Sign In

- Or use -
Forgot Password Create Account
This item has been sold, but you can enter your email address to be notified if another example becomes available.
Description

Early View of the San Mateo Hotel by Famed African American Lithographer Grafton Tyler Brown.

Attractive hand-colored G.T. Brown lithograph of the San Mateo Hotel, from Moore & De Pue's Illustrated History of San Mateo County

The San Mateo Hotel was owned by pioneer San Mateo County settler Eugene Walker (1829-1885).  Born in Chatauqua County, New York in 1829, Walker came to California via the Isthmus pf Panam, in 1857, where he first settled at West Union for a year, then moved to Pescadero from 1858 to 1861, where he was engaged in the freight business, in Nevada, for James G. Fair of Whipple and Treadwell.  From 1862 to 1864 he worked with the Southern Pacific railroad company, and was later employed on the George H. Howard ranch. 

In October 6, 1864, Walker moved to San Mateo, where he became the first proprietor of the San Mateo Hotel. He also held the position of deputy sheriff. 

G.T. Brown

Grafton Tyler Brown is perhaps the first and unquestionably the most famous African American artist and lithographer to depict California and the Pacific Coast. Born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, February 22, 1841, Brown moved to San Francisco at the age of 20 and learned the art of lithography from C. C. Kuchel. In 1861 and again in 1864, Brown created the two earliest bird's eye views of Virginia City. At the age of 26, he established his own firm, G.T. Brown & Co.

Brown produced skillfully illustrated bank notes, labels, and maps, and stock certificates for Wells Fargo, Levi Strauss and Co., and several mining companies. His significant lithographic production, The Illustrated History of San Mateo County (1878), featured 72 views of the county's communities and ranches. Brown traveled throughout Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, and British Columbia (where he settled in 1882), producing maps and illustrations, including many landscape paintings.

In 1893, Brown secured employment as a draftsman at the St. Paul, Minnesota office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Sometime during his St. Paul years he married Elberta Brown. Brown's work with the Corps of Engineers ended in December 1897, after which he worked in the civil engineering department of the city of St. Paul until 1910. He died on March 3, 1918, in Nicollet County, Minnesota, bringing to a close a rich and varied career as an artist and illustrator of the American West.

Reference
History of San Mateo County, California, 1883.