I thoroughly enjoy finding historical things. As a kid, my family and I would make the trek to Bodie (https://www.monocounty.org/places-to-go/bodie/) every few years while camping at Tuolumne Meadows (High Sierra in Yosemite). Every time we visited, it was like the first time ever being there. There was always something new to see and explore even though the ghost town hadn’t really changed since it became a ghost town.

The Murray and Jones Building, Est. 1913, is a little bit like that for me. As one of the owners, I take a real interest in finding the things that made it one of the four corners of what W.A. Jones and Charles Murray called “The New Center”. In 1912-1916, if you were in business or wanted to be in business, you WANTED to be at the corners of 10th and J. Street in Modesto, California.

Simply put, it WAS the place to be.

Recently while treasure hunting in the basement, I ran across this Inspection Card from, I believe, 1913.

It’s heavy card stock has weathered but the leather seal protector where it attached to the pipe is well, still leathered. It’s from the City of Modesto, and while it doesn’t have a date on it, the inspector wrote “Ok to set meter”. An “Ok” to set the meter is normally something that is done when the building is built, so it makes sense to me that this is original to the building from 1913.

If you are looking for a place for your business, may I suggest ours? It’s a great location … at the west entrance to Downtown Modesto.