Susanville’s founder, Isaac Roop on why he came to the Honey Lake Valley, was different than Peter Lassen. On the other hand, Roop came to California in 1850. Roop was not a member of the gold rush. He came here from Ohio at the urging of his brother Josiah, who had a general store in the mining community of Shasta. Josiah asked his brother Isaac to operate the store while he returned east to bring his family out to California. Josiah never made back it, as he died en route. Isaac had no choice but to remain to settle his brother’s estate.

On June 14, 1853 was a turning point for Roop when a devastating fire in Shasta left him nearly destitute. A bit background on Roop. He was widowed and the father of three small children whom he left in the care of his in-laws. Roop decided not to rebuild in Shasta nor was he going to return to his family in Ohio. Instead he set out out on the Noble’s Emigrant Trail in the fall of 1853 in search of a location for a trading post. He found a spot at the very western end of the Honey Lake Valley. In June 1854, Roop with his brother, Ephraim returned and built a log cabin trading post/home that became the foundation of what would become Susanville.

Spread the word, and encourage a friend to subscribe.

This is the first featured “mobile home” located at 250 South Roop Street, Susanville. It was originally located at 30 South Roop Street and was built in the mid-1870s. In July 1921, Dr. C.F. Compton acquired the residence and divided it into two sections—one side being living quarters, the other half his chiropractic office. In 1936, Compton sold the building.

In 1940, Cliff Gledhill purchased the property and he sold the house to E.W. Smith. Smith hired Baker McQueen to move the house to its current location. Gledhill had a cement building constructed on the old site and on May 22, 1940 it opened as a Western Auto Supply Store.

Spread the word, and encourage a friend to subscribe.

Actually, “redux” is not exactly the word I had in mind. Many are familiar with the Roseberry House , 609 North Street, Susanville, which the historic home is a Bed & Breakfast. The house was built by local contractor Charles Odette in 1903 for T.A and Viola Roseberry. Many people, however, are not familiar that in that same year, Odette built a duplicate of the Roseberry House for George and Annie Bailey in the Tule District near Standish. However, the Bailey house is not visible from the County Road, since it sits back about a quarter of a mile.

Subscribe

Of all the “mobile homes” this one was unique in a certain way. First a little background. The original Koken residence was on the corner of South Roop and Cottage Streets. It was moved to down Cottage Street, a short distance, to its present location of 607 Cottage Street. The reason for the move, was Safeway was building a store on South Roop Street, the building known today as the office Lassen Municipal Utility District (LMUD). Safeway needed the corner lot for parking for its customer, and site is still a parking lot.

Unlike the other buildings to be featured, this was the only that its exterior was dramatically altered, since it is now a two-story structure, which I am the occupant on the second floor. When the house was first moved, it was converted into a beauty shop. After the Hotel Mt. Lassen was destroyed by fire, one of its former occupants, Dr. Ray Packwood, an optometrist relocated his practice there. Packwood had previously purchased the lot behind the house, where he constructed a three-car garage, with an apartment above. However, I do not know when Packwood remodeled the Koken residence and added the second story.

Subscribe

Long before the Earth Day movement, spring cleaning inside and outside of one’s home was the de riegeur of the day. Personally, I got a head start during the winter sorting through and tossing stuff, since it was one of the few things I could do during my recovery.

Anyhow, long before there was even a municipality of Susanville, by the early 1870s there was always a movement on hand for the residents to clean up the outside of their homes. Most of the residents complied. However, there was no public dumping ground. It would not be until that the City of Susanville acquired a forty-acre parcel for public dumping ground. This dump remained in use until the mid-1960s. Fast forward many years later, the site was cleaned up and is now part of Skyline Park.

Support