Remember When: February 18, 2009

Feb. 21 is the birthday of the founder of the City of Anderson, Elias Anderson. He was a forward thinking pioneer. As early as in 1855 he recognized the potential of the Anderson area.

Think back for a moment to the year 1855. There was no City of Anderson, railroad or streets where Anderson now stands. Only wild country covered with manzanita brush and scrub oaks. Near what are now Shasta Outlets is a rustic 160 ranch. Just a few dusty adobe buildings as a way stop and post office for travelers along the wagon trails to the gold country, Trinity County and points northeast, named the American Ranch owned by Thomas Freeman.

In 1850 a Kentucky born pioneer gold seeker arrived in California. His name was Elias Anderson. He liked what he saw of the golden state. So after three years in 1853, he brought his wife and five children west to California

Anderson gradually made his way up the valley buying and selling properties. The first property he purchased was a hotel in Marysville he acquired in 1854. Then, in l855, he opened the Prairie House below Cottonwood. In 1856 he purchased the American Ranch from Freeman. He then built a large, two-story hotel and named it the American Hotel.

This hotel became a very popular stopover. Many of the important people of the day stayed there. John Bidwell and Leland Stanford were among the visitors. It was told that often 70 or 80 teamsters with their teams stayed over on a single night.

In 1872, Elias gave the Central Pacific Railroad Company a right of way through his land. The railroad built a station nearby to the north of the ranch and then honored Elias by naming the station Anderson.

Also in 1872, Bedford and Wright built the first small store building. The store was later enlarged to twice its size. Later thickets of manzanita and scrub oak had to be cut away to give a view from the store to the station and Elias home. The store building remodeled many times is still in use and houses the Salvation Army Thrift Store.

Wright is said to have built the first home in Anderson and W.W. Elsmore built the second house.

The town of Anderson was beginning to take shape. In 1876, Elias moved his hotel into town and renamed it the American Ranch Hotel. He located it at the northwest corner of Main and Ferry, near the railroad station. This, too, was a very grand and popular hotel.

By 1883, 300 people lived in the Anderson area. The town boasted two hotels, a post office, school and blacksmith shop. Corrals and sheds were built for travelers and teamsters.

Elias lived to see Anderson grow from its unpretentious start in 1872 to become an important town and shipping center by the turn of the century. He was always a benefactor and an important part of Anderson. He died here in 1907 and is buried in the old Pioneer Cemetery.

Artifacts belonging to Elias maybe viewed in the Elias Anderson room at the Anderson Historical Society and Museum.

On Feb. 21st, a free Founders Day and birthday party open house celebration for Elias will be held from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Museum and Historical Society, 2330 Ferry Street.