California, San Mateo County, Redwood City
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(Four markers are mounted on this pedestal.) Diller-Chamberlain General Store (Quong Lee Laundry)
726 Main Street J.V. Diller had this one-story brick building constructed in 1859 to house his general store, historically significant as San Mateo County’s oldest commercial building and the county’s first brick building. It is the sole remnant of Redwood City’s earliest days as a lumber town, as its location reflects the importance of Main Street as the first major thoroughfare.
The building’s rear entrance faced Redwood Creek, which was the waterway in use to float redwood logs to San Francisco during the Gold Rush – which is why a town began here. The store resembles the simple, classical, false-fronted commercial buildings built in the Mother Lode. Original details are still evident, such as the cast-iron shutters. P.P. Chamberlain, the second owner who operated here until 1916 as San Mateo County Treasurer, kept the county’s funds in the store safe.
From 1875 to 1911, the store also served as the Wells Fargo Express Office. In 1938, it was remodeled to become Quong Lee Laundry. After the 1989 earthquake, the building received a seismic retrofit and the facade underwent restoration to its 1859 appearance.
American Hotel/American House Site
Main Street and Broadway Redwood City’s first hotel was established in 1855 by A. Harris, on the east side of Main Street, where eastbound Broadway now extends. It was a crude, one-story structure that was enlarged to two stories and called the American Hotel. The upstairs sleeping quarters were simply bunks.
Edward Hancock was the owner in 1856 when ballots in San Mateo County’s first election were counted “in parlors” of the hotel. During the canvass, out-of-town politicians who had brazenly directed ballot stuffing in hopes of controlling the new county, resorted to gun threats and grappling for ballots as they were being counted. But the townspeople took their case to court, winning the right to name their own officials and to claim Redwood City as the county seat.
The first Board of Supervisors meeting took place here when it was decided to rent county office space in Diller’s Store (across the street, by the creek) until a new courthouse could be built.
The American Hotel burned down in 1864. Sidney Merrill, local druggist, postmaster, and Redwood City’s first tax collector, purchased the site for a new three-story hotel completed in 1867, calling it the American House. This hotel burned in 1878, replaced by the Wahl Building, which was torn down in 1931 when Broadway was extended east from Main Street.
Sequoia Hotel
800 Main Street This prime corner lot in the heart of downtown was purchased by a group of local investors. The town has need of a first-class hotel for many years, the best one was demolished by the 1906 earthquake. The hotel cost more than $100,000 – quite an expenditure at that time. The three-story brick building was massive (100 ft. by 100 ft.) and elegantly and expensively decorated and furnished. Every two rooms had a bath and hot and cold water. Public restrooms were on every floor, the ground floor lobby led to a dining room and public restaurant. There parlors where business and social meetings could be held were on the second and third floors where 60 rooms are located.
In 1928, President Herbert Hoover stayed here when he visited Redwood City and rode in the 4th of July Parade. This building has a number of classical features typical of its 1912 construction; two Ionic pilasters flank the two wooden front doors; above the third floor series of windows is a large cornice supported by thick brackets ornamented with a large “egg and dart” band.
Bank of San Mateo County
2000 Broadway
NE Corner of Main Street Incorporated in 1891, the Bank of San Mateo County was the first commercial bank on the Peninsula. It operated from the Capitol Hotel a few doors up the street. In 1899, noted architect Alfred I. Coffey was hired to design a Renaissance style stone veneer building using cut stone from Utah. It was completed in 1900 and remains today as one of Redwood City’s most notable commercial-institutional structures.
For more than 40 years, the law office of Ross & Ross occupied the second floor. The attorney’s brother, Dr. J.L. Ross, was the first bank president. Dr. Ross had purchased the adjacent lot in 1899 and built a two-story brick building with a cast-iron front.
After the 1906 earthquake, the bank purchased the Ross building, and Coffey was hired to design a 55 ft. facade that would incorporate both buildings. The renovation was commemorated in 1910.
(Notable Buildings) Includes location, directions, 9 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
(Four markers are mounted on this pedestal.) Diller-Chamberlain General Store (Quong Lee Laundry)
726 Main Street J.V. Diller had this one-story brick building constructed in 1859 to house his general store, historically significant as San Mateo County’s oldest commercial building and the county’s first brick building. It is the sole remnant of Redwood City’s earliest days as a lumber town, as its location reflects the importance of Main Street as the first major thoroughfare.
