Tahoe City's Constables
In 1901 Tahoe City needed a constable. There was an influx of workers and summer visitors expected with the completion of a 15-mile railroad line from Truckee and the opening of the 400-room hotel, The Tahoe Tavern. Robert Montgomery Watson, an accomplished horseman, lumberman, and trailblazer, got the job.
A story was told that Constable Watson offered his prisoners the option of sleeping on his kitchen floor rather than in the jail. It was a dank concrete bunker located on Commons Beach. The jail, presumably, never housed a prisoner.
Watson held the position until his death at the age of 77 years old in 1932. Two acting constables served until Harry Edward Johanson became the town’s second constable in early 1935. Harry Jo, as he was known, was an accomplished amateur athlete, Hollywood stunt double, former Royal Canadian Mounted Police Officer, as well as trained architect.
Constable Johanson designed the new jail set against an embankment at Commons Beach. Prisoners had a view of the Tahoe City waterfront.
Johanson retired in 1967 after 32 years’ service. Times had changed - the jail had become a storage building for Tahoe City’s Public Utilities District and there was a new County Sheriff’s station.
Marker can be reached from California 28 Sunnyside south of North Lake Tahoe Boulevard (California Highway 26).
Courtesy hmdb.org
