Sacramento County
Biographies
CHARLES W. GODARD
CHARLES W. GODARD.
The pleasure-loving populace of Sacramento find
the Acme Theatre an ideal place in which to while away a dull hour, the
management having spared no means to administer to the comfort of patrons as
well as to provide entertaining features of a high order. Only such attractions as those which combine
amusement in the highest degree with unimpeachable character are acceptable to
the management, and thus many of Sacramento’s
best citizens are found among the patrons.
The building is modern in all of its appointments, and every precaution
has been taken to avoid accidents in case of fire, an asbestos curtain on the
stage and numerous exits prominently indicated heading the list. During the summer of 1905 an addition was
built to the theatre which increased the seating capacity to eleven
hundred.
A
Missourian by birth, Mr. Godard was born in Clinton county in 1862, and the same year was brought to California
by his parents, who settled in Sonoma
county. Ten years later, however, the
parents again took up their abode in Missouri,
and there passed the remainder of their lives.
The early years in the life of Charles W. Godard are associated with the
city of Healdsburg, Sonoma
county, where he attended public school. After leaving school he returned to Missouri
and took up work at the blacksmith’s trade, a line of mechanics for which he
seemed to have a special aptitude, but he was not long satisfied with his surroundings
and prospects in that state, and soon came to California
again. At once locating in Sacramento,
he opened a blacksmith shop, around which soon centered a large and profitable
business. Mr. Godard possesses more than
average skill and ability as a mechanic, and for a specimen of his fine
workmanship which was exhibited at the California State Fair in 1888 carried
off the first premium. Again in 1889 he
was honored by being awarded the first premium at the Mechanical Institute Fair
which was held in San Francisco, this prize being given for the best hand-made
horse-shoe exhibited.
In 1897 Mr.
Godard disposed of his blacksmith shop and engaged in the liquor business until
June, 1903, when he leased the Acme Theatre.
When he assumed its management he remodeled and refitted it throughout,
and as a result of his efforts in this line as well as in the choice of
amusements selected, the Acme Theatre takes rank with the highest class of
amusement houses in Sacramento.
Transcribed
by Kathy Porter.
Source: “History of
the State of California and Biographical Record of the Sacramento Valley,
California” by J. M. Guinn. Pages 642-643. Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1906.
© 2007 Kathy Porter.