The building’s rear entrance faced Redwood Creek, which was the waterway in use to float redwood logs to San Francisco during the Gold Rush – which is why a town began here. The store resembles the simple, classical, false-fronted commercial buildings built in the Mother Lode. Original details are still evident, such as the cast-iron shutters. P.P. Chamberlain, the second owner who operated here until 1916 as San Mateo County Treasurer, kept the county’s funds in the store safe.
From 1875 to 1911, the store also served as the Wells Fargo Express Office. In 1938, it was remodeled to become Quong Lee Laundry. After the 1989 earthquake, the building received a seismic retrofit and the facade underwent restoration to its 1859 appearance.
American Hotel/American House Site
Main Street and Broadway Redwood City’s first hotel was established in 1855 by A. Harris, on the east side of Main Street, where eastbound Broadway now extends. It was a crude, one-story structure that was enlarged to two stories and called the American Hotel. The upstairs sleeping quarters were simply bunks.
Edward Hancock was the owner in 1856 when ballots in San Mateo County’s first election were counted “in parlors” of the hotel. During the canvass, out-of-town politicians who had brazenly directed ballot stuffing in hopes of controlling the new county, resorted to gun threats and grappling for ballots as they were being counted. But the townspeople took their case to court, winning the right to name their own officials and to claim Redwood City as the county seat.
The first Board of Supervisors meeting took place here when it was decided to rent county office space in Diller’s Store (across the street, by the creek) until a new courthouse could be built.
The American Hotel burned down in 1864. Sidney Merrill, local druggist, postmaster, and Redwood City’s first tax collector, purchased the site for a new three-story hotel completed in 1867, calling it the American House. This hotel burned in 1878, replaced by the Wahl Building, which was torn down in 1931 when Broadway was extended east from Main Street.
Sequoia Hotel
800 Main Street This prime corner lot in the heart of downtown was purchased by a group of local investors. The town has need of a first-class hotel for many years, the best one was demolished by the 1906 earthquake. The hotel cost more than $100,000 – quite an expenditure at that time. The three-story brick building was massive (100 ft. by 100 ft.) and elegantly and expensively decorated and furnished. Every two rooms had a bath and hot and cold water. Public restrooms were on every floor, the ground floor lobby led to a dining room and public restaurant. There parlors where business and social meetings could be held were on the second and third floors where 60 rooms are located.
In 1928, President Herbert Hoover stayed here when he visited Redwood City and rode in the 4th of July Parade. This building has a number of classical features typical of its 1912 construction; two Ionic pilasters flank the two wooden front doors; above the third floor series of windows is a large cornice supported by thick brackets ornamented with a large “egg and dart” band.
Bank of San Mateo County
2000 Broadway
NE Corner of Main Street Incorporated in 1891, the Bank of San Mateo County was the first commercial bank on the Peninsula. It operated from the Capitol Hotel a few doors up the street. In 1899, noted architect Alfred I. Coffey was hired to design a Renaissance style stone veneer building using cut stone from Utah. It was completed in 1900 and remains today as one of Redwood City’s most notable commercial-institutional structures.
For more than 40 years, the law office of Ross & Ross occupied the second floor. The attorney’s brother, Dr. J.L. Ross, was the first bank president. Dr. Ross had purchased the adjacent lot in 1899 and built a two-story brick building with a cast-iron front.
After the 1906 earthquake, the bank purchased the Ross building, and Coffey was hired to design a 55 ft. facade that would incorporate both buildings. The renovation was commemorated in 1910.
(Notable Buildings) Includes location, directions, 9 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
The finest playhouse between San Francisco and San Jose opened here January 20, 1896. In 1921, the building was purchased by Redwood City Masonic Lodge which was instituted August 28, 1863.
This windmill was built in the 1880’s on the Solari farm, located at Whipple Avenue and Old County Road in Redwood City.
