It has been awhile since we last visited one of the oldest and most prominent business buildings in Susanville – the Knoch.

After the devastating fire of 1898, it was rebuilt. Ten years later, David Knoch passed away and his son, Isaac “Ike” Knoch took possession of the building. With the arrival of the “iron horse” to Susanville in 1913,  it brought tremendous growth to the region. In 1914, when Knoch proposed to add a third story, he was told it could not be done. Well, as Knoch recalled years later, “That was all I needed the word can’t.” Work on the third story was to commence shortly after Labor Day 1914, However, with the Moose Lodge proposed a harvest festival in which Main Street would be shut down for several days, the work on the third floor was postponed. When the $34,000 project was completed, Susanville also had its first elevator.

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P.S. I am due back in Susanville late tomorrow morning..

On April 28, 2015 the first hurdle of the permit process was made for the construction of a 17,400 square foot Rite Aid store. The store, along with the parking lot would encompass the entire of north side of 1600 block of Main Street. Of course, this site was the former home of Potter’s Maternity Home on the corner of Main and Park. In 1966, United California Bank took over this location and constructed their bank, which held an open house of February 27, 1967. It has housed a number of financial institutions since then. Of course, on the corner of Main and Ash was Baxter’s Flying “A” Service Station.  After it closed, for a brief time in 1978 it housed Jim Pardee’s campaign headquarters for Lassen County Superior Court Judge, and then was subsequently torn down and now a part of the Rite Aid parking lot.

The Rite Aid  was short-lived and and closed it doors not quite ten years of operation.

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Only four days to go!

In 1914, Franceska Neuhaus commissioned the construction of the St. Francis Hotel on the corner of Main and Union Streets. After her passing in 1918, her son and daughter-in-law, Bill and Flora Neuhaus took over ownership.

Seasoned residents of the Susanville region will recall the spring of 1971, when the Bank of America building at Main and North Gay Street was demolished.  Many in the community had not recovered from the demolition of another iconic building the original Lassen High School, which was torn down in June 1968 for the current campus buildings.

Tim

To the untrained eye, one detects it is  an early day photograph of once was the Elks Lodge as the west send of Susanville. As the lodge recently sold, I am not sure as to the current owners has a given this landmark building a name.

This photograph was taken in 1923 or early 1924. In 1922, the highway department constructed the retaining wall in front of the of the Elk’s In the summer of 1924 a fire wiped out the pine trees on the bluff behind the Elk’s.

To the left, 502 Main Street, is still here, but it  was a remodeled in to a two-story building. Just above it on the corner, that house was moved to Janesville Grade for the realignment of the highway curve circa 1990.

Tim

Recently Mike Cole wrote in the comment section of Susanville Helipad:

“1972 was the first year for Bieber Helitack. I was a firefighter on the crew. The guy in white shirt was our pilot, fresh out of Vietnam Nam, his first name was John ( can’t remember his last name). Next up is FC Jack Waters, FAE Jack Perdue, and FGT (FC) Dave McNamara. We were issued nomex jumpsuits, before firefighters had nomex. I retired from CDF in 2006”

Thank you Mike, Tim.

While it is fairly common knowledge that the City of Susanville was named for the town founder’s daughter, Susan Roop, who later married Alexander T. Arnold. Many assume that the Susan River that flows through the community would also be named after Susan Roop.  However, that is not the case, because the river was so named, prior to Isaac Roop’s arrival on the scene.

During the years 1851-1852, William H. Nobles located a new emigrant road from Shasta, California to Lassen’s Meadows, Nevada. This road passed through the Honey Lake Valley. Nobles named the Susan River for his wife, Susan Parker Nobles.  While we know a lot about Susan Roop Arnold, very little is known about Susan Parker Nobles. She resided in Minnesota for the majority of her married life, moving to California when her husband, Nobles, died in 1876.

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