I.O.O.F. Building - Yreka, CA
N 41° 43.897 W 122° 38.165
10T E 530265 N 4620042
This historical marker resides in front of the I.O.O.F. Building on the corner of W. Miner and S. Broadway Streets in historic downtown Yreka, CA.
Waymark Code: WMH49X
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 05/20/2013
Views: 2
This historical marker hangs in front of the I.O.O.F. Building on the corner of W. Miner and S. Broadway Streets. There are numerous older buildings along Miner Street that contain historical markers that relate the history of each building, a few mentioning the great fire of 1871 that swept through downtown Miner St. This historic building's marker reads:
I.O.O.F. Building
(International Order of Odd Fellows)
107, 117 W. Miner St. I.O.O.F. Yreka Lodge #19 was instituted in 1853 and has been at this location since that date. Multiple transactions in ownership and lot size and shape occurred before two, one-story brick buildings were erected on this site. These buildings provided the foundation for the I.O.O.F.'s second story meeting hall. After the fire of 1871, the entire building was rebuilt using the undamaged brick walls. The vault in McConnell and McManus' ground level store proved a safe place to keep several kegs of powder that escaped the blaze without igniting. The Odd Fellows acquired sole ownership of the entire building in 1897 and rented space to many different establishments through the years, including a drug store business, which commenced in 1935 and operated under various owners until it finally closed in early 1990.
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I located a nice article on the history of the Yreka Drug Store that once existed on the ground floor here. The Yreka Chamber of Commerce currently resides on the ground floor as well as a sandwich shop.
Yreka has a few websites devoted to preserving its rich history. Siskiyouhistory.org is a good place to start and breaks up the town's history into groups of years. Yrekapreservation.org contains some nice pictures of original homes and commercial buildings from yesteryear. Finally, Yrekahistory.blogspot.com is a good blog website which contains great stories and events of Yreka's past and all their articles have been archived.