Once Upon A Time in Placerville #1 : The Ivy House

Good morning. Gold Country Sis Tina here. I am starting what I hope will be an interesting series on what is missing in Placerville: namely, many old buildings which have been torn down or burned down over the years.

I am starting with one that was very dear to me, the Ivy House. I have many postcards of this old building, and also a negative with my grandfather standing in front of it, but I will have to show you in a later post since my scanner is not cooperating this morning. So what else is new? Someday technology will catch up to me in Kelsey, but for this morning, here is what I already have on my computer.
This is a shot of the Ivy House as it was nearing its last days. Note the missing window frames on the upper floors. In my very young days, in the 1950's, there was a barber on the first floor and also a bar and restaurant.

This plaque is about all that now remains, since the Ivy House was torn down in 1964. There is a parking lot there now, and even that may change, since the City of Placerville wants to build a round-about at the corner of Cedar Ravine and Main Street. This summer there is a great Farmer's Market located here every Saturday. Wonderful vegetables, fruits, flowers and more abound.

When this building was built in 1864 by Elias Parker (I just realized it was torn down on its 100 year anniversary - how sad is that?) it was called the Central House. (It was central between lower and upper Placerville). Later it was home to a school, the Placerville Academy, from 1871 to 1894.

A close up. Notice the Highway 50 sign. Main Street Placerville was once Highway 50, which went right through town until the very early 1950s. When the new Highway 50 was built, about 1/2 block north, many old homes were either torn down or moved to other lots. Placerville has lost a lot in the name of progress. I will try to cover much of that in this series of blogs.

This close up shows the south-east corner of the building where the barber shop once was.

This is a shot of the entire building. The home in the middle lower part of the photo still exists on the corner of Main and Clay Streets, and houses businesses. Notice how the railway ran behind the buildings. That is now a walking trail. Looks like we had a sprinkling of snow that day.

Here is a shot from an old postcard looking east up Main Street towards the Ivy House in the center. On the left is an old home which now is known as "Sweetie Pies" and has great breakfasts and lunches.

I hope you enjoyed this little look into Placerville's lost past.