Mendocino’s First Hotel

Part 1 of 3; excerpted and annotated from “Mendocino’s Hotels & Saloons,” by Dorothy Bear and Beth Stebbins. Mendocino Historical Review, June, 1980.

John E. Carlson was born in Colson, Sweden on June 20, 1827. When he was 16 years old he went to sea until 1849, when he found himself on a ship bound for California. That was the year nuggets of gold could be had for the picking on the ground, or so the story had it, and young Carlson went to the mining country to get his share. After two weeks of disillusionment, he returned to San Francisco and found a job in a sailing schooner on the Sacramento river, transporting people and supplies to the gold fields. That work lasted a year.

He decided to make a trip to Sweden, a visit home, and went aboard the bark “Susan Jane,” possibly as a crewman. Sailors were scarce in those years of gold fever and an experienced man like John Carlson could easily find employment. But when the “Susan Jane” reached Rio de Janeiro, he changed his mind about going to Sweden and returned to California in the ship “Game Cock.” For several months he sailed the seas to China and then to Panama; finally in San Francisco he joined the task force bound for Big River (Mendocino) on the brig “Ontario” for the purpose of building a sawmill and logging the redwood trees. They would ship lumber to San Francisco, where Henry Meiggs would sell it.

This time Carlson stayed on land, first building the sawmill and then working in it until, in 1857, he decided to build a hotel and run it. The lot he bought at the west end of Main Street he purchased from William Kelley. There he built a three-story building to accommodate the growing number of people coming to Mendocino. He had chosen a location handy to the harbor and embarking station. He added a livery barn next to the hotel and equipped it with good horses and carriages for hire. At the time, roads out of town were scarcely more than rutted trails and most people preferred walking or riding horseback. But after stages began to run on regular schedules, roads were gradually improved and Carlson’s horses, wagons and carriages were in more demand. The City Hotel continued to serve the community well and Carlson was noted as a pleasant man, “well known and generally liked along the coast.”

Since Carlson was a bachelor until July 29th, 1859, who was his cook and who was his housekeeper? In the 1860 census George Lorring or Lowring from Sweden was listed as a cook in the John E. Carlson household. Possibly he could have been there from the hotel’s beginning. Could the housekeeper have been Mrs. Elizabeth Broderick Kupp, a native of Ireland and more recently from New Jersey where, it is recorded, her son John N. Kupp was born about 1853? [As a widow,] did she need to support herself and son, and did she find employment in Carlson’s hotel? Perhaps she proved so capable and attractive to him that he proposed marriage for Carlson and Kupp were indeed married on that July date in 1859. How or why she happened to come to Mendocino is still a question.

In 1860, twin daughters Elizabeth and Catherine were born to the Carlsons and in 1862 a son, John Edward. The children were contemporaries of the Kelley, Ford, and Lansing children, whose fathers had come to Big River in 1852 with Carlson. The children played together and, when they became of school age, they attended school together in the first public school, located near the northeast corner of Ukiah and Lansing streets.

Then on October 17th, 1870, the disastrous fire that consumed 25 buildings on west Main Street reduced the City Hotel to ashes, and Carlson suffered a loss of $14,000 plus his income. He had no insurance, but he rebuilt immediately, a larger and more commodious hotel than before, this time based on his 13 years of experience. Continued next week.

The Kelley House Museum is open from 11AM to 3PM Thursday through Monday. Walking Tours of Mendocino are available throughout the week. Visit the Kelley House Event Calendar for a Walking Tour schedule.