of important commercial buildings, stately residences, manufacturing and Riverfront Commerce. The view is extremely rare, with only 1 example identified by OCLC (Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley). Reps locates a copy at the Society for California Pioneers and the California Historical Society. Eureka, California, located on Humboldt Bay, the second largest bay in California, was largely unknown to European explorers. With the exception of a description of the Bay by Russian Explorers in 1806, the Bay was largely overlooked until its “discovery” in 1849. Shortly thereafter, Eureka was founded on its shore by the Union and Mendocino Exploring Companies. The city and the bay grew quickly during the gold rush era, as the town’s proximity to the mines in the Trinity region and as an alternate route to the diggings to the south made the City and Harbor an attractive option to the San Francisco Delta. Many of the first immigrants who arrived as prospectors were also lumbermen, and the vast potential for industry on the bay was soon realized, especially as many hopeful miners realized the difficulty and infrequency of striking it rich in the mines. By 1854, after only four years since the founding, seven of nine mills processing timber into marketable lumber on Humboldt Bay were in Eureka. A year later 140 lumber schooners operated in Humboldt Bay, supplying lumber to other booming cities along the Pacific Coast. Eureka soon also developed a thriving fishing industry. Salmon fisheries sprang up along the Eel River as early as 1851, and within 7 years, 2,000 barrels of cured fish and 50,000 pounds of smoked salmon were processed and shipped out of Humboldt Bay annually, primarily from processing plants on Eureka’s waterfront, which exist to this day. By 1858 the first of many ships built in Eureka was launched, beginning an industry that spanned many of years.
About five years ago I ran across the story of Virginia Jeffrey (posted here) and it sparked a journey into the history of what I’m calling “the lower levels”, where pimps and gamblers, con men and prostitutes, thieves and other criminals dwelled. My research has been fascinating (seriously) and I realized it is finally time to share what I’ve learned. The stories come from Northern California and beyond.
* I started a blog Same Damn Story a while ago and will still post when I find those same damn stories that were true a hundred years ago and still resonate today.
I originally dug up this (and other) great Arcata Plaza photos for a client- and they’ve been sitting in my computer ever since. It is about time I share….
Some comedian noted “Arcata Blizzard” on the back of this photo- which is focused on the southeast corner of the Arcata Plaza. Humboldt Historian Susie Van Kirk (now sadly passed) also noted that this photo was likely taken just a year or two prior to the November 1889 Plaza Fire, which leveled the east block (including the Arcata Hotel on the left).
I posted this on my new blog, SameDamnStory.com and realized it is NorCal history and folks that follow or find this blog might also find it interesting.
On April 18 1906, an early morning earthquake leveled much of San Francisco and started fires that lasted for days, destroying an estimated 500 city blocks and thousands of buildings. Insurance companies responded immediately and by December of 1906, the city’s insurance commissioner estimated $180,000,000 had been paid out to help San Francisco businesses and residents get back on their feet. It was said that very few companies went out of business because of the tragedy.
“Fillmore street and Van Ness avenue are facing an insurance famine. The Insurance companies will not take large risks on the new store buildings nor on stocks of goods on account of the wooden buildings. They have canceled hundreds of policies because of the increased risk along these two streets. Many other adjoining streets are also suffering from scarcity of insurance. On Fillmore street the property values have increased many times…Yet Fillmore Street is not carrying as much insurance today as it was before the fire. The number of new restaurants, the building up of former vacant lots and the hurriedly erected wooden structures have frightened the insurance companies. They have Increased the cost of insurance…. Even at this high rate they will not write the risks.“
You can click HERE for the rest of the newspaper story, but you get the idea.
San Francisco addressed this crisis by bolstering their fire department, encouraging the erection of brick/fire proof structures and more.
And if you want to read how this relates to today, click my new blog SameDamnStory.com …
About the photo- Source: Calisphere (find other striking photos HERE)
Posted by Lynette 
Lynette's NorCal History Blog 
