Granite, Oregon

Granite, Oregon. Below on the flat is Granite's Chinatown.

Text courtesy of the Baker County Library

Granite Main St. looking south, ca. 1899. Grand Hotel is last building on west side of Main St. (SW corner of Main and Center). North across Center St. (NW corner of Main and Center) is the Lindsay & Wade store. On the east side of Main St., the store with the highest false front is the Niven & Ditmar store. The stage coarch is in front of the saloon next door south run by Sam and Lewis Gutridge.

Text courtesy of the Baker County Library website

Granite panorama looking SW. The Grand Hotel is on the SW corner of Main and Center streets. The large building across Main from the hotel has a sign on the back saying "Saloon."

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Granite, Oregon. Grant Thornburg's Grand Hotel.

Text courtesy of the Baker County Library

Granite Drug Co. store on east side of Main St., operated by Dr. E. D. Steincamp, assisted by his wife. Also on the sign: "DRUGS Cigars Books Stantionery Paints Oils & etc." Note on back of photo: "House to left (north) of drug store was home of Lewis Gutridge. Man on left on porch was A. J. Dickison." The identify of the other people is unknown, but the man may be Dr. Steincamp and one of the women his wife. Mrs. Steincamp was sister of Guy Lindsay of the Lindsay and Wade general store in Granite and in Alamo.

Text courtesy of the Baker County Library website

Granite. Grand Hotel. This photo was scanned from an 8 x 10 inch contact print of a glass negative. The negative is stored in the Library's Archive Room.

Text courtesy of the Baker County Library website

Granite Drug Co. store on Main St. The sign reads: "Granite Drug Co., DRUGS, Cigars Books Stantionery, Paints Oils & etc." House to left (north) of drug store was home of Lewis Gutridge.

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Club Saloon & Boarding House. Sign at top reads: "First Class Lodging Rooms." The building was located on the north side of Center St. just east of Main St. Notice the slope of the street is uphill (east) to the right. This hotel was built by Grant Thornburg and originally known as the Granite Hotel.

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Granite. Interior of Lindsay & Wade store located on Main St. (NW corner of Main and Center) north across the street from the Grand Hotel. The merchandise on the shelves includes canned goods at left, clothing in center, tinware in the back, and women's ware and material at right.

Text courtesy of the Baker County Library website

Granite. I. E. Rose & P. A. Brady Assay Office and Office of The Gem (newspaper). Sign on building at right says "Feed Store." These buildings were located on the south side Center St. down the hill from the Grand Hotel and across the street from City Hall.

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Niven & Ditmar's General Merchandise store in winter. Sleigh with two old men. Located on NE corner of Main and Center. Note on back of photo: "41 feet wide, 54 feet long." Granite Drug Co. store three buildings north.

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Granite brass band, ca. 1890, called the Blue Mountain Band. Drummers are Gallagher and Brown. Horns: Gibson, Neil Niven, J. W. Tabor, August Bachman, Britton, Mark Dickison, Elmer Thornburg, J. N. Ditmars, Sam Guttridge, Grant Thornburg, Miller, and Looney.

Text courtesy of the Baker County Library website

General merchandise and post office store. Located on Main St (NW corner of Main & Center), later location of Lindsay & Wade store.

Text courtesy of the Baker County Library website

Niven & Ditmars General Merchandise store in Granite. Niven & Ditmars is a large mercantile firm who not only supply the family trade, but also meet the wants of miners and mining companies in the line of lumber, tools, steel, powder and all kinds of mining supplies.

Their store, which we show by an accompanying illustration, has a frontage of 44 feet, and a depth of 54 with a fire proof wareroom attached. Their line is a complete one, including drugs, and by courteous and liberal treatment, they have built up a trade that speaks volumes for their personal popularity. They also are engaged in the lumber business, their mill being situated about three miles west of Granite. It has a capacity of fifteen thousand, and as they are putting in a planer they are now prepared to furnish all kinds of dressed lumber.

The firm is. composed of J. N. Ditmars and Neil Niven, both public-spirited and energetic citizens, and who have at all times lent their aid in every manner for the advancement of the interests of the town and county.

Joseph N. Ditmars, one of the members of the firm, has lived an adventurous life. lie was born in Ohio in 1848, but moved at the age of two years with his parents to Missouri, where he resided until 1861. At the breaking out of the civil war he joined Price's army. and remained with it until they joined with Van Dorn. They were then taken to Knoxville, Tennessee. Later, under General Longstreet, he passed through the campaign in Virginia. At the surrender at Appomattox, he, among others, broke through the Federal lines, and with two companions went to Texas. Remaining but a short time, he returned to his old home in Missouri, where he attended school for a year. He then engaged in farming for seven years. Coming west, he spent some time in Nevada. During the Frazier River excitement he spent a year there and then started overland with a party for the Yukon. The party lost their guide, and he and 26 others became lost, and finally drifted into Fort Sill, where they stayed two months of the winter. In the spring he and two others left for California and it took them four months to accomplish their trip. He later returned to Nevada, mining there until 1886. He then spent two years in China, and shortly after his return to San Francisco moved to Granite. He is a member of the K. P. and Masonic orders, belonging to Baker City Lodge No. 47.

