Located at 609 North Street, Susanville is the stately Roseberry House constructed in 1903 and is the community’s only bed and breakfast operation. However, a hundred years earlier, its owner then, also took in tourists.

The house was constructed for Thomas and Viola Roseberry. When Lassen Peak came alive as a real live volcano in 1914, area residents flocked to the mountain to take a look first hand. For Thomas Roseberry it was a fatal mistake for in August 1915, while climbing down the peak he died from a heart attack. Another tragic event occurred earlier in the month when the Emerson Hotel, located only two blocks from the Roseberry home was destroyed by fire.

These circumstances forced Viola into action. She made some remodeling changes to her home and began to take in travelers and boarders alike, which she would do so for another decade.

Never miss a story click here.

Well, I had hoped to had this ready by now, but I still need to finish up some research. To be honest, I got sidetracked when I reviewed the Lee Zwiebel file, a manager of the theater during its early years.

Of course, there were some controversies that arose from the theater over certain films shown. Whatever the case may be, if anyone would like share their stories about Sierra, by all means contact me.

It is never too late, subscribe today and enjoy tomorrow with daily notifications. You can also surprise someone with a gift subscription

It is interesting to note that when the first town plat of Susanville was surveyed only three streets were named after individuals–Lassen, Roop and Weatherlow.  Fast forward to 1912, when the town’s largest adjoining subdivision, Lassen Townsite, was laid out nearly all the over half of the streets were named for individuals. Those streets such as Alexander, Knoch, Pardee, Minckler, were named for the investors.

In future posts, we will delve into the history of the street names, and who were these people. For instance, Mark Street was named for Mark Arnold, the seventeen-year-old son of Alexander and Susan Roop Arnold, who died in 1898.

Never miss a story, click here.

In the summer of 1862, T.N. Long and Al Leroy constructed a story and half building on the southwest corner of Main and Union Streets, the current site of the St. Francis Hotel. It housed the Magnolia Saloon, and at the time of construction was most pretentious structure in Susanville. In 1864, the saloon also housed Lassen County’s first courtroom. As the court only was in session during the first few days of each month, it did not interfere with the saloon trade. In 1867, with a new Lassen County Courthouse, the Magnolia was no longer needed for judicial purposes. Over the years, it housed numerous entities and was destroyed by a fire in 1882.

Never miss a story, click here.

For over a century a barbershop went hand-in-hand with the Pioneer Saloon.  Times change, the old fashioned barbershop is bordering upon extinction.

In Susanville, there is still Fred’s Barbershop at 20 North Lassen Street. It is a place that I not only patronize, but also stopped by from time to time to discuss the weather and any other topic that suits our fancy. Fred Borghi,  has been doing business there since October 1958, a local institution.

Never miss a story, click here.

In the annals of Susanville’s history, it has witnessed a wide variety of fraternal and social organizations. One of the more unusual and short-lived was the Loafer’s Society.

Organized in 1878, the Society recruited men to sacrifice themselves for the good of the community, to consumer all the intoxicating beverages, so as to prevent others from falling prey to demon rum and other concoctions. They also distributed themselves about the entrances of churches and other public gatherings to provide examples to the young not to follow in their foot steps.

The Loafer’s Society only membership requirements were for men of good immoral character, an easy flow of profane and vulgar language and a large capacity for whiskey. They also, only met on Sundays.

Never miss a story, click here.

In case you missed the first installment, you can find it here. The newspaper had two eras—the Tremain and Cooks. On March 16, 1911, Fred C. Sefton purchased the Lassen Weekly Mail from J.M. Tremain for $3,000 and the transition was in earnest. Sefton’s news coverage was far superior than Tremain.

A fire, too, again shaped the newspaper. On October 9, 1911 the printing office of the Lassen Weekly Mail was destroyed by fire. Sefton moved to a new location on South Gay Street in the rear of the Bank of Lassen County building, where it remained until 1934.  But that was not the only change on the horizon. In June 1913, Robert M. Cook purchased the newspaper. Cook, who was also attorney, worked in the newspaper trade in Philadelphia. But what he desired the most was to own a small town newspaper, and headed to San Francisco as a base for his quest.

It was a family affair operation, as his wife, Katherine and their two sons, Kenneth and Don were involved in the newspaper one way or another.  In 1918, a women’s page was added, with Katherine in charge of that department. In 1922, “Weekly” was dropped from the masthead, and now the paper simply known as the Lassen Mail.

The good times would only last so long. On March 30, 1933, Robert M. Cook passed away after a couple of years of health issues. There was no question he was the guiding force behind the paper.  A year later the family leased the newspaper to D.J. Makepeace. The newspaper struggled and in the spring of 1937, Ross Draper publisher of the Lassen Advocate acquired it. Draper continued with Mail, until December 1938. At that time it was merged to be the Lassen Advocate-Mail. When 1940 arrived, the Mail was dropped from the title.

Never miss a story click, here and support this site.