C. O. Packard with His Grandchildren, 1917. Left to right: Violet Clyma, Harold Salvador, C. O. Packard, Dorothy Kirkwood, and Buster Salvador. They are on the front porch of his home, located on the northeast corner of Little Lake and Kasten Streets. Mr. Packard was an early-day druggist and business man, who had a store in a now-gone building on Main Street, just two doors west of the Mendocino Hotel.
June 8, 1917 – Charles Oscar Packard passed away at his home on Little Lake Street after a long illness. Born in Redfield, Maine, in 1848, he came to California in 1868 and arrived in Mendocino in early 1869. His first employer here was N. E. Hoak at Comptche, where he logged for the Albion Lumber Company. Later, Charles worked in the Big River woods.
In December 1877, Charles purchased R. H. Witherell’s drugstore business on Main Street. He operated the C. O. Packard Drug Store in the same location for the next 39 years. Just months before his death, he sold his business to the drugstore’s manager, Horace Nichols. In Charles’ obituary, the Beacon said, “He was noted for his business integrity and served the community for many years as school trustee.”
Survivors included his wife, Hannah Cline Packard; six children: Sine Salvador, George Calvert Packard, and Hazel Packard of Mendocino; Harold C. Packard, Lizzie Rouse, and Myrtle Clyma of Portland, Oregon; and two brothers, Justin E. Packard of Augusta, Maine, and George E. Packard of Spokane, Washington.
Rev. H. P. Ingram, pastor of the Mendocino Presbyterian Church, held funeral services at the Packard home, and the Masonic fraternity conducted services at the gravesite in Evergreen Cemetery. Pallbearers were: Henry H. Jarvis, James A. Nichols, Henry Flood, Homer Barton, William True Wallace, and Fred Weiss.
New! Water Tower Walking Tour – Built in the late 19th Century to supply water to the town’s inhabitants, over 100 water towers and accompanying windmills once adorned the landscape, giving Mendocino the nickname “The Town of Water Towers.” During our 1.5 hour walk through town, our guides will illuminate the mechanics and history of a dozen different iconic water towers from Mendocino’s logging era.