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Timeline of Important Historical Events in Humboldt County
by Nicholas Pablo

September 9, 2009

Timeline of Important Events in Humboldt County’s Past

Skip to a Specific Time Period :

I.    Early Towns and Logging  (1849 – 1885)

II.    Establishment of Modern Towns (1885 – 1917)

III.    Early Redwood Preservation Efforts (1917 – 1945)

IV.    Post WWII Days (1945 – 1964)

V.    Arrival of the S.F. Hippies in Humboldt (1964 – 1992)

VI.    Recent History of Humboldt County (1992 – Present)

 

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I.  Early Towns and Logging in Humboldt County (1849 – 1885)

 

1849     Josiah Gregg expedition rediscovers Humboldt Bay

1850     William Carson cuts first redwoods for commercial use

1853     Humboldt County is established

1853     Fort Humboldt is established

1856    Eureka becomes the Humboldt County seat

1856    Eureka Town Government is established April 18th

1865     Fort Humboldt decommissioned

1865     Eureka’s population is 600

1873     Western Union telegraph reaches Eureka

1885     Chinese residents expelled

 

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II.  Establishment of Modern Humboldt County Towns (1885 – 1917)

 

1885     Rick's Water Company installs first water system

1886     Carson Mansion completed

1886     St. Bernard’s Catholic Church completed

1887     Winship School is built

1890     Humboldt County Courthouse completed

1891     Eureka Chamber of Commerce is established

1892     First sizeable office building is completed in Eureka, the Carson Block

1896     Eureka High School established

1901     Eureka Elks Lodge #652 is established

1903    Humboldt Transit Company begins electric streetcar service between downtown, Myrtle Avenue, Sequoia Park, and J Street.

1903    Louis Shorlig planted three dozen roses, twelve dozen boxwood plants and the first palm trees on the Plaza

1903    Carnegie Library is constructed

1904    City Hall is built at 3rd & G Street

1907     Sequoia Park Zoo opens

1908     Union Labor Hospital opens @ Harris Ave. & H Street (later became General Hospital)

1910     MV Madaket is launched, originally the “Nellie C”

1911     Eureka’s Main Post Office on H Street opens

1912     Population of Eureka is 13,000

1912     William Carson dies

1913    Humboldt State Normal School was established as a teacher's college on June 13th.

1914     Northwestern Pacific RR completed , Eureka - Willits

1914     The railroad arrives in Eureka, largest celebration in area history is held

1917     Humboldt County Chapter of the American Red Cross is chartered

 

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III.  Early Redwood Preservation Efforts  in Humboldt County (1917 – 1945)

 

1917    On a trip to see the redwoods. John C. Merriam, Madison Grant and Henry Fairfield Osborn witnessed the destruction of the magnificent redwoods, they were inspired to start the movement to save the remaining stands of virgin forest.

1919     The Humboldt County Federation of Women's Clubs formed the Humboldt County Women's Save the Redwoods

1920     The beginnings of commercial fishing fleet

1921     Redwood Highway declared an “All Year” route by the State of California

1921    The Colonel Raynal C. Bolling Memorial Grove was dedicated on August 6th. So began, as it was known then, Humboldt State Redwood Park

1922     Eureka Inn opens

1923     First Eureka Rotary Club is established

1924     Humboldt County Courthouse tower catches fire

1926     Henderson Center businesses built

1926    A well-connected Newton B. Drury (secretary of Save the Redwoods League) invited the Rockefeller family up during the summer  to the northern California redwoods and arranged for a lavish lunch to be had in the Dyerville Flats.

1927    John D. Rockefeller presented the Save the Redwoods League with a check for $1,000,000 to purchase the Dyerville Flats grove.

1929     First female Mayor of Eureka, and west of the Mississippi – Emily Jones

1930     Humboldt County Hospital constructed on Harrison Ave.

1936    Lumberjack was adopted as HSU mascot

1938     The first events are held at the current Redwood Acres Fairgrounds

1939     Eureka Theater opens on F Street

1940     End of electric streetcar service

1942     US Navy Section Base opens

1943     Chicago Bridge & Iron Company, a major World War II shipyard is established

 

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IV.  Post WWII Days in Humboldt County (1945 – 1964)

 

1950     Ingomar Club established in Carson Mansion

1954     Eureka City Hall and County Courthouse destroyed by earthquake

1954     St. Joseph's Hospital completes new 75 bed facility on Dolbeer Street

1955    construction begins on Highway 101

1955    The catastrophic flood of 1955 even temporarily brings logging to a halt. City of Eureka is isolated by the flood.