Neil Niven is a Canadian, and was born in 1857. At the age of 19 he came to the United States and spent two years in Michigan. He then moved to California, where he remained until 1886 prospecting and mining. After spending two years in China he came to Granite, Oregon, and at once embarked in business. He is married to Miss Ida Limbeck of Idaho."

Text courtesy of the Baker County Library website

Granite. Grant Thornburg residence.

Thornburg is best known for having built the Grand Hotel. Note on back of photo: "Mrs. Thornburg in dark dress in right background. Among others are Bachman girls, Alice fourth from left and Christina sixth from left."

Below is a piece about him published in 1902 in "An Illustrated History of Baker, Grant, Malheur and Harney Counties.", p. 465. "Mr. Thornburg was born in Indiana, on February 10, 1865, the son of Joseph and Sarah (Wall) Thornburg, natives, respectively, of Indiana and Illinois. In 1865 the family came to Iowa, where our subject was educated and grew to manhood. In 1882 the family went thence to Missouri, and there Grant engaged in farming until 1889, in which year they came to the ground now occupied by the thrifty town of Granite. But one house graced the site at that time.

He built the first hotel on the site of Granite, and with the exception of two years, he has been in the business since that time. He now handles the Grand Hotel, a house of good reputation, and one in which the comfort of the guests is attended to with an untiring care that bespeaks enjoyment to the traveling public. In addition to the duties of host, Mr. Thornburg has attended to mining, and has made a very commendable showing in that line. He sold the Cougar to its present owners, and in company with his brother, sold the Thornburg placers. At the present time he has some fine properties and devotes much attention to mining.

Mr. Thornburg is one of the principal owners of the town site and he takes a very active part in political matters in general, being one of the leading men of the town and county. "The marriage of Mr. Thornburg and Miss Mary M. Gutridge was solemnized in Missouri, in 1885, and they have two children living, Odessa and Harry A., and one deceased. Fraternally Mr. Thornburg is affiliated with the B.P.O.E. of Baker City, and the K. of P., in Sumpter. Since the incorporation f the town Mr. Thornburg has been mayor, and at his own expense he has established a town water works system. It was in 1899 that the town of Granite was incorporated and it has been known as a center of a very rich mining region for a number of years."

Text courtesy of the Baker County Library website

Niven & Ditmar's General Merchandise store with pack string out front. Located on the NE corner of Main and Center.

Text courtesy of the Baker County Library website

Flagpole raising at Niven & Ditmar's General Merchandise store. Located on the NE corner of Main and Center. This is a series of three photos attached to this record. In the first photo, the white flagpole has just gone up and the old dark flagpole is about to come down. In the second photo the old flagpole has been disloged and is falling. In the third photo, the old flagpole is gone and a number of men are posed as if they had just raised the new one.

Text courtesy of the Baker County Library website

Granite, ca. 1930. There are still remnants of the original site of Granite at the bottom of the hill (middle of image). In early days, after the white residents had resettled up on the hill, the original settlement turned into a Chinatown.

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Granite City Hall. This modest structure is still standing.

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Granite School. Located on the north side at the east end of Center St. (top of the hill). This building was built ca. 1901 replacing the town's first school house. On May 18, 1901, the first school house and 100 x 200 lot were sold at auction to Walkie Tabor for $90. Then it became a home and burned down in the 1940s.

Text courtesy of the Baker County Library website

Grand Hotel but called Granite Hotel on August 30, 1941, when photo was taken. It was built by Grant Thornburg in about 1892 and had a spacious lobby, restaurant, bar, and 42 rooms. Grant's wife, Mary, ran the restaurant. This view is of the east side of the hotel. Note the glass-top gas pump standing at the right corner of the building. Meals were served as late as 1937-38. The building was razed in 1943.

Text courtesy of the Baker County Library website

Granite, Oregon. Cat pulling sled with ore from mine. Grand Hotel at right.

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Granite. Dog "Tip" on roof of snowed-in house.

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A view from the school house looking west down Center St. in winter.

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Store at Main & Center, previously called The Davenport, located on SE corner of Main and Center.

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Granite. Snowed-in house, February 11, 1949.

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Cabin at Granite, Oregon. Photo by Harold Weaver, July 21, 1967.

Text courtesy of the Baker County Library