The condition created by an oak tree on a sunny day identified the Shade Hotel. The first on scene report of the Shade Hotel at Bidwell came years later from the personal accounts of Mrs. Caroline Reagan. As an eleven-year old girl, she arrived at Bidwell in October of 1853 with her parents D. G. and Julia Martin after a five-month journey from Iowa by ox team and wagon to the gold fields of Butte County. She recalled that the hotel name was derived from a large oak tree in front of the building. Along with the National and Fitzgerald (Union House) the Shade was one of the three major hotels in Bidwell during its glory days.

It is not known when the Shade Hotel was built or who built it.  The first official record of the existence of the Shade Hotel comes from a source about eighty miles away in Sacramento. On July 27, 1852, the Sacramento Daily Union reported the Shade Hotel was robbed of three to four hundred dollars the prior Friday night. The first individuals who can be associated with the Shade Hotel are Peter W. and Johanna S. Wirstrom in 1853. Peter was 31 years old when he married 23-year-old Johanna.  They departed on April 6, 1850, from Andover, Illinois, for the gold fields of California. It is reported they walked most of the way and the journey was especially difficult for Mrs. Wirstrom since she had the added responsibility of cooking for the eight men in the company. They reached their destination at Bidwell’s Bar in late August of 1850. The Wirstroms made their presence felt in the community. The Butte Record of December 3, 1853 proclaimed that P. W. Wirstrom was the newly appointed postmaster at the Bidwell’s Bar Post Office located in the Shade Hotel. It appears the Shade Hotel was holding its own in the competition for business with the National Hotel, where many Bidwell events were held. The activities of the local Masonic Fraternity were reported in the December 31, 1853, issue of the newspaper.

The Masonic Fraternity in this place assembled on the evening of the 27th last, to do honor to their patron, St. John the Evangelist, they sat down to a sumptuous supper, prepared by Wirstrom, of the Shade Hotel. After the more substantial portions were feasted upon that soul stirring and wit-provoking ingredient was brought forth, and appropriate toasts, sentiment, and song, had full way. All seemed perfectly happy, and to enjoy themselves to their heart’s content.

The public records indicate a major change in the business life of the Wirstroms, but do not tell the story of the personal tragedies occurring in their private lives, making the drastic changes necessary. They had undoubtedly moved west to escape some of the hard realities of their life in Andover. However, other heartbreaks followed them to their new home. On Tuesday morning, May 30, 1854, Martha Josephina, the three-month and thirteen day old daughter of Peter W. and Johanna S. Wirstrom died of consumption. In that same year, Captain Peter W. Wirstrom was also suffering from consumption and decided to leave Bidwell and return to Illinois.

As the Wirstroms were dealing with their personal life changing events, the entire town experienced a traumatic change as well. Virtually the entire town of Bidwell was destroyed by fire in one hour on August 2, 1854. Among the business losses listed in the paper after the fire was the Shade Hotel loss of $10,000.  Did Johanna face this trauma alone, or was her husband still at Bidwell at the time? Research has not found a conclusive answer. The Wirstrom family history indicates he returned to Illinois in 1854.  He died on February 25, 1855, at Buffalo Hill, Illinois. 

About three and a half months after the fire destroyed the Shade Hotel, the town newspaper announced on November 25, 1854 that the hotel was opened and back in business.

This well known house kept by Mrs. Wirstrom, having been rebuilt since the recent fire, is now finished and furnished  in the best manner for the accommodation of the public. The table will be furnished with the best the market affords, and the bar with the choosiest liquors and cigars. Mrs. Wirstrom returns her thanks for the liberal patronage extended since the fire, and hereby solicits a continuation of past favors.   

 Bidwell, Nov 25th 1854

Just over a year after rebuilding the fire-destroyed hotel, a deed on April 24, 1855, records that Johanna S. Wirstrom sold the Shade Hotel property to John W. Gilkyson for $3,000.  He was twenty-three years old when he arrived at Bidwell Bar in 1850, migrating from Pennsylvania following the lure of the gold rush. Randal Hobart and his son William had left Michigan and arrived at Bidwell a year before, in 1849. The remainder of the Hobart family arrived at Bidwell in 1852. Their family lives became joined when, at the age of 29, John W. Gilkyson Sr. married seventeen-year old Ruth Eleanor Hobart in 1856.

On October 2, 1855, the ownership and operations of the Shade Hotel changed once again. On that date John W. Gilkyson Sr. sold to Gordon Servis an undivided one-half interest in the hotel for $2,000. This sale occurred about five months after Gilkyson purchased the full property from Mrs. Wirstrom. In July 1956, Gordon Servis purchased the other half of the hotel property.

The year that Gordon Servis and his wife Margaret arrived in Bidwell is not certain. It is believed they migrated from Canada to Wisconsin perhaps as early as 1852. It appears they were married in Canada in 1847. The 1860 Butte County Federal Census lists Gordon’s age as 36 and Margaret’s age as 29. Somehow the Shade Hotel continued to successfully operate even though the town was declining and the business had changed ownership several times.

 On December 31, 1856, the Oroville Daily Butte Record reported on the progress of the construction of the Suspension Bridge at Bidwell’s Bar. By this date the county seat had been moved from Bidwell to Oroville. It is interesting to note the visit was made by the editor of a Marysville newspaper and simply reported in the Oroville newspaper.  Colonel Rust, editor of the Marysville Express, provided a detailed description of the progress, but only the matters related to the Shade Hotel are presented below.

 “For our very agreeable trip we were indebted to the politeness of Capt. Murray, and for our excellent accommodations for the night, the Shade Hotel is entitled to the credit. We were fed most bountifully and bedded sumptuously, thanks to the politeness and attention of the host, Mr. Servis.”

Even with the departure of the county seat from Bidwell in 1856, tax records record that Gordon Servis continued to operate the hotel until at least 1862. The Shade Hotel was one of the landmark businesses in the community, and it provided a needed service during the town’s boom years and into its declining years.   When the last meal was served and the last bed prepared for a guest is not known. Like many of the closing events in the town of Bidwell, there is no nice tidy ending.  Once the newspaper left town in mid-1856, virtually nothing appeared in the Oroville papers about the events at Bidwell.    

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