1956     4th & 5th Streets made one way with completion of Eureka Slough Bridge

1956     Hammond Lumber Co. bought by Georgia Pacific

1956     Redwood Art Association is established

1957     “Bill” the Chimpanzee arrives at Sequoia Park Zoo

1959     Eureka becomes a state historical landmark

1959     Present-day Humboldt County Courthouse is completed

1960     Clarke Museum is established

1960     Pacific Lumber buys Homes - Eureka Mill on Broadway (now the Bayshore Mall)

1960    E & O Bowl opens in Blue Lake in August.

1962     Eureka’s Main Post Office is dedicated

1962    The junior college program, terminated at HSU

1963    Humboldt Bay Nuclear plant begins operations.

1964     Eureka Mall built on Harris Street

1964    An even more devastating flood (than 1955) tore through the region. Aircraft Carrier USS Bennington arrives to provide flood relief. Cecil Williams went up and down the river on the railroad rescuing people from the flood waters

 

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V.  Arrival of the San Francisco Hippies in Humboldt County (1964 – 1992)

 

1964    Old HSU Junior College  re-established at College of the Redwoods (CR)

1965     Crown Simpson & Georgia Pacific Pulp Mills built       

1965     Zane & Winship Schools are constructed in present-day locations

1965     Times Standard Building built on site of Sumner & Amelia Carson House

1966     Humboldt Arts Council is formed

1967    the student-run Humboldt Film Festival started

1967    the Times-Standard was acquired by the Brush-Moore newspaper group, which in turn was purchased by Thomson Newspapers, a Canadian company

1968   Grateful Dead play at Eureka Muni on Jan 20th.

1968     First Rhododendron Festival put on by the Eureka Chamber of Commerce

1969     local sculptor Hobart Brown begins Kinetic Sculpture Race on Tricycle

1969    Sun Valley Bulb Farm started (irrigation and drainage problems begin)

1969     HSU professor George Allen starts an aquaculture project at the Arcata Marsh

1969    Vietnam War Protest of over 800 at HSU on October 15.

1969    Vietnam War Protest of over 3000 at HSU later in October.

1970    Student Mobilization committee, the International Socialists and the Women’s Liberation protest Student Apathy at HSU in April.

1970    Governor Reagan shut down the CSU system for the rest of the year in May.

1970    Opening of Mad River Beach Park on July 21st.

1971     Samoa Bridge is completed

1971    North Coast Open Door Clinic started

1971     Northcoast Environmental Center started in February.

1972     the college (HSU) was renamed California State University, Humboldt,

1973     Old Town Eureka is registered as a national historic district

1974     Humboldt Senior Resource Center is founded

1974    CSU-Humboldt was renamed to Humboldt State University.

1974    1st North Country Fair held in August by the Same Old People

1976    Previously undiscovered seismic faults under Humboldt Bay Nuclear plant causes its shutdown in July.

1977    Dell Arte physical arts school started

1978    Mateel Community Center started in old “fireman’s hall” of Garberville.

1979    1st Farmers Market at vacant lot at foot of F and 7th Streets in Arcata.

1979     The citizens of Arcata passed an initiative allowing the forest to be used for recreation, sustainable forestry, and as wildlife habitat

1979     Eureka becomes a state historical landmark

1981     Woodley Island Marina is completed

1981     The Salvation Army Silvercrest Residence complex is opened

1981    Return of the Jedi shot in Humboldt Redwoods State Park

1982     Major earthquake hits Humboldt County

1983     Eureka Business Improvement District is formed

1983    Reggae on the River started after arsonist burned down old MCC building

1986     "Dock B" fire

1987    KMUD Radio Station went on the Air officially on May 28th.

1987    David R. Couch and eleven other community members to fund the Arcata Marsh Interpretive Center (AMIC).

1989    Blue Ox Millworks begins hosting area students for the first time

1989     Bayshore Mall opens

 

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 VI.  Recent History of Humboldt County (1991 – Present)

 

1991     Eureka becomes Sister City with Kamisu, Japan

1991     First Annual Dixieland Jazz Festival

1992     Eureka Main Street is formed

1992    Phish play at Redwood Acres on April 21st (Grounation Day)

1992     Hilfiker Aviary in Sequoia Park Zoo is completed

1994     Redwood Discovery Museum is established

1995     New County Library completed

1996    Dean Singleton's MediaNews Corp., a $738 million company based in Denver, bought the Times Standard paper.

1996    Proposition 215 passed in November Elections

1997    Timber protesters pepper-sprayed at Pacific Lumber Headquarters in Scotia on September 25th

1997    Band Sublime plays to Humboldt Crowds??

1997    Julia Butterfly moves into her Redwood Tree in December

1998    Anti Walmart campaign succeeds

1999     Construction is completed on the Wharfinger Building and Eureka Marina

2000     Eureka receives special designation as a Coast Guard City

2000     Morris Graves Museum of Art opens in the former Carnegie Free Library

2001    Café Tomo closes in November

2001    beloved Marino’s bar burns down to the ground.

2002     The Eureka Boardwalk is completed

2003     Eureka Reporter newspaper is established in August by Billionaire Playboy Rob Arkley.

2004     City of Eureka holds a ceremony to deed a city-owned portion of Indian Island back to the Wiyot Indian Tribe

2007    James Brown plays his last concert ever at HSU’s Van Duzer Theatre

2009    Eureka Reporter is forced to shutter it’s red doors.