Collection: Books and Periodicals > Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins

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Title: Volume 056-4 - October 2002 Collection Type: Books and Periodicals Collection Name: Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins # of Pages: 6 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

Date Scanned: 2014-03-12 07:26:16 OCR Software Version #: tesseract 5.4.1 Item Sourced From: PDF First Created: 2025-03-17 04:06:01 Last Updated: 2025-03-17 04:06:01

Original Held At: Searls Historical Library Location: 161 Nevada City Hwy, Nevada City, CA 95959

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NCHS Bulletin October 2602 So oue msurdeeet purchased at a bargain. For terms apply through the -_ post office or at the saloon to E. G. Smith. , Private Veranda Private Veraods Jrivate, a — : LL __. a On March 25,1853, the Nevada Journal reported: Ulysses S. Grant Balt . Sash ca wun On this 18th day of March A.D. 1853, personally 18 Mae Sete Tc," appeared before me, a Justice of the Peace for said James ebesmice, . ae. “or es, county and township, Clara F. Smith, who .. intends ern : in her own name and on her account, to carry on the }_ = 4 [ L [ Gener [ business of Keeping a Public Saloon and Restaurant Bas . doce 1 cree Prtvane} Pet 1 7 in the Township of Grass Valley, Centreville ..N. H. Elevator 12 : aa —ae . _. Davis, J.P. Grover wea . pum Nevade This then was the result of Mr. E. G. Smith leaving for oe ; fee ss the Atlantic States, his wife managed the saloon and Detene Grass mate nenjamia My f tata added a restaurant connected to the saloon. Hayes . Te ~_— [TI Montes After a disastrous fire in 1855 which destroyed their * kes a ae saloon, the Smiths rebuilt the tavern, a one-story fieldKing Veranda JP eeie . —-]. _ eee wa . stone building with a brick facade. It had a common wall ee. venade c= James Corbett with the new Wells, Fargo Express office. During the i . Machine L uss next eleven years the lots to the west of the Golden Gate a] °° I wan Saloon were acquired by Ebenezer G. “Sneezer’ Smith mag Vernet . . Pee i and his wife, Clara F., who transformed the saloon to a ean . nan pobert hotel in 1858 by adding a wooden structure to the rear. ma fate . Mee 7 ~~ Charles Smith bought it from them in 1859, and in 1862 [ he built the present Holbrooke Hotel structure, though it gues ma tng Ti = oan was then known as the Exchange Hotel. Charles W. Smith kept the Exchange Hotel until 1877, Above is the layout of rooms on the second floor. Each guest © when he defaulted on a mortgage given him by Judge room is named for a prominent personality. Perhaps Gilbert Miles P. O’Connor, a wealthy Grass Valley mine owner Barry, the actor, is the least well known today. The Searls and former state senator, who thereby acquired the prop Library has a photo of the handsome gentleman. erty for $11,712.75. O’Connor sold it in 1879 to Daniel P. and Ellen E. Holbrooke for $12,000. Mr. Holbrooke died four years after buying the hotel. (David Comstock, a noted historian, suggests that Mr. Holbrooke spelled his name without the final “e” until he bought the hotel.) Much of this information is included in a historical sheet written anonymously and published by the Holbrooke Hotel subsequent to 1980. The information includes a Christmas dinner menu as follows: The story now is that in 1851 Clara and Stephen Smith built a wooden frame building on Main Street, two town lots east of North Church Street, which housed the Golden Gate Saloon and the Adams Co. Express Office. In the fall of 1852 Alonzo Delano acquired the town lot on the east side of the Golden Gate Saloon for $1600 and built the Wells, Fargo & Co. Express and Banking Exchange Office. Alonzo, also known as “Old Block,” was the Wells Fargo Express Agent from 1852 until 1856. Spiced wine, oysters, lentil soup and bread, striped On March 4, 1853, the following was reported in the bass and potato, pigeons, cor and beans, turkey and Nevada Journal: chestnut stuffing, venison, quail, greens and olive oil, vinegar and salt, frozen royal dainties, cake, cheese, FoR SALE: The Golden Gate Saloon in Grass Valley, fruit, coffee and cigars. All laced with wine. Nevada County. The undersigned, in view of returning ; ; to the Atlantic States, with his family, offers for sale this When Dan Holbrooke died, Ellen kept the hotel until her well-known and popular saloon, situated on Main Street, death in 1908, but by that time it was riddled with debt and Grass Valley, next door to Adams’ Express. It is a subwas again sold at a commissioner’s sale (public auction) to stantial two story building, 20 x 40 feet, with offices and Peter and Elizabeth Johnson for $20,073.50 on August 18, room in the second story, and an additional dining room 1910. A more recent timeline published by the hotel gives in the rear—All completely furnished, with spring water the following ownership information (further data supplied leading by aqueduct through the house, and to a beautiby Howard Levine): ful fountain at the Bar. Also, an excellent stable and * 1922—The Johnson daughters, Lily J. Cory and Sadie F. oo carriage house. It is, in all respects, complete, and doing Finnie, inherited the hotel. the best business in town. It is well suited for a man and ¢1961—Percy and Fem Waters took possession, price unwife, or a small family, and the whole together can be known.