Washingtonian Hall

R. E. Wood Collection,
Chico State University Archives

Such an exiting moment this past week when I discovered that Chico State University Archives had posted the image on the right on-line. It is from their R. [Romanzo] E. [Erastus] Wood collection, and is a photograph of a building I thought I would never see.
 
R. E. Wood, photographer, inventor, newspaper columnist, and much more, lived at Troutdale Farm on Bear Creek Road. In 1875, Wood photographed the San Lorenzo Valley and surrounding areas for the 1876 Centennial Exposition. He photographed the construction of the San Lorenzo Valley Flume. This photograph is of the Washingtonian Hall.



San Lorenzo Valley Museum

The Washingtonian Society was the first fraternal organization in Boulder Creek. They met in the schoolhouse until funds could be raised to build a hall. The society was formed to promote temperance, improve literary knowledge, to generally qualify themselves for the varied duties of life, and to provide amusements which are so necessary to the “relaxation of mind or exercise of body”. The hall was built in 1876 near the location of the library today, next to the Boulder Creek House hotel. 



San Lorenzo Valley Museum Collection

For many years school graduation exercises were held at the hall. In 1898, a skating rink opened in the hall, but just two years later, in 1900, it was razed.

 

For more information on the R. E. Wood collection at the CSU Archives visit: R. E. Wood Collection