Memories of the Ice House...PFE

These 300 pound blocks were made to ship out with fruit that needed to be kept cold during transit on the railroad

Pacific Fruit Express 1909 to 1973

For over half a century, Roseville was the location of the world’s largest artificial ice plant, the Pacific Fruit Express Company. Throughout hot, dry summer months, long lines of refrigerators cars called “refers” routinely entered and departed the local Southern Pacific Railroad yards heavily laden with the bountiful harvest of California’s fields and orchards.

Dominating the local skyline were massive concrete ice making facilities from which huge 300 pound cakes of ice were transferred via conveyor belts to one of the three lengthy icing platforms, or decks. Along these quarter mile long loading platforms, hundreds of iceman worked around the clock icing, or re-icing refers before sending them on their way to distant markets.

This was dangerous work and required the men to wear personal protective equipment especially on their feet to protect from the heavy ice blocks.

This scenario was repeated season after season without a let up until the early 1950s when self refrigerating steel refers begin to replace older wooden ones. As more and more of these newfangled marvels came online, demand for ice lessened, production was steadily cut, and employees were laid off, until 1973 when ice making stopped completely and the once-busy platforms lay silent and deserted. A year later, in 1974, the world’s largest artificial ice plant, now obsolete and of little practical use, was razed.

Employees using ice tongs to move large ice blocks

Conveyer Belt

This belt helped move ice to the railroad loading platform.

Personal Protective Equipment

These boots slipped over the workers shoes to protect their feet from the heavy ice blocks. Come see these in the museum next time you visit.

Guests at the Belvedere #3

An advertisement for the shipbuilding company James John Barnes father had started and for which J.J. worked in his early life.

Not every guest of the Belvedere Hotel lived perfect, happy lives. The guests represent a cross section of humanity living complex and storied lives.The life of James John “J.J.” Barnes is a tragic story for all involved. This is a trigger warning and it should be noted that we do not approve of the behaviors we have recounted here, but rather wish to tell the truth of Roseville History as we learn, and share it for historical posterity. 

James John Barnes was born in San Francisco in 1883. J.J., as he was called, was a meticulous man with a penchant for entrepreneurship. He was active in several businesses, local fraternities, and sporting groups.  As a member of the California Association of Cyclists, J.J participated in the annual 100-mile relay race for the Morrill Trophy. He was situated in the fifth relay which ran from Mountain View to San Jose and completed the section in 28:18. He was also a member of the California Cyclist Club and was elected to the Board of Directors in 1905. 

As a young man, began working at his father’s ship building business, The J.D. Barnes Company which would eventually become Barnes & Tibbitts Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Alameda, Ca. Barnes & Tibbitts dissolved in 1922.  In 1923 J.J. would go on to partner with W.L. Rope and start the J.J. Barnes and Company, and eventually the J.J. Barnes Construction Company. In 1938, his construction company won the contract to build the women’s custodial unit at Napa State Hospital. 

J.J.’s personal life was another story altogether. In 1906, J.J. married the love of his life, Ceva Davidson. 

A short five years later, Ceva and J.J. would suffer the greatest loss of their lives. Their daughter, Evlyn Elizabeth Barnes, had been born on January 13, 1913. Sadly, in 1916, at just 3 years of age, Evlyn passed away of unknown causes. Ceva and J.J. were devastated and handled it in very different manners. Ceva distanced herself from J.J. and began to spend time outside of the house with friends and acquaintances frequently drinking alcohol, much to J.J.’s dismay. J.J did not handle her coping mechanisms well and began to record accounts of Ceva’s habits.  One entry reads:

“October 28, 1922

I have not kept this report up to date as it would have taken too much paper for the same. But for the last three nights our lady has not been home before 2:30 and when she did come home, when I inquire where she was, I got for an answer, I do not know that it is any of your business. Tonight, she arrived home at 2:30. One night this week when I came home, I found her in the garage with a man.”

J.J. Barnes

J.J. was exasperated by his wife’s behavior. He had loved Ceva dearly and despite their difficulties, he remained smitten with her. The couple separated in 1923 and within that same year, Ceva received news of yet another tragic event. She received a letter detailing the death of J.J. stating that his lifeless body had been found floating in a river in Loomis. The letter not only contained the news of his death, but a detailed description of his funeral. Ceva soon found out it was a hoax perpetrated by J.J. himself. Exactly why J.J. decided to play such a cruel joke on his wife is unknown, but it can be speculated he had been devastated by their separation.  In 1926, Ceva petitioned for divorce and it was granted in 1927. J.J.’s love for Ceva did not falter. He had penned a letter to his potential “successor” requesting he treat her well and to let him know that “any other man will not love her as I do…” He also wrote to Ceva:

“To my Dear Wife,

You may think it funny when I say that, but I mean it. I love you. It is on account of this great love that this great and only sacrifice is being made, that of going out of your life. 

