Calaveras County Courthouse and Leger Hotel

The hotel ended up inside the courthouse because the courthouse was the part that did not burn. Court sat here from 1852 until 1866, when the seat went to San Andreas. The bronze has George Leger acquiring the building at that moment; the county's own historians put his purchase after the 1874 fire, which destroyed his hotel and left the stone court block standing. Restored in 1879, it has carried his name ever since, and remnants of the county jail cells are still in the cellar.

What the plaque says

CALAVERAS COUNTY COURTHOUSE AND LEGER HOTEL A PORTION OF THIS BUILDING SERVED AS THE CALAVERAS COUNTY COURTHOUSE FROM 1852 TO 1866, WHEN THE COUNTY SEAT WAS REMOVED TO SAN ANDREAS. GEORGE W. LEGER THEN ACQUIRED THE COURT BUILDING AND MADE IT A PART OF HIS ADJOINING HOTEL, WHICH HAS BEEN OPERATED SINCE EARLY GOLD MINING DAYS. IT WAS KNOWN AS THE GRAND HOTEL IN 1874 WHEN FIRE DAMAGED IT AND DESTROYED ITS DANCE HALL. RESTORED IN 1879, IT HAS SINCE BEEN KNOWN AS THE LEGER HOTEL. CALIFORNIA REGISTERED HISTORICAL LANDMARK NO. 663 PLAQUE PLACED BY THE CALIFORNIA STATE PARK COMMISSION IN COOPERATION WITH THE MOKELUMNE HILL LIONS CLUB, JUNE 14, 1959.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Columbia State Historic Park — 24 mi
  The Gem of the Southern Mines, still open for business on a car-free Gold Rush main street.

More markers nearby

• Congregational Church — steps away
• Mokelumne Hill — steps away
• I.O.O.F. Hall, Mokelumne Hill — steps away
• Big Bar — 1.1 mi