Bella Union Hotel Site

On October 7, 1858 the first Butterfield Overland Mail stage from the east pulled up at the Bella Union, twenty-one days out of St. Louis. Warren Hall was driving. The only passenger who had ridden the entire way was Waterman Ormsby, a New York reporter, and his dispatches are most of what anyone knows about that first run. The hotel was the social and political centre of the town for decades. The stage company kept its office and its corral a few blocks south of here.

What the plaque says

Near this spot stood the Bella Union Hotel, long a social and political center. Here, on October 7, 1858, the first Butterfield Overland Mail stage from the East arrived 21 days after leaving St. Louis. Warren Hall was the driver, and Waterman Ormsby, a reporter, the only through passenger.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Colorado Street Bridge — 7.7 mi
  Beaux-Arts concrete arches curving 150 feet above the Arroyo Seco, opened in 1913 and later a link in Route 66.
• Mission San Gabriel Arcangel — 8.2 mi
  The fourth Alta California mission, built on Tongva land with Tongva labor, rebuilt after arson and now telling that story straight.
• Santa Monica Pier — 15 mi
  Where the Mother Road runs out of continent, and where the End of the Trail sign gives the drive somewhere to finish.

More markers nearby

• Site of the Los Angeles Star — steps away
• Merced Theatre — steps away
• Pico House (Hotel) — steps away
• Old Plaza Firehouse — steps away