Ceva, my dear girl, I not only worship you but the ground you walk on and the air you breathe. You have grown tired of me because I could not hold up my end with the other men and still give you everything that you wanted. I made you the presents thinking that you would appreciate them more than the dancing as that only lasts for a night. But I see my mistake now and for that reason I am ready to step aside for some other fellow that will give you this side of life. 

After you have had the gay side you can then look back and see which was the best, the gay or the home and family life as I wanted. As you get older, I think that I know which you are going to decide on, but it will be too late, as you will have your second husband.”

Ceva never remarried. She unfortunately died in 1929 at the age of 41 from complications of the liver. 

At the time of the erroneous letter sent by J.J., he had been living in Sacramento and engaging in building a mining enterprise in Placer County. Forty-five acres dedicated to the mine were “located on Miner’s Ravine, on the county road between Loomis and Folsom.” The mining business did not take off as he had expected. Letters from his partner in the mining business, Art Thebo, give an account of the struggles faced by the business. Ultimately and unfortunately, he had lost most of his savings investing in the mine business in Loomis. 

In 1942 J.J. Barnes moved to Roseville. He took up residence in the Hotel Belvedere where he remained for the next 14 years. During his time in Roseville, J.J. was a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry and the Selective Service Board at Westwood. While living in Roseville, he would take vacations and travel to places such as Santa Cruz or the mountains of Lassen County. J.J. passed away in Roseville on January 9, 1956, and a funeral was held at Lambert Funeral Home.

J.J. Barnes at far right and members of his Cycling Club

Guests at the Belvedere Series #2

Lena Henrietta Ewert was born on Dec. 12, 1864, in the dusty gold mining town of Volcanoville, located in El Dorado County California. She was the sixth of nine children born to German immigrant parents, Charles and Martha Ewert. Her father sought his fortunes in the foothills as so many did during the Gold Rush of California. Lena would spend the majority of her childhood years living in Placerville, while her father mined and her mother kept the home. According to census records, Lena did not attend school but could read and write.

In 1883, at the age of 19, Lena married Joseph Fillmore Hart. She gave birth to eight children by 1900, with two children passing away in infancy. Her husband, Joseph also died of unknown causes in 1906 leaving Lena a widow with 6 children at 42. She made the decision to move on and married her second husband Rice D. Arnett in 1908. They had two additional children, the last being born in 1911, when Lena was 47 years old!

In 1909 the Placerville Mountain Democrat Newspaper reported the newly married Lena Arnett had made a deal with Chas. McCormick for his dairy business. It’s possible this was a barter between the two because according to the newspaper, Mr. McCormick “now owns the Hart place,” which was Lena’s former married name. Over the next few years, records show the local hospital sourcing their milk through Lena’s business.

In 1912, with 5 children under the age of 18, Lena filed for and was granted a divorce from Rice Arnett for unknown reasons. At the time, the divorce rate for the US was one per thousand couples. Lena would remain unmarried for the rest of her life.

Though women were allowed to vote in 1912 in California, it took the rest of the country another eight years to catch up with the ratification of the 19’th Amendment granting women the right to vote in 1920. At the age of 56, Lena’s name first appears in the 1920-1922 voting records with a Roseville address. Her name would continue to appear in these registers for the next 30 years at various addresses around Roseville. Many of her children married in the area. In 1922 The Press Tribune announced a double wedding at the “attractive home of Lena Arnett” for her two sons, Henry and Paul Hart who married sisters Ella and Leola Carr. Her two youngest children, James Duane and Rice Delos graduated from Roseville High School in 1928 and 1932.

For 30 years , Lena called Roseville home where she was active in local groups such as The Women’s Christian Temperance Union ("W.C.T.U) that campaigned for local, state, and national prohibition, woman suffrage, protective purity legislation, scientific temperance instruction in the schools, better working conditions for labor, anti-polygamy laws, Americanization, and a variety of other reforms. In addition, she was President of the Ladies Aid Society and the Beehive Sewing Club alongside influential Roseville women with long lineages in Roseville’s history. It was not unusual for Lena to host fundraisers for local college women in her home.

Towards the end of her life, in the early forties, she moved into her daughter's home and business venture, the Belvedere Boarding House and Hotel. Her daughter was Myrtle Sprague, one of the owners of the Belvedere, who would learn from her mother’s business sense to be an efficient business woman capable of taking care of herself and her family, as her mother had done before her.

