The Stone Building (March 1993)

This post is part of a series of editorials written by Bert Walsh during his tenure as president and past president of the Shasta Historical Society. Readers are advised that his humor is often irreverent and rarely politically correct. 

Click here for the table of contents for the entire collection of his editorials.

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Have you ever noticed that in a year with normal rainfall and snow a phenomenon occurs sometime between New Years and St. Patrick's Day--folks who have been housebound too long get testy and maybe a little irrational. Petitions are circulated, relationships are strained and in extreme cases dogs get kicked. This year has been fairly noteworthy in this respect, but in the interest of minimizing hate mail, we will cite only one example.

In the best traditions of the Shasta Courrier and the Dial, on January 20th the local paper informed us that a stone structure that housed an electrical substation around the turn of the century was to be razed (razed, egad!) by an uncaring and ungrateful city government. A few phone calls later we discovered that this was not a full-scale "raze," but merely an "agenda item." Great relief--but no time to be lost. Networking and letter writing must begin immediately. These NATTERING NABOBS of NEGATIVISM will live to rue the day!

The incendiary blurb
(Record Searchlight, January 20, 1993)

But then a strange thing happened. Everyone we contacted--the Public, the Media, City Staff and the City Council--seemed genuinely interested in the history of the stone building and wanted to save it. The City Council meeting on February 16th was like a repeat of Valentines Day, and the razing became a non-event. Maybe the town of Redding after a hundred and some years has finally come of age and realizes that it has a past worth remembering.

One sidelight to this issue: While the adrenaline was flowing, the Society Directors voted to provide an interpretive plaque by the building. This was picked up by the media and whole-heartedly accepted by the City Council. Now we will have to foot the bill for the price of a plaque that will last as long as the stone structure. 

--BTW.

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2023 Postscript: According to a local historian's blog post from 2018, the plaque and substation (which dates from 1897) are still there, however, they are surrounded by a fence, making it impossible to read the plaque.