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Diller General Store aka P.P. Chamberland General Store

The Diller General Store aka P.P. Chamberland General Store circa 1859 is the oldest working commercial building in Redwood City. This is true also for San Mateo County. It was the heart of all commerce in Redwood City at one time in history.

It was not only the original supply store but also the local Wells Fargo Pony Express Agency Station. P.P. Chamberland’s store was useful as it was the only place at one time in Redwood City one could find two very large safes to store valuables.

In the 1850’s the slough to the San Francisco Bay came up to within 20 feet of the front of P. P. Chamberland store. Sales and expediting of goods were done in he store and loading of materials on barges from the wharf was done across the street.

Up Main Street you had a brewery and the San Mateo County Bank eventually. These three building were used to set up the first Redwood City government, fund investments and improvement established by the City Council and a building to speed up the ongoing business of the day, which was mainly logging.

The brick building at 726 Main Street is now located outside the Central Business District of Redwood City on a 50’ x 100’ lot. It is styled after the San Francisco Gold Rush Mother Lode Classic-Revival flavor of the 1849’s. The building is a brick building and had iron shutters on both the front and rear windows. Today the iron shutters are only on the rear windows.

Originally from 1853 to 1859 there was a two-story wooden structure, which was behind the current one story brick building. This two-story wooden structure still was the main general store in town and was owned and operated by J.V. Diller. In 1876 Mr. Diller sold his general store to P.P. Chamberland who continued to run the General Store for many more years.

At the time The Diller General Store aka P.P. Chamberland General Store circa 1859 was constructed in the most modern and superior construction for the time. And it fared much better than the San Mateo County Courthouse during the San Francisco Fire and Earthquake in 1906.

Over the years The Diller General Store aka P.P. Chamberland General Store circa 1859 has been used for many purposes. During WWI the US Army Air Corp use it for classrooms to train new pilots. (Their airfield was down the street where the strip center is located on Broadway across from the Redwood City Public Works center. The pilots use to fly in over the bay across what is now highway 101 and land where the San Mateo County yard are on Chestnut and Spring.)

Additionally, The Diller General Store aka P.P. Chamberland General Store circa 1859 has been an automobile repair shop and before the current owners it was a Laundry, (Quan Lee Laundry).

The Diller General Store aka P.P. Chamberland General Store circa 1859 is one of the few early buildings, which mark the Redwood City’s old waterfront and dates from the days when Main Street was the primary commercial street in Redwood City.