Johl House

This was the home of Eli and Lottie Johl. Eli came to the United States of America in 1865 from Germany, and eventually made his way to Bodie. He and a partner, Charles Donnelly, setup the Union Market Butcher Shop. Lottie began her time in Bodie as a prostitute, and …

Bodie Firehouse

Here stands the lone Bodie fire station. Once nestled between other wooden buildings of the like, it now stands as a memorial to the once booming town of Bodie. At one point in time, there were four fire companies for Bodie! At one point, a fire broke out at the …

Bodie Bank

J. S. Cain bought The Bodie Bank in 1890 from E. L. Benedict after making quite a large fortune from a block of ground in the Standard Mine. From then on, Cain would be investing and building in the town quite a bit. Because Cain owned the bank and had …

Bodie Jail

The Bodie Jail was built in 1877 and cost about $800. It’s approximately 14 feet x 18 feet, and has two cells. It’s been written that the jail wasn’t built very well, but it certainly saw a lot of “guests”. Purportedly, only one prisoner ever escaped. Bail was usually $5 …

Donnelly House

Charlie Donnelly was a butcher who married English artist Annie Pagdin. Later this house was occupied by E. W. Billeb and his wife Dolly, daughter of James S. and Martha Cain. Mr. Billeb was the last superintendent and manager of the old Bodie and Benton Railroad (later the Mono Lake …

Sawmill

This small sawmill was probably running quite often. Bodie is above the tree line for the area, which means that all the wood in town needed to be hauled in from other areas. As logs were brought into town and sold, they would end up at sawmills like this one, …

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