History
The first post office was established in 1885. Penobscot Public House, established in 1850, was a way station and stage coach stop during the days of the Gold Rush. The famous Penobscot Ranch still exists today. Today the historic site, including the house built during the days of the Gold Rush and the barn built in 1923, can be viewed by driving down Highway 193 four miles outside of the business center of Cool. Cool offers residents and visitors alike the opportunity to enjoy a peaceful rural residential environment, including small restaurants, as well as the Auburn State Recreational Area which is open to the public for hiking and horsebackriding.
There is no entirely clear history of how the town came to be called Cool. Some locals believe that a beatnik named Todd Hausman coined the name in early 1947 on a cross country road trip, and appended it to the town. However, some local historians claim that the town was named during the days of the after an Aaron Cool, but no records exist on him.
Recently, Jerry L. Pozo (a resident of Cool) has done extensive research on the origin of the town's name. Pozo believes that the town was named after an early California miner/preacher named Peter Yawger Cool from Aurelius, NY who ministered in the area under the authority of the Methodist Church in the 1850s. Pozo's letter to the editor of the Georgetown Gazette from June 2011 has been transcribed and can be found. Reverend Cool lives on through Jerry, who has adopted his dress and personality as part of his duties as an docent/interpreter for Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park in Coloma, CA, other state parks, historic events, and Native Sons of the Golden West venues. Pozo concludes" It is with great respect and admiration that I continue to portray our beloved Reverend Peter Y. Cool, and let people know about this gentle, honorable Christian man, and itinerate preacher from the Gold Rush Era."
Read more about this topic: Cool, California
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“This above all makes history useful and desirable: it unfolds before our eyes a glorious record of exemplary actions.”
—Titus Livius (Livy)
“Every generation rewrites the past. In easy times history is more or less of an ornamental art, but in times of danger we are driven to the written record by a pressing need to find answers to the riddles of today.... In times of change and danger when there is a quicksand of fear under men’s reasoning, a sense of continuity with generations gone before can stretch like a lifeline across the scary present and get us past that idiot delusion of the exceptional Now that blocks good thinking.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“This is the greatest week in the history of the world since the Creation, because as a result of what happened in this week, the world is bigger, infinitely.”
—Richard M. Nixon (1913–1995)