The original Hotel Victor, built by the Woods family in 1894 at the corner of 4th and Victor Avenue, stood where JET Service now stands. While workmen dug its foundation, they discovered a rich gold-bearing vein that led up the hill to the site that became the Gold Coin Mine. The hotel, with balconies and an unusual pyramidal rooftop tower, became one of Victor’s most widely photographed buildings, and hundreds of people watched Independence Day parades from its balconies. Less than seven weeks after the July 4 celebration of 1899, a devastating fire swept through the city and destroyed the hotel. The site then remained vacant for many years, during which circus tents were set up there for holiday celebrations and crowds gathered for labor union rallies. Directly across 4th Street stood the First National Bank of Victor, also owned by the Woods family, which was likewise destroyed in the August 1899 fire. A new four-story bank was rebuilt by Christmas Eve that year, but it closed permanently on November 4, 1903, when the Woods family’s financial empire collapsed and it was declared insolvent. Several successor banks, including A.E. Carlton’s City Bank, later occupied the building, which eventually became the New Victor Hotel; after many years vacant, the restored hotel reopened in 1992, and its bank vault and original bird cage elevator still operate. North 4th Street also hosted celebrations, including a 4th of July extravaganza. In 1907-08, the Mint Bar was built on the former hotel site. When it opened on January 23, 1908, it was advertised as a gentlemen’s resort offering liquid refreshments, fine cigars, courteous treatment, a solid mahogany bar with an imported plate glass mirror, and rooms with a cigar stand, six pool tables, and two billiards tables. T.D. Foster owned the building, Teddy Booth managed the bar, and JET Service moved into the building in the 1960s.