Susanville’s house numbering system was done in two separate phases. The first began in 1925, when the postal service announced free mail delivery. Prior to this, everyone went to the post office to pick up their mail. Thus, the city had to install street signs, to assist the mail carrier.
All went well until 1953. At the January city council meeting, the building inspector, city engineer along with the fire department all agreed that the current house numbering system was confusing. City Engineer, G.M. Thompson was assigned the task to develop a new one. The streets mainly effected were north/south from Pine to Mesa Streets. Prior to this there was no distinction of north or south. For instance, the Elk’s Lodge old address was 820 Pine Street, under the new designation it became 10 North Pine Street. Another example was that of the Lassen County Abstract Company, the first title company. Its original designation was 1007 Lassen Street, it is now 125 South Lassen Street. In all, 1100 addresses were changed.