Is It Eagle Cottage-or Eagle Cotage? by Zina Abbott

Eagle Cottage – or Cotage, as it is more popularly known – was built on Washington Street in the early days of the California gold mining town of Columbia.

There is controversy over the proper name of Eagle Cottage or Cotage. Some claim the building was named correctly as Eagle Cottage, but on a 1855 lithograph of the town, the artist shortened it to Cotage in order to fit the name on the sign out front. However, the name Eagle Cotage is printed below the picture on the lithograph. Others claim because the building was a boardinghouse that rented out cots rather than rooms, the name Eagle Cotage is correct—not a misspelling—and was the name from the beginning.

Although not included in the timeline for when Eagle Cotage was on Washington Street, there is a record that Mrs. A. Arnold did own and manage the Eagle Cotage in the 1850s. Since the building was moved from another location to Washington Street, she could have owned it prior to its move.        

The building on Washington Street was destroyed in the fires of 1854, 1857, and 1861. After the third fire, it was not rebuilt again until 1960 after the California bought the property in Columbia and began to restore it to the appearance of an 1850s gold mining town.

 

Eagle Cotage

In 1854, Wm. Odenheimer and Thaddeus W. Northey bought the property from Duncan and McClenahan. Odenheimer moved his Eagle Cottage boarding house to the property and into a larger building. It took care of 100 boarders and had a barber shop in the northeast corner so the tenants could spruce up for a night on the town. The building on the lot burned in the July 10, 1854 fire. It was rebuilt by July 23.

In 1855, a lithograph of important buildings in Columbia was created. It is assumed that the lithographer, due to a lack of space, just etched the word "Cotage" in the sign. That was where the controversy began, since this lithograph seems to be the earliest printed record regarding the building. There is no real documentation that the building's sign was misspelled.

1856 Northey sold his interest to Isaac A. Stevens. (Odenheimer was drinking heavily. Where that tidbit of information came from, I’m not sure. My guess is, it was shared in the Columbia Gazette which published a weekly in 1856. In spite of the fires that destroyed much in Columbia, editions of that newspaper for 1856 were saved somewhere and are available on microfilm.)

On April 4, 1857, Soderer and Marshall bought the property at a sheriff's sale and leased it to Charles Bombauer. By August 25th, it was again destroyed by fire. The lot was purchased by Bombauer who rebuilt it. However, in 1859, the lot reverted to Soderer and Marshall after Bombauer failed to pay the mortgage. In February 1860, M.D.Kimball leased the Cottage. In April, Mrs. C. Bronson ran the business.

Side View of Eagle Cottage

In July 1961, the building was again destroyed by fire. In October of the next year, the vacant lot was sold to James Griffiths, Tim Hayes, and Tom Hayes. The Eagle Cottage/Cotage was not rebuilt.

Since Washington Street borders the gold-rich Maine Gulch (Maine Ditch, Matelot Gulch) part of town, like much of Columbia, the site was mined in 1871 and then abandoned.

Fast-forward to the twentieth century when the decision is made for California to purchase the main part of Columbia and restore it to its 1850s glory as a gold mining town to become part of the state’s historic parks system. In 1950, the state purchased the empty lot from Luckows, Nicolas and Peterson.

In 1960, using the 1855 lithograph as a guide, the building was reconstructed with money from the College of the Pacific and the state. It was used by College of the Pacific drama students in summer repertory at the theater for the first time in summer, 1960. In May 1961 the building was officially dedicated. The word "Eagle Cotage" is placed in the sign which replicates the image in the 1855 lithograph.

It presently houses the park rangers’ offices and a meeting room for docents.

In my book, Kendrick, scheduled to be released February 1, 2020, I refer to Mrs. Arnold who runs the Eagle Cottage. I used Cottage in this book primarily because that word would be more familiar to most readers and not appear to be a misspelling which might detract from the story. 

Kendrick is Book 9 in the popular Bachelors & Babies multi-author series. It will have a subtitle of “Too Old for Babies” since it is also part of my own Too Old in Columbia series. To find the book description and preorder purchase link, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Here is a snippet from the book involving Mrs. Arnold:

…The only thing that had saved him today had been the appearance of Mrs. Arnold, who ran the Eagle Cottage boardinghouse. He had been busy cleaning up Madeline when he heard a worried female voice in front calling out his name. It was then he recalled that Jeb had put up the closed sign and shut the door, but the door had remained unlocked.

            Not knowing what else to do with the baby, now barely out of the hip bath and in the process of being dried off, he flung her to his shoulder and tossed her yellow blanket which, fortunately, had escaped the disaster that had blown out of her diapers. Thus, he entered the front room where a wide-eyed middle-aged woman exclaimed at the sight of him carrying a baby. He laughed as he recalled her words. “Oh, Mr. Denham. When so much time passed, and you didn’t show up with my meat order, I worried there had been an accident. I thought, maybe you had cut off one of your fingers or something. I decided I better come and check on you.”

            Truth of the matter was, Kendrick probably could have dealt with a chopped-off finger better than what he went through undressing, wiping clean, and then bathing Madeline. However, after he explained an abbreviated version of that day’s events, the woman took pity on him.

            She told him she would take her meat order with her and get supper started. She also offered to watch Madeline that afternoon while he delivered the rest of his orders.

            Before she left his shop, she even risked her reputation to enter his bedroom to help him dress the baby. She showed him how to fold diapers to fit around Madeline’s bottom and explained how the knit wool outer pants helped keep things drier. Mrs. Arnold even revealed the mystery of how safety pins worked to hold everything in place.

Sources:

http://www.columbiagazette.com/eaglehist.html

http://visitcolumbiacalifornia.com/history-eagle-cotage-building/

Phillips, Rachel, Self-guided tour of Columbia proper, Columbia State Historic Park; 2019

Koeppel, Columbia California: On the Gold Dust Trail; Malakoff & Co. Publishing: La Habra, California:2005