The King and White Building

231 Miner Street, Yreka, CA

The building that sits on the corner of Miner and Fourth Streets today was built while Yreka was in its early boom days. Records show that it was in use as early as 1854. The locally well known 1858 hand drawn map and layout of Yreka shows the King and White building, and by 1855 the Yreka Journal was printing notices and advertisements for the King and White building. They sold paint, oil, glass crockery, glassware, harnesses, spurs, bridles and a wide variety of merchandise. It was lauded as the “fireproof” brick building at the corner of Miner and Fourth Streets.

During the 1860's the address for this building was known to be 40 Miner Street. In 1871 during the “Great Conflagration” of July 4, this building was partially burned and obliterated a wood building that was built at the rear of the store along Fourth Street. The total loss of buildings and goods was valued at $3,000. Within two months time the owner was bringing rock and brick for an “addition” to the building to be built at the back section to replace the wooden section that had been burned.

In 1896 it was announced that the Bee Hive (a general store) would occupy this building, owned by R. H. DeWitt. Mr. DeWitt partially remodeled the building by putting in a new plate glass front. The Bee Hive was in this location only a few years, when in 1898 DeWitt and Peters built a new much larger building at the corner of Miner and Oregon Streets. The structure is still standing today, and is known as the Elks Lodge. In 1898 Churchill and Son purchased this building and did much more renovation to the building. In March of 1898 the Yreka Journal reported: “Mr. Churchill has overhauled the Old King Store recently vacated by the Bee Hive. The inside is about all torn out, and a new front wall to hold two large plate glass windows is being constructed. A new ceiling is being built on the interior.” This new store carried a variety of goods in addition to drugs. They advertised as being Druggists, Booksellers, Stationers, and offering Kodaks and complete photographic Supplies, Candy, Molasses, Maple Syrup and Wall Paper. The Churchills carried on their business at this location until 1916 when it was purchased by Frank Ackerman, the manager of the store for Mr. Churchill.                            

The Ackerman Drug Store operated here until 1932 when it was sold to Maguire and Greene who also operated a Drug Store here. The Maguire and Greene Drug Store operated until 1976 when the store was closed.

From about 1856 until the early 1930's there was another structure to the West. It actually made Fourth Street very narrow, jutting out into the street. This was the former Pashburg Building. Eventually the building was torn down and Fourth Street was widened to what we see today.

Source of information: From the files of Yreka Preservation contributed articles and information by Donald Carey, Harland McDonald, and Archie Noonan.

Yreka's Agricultural Hall

The Agricultural Hall viewed here once sat at the southeast corner of Center and Fourth Streets. Today the area is used as a parking lot for Siskiyou County Title. The building was used for about 45-50 years and then torn down. It is estimated to have been built around 1910. Prior to this structure there was an earlier building used for the Agricultural Hall that was one block south on Fourth Street. It was actually the earlier jail that was once used and later the building housed the County Library for many years. Today the law offices of Newton and Newton occupy the space where the first Agricultural Hall operated.

The Agricultural Hall helped serve the large horticultural needs that Siskiyou County had and the commissioner would instruct new settlers about local growing practices and help provide them with the newest information on profitable methods of farming.

This was a very active building in Yreka and was used for many community activities. During the fair agricultural exhibits were set up in the hall and displayed for fair goers before there was a permanent fairgrounds. Many dances were held here and numerous news articles mentioned Agricultural Hall as the place they were held! The community hosted dinners and get togethers here, and even one of the ladies Library groups held several events when raising money for the Carnegie Library funds. In World War I a dinner and musical concert event was held here for the Siskiyou County draftees before they headed off to fight the war to end all wars.

The image is from a postcard that was mailed in 1913 to a woman in Oakland from Anna Gillis and in the correspondence she mentions the picture is of the Agricultural Hall and she said "it is great"! In 1915 Siskiyou County promoted this hall in its special publication that was given out at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. Yreka was very proud of this building! It is sad to note that in its later years the building was simply used for storage by Montgomery Ward (Ward's was directly in front of Agricultural Hall) and then the once lively building that saw so many events and people within its walls became a parking lot.

