By Lynne Schmitz
Driving west from Mission Street on 13th Street in San Miguel toward the park, one may see the historic Maxwell House Hotel perched on top of the hill across from the library. With the advent of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1886, several hotels were built to accommodate the influx of train passengers.
The train was originally planned to run along the bluffs east of the Salinas River, so the Maxwell House was built on the east side. When the tracks were rerouted through town on the west side, the hotel was moved in two pieces: down the bluff, through the river, and up to its present location.
Circa 1901, a naturalized citizen from Germany, CF (Christian Frederich) Hoffmann, moved with his wife, Frieda, and their children to San Miguel and purchased the hotel property, including 11 lots with outbuildings. Hoffmann had an inventive mind and was a talented builder. When first moving his family in 1899, he had designed and built an original “house-on-wheels,” which was pulled by four horses. When the family moved into Maxwell House, he covered the walls and ceilings with several patterns of hammered metal. He generously shared his knowledge and talents to improve the town and the lives of the people of San Miguel.
In 1910, he designed, personally funded, and built a power plant to replace the gaslights. One of several innovations was using incandescent bulbs in the streetlights. Initially, power was run to the businesses downtown, turned on from 4 a.m. until daylight, then from sundown to 10 p.m. Eventually, he sold the company to Midland Counties Public Service Corporation, which became San Joaquin Light and Power Company and, later on, PG&E. In 1915, CF was Secretary of the Board of the Interurban Telephone Company. He urged the directors to put in an automated system he had in mind, but it was voted down.
In the early 1920s, he and his son, Bill, rebuilt the San Miguel Water Works. CF became the superintendent at a minimal salary, doing repairs, installations, and maintenance, reading meters, collecting bills, and bookkeeping. It was the only self-supporting water district in the county at the time, and they paid off all their bonds in less than nine years. CF Hoffmann passed away in 1941. In the interim, their youngest son, Ben, with his wife, Esther, had moved away from San Miguel. They returned, purchased the property from Ben’s mother, Frieda, and raised their family in the house.
Ben opened an auto repair business in the shop and served the people of the area honestly and fairly for many years. Following their deaths, their two sons and their wives, Dick and Jean Thacker Hoffmann and Don and JoAnn Joy Hoffmann maintained the interior of the house in excellent condition, including the decorative walls and ceilings. A few years ago, they had the house repainted with the “Maxwell House” sign emblazoned on the east side. Sadly, in the past two years, first Jean and then Dick passed away. They are missed.
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