Marysville City Manager Jim Schaad, right, hands John Moore, CEO and founder of JM Environmental, a commemorative plaque in honor of his swift and efficient work in bringing down the Hotel Marysville. This award was presented during the Farewell Hotel Marysville event on Jan. 27 in Marysville.

MARYSVILLE, CA (MPG) - “Mount Marysville” is what some residents are calling the nearly 10-foot-high pile of debris now occupying the former site of the old Hotel Marysville.

This hazardous asbestos-ridden rubble has been capped with a secure layer of gunite to keep it from leaching into the surrounding community. The different solution was proposed by demolition contractor John Moore, CEO and founder of JM Environmental, who the city hired to take down the hotel last fall. Moore said the idea came to him while having a leak fixed in a pond at his ranch.

A homemade model of the Hotel Marysville was mounted to a hat worn by John Atkinson, who attended the Farewell Hotel Marysville event on Jan. 27 in Marysville. Photos courtesy of Chris Pedigo

“I had my buddy come out and gunite the face of it and as he’s squirting the gunite, a light went off in my head,” said Moore. “It's an absolute first in the environmental demolition world, so I'm really proud of this.”

Even with three decades of experience under his belt, Moore says he still feels like the “new kid on the block" when it comes to environmental work. Typically, similar encapsulations consist of a plastic covering but Moore said the wind was likely to blow it loose. The City of Marysville was equally excited to try Moore’s gunite idea, seeing it as a good temporary solution until additional grant funding could be approved by the Environmental Protection Agency to finish the clean-up.

“When that happens, the City of Marysville will be able to have this brick pile uncovered bit by bit and the debris from the hotel hauled off to an appropriate dumpsite,” said Ted Langdell, founder of Yuba-Sutter LIVE which covers nearly all local city and county meetings.

A crowd gathered to collect free bricks, salvaged from the Hotel Marysville during the Farewell Hotel Marysville event on Jan. 27 in Marysville.

During a Jan. 27 farewell ceremony, Marysville city officials commended Moore and his team for their swift and efficient efforts in bringing down Hotel Marysville. The decision to demolish the building came after a fire rendered it unsalvageable last summer. Initial estimates projected the job to be completed by Groundhog Day (Feb. 2) but Moore came in two weeks ahead of schedule.

“I really appreciate the opportunity to perform this work and that the community and the city trusted us enough with the building to do it,” said Moore. “I'm an old romantic and I love history, and I really attached my spirit to this job and gave it as much respect as we possibly could, given that it was a demolition.”

A crowd of almost a 100 attended the Hotel Marysville Farewell event to honor Marysville’s past and celebrate its new future. Aside from having Highway 70 reopened, a major point of frustration for local commuters; residents were keen on acquiring one of the hotel's salvaged bricks. Moore secured approximately 1,700 of them, which were quickly snatched up by attendees.

“From the gate these bricks were very popular, and I had strict orders that no one gets a brick until they’re certified clean bricks so they are all certified,” laughed Moore.

John Moore, CEO and founder of JM Environmental, holds his new commemorative plaque gifted to him by the City of Marysville to honor his swift and efficient work in bringing down the Hotel Marysville. This award was presented during the Farewell Hotel Marysville event on Jan. 27 in Marysville.

While heartbroken to lose a piece of history, Marysville City Manager Jim Schaad said he was relieved to finally have a resolution to a property that has weighed on the community for decades. He and his colleagues are hopeful that its removal will result in more positive momentum for the city and county at large.

“I think even though we're here to honor the past and the history of the hotel and of Marysville, looking into the future and looking into the opportunities of what can be is really what we need to start focusing on,” said former Marysville City Councilman Dominique Belza. “This is such a unique situation to be a catalyst for so much future growth for the City of Marysville.”

Also attending was Debbie Mertes, the great-granddaughter of Isaac Curtis Evans who was credited for building the Hotel Marysville and also the nearby State Theater, the Memorial auditorium and Rideout Memorial Hospital.

“I hadn’t heard his name mentioned at all in the reporting, so I wanted to make sure he was remembered,” said Mertes.

Debbie Mertes, left, is the great granddaughter of Isaac Curtis Evans, a contractor credited with building the Hotel Marysville, the nearby State Theater, Memorial auditorium and Rideout Memorial Hospital.

In its hey-day, the Hotel Marysville was said to be the “finest hotel in the west.” Its ballroom was the center of many local events and dances and its rooms housed a number of important social figures and celebrities. One such story, recounted by one of the hotel's head chefs to former Yuba County Supervisor John Nicoletti, involved Bing Crosby and Andy Griffith.

“The sheriff of Yuba County was sitting down with Bing Crosby who had brought Andy Griffith up to do some duck hunting in the Wheatland area,” said Nicoletti. “The conversation centered around the downtown nightlife of Marysville and there was a character that used to just about let himself into the jail every weekend because he’d spend everything he made during the week. Andy Griffith was so excited about this story and did his own little fact- checking and then he mentioned to the sheriff that he’d have a pilot episode coming out that year and wanted to know if he could model a character for his pilot and that’s where the Otis character came from for Andy Griffith: one night in Marysville. There's a lot of one-night-in-Marysville stories.”