File:American Hotel American House marker HMDB.jpg

This is an image of a place or building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States of America. Its reference number is 77000339.

Reads: American Hotel/American House Site

Main Street at Broadway

Redwood City's first hotel was established in 1853 by A. Harris, on the east side of Main Street, where eastbound Broadway now extends. It was a crude, one-story structure that was enlarged to two stories and called the American Hotel. The upstairs sleeping quarters were simply bunks.

Edward Hancock was the owner in 1856 when ballots in San Mateo County's first election were counted "in the parlors" of the hotel, During the canvass, out-of-town politicians who had brazenly directed ballot stuffing in hopes of controlling the new county, resorted to gun threats and grappling for ballots as they were being counted. But the townspeople took their case to court, winning the right to name their own officials and to claim Redwood City as the county seat.

The first Board of Supervisors meeting took place here when it was decided to rent county office space in Diller's Store (across the street, by the creek) until a new courthouse could be built.

The American Hotel burned down in 1864. Sidney Merrill, local druggist, postmaster, and Redwood City's first tax collector, purchased the site for a new three-story hotel completed in 1867, calling it the American House. this hotel burned in 1878, replaced by the Wahl Building, which was town down in 1931 when Broadway was extended east from Main Street.

Presented by the Redwood City Historic Resources Advisory Committee

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