Post Office, Guerneville. Albumen stereoview. Santa Rosa, California: Downing, Rea & Rauscher, circa 1875-1878. View title identified by period inscription in red to mount verso. Publisher's imprint and list of available views printed to mount verso. 

A fine view of the Post Office in Guerneville, California from the 1870s. A two-story wooden building with a false-front design. Several figures are captured walking and seated along the plank boardwalk. Notably, an American flag waves from the second-story porch. Guerneville is a small town near the Russian River and the dense groves of redwoods. Linked by the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad in 1877, the town became a popular destination for wealthy Bay Area vacationers.

A similar view held by the Healdsburg Museum (2014.01.050) further identifies the building as "J.W. Bagley's Store," which also served as the town's post office. John Washington Bagley (1827-1906) was Guerneville's first Post Master and was honored with a centennial first day cover, a photocopy of which is included here. 

J.H. Downing is credited by the Healdsburg Museum as having taken the images between 1872 and 1882. Downing operated a gallery on Third Street in nearby Santa Rosa between 1875 & 1878 with H. Rauscher and T.L. Rea. 

[Photography, Early Photography, Historic Photography, Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes, Tintypes, Cased Images, Union Cases, Albumen Photographs, CDVs, Carte de Visites, Cartes de Visite, Carte-de-visite, Cartes-de-visite, CDV, Cabinet Cards, Stereoviews, Stereocards, Stereographs] [Western Americana, Western History, Western Expansion, Wild West]