Create a Legacy for Generations to Come copy

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Modern Confidence and Jane Buildings

Emigrant Jane

489 Main Street

Placerville, CA

Confidence Firehouse

487 Main Street

Placerville, CA

Confidence Hall and Emigrant Jane Stuart Building

Confidence Hall

In 1857, a group of volunteers solicited the funds to purchase a used fire engine from Sacramento's Engine Company No. 1. Finding it impossible to remove its deeply engraved title, "Confidence Engine No. 1”, the Mountaineer Engine Company was renamed to match the new engine, and the new Firehouse was erected in 1860. In 1906, the city of Placerville established the first public library in El Dorado County, which took up residence on the upper floor of Confidence Hall until it was relocated in 1947.

Emigrant Jane Stuart Building

As the story is told, Emigrant Jane Stuart single-handedly drove a herd of horses from the Midwest and arrived in Placerville in mid-1860. She sold the herd and used the proceeds to buy the parcel of land next to the Firehouse, where she built a two-story building in 1862.

 

Placerville City Hall occupied the buildings from 1902 to 2005.