Numbered references are to the tour section of the book.
For such a small town, Occidental is remarkable for the number of disasters, natural and otherwise, which it has sustained in its 120-year existence. The earliest of many memorable Occidental conflagrations took place in 1876, when the home of Reverend George, near the brand-new Occidental Methodist Church, was destroyed by fire. The town center itself was untouched, although the fire scarred the top of the western ridge above it. Twenty-two days later, the famous 1906 earthquake jarred Northern California, knocking down all but two chimneys in town, and damaging nearly every structure. Ironically, because of that same brick construction, the Hansen Building was the only one in town completely destroyed.