Welcome to the Weed Centennial Plaza - Weed, California - Signs of History on Waymarking.com

History sign at the Weed Centennial Plaza with information on the Plaza and Abner Weed. Text of Sign:

Welcome to the Weed Centennial Plaza
This memorial was designed and built by the proud citizens of Ween and dedicated on September 9,2001 as a birthday gift to the city.
You are standing next to several of the 3500 bricks salvaged from the site of the old sawmill powerhouse and hand cleaned by many volunteers. These bricks were then sold as part of a “buy a brick” fund raising drive that was enthusiastically supported by local businesses and hundreds of current and former Weed residents.
At the center of this wheel shaped plaza, which represents Weed and the “hub” of Siskiyou County, is a welded steel sculpture by Mr. Abner Weed, the city’s founding farther.
Abner was a pioneer industrialist who built the first lumber mill here on the northwest slope of Mt. Shasta in 1901. The now famous “Winds of Weed” were employed to dry the fresh cut lumber as the city grew up around the logging camp that became Weed Lumber Company.
The beautiful and detailed carved wall sculpture depict classic scenes from Weed’s colorful logging past. Behind it looms the ever-present grandeur of 14,162-ft. Mt. Shasta. Both of these sculptures were skilfully created, using county artist Ralph Starrit.
To get a feel for the original “company town” visit the fascinating weed Historic Lumber Town Museum one block off Main Street.

Abner Weed -- CIty Founder
(Born Sept. 18, 1842 - Died May 17, 1917)
As early as 1891 logging operations were taking place in and around what is now the town of Weed, but it wasn’t until 1897 that Weed began to show the first signs of what would later become a booming logging town.
The town inherited its unusual name from its founder, Abner Weed, who saw a vast potential in the area’s lush timber and abundant water supplies.
Because of its unique location at the base of Mt. Shasta, Weed experiences almost a constant breeze. The wind ascends over Black Butte summit in a northward thrust. As it descends the air current swirls around the hills with tremendous force, often causing a swirling patch of clouds over the peak of Mt. Shasta. Abner noticed this and saw that he could harness the wind for his lumber operations to help in drying the green lumber. He purchased a 280 acre site in the path of the wind in 1897.
By late 1902, the town included the cookhouse, bunkhouse, a post office, two mills, a box factory, a boarding house, a store (the Mercantile), and several homes. Shortly thereafter, the Weed Hospital was built. By 1905, Weed was a busy growing community, and was referred to as a “company” town. The payroll was large enough to entice other investors into the area, and by 1907 a new part of town emerged and became known as Shastina, At this time, Abner Weed sold the Weed Lumber Company to Long Bell Lumber Company.
Politically, Abner Weed was elected to the California State Senate, 37th session in 1907 and the 38th sessions in 1909. It was from these sessions that he acquired the tittle of “Honorable” Senator Weed.
In 1915 a devastating fire destroyed Lumber Yard 3, and for a brief time threatened the very existence of the town. In 1918, fire was once again destructive to Weed. This time it started in the bakery and soon spread to the adjoining buildings. Almost the entire south side of Main Street burned down before the flames were finally extinguished.

Group that erected the marker: City of Weed Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary: Weed Centennial Plaza Main Street Weed, California United States 96094 URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Take a picture of the marker, preferably including yourself or your GPSr in the photo. A very detailed description of your visit may be substituted for a photo. In any case please provide a description of your visit. A description of only "Visited" or "Saw it while on vacation" by anyone other than the person creating the waymark may be deleted by the waymark owner or the category officers.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log   09/22/2012 Volcanoguy visited it