The following buildings are identified as historic structures on the Mokelumne Hill Community Plan, written in 1983. They are identified by number on the accompanying two maps. Many more unrecognized historic homes and sites are present throughout the town.
Moke Hill historic buildings
Downtown buildings
1. First Congregational Church (1856). This board-and-batten Greek Revival structure is the oldest Congregational church building in CA (California State Landmark No. 262).
2. Town Hall (1901). This structure was constructed to be used as the Community Hall and Theatre. In 1936 a WPA crew excavated the basement, and subsequently a dining room and kitchen were constructed. A community hall has been on this site from the earliest years.
3. Hodapp & Friend Store (c.1854). This southernmost store, part of a three-lot stone complex of buildings, operated into the 1880s; later it was known as Davidson’s Warehouse.
Centre Market (1854). Between the walls of No. 3 and No. 4, August Gebhardt established a meat market, which was later operated by Joseph Haulk into the 1870s.
4 .McFadden Stone Store (1854). Built by McFadden, the store was later operated by Runkel and Platt, Mrs. DePew, and John Meyer. It was the Oasis Saloon in the early 1900s, then Reed’s grocery store into the early 1970s. It is now a private residence.
5/6. Danielewitz Stores (1858). Consists of two buildings built by Julius and Gustave Danielewitz; the southern one later housed Levi Werle’s cigar and merchandise store. The northern building housed Peters’ Drug Store, run by Thomas Peters and then his son after 1882. In 1912 the Sauve family combined the buildings into one large room as a market, renovating the front façade; the market was run by the Winkler family from circa 1945 until the 1970s.
7. McFadden Store (1854). Built using the walls of No. 6 and No. 8, the store was later run by E. Patterson and then William Wells. It was incorporated into the Sauve store (No. 5/6) after 1912
8. McFadden Liquor Store (1854). William McFadden’s stone liquor and tobacco store was run by his widow Julia through 1882. It became the residence of John Ryder in 1887 and later H.W. Krim in 1902; in 1911 it became the Marre Stone Saloon.
9. Levinson Stone Store (1854). Greek Revival in style, the store was run by Levinson and later Rosenfield. It was leased by Wells Fargo in 1865 and by 1874 was Dr. A. H. Hoerchner’s Drug Store. In 1887 it was owned by Frank Peek. In the 1920s the front was renovated for the Frank Peek Garage.
10. Rapetto and Rogers Stone Store (1854). This building was owned first by John Rogers and John Rappetto, and later by Raggio and then Wheelright. In 1898, Charles Gardella operated the Baldwin Hotel here with a mortuary on the lower floor. It was later owned by John Noce and then the Cuneo family. Currently it is a private residence.
11. Weihe House (c.1860). A Gothic Revival frame house it was owned by Edward Weihe in 1865 and by Sam Davidson by 1896.
12. Sturges/Costa Stone Store (1854). A Greek-Revival building which was owned by H.M. Sturges in 1856 and by Lorenzo Costa by 1878. It housed a shoe store and later Charles Jacobs’ merchandise store; after 1900 was a warehouse for G. Costa. It was renovated and is currently a residence.
13. L. Mayer Building (1854). Built for L. Mayer, it served as Ferdinand Bach’s barber shop and store from the 1860s-1890s; later it was owned by John Guiffra and John Costa. Only the stone front remains.
14. Abrams Stone Store (1854). Owned by Samuel Abrams and then by Isadore Sokolosky in the 1860s and 1870s. Home of the Calaveras Chronicle in 1861. Later a store operated by C. Guiffra and then Nuner.
15. Webb Stone Store (1854). Built for J. Webb, it was the Post Office by 1858, L.M. Hellman’s “Segar Store,” and then a store operated in turn by Gabriel Carravia, R. Wise, and Charles Jacobs. It was later renovated as a garage, and housed Swanson’s Body Shop through the 1960s.
16. Adams and Co./I.O.O.F. Hall (1854). Originally a two-story building, it first served as the Wade Hanson & Co. store and by 1858 was leased by Adams & Co. as an express office, followed by Wells Fargo in 1868. The International Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) purchased the building in 1861, adding the third story meeting room and leasing out the lower floors.
17. Sturges/Peek House (1857). Built as a residence for H.M. Sturges, it was purchased by G. F. Wesson in 1866 and then by Frank Peek in the 1890s. The Italianate second story was added by the Peeks.
18. Sturges Stone Store (1854). Originally two stories, it was owned and operated by H.M. Sturges, then operated by Hexter and Adler as the Washington Market in the 1870s; From the late 1880s through the 1920s it was the Peek Store. It burned in 1945, and the stones from the second floor were used to construct the adjacent building (site of No. 19).
19. Post Office (ca. 1910). The two-story frame building burned in 1945. The current building was constructed of stone from the second floor of neighboring Sturges Stone Store, No. 18.
20. Bernardi-Gobbi Saloon (c.1895). This Italianate commercial frame building was built by Frank Bernardi as a saloon, later operated by Severino Gobbi. It is now a private residence.
21. Calaveras County Courthouse (1854). The two-story stone building was constructed in 1854, after the fire of that year destroyed the earlier Court House on Center Street. When the county seat moved to San Andreas in 1866, it was purchased by W.P. Peek who operated a store, offices and saloon. George Leger purchased the building in 1874 and included it as part of his new hotel (No. 22).
22. Hotel Leger (1875). The first Hotel de France was built on this site as early as 1851. In 1853 George Leger purchased the establishment, expanding it over the years. Destroyed by fires in 1854 and then 1874, Leger constructed the current two-story, stone structure incorporating the neighboring old Courthouse building (No. 21).
23. Telegraph Office (c.1890). Served as a telegraph office, the Post Office and Dr. Stuckey’s office for many years. It is now a residence.
24. Hexter House (1889). A two-story Italianate Victorian frame home built by Kaufman Hexter and then occupied by the Schrag and Howard families.
25. Dudley House (1856). Homesteaded by Allan P. Dudley in 1861, this classic Greek Revival home features wooden Doric columns around the porch. It was later owned by J.G. Severance and then William Peek. Because of its architectural significance it is well known in the Mother Lode.
26. W. F. Foster Home (c1855). Replaced by modern residences.
27. Werle Soda Works (c1887). Charles Werle built this frame Italianate building on the site of the Neyman and Drake Soda Works of 1858. It is situated over a spring of water used through 1910 in the manufacture of soda. It has been faced with stucco and is currently a residence.
28. Peek-Gleason Home (c1860). William Peek had his house and barn on this large lot in 1860, selling to James Gleason in 1870. The Greek Revival frame dwelling sites on a rhyolite foundation.
29. St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church (c1900). Gothic Revival style. The first Roman Catholic Church was built at the top of Church Street in 1857; a church was moved to this location in the 1870s after a fire; that building burned and was rebuilt on the first site on Church Street. The church moved to its Lafayette Street location circa 1900.
30. Public School (1865). A Greek Revival design, it served grades 1-8 until 1963. The school originally contained two rooms and was expanded with an “L” addition about 1900. It has now been converted into a residence.
31. Kasserman House (c1852). Jacob Kasserman resided in this stone house through the 1880s, selling toGeorge Muths. Photographer Edith Irvine lived here c1910-1949.
32. LaForge - Hoerchner House (1854). This is likely the oldest frame structure in town, built as the residence of A.B. LaForge. It was owned and occupied by Dr. Hoerchner from 1861 into the 1890s.
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