Collection: Books and Periodicals > Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins

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Title: Volume 058-3 - July 2004 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

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

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NCHS Bulletin July 2004 A Street Named Kearney In May 1878 Felix Gillet, J. C. Locklin and Kaskill Cas £.were newly elected to Nevada City’s five-person board of town trustees, apparently ‘ts representatives of the new Workingmen’s Party. At the board’s first meeting Locklin was elected president and Casper was named clerk of the board. Gillet and Casper were placed on the Street Committee. On October 30, 1878, one month after delegates to the constitutional convention began their deliberations at Sacramento, Felix Gillet moved that certain “unnamed streets” be assigned names. The three streets were to be called Kearney, Nihell and Nursery. The latter two were in Gillet’s immediate neighborhood, but Kearney ran between Church and Cottage streets, on the northeast side of the court house. The town trustees approved the recommendation. On December 21 Gillet moved that the three new streets be added to all official city and county maps, and his motion again carried. Three years later, after adoption of the new state constitution and the election of new state officers—and after the popularity of Denis Kearney had plummeted, even among his former supporters—a peculiar thing happened at Nevada City. The town board began to have second thoughts about the street named Kearney when someone noticed that, although the official city map (drawn by Horace Bradley in : t ATT yt ve yyy ™ S In this cartoon by Edward Keller, a stone mason, representing the Workingmen’s Party delegation, piles foundation blocks onto the base of the New Constitution, and in the background Republican and Democratic party hodcarriers are arriving with issues of their own to add to the bewildering collection. (From The Wasp, Bancroft Library collection.) 1869) had failed to name the street by the court house, an earlier map by Charles Marsh (drawn in 1861 when his water company won a contract to supply the city with piped water) had called it “Winter Street.” on™ April 22, 1881, the trustees resolved that “the name of Winter be given back to that street in place of Kearney.” Despite the loss of one block when the court house annex was built, Winter Street has quietly survived its brush with notoriety. (Based on archival research by Nevada City Councilman Steve Cottrell.) NEVADA COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY P.O. Box 1300, Nevada City, CA 95959 EXECUTIVE BOARD Searls Historical Library President Bedford Lampkin 214 Church Street, Nevada City (530) 265-5910 Vice President Priscilla van der Pas Open 1-4 pm daily (except Sundays and holidays) Executive Secretary Elmabel Rohrman en Tegaarre Cran sesipt 214 Main Street, Nevada City (530) 265-5468 —— DIRECTORS WelliHesinan Summer: Open 11 am to 4 pm daily (except holidays) North far Miiniqa Mingus Gisin Jones Winter: Thurs.—Sun. 11:30 am to 4 pm (except holidays) Searls Historical Library Ed Tyson North Star Mining Museum Genealogical Research Maria Brower Allison Ranch Road, Grass Valley (530) 273-4255 NCNGRR/Transportation Museum Division John Christensen Open May 1 to October 15 from 10 am to 5 pm is. es ft aaa Railroad and Transportation Museum . 5 Kidder Court, Nevada City (530) 470-0902 Newsletter Editor Pat Chesnut M . : : : ay 1 to Sept 30: Open Friday thru Tuesday 10 am to 4 pm Membership Cyne Sees Oct 1 to April 30: Open Tuesday and Saturday 10 am to 4pm Director-at-Large Pat Chesnut : Director-at-Large Brita Rozynski NCHS Books Director-at-Large Nick Rohrman 511 North Pine St., Nevada City 95959 (530) 265-4312 6 -