Amador City

Several other claims were staked along the quartz vein shortly after Davidson’s discovery, which led to the original settlement shifting downstream from Amador Crossing, where the stage road crossed the creek, to the spot it occupies today. As the miners became more familiar with working the quartz mines, the mines began to prosper, which created a demand for more workers. And wherever miners went, stores and saloons and hotels and all the rest were sure to follow. Amador boomed and went on to become one of the richest mining towns in the Gold Country

The Mooney Saloon and the Koehler Bakery were located next to each other in the above two buildings on Main Street. The fires of 1876 and 1878 destroyed frame buildings on this site, and each time Mooney rebuilt his saloon out of wood. He reopened his saloon for the third time in 1880. Henry Koehler was forty years old when he opened his bakery and restaurant in 1879. The grand opening took place on December 13 and offered free lunches to the citizenry. Described as “...short and stocky, with thinning dark hair and hazel eyes, and with the third finger of his left hand missing from the first joint,” Koehler’s business was a success from the start. In addition to the bakery and restaurant, he also operated a candy store and saloon.

Enter the Hotel Here

The Imperial Hotel was originally meant to be a mercantile store. When the fire of 1878 destroyed a wooden hotel on the site, B. Sanguinetti decided to build a brick store on the lot. At some point during the construction he changed his plans and in 1879 an impressive, two-story brick hotel was finished. The following year a two-story frame addition was added to the rear of the building, which was removed years later. The hotel was first known as the “Italian Hotel,” becoming the Imperial at some later date.

Amador Schoolhouse, the east-west wing dates from the 1860’s, the addition from 1878

Historic photos courtesy of Amador County Archives