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Community Corner

Illustrious History of the Downtown City Hall

For over 100 years, the downtown site of the Oakville Grocery was occupied by the City Hall, centerpiece of Healdsburg. The first ambitious brick and stone edifice was built in 1886, towering over the growing burg.

Wandering around the Healdsburg Plaza on a weekend afternoon, between the tasting rooms and the book stores and the clothing shops, you'll eventually find yourself looking for something to eat. Lo and behold: at the corner of Matheson and Center, directly across from the Plaza, the has nabbed some prime real estate. Green umbrellas and awnings cover the lunch tables where pedestrians savor the Oakville's signature sandwiches – albacore, caper and olive, or smoked ham and brie – while watching the world go by.

Prime real estate indeed. So prime, in fact, that for over 100 years this site was occupied by the , centerpiece of downtown Healdsburg. The first ambitious if not ostentatious brick and stone edifice was built in 1886, towering over the growing burg and dominating postcards of the plaza. Flags flew year round, bunting hailed the holidays, public events took place in the unpaved streets surrounding the building. Some of the best images of town were taken from its third-story tower, providing a crow's eye view of the then-barren plaza and surrounding streets.

The location is on two of the initial plots of Harmon Heald's 1857 layout of the town, numbers 4-3 and 4-4, but when the construction company began to build the structure they found the plans were 4 feet too long on one side. Attempts to purchase the neighboring plot for $400 from pioneer mayor L.A. Norton were rebuffed; so architects D. and J.C. Newsome redesigned, and the E.G. Hall construction company set to fulfill their winning bid of $12,500.  The finished building was dedicated on May 16, 1886, and held the council chambers, municipal court, fire department, and a public reading room (which later turned into the Library). A school gymnasium was also in the building for a while, as was the telegraph company and

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The old city hall had its share of stories to tell. The town plaza's original bell tower was burned to the ground in 1896, and the bell was reinstalled in the then-new city hall. There was a building fire in 1904, and another fire in the early 1950s. A "shooting scrape" in the building's post office left bullet holes in the wall for future customers to marvel at. In 1918 there was even a pipe bomb scare, when a janitor found a seeming explosive device in the "public room" plumbing. It turned out to be a hoax, a lead pipe filled with cement with a candle for a fuse, but a Norwegian itinerant was closely questioned.

The old city hall was appraised in 1954 and valued at $38,911, but some potential seismic  hazard was noted as well – though the sturdy building had survived the 1906 earthquake. So it was torn down in 1960, its demolition was a well-covered event (see the photos accompanying this arcticle). In 1961 a much smaller, more practical city building kept city government on the Plaza until the mid 1990s. The was built by engineer A.C. Steele of Santa Rosa, and dedicated on July 4, 1961.

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The architecture of Healdsburg's second city hall was suitably "space age," with open angular legs supporting the extended roofline; offices were available and efficient, again with police chief and city manager in the same building. Its modern character marked a big change from the ostentatious old city hall, and not all were pleased with the development. But perhaps Healdsburg's self-identity had become more modest after a century, and the functional new building suited it.

But not for long. In the mid-1990s another bond issue was passed to build the structure now on Grove Street, and the Matheson and Center building was taken over by Napa Valley's signature roadside store, the The current building is heavily remodeled, though the structure is the same as the city hall built in 1960. Some of the decorative elements which give it a more antiquated air are little more than "pained Styrofoam," according to one local senior. For instance, a faux historical sign on Matheson proclaims, "City Hall, 1886-1995," which is technically true only by a stretch of imagination.

Around the year 2000, there were a half-dozen Oakville Groceries in the Bay Area. But now, the chain has been reduced to just two: the Napa Valley original and this one, on the site of our original city hall. In spite of, or perhaps because of the illustrious location, it's nice to drop by for a sandwich, a glass of wine or just a look-see every now and then.

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