In the 1920s, golfing became all the rage nationally and locally. In the 1930s, two other sporting activities came to the forefront—skiing and tennis. In the past, we have explored how the ski areas of Coppervale and Willard came to be.

In 1935, the local 20-30 club, a civic organization whose focus was on youth development and leadership saw the need for public tennis courts. They approached the County of Lassen with a request to use property on the courthouse square near the intersection of Roop and Mill Streets. It would not cost the county, and the county obliged. The club held fundraisers and by the fall of 1935, the tennis courts became a reality.

This topic, also falls under the elusive photograph category, as I have never come across any. How, long the tennis courts remained, is not clear, but in 1962, the courthouse annex was built on the site.

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This is one of those instances, that I am relying on seasoned residents to provide the information. Whitely’s Furniture Store was located on the 1400 block of Main Street. While the building is still there, it has been through many tenants over the years. If anyone knows when it was built or anything else, I hope you share it with the rest of us.

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Minckler came to the Honey Lake Valley from his native Wisconsin and settled near present day Standish in 1872, with his grandmother, Hannah Lax, and his mother, Mary Kelley. It should be noted that he never met his half-brother Elbern Kelley who drowned in Honey Lake in 1863 at the age of 9. Minckler was a civil engineer for nearly thirty-five years. The position of county surveyor in Minckler’s lifetime was an elected one. He was elected twice, first in 1882, and again in 1890. Among the projects Minckler did in the private sector was that of Ward Lake, Hall’s Addition and Lassen Townsite, which is a huge subdivision from Richmond Road extending all the way past present day Plumas Bank to San Francisco Street—that location better known for a farmer’s market during the summer months.

In the Lassen Townsite subdivision a street was named after him, as were many of the investors, such as Alexander, Knoch, and Pardee. Its probably a good thing for Minckler, since there is no marker for his grave in the Susanville Cemetery. Those very seasoned residents of Susanville might remember when the Susanville Branch of the Lassen County Free Library was in a small building next to Susanville’s City Hall on North Lassen Street. That structure was originally Minckler’s office building.

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The summer of 1916 were lively times in the region. However, the region’s newspapers also reported on some mundane items. As the Lassen Weekly Mail reported in August 1916 that were no inmates in the Lassen County Jail and that Deputy Sheriff J.S. Church main duties were reduced to swatting flies in the building.

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Susanville’s second Bank of America building was a short-lived affair of the 1970s. When it opened in 1972, it introduced area residents with a new venue—a drive-up teller. It did not turn out so well. The problem was the Main Street entrance. Cars would be backed up into the right hand lane. Finally, it was not until the summer of 1978 when the bank corrected problem where customers would use an entrance from North Gay Street.

The experiment was short-lived. In 1979 Bank of America made preparations to replace that building with a new bank on the corner of North Gay and Nevada Streets. In 2017, Bank of America closed its Susanville branch.

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When the State of California took over Susanville’s Main Street, in 1933, which is a part of Highway 36, everyone was at the mercy of the State who dictated how the thoroughfare would operate. For a long time it was not an issue.

In the 1940s, there were changes on the horizon. There was a great deal of traffic congestion in the uptown area. In 1947, the City proposed two stop lights—one at Lassen and the other at Weatherlow. When the State Division of Highways learned of this, they objected, citing it did not meet the requirement of 100 cars per hour at those intersections. The State wanted to discontinue angle parking for parallel. The merchants howled. The change would eliminate parking by fifty percent.

The issue turned ugly when the state approved the change. The city adopted a parallel parking ordinance at their July1950 meeting. The city was concerned if they did not enforce it, the State would with hold the city’s apportionment of gasoline tax money. Lowell Hardy of the Golden Rule store, suggested the city did not need such wide sidewalks—they could be narrowed on each side and there would be ample room for four lanes and angle parking. It remained a contentious through 1952, which by that time parallel parking was here to stay.

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