BlockFrom the record
One of 24 National Register listings published here for Butte County · listed in 2026 · category: Building.
Sources: the National Register database, National Park Service
Pence Hotel and Post Office
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2026. 12 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1891.
The listing
- What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
- Still standing. The Park Service records this property as extant.
- Address. 2828 Messilla Valley Road, Oroville, 95965
- When was it listed? January 2026
- Category. building
- Census division. Paradise
- National Register reference number. 100012534 - assigned by the National Park Service when the property was listed.
Then and now
1891 to 1994The ground this property stands on, surveyed 103 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
Fires near this property
398 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 398 fires within 5 miles of Pence Hotel and Post Office between 1992 and 2020, burning about 14,161 acres in total. 16 started naturally. 51 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Equipment and vehicle use | 142 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 112 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 51 |
| Debris and open burning | 38 |
| Natural | 16 |
| Smoking | 11 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 8 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 7 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 7 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 3 |
| Fireworks | 2 |
| Firearms and explosives use | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.7 acres | Butte Unit | CREEK |
| 7 September 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | 10 acres | Butte Unit | CHEROKEE |
| 7 September 1997 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Butte Unit | CHEROKEE |
| 6 September 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 76 acres | Northern California District | CHEROKEE |
| 6 September 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Butte Unit | KUKRAL |
| 5 September 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 850 acres | Northern California District | SADDLE |
| 5 September 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | Butte Unit | LIME SADDLE |
| 4 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | SKYWAY |
Mines and quarries near this property
10 of 87 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 87 workings within 5 miles of Pence Hotel and Post Office: 27 occurrences, 27 past producers, 25 unknowns, 8 producers. 8 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Chromium, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arlington No. 1 Formerly Hodapp Or Curtis | Limestone, General | Occurrence | ||
| Cherokee Mine | Gold, Platinum, Diamond | Past Producer | 1854 | |
| Cherokee and Morris Ravine Placer Mines | Gemstone | Occurrence | ||
| Cherokee and Morris Ravine Plcr Mns | Abrasive | Unknown | ||
| Green Ridge Claim | Chromium, Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Park's Ranch Mine | Antimony, Iron, Chromium | Past Producer | 1916 | |
| Pentz Marble | Limestone, Dimension, Marble, Dimension | Unknown | ||
| St Clair Mine | Gold, Gypsum-Anhydrite | Unknown | ||
| St. Clair Mine Hydraulic Vinton | Gypsum-Anhydrite, Gold | Occurrence | Sedimentary | |
| Coleman Ranch | Gold, Silver | Past Producer |
Storms near this property
13 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Oroville, the town this property stands in, in 13 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 4 flood, 3 tornado, 2 hail, 2 heavy rain. The reports record 7 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 1999 | Wildfire | Oroville | 5 hurt, $480,000 | no account filed |
| February 1994 | Tornado (F2) | Oroville | 2 hurt, $5,000,000 | A tornado formed behind a cold front and traveled through a housing subdivision in Oroville. A total of 47 homes were damaged. One home was destroyed while 25 others suffered major damage. The funnel of the tornado was spotted by many residents and several descibed a "noise like a freight train". A full sized motorhome was toppled and pushed forward several feet. |
| September 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oroville | $4,000,000 | The media shared a wind damage report from the public which included images and videos. A hay barn and horse stable had pole and roof damage that can clearly be seen in the footage. The RAWS weather station at OpenShaw, which is close to the damage site, reported a 50 mph wind gust. |
| March 1994 | Tornado (F0) | Oroville | $500,000 | A resident saw the tornado illuminated by a lightning strike as it uprooted trees in his neighborhood. The falling trees damaged houses, and knocked out power lines. |
| February 2025 | Flood | Oroville | $35,000 | Road erosion damage was reported by local broadcast media on Middlehoff Lane due to heavy rain and roadway flooding. Nearly a dozen families living on this street were stranded and unable to cross the washed away segment of the roadway due to the depth of the erosion. |
| January 2005 | Tornado (F1) | Oroville | $20,000 | no account filed |
| November 2024 | Flood | Oroville | - | California Highway Patrol reported roadway flooding along Highway 70 northbound at Garden Drive. |
| November 2024 | Flood | Oroville | - | California Highway Patrol reported road flooding at Highway 70 at Garden Drive. |
| February 2019 | Flood | South Oroville | - | Oroville Dam Blvd E roadway was flooded and completely blocked. |
| December 2019 | Heavy Rain | Oroville | - | A trained spotter reported a total of 1.4 inches of rain had fallen at 1600 hours on December 7. |
| March 2018 | Heavy Rain | South Oroville | - | Heavy rain fell. The 24 hour total rainfall was 1.63. |
| February 2001 | Hail | Oroville | - | no account filed |
| February 2001 | Hail | Oroville | - | no account filed |
Maps showing this location
12 surveysUnited States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
- 1891 USGS Chico quadrangle1:125000
- 1893 USGS Chico quadrangle1:125000
- 1895 USGS Chico quadrangle1:125000 - 8 printings
- 1942 USGS Oroville quadrangle1:62500 - 2 printings
- 1944 USGS Oroville quadrangle1:62500 - 2 printings
- 1947 USGS Cherokee quadrangle1:24000 - 3 printings
- 1949 USGS Cherokee quadrangle1:24000 - 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Chico quadrangle1:250000 - 4 printings
- 1960 USGS Chico quadrangle1:250000
- 1970 USGS Cherokee quadrangle1:24000 - 2 printings
- 1980 USGS Chico quadrangle1:100000 - 2 printings
- 1994 USGS Cherokee quadrangle1:24000
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 100012534 in Record Group 79. |
| Butte County | All 24 listed properties in this county. |
Provenance
- Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
- Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
- How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
- Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
- Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
- Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.