Amador City

Mooney Saloon

The Mooney Saloon and the Koehler Bakery were located next to each other in these 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.

The Peyton Building was built to replace a wood-frame saloon which was destroyed in the fire of 1878. William Peyton erected this brick building in 1879, seemingly for another saloon. Perhaps tiring of the saloon business, Peyton rented the building in March of 1879 to J. R. Dunlap who then used the structure as a drug store and post office. A general store was located in the building at one time.

The Weil Building was built shortly after the fire of 1878 destroyed his wooden warehouse on the same site. Rebuilding of brick, merchant Weil operated a general mercantile store here for a number of years. The building has also housed the Keystone Supply Company.

The last building on the west side of Main Street is an old Brick Building which was probably built before the 1876 fire. It may, in fact, have belonged to Weil, but no records as to its construction or early ownership are known. Old photos reveal that the post office and a Western Union office were located here at one time.