Fremont Peak was called Gavilan Peak in early Spanish times, Gavilan in English meaning Hawk. In 1846 Capt. John Charles Fremont, brevet captain of topographical engineers of the United States Army, was conducting a survey and exploring expedition in Oregon and California. His presence with an armed force in the settled area was objected to by Prefect Manuel Castro and General Jose Castro and the California authorities. He was ordered to leave. Instead Fremont prepared to resist this request. He ascended Gavilan Peak where he built a fort of logs. A sapling was cut for a flagpole and on March 6, 1846 Fremont raised the flag of the United States. Castro has his forces below at San Juan Bautista but before any attack was made, Fremont’s flagpole blew down on the afternoon of March 9. Fremont, taking this as a bad omen broke camp in the night and moved on toward the San Joaquin. So the open battle was avoided. After this episode Gavilan Peak again became the meeting place for hawks.
The American flag was first raised on California soil March 4, 1846 on this spot by
General John C. Fremont
Built in 1894 by J.J. Burt to carry “Diamond Brand” lime from Harlan Mt. the S.P. railhead at Tres Pinos.
The track was a single wooden rail. The locomotive was wood fueled steam operated. On its maiden voyage the engine exploded while taking on water from Pescadero Creek thus ending operation forever.
Reportedly built in the 1840’s by a Basque named Rafael Pico. First recorded owner Maria Antonia Boronda in 1849. Owned by family members of Jose Maria Castro for many years. Ruins purchased by San Juan Bautista Parlor, N.D.G.W. in 1934.
The intermediate field system, developed by the U.S. Department of Commerce, greatly increased safety in early commercial aviation. Rodeo Intermediate Field 57A was established in 1930 to enhance navigation for Standard Airlines -later TWA- from California to El Paso, and served as an army auxiliary field during WWII. Its building foundations, earthen air strips and red directional arrow pointing the way to El Paso still are visible today.
W.A. Irwin came from Santa Monica, California, where as a developer, he owned thousands of acres and established colony tracts. He laid out Irwin City, which was surveyed by George Manuel, and had it recorded on May 8, 1907. The colony was less than a mile south of present day Hilmar. Irwin himself promoted the area in brochures claiming the climate was the best in the world. No hard winters, no snow storms, no cyclones, only eternal summer.
In honored memory of those from the Hurley community who lost their lives in World War One, World War Two, The Korean and Vietnam Conflicts. Those heroes live beyond the tomb.
Born in Tennessee on December 31, 1851, James Emerson Whiteselle moved to Texas in 1870 to work in the lumber company of his uncle P. W. Ezell. In 1875 he began working in the local Carruthers Lumber Company which he later owned. Under his management the business was expanded to include the manufacturing and selling of brick. Married to Kate Huey in 1882, Whiteselle became a prominent businessman and banker. As Mayor of Corsicana, 1894-98, when oil was discovered here, he was influential in the development of the field. He died on his birthday in 1915.
First saloon serving steam beer in this area. Has been here for over 100 years. Owned and operated for many years by Steve Kaelin. Presently owned by Lydia C. and Ray L. Dassel.
Jim Jack was known as China Jim, the Mustard King. In the 1880’s he gathered mustard seed from the grain fields in the San Juan Valley. Jim Jack, “the big-hearted Chinaman” had that rarest of gifts, the gift of giving.
Considered one of the greatest triumphs of nineteenth-century engineering when it opened in May, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was built to provide a suitable all-weather link between the then independent and rapidly growing cities of New York and Brooklyn. The brilliant engineer John Roebling proposed a great suspension bridge, a pioneering structure in its use of steel which would leave the busy East River free of obstruction. When he died in an accident as the bridge was being surveyed, his son Washington was chosen to complete the structure. 
Christopher Columbus
In Memoriam
Hand tonged in the Miles River in 1939 by local seafaring legend Frankie Alberto Morgan Wilkenship, this rope dates back to 1813. It was used during the British Invasion of St. Michaels. Maritime forensic experts claim the line "a true nautical braid" belonged to the HMS Jabberwock, commanded by Lord Liverrot. The rope was used to tow U.S. warships damaged by Royal Navy cannonballs.
“On October 24, 1839, I blessed the Campo Santo Nuevo (New Cemetery, which because the cemetery adjoining the church could no more bodies, was laid out away from the church).”