If you have a copy of our book, Yreka Images of America series by Arcadia Publishing you can see a photo of the first hall as well as this one on page 87. There is also a photograph of the interior during a fair exhibition on page 120.

Copyright, Claudia A. East

St. Joseph Catholic Church ~ 1875

Sitting across the street from the Siskiyou County Courthouse at 314 Fourth Street one finds this sturdy and well known icon in Yreka, The St. Joseph Catholic Church.

The information provided about this church was provided by folks from the church, and the actual researcher or author of the material provided is unknown. Our thanks is given to those who provide historical information for all to share!

The Catholic Church in Yreka has a substantial history, local tradition indicates that the first services held in Yreka likely were held in 1853, for the local miners working here. In 1855 two young priests were appointed by the San Francisco Diocese to serve Yreka, they were Father James Cassin, and Father Thomas Cody from Ireland. These first services provided by the priests were held in a little unidentified building on Yama Street. At the same time a larger church was being built west of the Catholic Cemetery located on the east side of Yreka. The little frame church was completed in 1855 and was the first Roman Catholic Church building in Yreka.

Repeated flooding of Yreka Creek provided the incentive to build a stronger, safer church and a new building was erected on the southeast corner of Fourth and Lane Streets away from the regular flood zone. This building was dedicated in 1867, however, a mere four years later in 1871, fire broke out in town ravaging many sections of Yreka and both the new church and parish house was destroyed.

Another four years passed and eventually arrangements were complete for a new replacement church to be built. The cornerstone of St. Joseph's Catholic Church pictured above was laid in September of 1876. A parish hall was built in 1950 that sits just to the north of the church, and in 1955 an addition to the structure was added.

St. Joseph's Catholic Church is truly one of Yreka's landmarks of history! For those that have a copy of our book, Yreka, Images of America a image from 1885 can be found on page 69. A view of the interior alter section from approximately 1900 can also be viewed.

Copyright: Claudia A. East, 2008

Yreka in Winter

Winter has arrived in Yreka. However, as of this writing during the first week of December, 2008 we have had little rain and no snow this winter. However, this is not always the case. Many years we have had considerable snow and often it arrives all at once!

The image of "snowballs" on trees in Yreka on the left is of a postcard mailed around 1930, and the image was likely taken a few years prior. It is believed that this is an image of Fourth Street near Miner, before it was "widened". The building on the right side is where Dave's Clock's are now along with Edward Jones that sits on the corner of Miner and Fourth. The structures on the left were torn down during the street renovation in the early 1930s.

This month in the Yreka City Newsletter (one finds the newsletter with their city utility bill...) they present interesting information about snow in Yreka obtained from the Siskiyou County Museum archives. There is an interesting photo in the newsletter from a snowstorm in the early 1900s of Miner Street. They present information about "snow shoveling" in the infamous 1901 snow storm that dumped 6 or 7 feet of snow within two days. Within a week, wages for shoveling snow went from $1 an hour to $2.50 an hour. These were incredible wages considering the 1901 yearly household income in the United States averaged $750 a year!

Many times when heavy snowfall has occurred all at once, it often is followed by heavy rains ~ and very quickly Yreka finds itself in the midst of a flood. The above mentioned 1901 heavy snow storm did just that and the ensuing rains flooded Yreka Creek and significant damage to the train station, railroad tracks, homes, and businesses came to our residents. If a copy of the 1976 Siskiyou Pioneer is in your home library one can view some of the devastation from the 1901 storm on pages 51, 29, and 27.

Just a few years ago, either in 2003 or 2004 we had a snowfall of 3 feet in a very short time. It brought mobility within town to a grinding halt. With our past history of snowfall and then rain, Yreka is sure to experience more of the same in the future.

Copyright: Claudia A. East, 2008