Hugo Miller Building aka 'Red Man Hall' - Yreka, CA
N 41° 43.909 W 122° 38.205
10T E 530209 N 4620063
This historical marker is located at the Hugo Miller Building (also known locally as the 'Red Man Hall' on historic Miner Street in downtown Yreka, CA.
Waymark Code: WMH3WN
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 05/17/2013
Views: 7
This historical marker hangs in front of the Hugo Miller Building and also known as the 'Red Man Hall' on historic W. Miner St. There are numerous older buildings along Miner Street that contain historical markers that relate the history of each building, a few mentioning Yreka's great fire of 1871. This historic building's marker reads:
Hugo Miller Building
217 W. Miner St. The Arcade Saloon once stood on this site in 1856 where Lotta Crabtree began her singing and dancing profession, and John C. Heenan, 'The Benicia Boy' started his fighting career. The building was completely destroyed by the Great Fire of 1871, but rebuilt in 1880 by Hugo Miller who operated a hardware store here. The second story was expressly designed by Miller to be used as a lodge hall by the Redman of the World.
|
I located a nice article on the history of the Hugo Miller building here and reads:
The first building that stood at this spot located at 217 West Miner Street, Yreka, CA was first gutted by fire in 1862 and then completely destroyed in the "Great Fire" of 1871, it had served as a saloon. The Arcade Saloon has local folklore about Lotta Crabtree beginning her singing career here entertaining the miners. In 1880 Hugo Miller, a Hardware Merchant, built and operated a store here. Mr. Miller sold stoves, tin and hardware, mining and farming implements according to the 1885 Yreka Directory. The second story, history has told us, was specifically designed to be used as a lodge hall by the Improved Order of Red Men. Today this building is referred to both as The Hugo Miller Building and "Red Man Hall".
The Improved Order of Red Men is a fraternal organization that has its roots in our national history... beginning around1765 and decended from the Sons of Liberty ~ the "Indians" that carefully planned and executed the Boston Tea Party. The original members were patriots and worked "underground" to promote American freedom. The Red Men patterned their society to conform to the basic heirarchy of the Iroquois Confederacy and the democratic governing body the Iroquois enjoyed according to their current website. (Located at: redmen.org). It is explained that "legally" the Improved Order of Red Men is a patriotic order actually chartered by Congress.
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.