In 1862, Harry Thompson who operated the local stone quarry in Susanville purchased three lots on the north side of Main Street between Lassen and Gay Streets from Isaac Roop. Shortly, thereafter he built a house there. The following year he defaulted on the payments to Roop and Roop took possession of the house and moved in. He would reside there until his death in 1869. Later his daughter and son-in-law, Alex and Susan Arnold resided with him. The Arnolds remained there until 1885 when they sold the house, and built a new home on Weatherlow Street. The Roop house was then moved to its present location at 140 North Lassen Street where it remains to this day. In 1935, Ardell Torrey completely renovated the house.

Tim

In the mid-1920s a nucleus of what would become Susanville’s Automotive Row took place. Two significant developments took place in 1925/26 with the construction of two car dealerships at the intersection of Main and Weatherlow Streets. On the northwest corner was Smith’s Chevrolet. Kitty corner, or the southeast corner of Main and Weatherlow was Ramsey Auto Sales, a General Motors dealership . Next facing Weatherlow was Menth’s Auto Service. Kitty corner to that a gas station, which out of the four is the only one that exists. Just below Ramsey Auto Sales was Wiencke’s garage, which was  an Overland dealership.* Across the street and down a bit near the Veteran’s Memorial building  was Susanville Motors, a Packard dealership. In 1931, Fred Deal purchased Susanville Motors from Felix Polin & Son and later brought in Lester Davie to form Deal & Davie.

*Overland would be best known for its Willy’s  Jeep.

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In the spring of 1957, the Susanville Elementary Parent Teacher Association (PTA) announced big plans for that summer’s Carnival to be held in Susanville’s Memorial Park. It was a bold concept and to make a permanent addition to the park—a Kiddie’s Train. Charlie Weston and large group of volunteers were in charge. They built a replica of a New York Central steam engine.

On. Friday evening, July 12, 1957 was the PTA’s Carnival. While there was an assortment of activities such rides on Shetland ponies, the train was the star attraction. Over 1,000 people rode the train. It was a busy night since the train could only carry 16 to 20 passengers at a time.

For the remainder of the summer, rides were offered on the evenings of Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. Though on Sunday afternoon’s rides were also offered. The price ten cents a ride.

At this time, I do not know how long it operated, though I would say probably about eight years. If anyone happens to know that answer or has other information they would like to share, it would be greatly appreciated.

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Susanville’s founder, Isaac Roop, happened to be the town’s first realtor. In 1861 he began selling town plots, though it was not until 1863, when Roop hired E.R. Nichols survey the initial town.

Roop, as the old saying phrase goes, did a “land office business” as a real estate agent. During his eight years that there are records for, he sold 194 lots for a grand total $34,143.50. A nice tidy sum, especially considering Roop never owned the land.

When a U.S. Government Land Office was opened in Susanville in 1871,  it was discovered that Roop had never taken the proper procedures to procure title to the townsite. Thus, owners of town lots were vulnerable to claim jumpers, who could file a patent process with the Government Land Office and become the rightful owner of the town. It literally took an act of the U.S. Congress to rectify the situation and on May 20, 1872, Congress approved a townsite and vested title in all lots to the District Court Judge. The judge then had the task to reissue deeds to the current owners to the town lots.

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This was one of the original streets of Susanville, and an interesting one at that. Oak Avenue was located between North Pine and North Roop Streets. It started at Nevada Street and extended beyond Willow Street. It should be noted, North Roop Street ended at Willow Street. However, Oak Avenue only extended forty feet from Nevada, due to the fact there was no right-of-way. In December 1882, a petition by the residents of the area, requested the Lassen County Board of Supervisors to abandon Oak Avenue. The board obliged and  so no more Oak Avenue on paper.

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