Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Once Upon a Time in Placerville No. 15: Blair Lumber Company and Diamond Match Company

Good morning, Tina here. I am going to show you some photos from the El Dorado County Museum which are of the property which forms a kind of peninsula at the corners of Main, Cedar Ravine, and Pacific Streets in Placerville, California.


At this property there once stood the J & J Blair's Lumber Yard.


I love the old advertisements on the building above. A horse and wagon stands ready to pull some lumber home. Note the Pearson Soda Works building (which still exists - the Kosmic Cafe is now occupying it) on the far right.


This is the same building as the one with the advertisements above, I guess they wore or tore off.


Behind the warehouse, which stood on the corner of Main and Cedar Ravine, little cabins curl around the hill. Most of those cabins are still there, and occupied.  A friend once lived in the cabin (not shown) closest to Pacific Street. It appears there was an old house on the corner of Pacific and Cedar Ravine Streets.


Another shot of the same warehouse.  Cedar Ravine is the street on the lower right.



Later, the buildings became the Diamond Match Company. The store is to the right. I love this shot of the miner and the Druid monument. You can see the little cabins on the hill, also. Notice the nice old street lamp to the right of the middle building.


A somewhat blurry closeup of the store as it was used for the Blair Lumber Company. Later the store was on the corner of Mosquito and Broadway Roads.


Above is a shot of the Blair Lumber Store on Broadway.


This dapper gent may work here at the store. The Ivy House is across the street.


The corner of Main and Cedar Ravine, showing the Ivy House and the Druid Monument.


Here they are tearing down one of the warehouses. I don't have a date on this photo. This may have been from when the Diamond Match Company took over the property. Notice the boys on bikes on the left checking out the bulldozer. It has always been a fun time to watch a building be destroyed!


This is the latest shot I could find of the Diamond Match Company. It was gone by the mid-sixties.

4 comments:

Heidi Ann said...

I love these posts that are essentially are a mini history lesson, complete with photos I have never before seen! Thank you for writing them!

Anonymous said...


One of my favorite posts. Love the miner!

~Mary

Alex said...

After Diamond Match was gone, which business occupied the property? I noticed it had a railroad spur.

Scott Blair said...

What year are these photos from?