Susanville’s Brannan House

Mike & Millie Brannan
Mike & Millie Brannan. Courtesy of Wally Barnett

Susanville’s first hotel, if you could call it such was Cutler Arnold’s story and half structure of hewn logs. For two years, beginning in the spring of 1857, it also housed the town’s only dining establishment, meals costing seventy-five cents.

As the town progressed so did the accommodations. In 1860, Emanuel “Mike” Brannan built a two-story hotel on the northeast corner of Main and Lassen streets. It was a transitional period, as the days of log structures were being placed with wooden framed ones. Brannan operated the hotel for the next four years, and due to some financial problems lost the hotel. Just as the Brannan House had replaced Arnold’s, Brannan’s was replaced by the superior Steward House in 1864.

Stewart House
Susanville’s Stewart House, 1881. It sometimes was used as a hospital. Courtesy of Dallas & Joyce Snider

The Brannan House slowly faded away entirely. Its second floor was converted into lodge hall for the Oddfellows. The first floor was used for a variety purposes including that of the post office and the government land office. In 1880, it was torn down and replaced by a new Oddfellows Hall, and that building was replaced with the current structure built in 1896..

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