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Archive Record

Helping Hand Hall succumbs to wreckers, 1940
Catalog number 1997.2.1620
Object Name Clipping
Date 1940
Description TITLE: Helping hand Hall Falls Under Axe PUBLISHER: San Jose Mercury Herald
New Almaden's long-famed Hacienda Helping Hand hall which shortly succumbs to wreckers. It was built just 70 years ago when the quicksilver mining company, then at peak production, wanted a place where miners could enjoy sober relaxation. Many famed entertainers, as well as home talent at the mines, staged shows here and at a similar Helping Hand hall farther up Mine hill, long since wrecked. These two halls did much to bring social life to the famous mining camp under the late superintendent, J. B. Randol, who in 1870 changed the wild western mining community to a quiet industrial town. Lumber from the hall will be used to build small cabins for miners in the new quicksilver development.
Cataloged by Boudreault, Art