Lena visited and lived with her children until her death in 1950 at the age of 85 and is buried back in her childhood home of Placerville. She had lived a full life, given birth to eight surviving children, been one of the few women to divorce in her time and one of the first to vote! She had taken pride in her community, offering assistance and kindness to those she encountered. We are lucky she was a part of our community.

James Duane in his graduating class of Roseville High School in 1928.

Rice Delos looking into the camera For his graduating class of RHS Photo in 1932

Hundreds of Doors Open while One Quietly Closes

This image from 1911 shows Mr. Richardson on the right with employees inside the first location on Lincoln St.

After months of store closures due to Covid-19, businesses are finally reopening with one notable exception. After 112 years of serving the Roseville community, the Big and Tall store in Roseville Square is quietly closing its doors on June 27, 2020, with very little fanfare.  

On March 5 1908, H.A Richardson’s haberdashery opened in order to accommodate the needs of the incoming railroad workers. It was owned by Harvey Armstrong Richardson, who named the store after himself. The store specialized in men’s clothing, accessories and shoes to match. The store was located on the ground floor of the McRae building on the corner of Lincoln and Main Street as this was one of the most bustling places in town with hotels nearby to house the railroad workers.

This ad was run in the Roseville Register in 1908

In July 1931, H.A. Richardson’s saw a change in the shopping landscape as the population had nearly quadrupled since the store’s opening and the new residents were doing their shopping on the newer side of town, on Vernon Street.

The haberdashery made the smart decision to follow the crowds and moved the store to a new location in the Forlow Building at 209 Vernon St. This meant that the streets were full of shoppers anxious to purchase the latest trends and fashions as seen on the silver screen at the New Roseville Theater, just doors away from the new store. With neighbors like Clark Gable and Barbara Stanwyck, it’s not difficult to understand why the store would be so well placed! This location would be home to H.A. Richardson’s for the next 48 years. 

When Mr. Harvey Armstrong Richardson died in 1948 at the age of 68, there was a period of uncertainty on the store’s future. Mr. Richardson’s daughter, Helen Richardson decided that a manager was needed to keep things running smoothly at the store.

This ad from 1979 shows stark differences in the time period and store inventory

Paul Wagner was a man from Glen Ullin, North Dakota who had the experience needed. He happened to be stationed with the Signal Army Corp at Camp Kohler in nearby Sacramento County during World War II and had stayed on following its end. He had worked at a family business back in the Dakota’s and saw that the store was something he would enjoy and be capable of handling. He worked as manager of the store from 1948 until 1959, when he became a partner in the store. Helen Richardson respected the ideas that Paul Wagner brought into the business and ultimately sold him the store in 1973.  At this point, Paul had seen Vernon Street evolve and wanted to make changes reflective of the new landscape.

It was 1978 when the store moved to its third location in Roseville Square. Paul recognized that the new shopping square would be good for business and decided to make one minor, but important change to the store’s inventory. The addition of a Big and Tall department attracted many more customers and created such success that several other Big and Tall Stores were opened. According to Paul’s son John, the decision to add clothes for larger size men had been instrumental in the stores success and longevity.

Paul retired in 1996 after 48 years, leaving the store in the good hands of his three sons John, Jim & Tom (all graduates of Roseville High School). After retirement, Paul could be found back in the shop shooting the breeze, sipping coffee and sharing his wisdom with the other employees. Paul lived until the age of 96, when in 2018 he passed away leaving behind his bride Lorraine Wagner, of 70 years.

One hundred and twelve years of operation is a remarkable accomplishment. When asked what the secret to the stores success is, John Wagner replied “It’s our ability to understand our customers and what their needs are.”

 The humble observer would take note that there is so much more required for such a long haul. Perhaps it is as simple as the generations of strong work ethic and intuition regarding customer needs, or perhaps it’s the genuine characters involved that helped this business grow. The kindess and customer service are factors of success as are the dedicated employees such as Sly Vuletch, an employee of the store since 1956 who has just recently retired in April of 2020. In response to these wonderful attributes of the successful store, the Roseville community has made it a staple with customers who return with their children and make it a generational stop.

An article celebrating the store’s 90’th anniversary shows the Wagner family in 1999

Although Roseville is about to lose a landmark business, we must celebrate the history and success of a business that has endured many changes throughout time and remained steady in its ability to adapt to the new landscape. The Roseville Historical Society wishes to congratulate the Wagner family on their newfound freedom in which they hope to do “the normal things, spend time with family and travel.”

Best wishes to the Wagner Family and Much Gratitude to those involved with keeping the store running for over a century.