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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Thought I would pass along the above stock certificate. During the early 1900s numerous local businesses and organizations incorporated. By doing so it allowed them to sale stock, as an avenue to raise funds.

Hopefully, in about a month’s time I will have the history of the Susanville Country Club ready to be put on line.

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.

In 1906, Brashear Street became the first new street inside the original town plat. There would be only three other streets inside the original city limits to be created. There is something the reader can contemplate which were the others.

William Brashear owned all of Block 32 and segments of Blocks 24 and 31. These had never subdivided into lots. With the pending arrival of the railroad, that all changed. It was prime residential property, as it provided some of the best views of the area.  In 1911, J.W. Scott, a realtor subdivided the lots on the east side of Gay Street around to Brashear. It became one of the town’s first upscale developments. The initial deed restriction required all houses built cost at least $1,000.

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On August 7, 1934 during a special session of the Susanville City Council they condemned the Liberty Theater, after state inspectors stated it was unsafe. Two day’s later the theater would close, and it was only fitting the film shown that day was “The Party’s Over.” It should be noted that the Liberty was built in 1921 and in 1924 it was purchased by T & D Enterprises.

In late September, demolition began on the Liberty Theater and it was announced a new theater would be built on the site of the old one, to be named Sierra Theater. Construction on the concrete re-inforced theater began in October, and the owners noted it was earthquake proof, the first of its kind in Susanville. On Friday, March 8, 1935 a grand opening was held for $75,000 theater. The first showing was appropriately a film named, “The Whole Town’s Talking.”

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After World War I, a new sport captured the nation and Lassen County got swept up in that craze. Golf. It was A.G. Breitwieser of the Lassen Lumber & Box Company, C.W. Hallowell of the local hardware store and James Christie of the furniture store that became the main instigators.

In the spring of 1924 they negotiated a lease with S.D. Ridenour for a portion of his ranch three miles south of Susanville for a 9-hole golf course.  In a short time, their group became formerly known as the Susanville Country Club.

On May 11, 1924, the golf course was opened, hours sunrise to sunset. The fee 75 cents a day.

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Shirley’s was a bar on the north end of Hall Street, the current site of the Juniper Apartments.  Established in the 1930s after the repeal of prohibition, by Jean “Shirley” Tilton, and its distance from town on a road heading to points northward was similar to the roadhouses between Susanville and Westwood. *

It was quite the interesting watering hole,  “Shirley”  a former nurse, was confined to a wheel chair, but remembered for her generosity. She was also a madam, and cabins behind her establishment took care of certain needs of her clientele. Then there was her friend, gay piano man, and member of Sacred Heart Church’s choir, that assisted her, until he committed suicide in 1938. When she died in 1954, Gene Garayoa and Steve Arainty transformed it into the Juniper Inn.

*Ash Street, was not in existence.

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