Historical Marker · No. 477

City of Eureka

Eureka, Humboldt County · California
Erected by State Department of Parks and Recreation; Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus, Eureka No. 101, 1979

The bronze credits Eureka with rising to become the region's social, political and economic center, and leaves out the week it used that standing. On February 6, 1885, councilman David Kendall was killed by a stray bullet in a shooting on the Chinatown block, a short walk up E Street. That night a crowd raised a gallows; city leaders gave every Chinese resident twenty-four hours, and two days later hundreds were put aboard steamers for San Francisco. Their 1886 suit, Wing Hing v. City of Eureka, failed. The Eureka Chinatown Project's marker on that block tells it.

What the plaque says

Eureka "I Have Found It" Eureka was founded as a town in 1850 and incorporated as a city in 1874. Located on the remote northwestern coast of California, Eureka was the region's major port of entry by water in the 19th century before the construction of good access by land, and rose to historical prominence as the major social, political and economic center of the region. "Eureka" is a Greek expression and a popular mining term meaning "I have found it." California Registered Historical Landmark No. 477 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus, Eureka No. 101. September 15, 1979

Where it stands

40.80390, -124.16750 · Directions

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