Pythian Castle

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. 10 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1922.

From the record

“The Pythian Castle is a building in Arcata, northwestern California, that was built during 1884-85 for the North Star chapter of the Knights of Pythias fraternal order. It is notable for its commercial Queen Anne style architecture which features five projecting towers: two square towers projecting from the center of the two street-fronting sides of the building, and three round towers projecting from the street-side corners.”
Wikipedia article Pythian Castle (Arcata, California), CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 52 National Register listings published here for Humboldt County · listed in 1986 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service · the Wikipedia article

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Address. 1100 H St., Arcata, 95521
When was it listed? February 1986
Category. building
Census division. Arcata
Architectural style. Queen Anne style architecture in the United States
National Register reference number. 86000263 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Then and now

1922 to 1987

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 65 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering Pythian Castle, surveyed 1987

Topographic sheet covering Pythian Castle, surveyed 1922

Fires near this property

262 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 262 fires within 5 miles of Pythian Castle between 1992 and 2020, burning about 355 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 17 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	134
Debris and open burning	46
Equipment and vehicle use	26
Arson/incendiarism	17
Recreation and ceremony	11
Smoking	10
Misuse of fire by a minor	7
Power generation/transmission/distribution	7
Natural	2
Other causes	2

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
7 September 2006	Arson/incendiarism	1.0 acres	California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection	not named
7 September 2004	Smoking	under an acre	Humboldt-Del Norte Unit	ESSEX
6 September 2020	Power generation/transmission/distribution	under an acre	Humboldt-Del Norte Unit	UNION ST / SAMOA BLVD
6 September 2011	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Humboldt-Del Norte Unit	not named
6 September 2010	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection	not named
5 September 1996	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Humboldt-Del Norte Unit	FUSI
4 September 2018	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Northern California District	YOUNG
4 September 2016	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	2.6 acres	California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection	not named

Every fire recorded in Humboldt County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 27 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 27 workings within 5 miles of Pythian Castle: 16 producers, 5 occurrences, 4 prospects, 2 past producers. 16 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Manganese, Iron, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
Haw Quarry	Stone	Occurrence
Jacoby Creek Deposit	Limestone, General	Occurrence
Jacoby Creek Deposit	Limestone, Dimension	Past Producer
Unnamed Location	Clay	Prospect
Haw Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
Rocky Gulch Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
W A Preston Prospect	Iron	Prospect
W. A. Preston Property	Iron	Occurrence
Hanes Creek	Manganese	Producer
Janes Creek	Manganese	Producer

Every working recorded in Humboldt County

Storms near this property

7 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Arcata, the town this property stands in, in 7 storm reports between 2002 and 2025: 2 hail, 2 flood, 2 flash flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. 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
December 2025	Flood	Arcata	-	Flooding reported on the onramp from Highway 101 to Highway 255 in Arcata.
September 2019	Flash Flood	Arcata	-	The intersection of Lewis Avenue and Daina Court was flooded.
September 2019	Flash Flood	Arcata	-	Six to eight inches of flood water observed.
February 2018	Hail	Arcata	-	Hail covered road led to a 19 vehicle accident at the intersection of Highway 101 and Highway 255. 16 injuries were reported.
December 2016	Flood	Arcata	-	Multiple roads around Humboldt Bay were closed due to flooding beginning December 15th in the morning. Roads gradually reopened through the early afternoon on December 16th as water receded. Roads closed included Hookton, Meridian, Port Kenyon, Coffee Creek, Pine Hill, Jackson Ranch, and Berta. Several other roads were also covered in water but remained open. Many of these roads typically flood during heavy rain events. Thus no damage was reported.
December 2015	Hail	Arcata	-	Pea to quarter sized hail stones were reported by the public due to a thunderstorm. Photo included coins to reference the hail stone size.
December 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Arcata	-	Thunderstorm embedded in a strong cold front.

Every storm recorded in Humboldt County

Maps showing this location

10 surveys

United 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.

1922 USGS Eureka quadrangle1:62500
1933 USGS Eureka quadrangle1:48000
1942 USGS Eureka quadrangle1:62500 - 3 printings
1949 USGS Eureka quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1951 USGS Eureka quadrangle1:62500 - 2 printings
1958 USGS Eureka quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1959 USGS Arcata South quadrangle1:24000 - 5 printings
1959 USGS Eureka quadrangle1:62500 - 2 printings
1961 USGS Eureka quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1987 USGS Eureka quadrangle1:100000

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Hotel Arcata	0.1 miles	1984
James Kleiser House	0.1 miles	2023
Whaley House	0.1 miles	1979
Schorlig House	0.1 miles	1978
Jacoby Building	0.2 miles	1982
Stone House	0.2 miles	1986

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 86000263 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Humboldt County	All 52 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.