First Placer County Hospital

First constructed in 1852, this building opened on September 22, 1855 as the first Placer County Hospital. In 1890 it was badly damaged by fire. At that time, the upstairs housed the residence and gallery of photographer J.M. Jacobs and the dental offices of Dr. J.C. Hawver, also a spelunker and photographer, who with W.W. Banbrock, another photographer in Jacobs' gallery, produced many of the early photos and postcards of Auburn and Placer County. Placer County Hospital, which by then accepted private patients, was reestablished where the Auburn Town Center now stands and operated through 1974. J.M. Jacobs rebuilt the building, and the Jacobs family owned it until 1957; Placer County owned it until 2004, when the Old Town Auburn Preservation Society purchased it. The building remains listed on the National Register as the Jacobs House and has a new life as the Gold Country Medical History Museum.

Auburn, California · United States