Early Madera history: a series of ‘firsts’

For The Madera Tribune

The second floor of Madera’s first hotel is shown here as it looked in 1990. Captain Mace would have rolled over in his grave.

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Just about every community historian is always on the lookout for the “first” of everything, and this one is no exception. The first mayor, the first policeman, the first murder, the first election — they all pique my interest, so I am going to share a few of them. I think you will find them interesting, if for no other reason than they will most likely leave you musing, “Well I’ll be, I didn’t know that;” at least, that is my hope.

Let’s start with MADERA’S FIRST HOTEL. After Madera was founded on October 11, 1876, Captain Russel Perry Mace bought the first lot and built his Yosemite Hotel on the corner of Yosemite and E Street. Now that is pretty common knowledge, but what is not so well known is that Mace’s first hotel was really not much more than a shanty of a saloon that measured 24 feet by 56 feet. It wasn’t until the spring of 1877, that the Captain made the improvements that raised it to a first class hotel.

MADERA’S FIRST SCHOOL HOUSE — There might be some folks still around who remember the huge brick school house that stood where the National Guard Armory is now located. It was called Eastside School, and it is often said that this was Madera’s first schoolhouse. Actually, that beautiful old building was Madera’s third school. The first was built on that site in March 1877, but it was just a simple frame building, 30 feet by 50 feet. In 1885, Maderans replaced it with another two story, wooden structure. When this one burned, it was replaced by the brick edifice that we all know as the Eastside School.