Whether it was operating drinking establishments, organizing baseball teams, or building volunteer fire departments, John C. Keenan, Irish immigrant and former Texas Ranger, found opportunities for wealth and renown in Sacramento, California, and 600 miles north in Victoria, British Columbia. During his short lifespan Keenan, shown here, seemingly hit home runs wherever he was at bat. 
Details of Keenan’s early life are scant. Born about 1831 in Ireland, at the age of 17 or so he emigrated across the Atlantic, reputedly landing in Mexico about 1848 and working his way to Texas. There he joined the Texas Rangers, serving under the famed John Coffee “Jack” Hays, shown here, as the Rangers engaged in battles with Comanches and other Indian tribes.
When Hays, drawn by the 1849 Gold Rush, went to California, Keenan followed him, stopping in Sacramento. This pioneer settlement at the confluence of two rivers has been termed “El Dorado in a Shot Glass,” referencing the wealth awaiting those engaged in “mining the miners.” Now about 20 and married to Roseanna, an immigrant Irish woman, Keenan made Sacramento his home.
Running Saloons. The energetic Keenan hit town like a tornado. After a large fire destroyed many of the town’s saloons, the Irishman sensed opportunity. He raced to a nearby settlement where he purchased a prefabricated wooden building on the Sacramento River and had it floated to town. Apparently with the help of Roseanna, Keenan spent the next six months fixing it up. “A complete rejuvenation” said the local press.
When Keenan’s Fashion Saloon opened in November 1852 at 39 J Street, the Sacramento Union hailed the proprietor as an “incomparable leader of the mode…whose taste for the outer and inner adornment of man is acknowledged to be the sine qua non of excellence.” Under the direction of Keenan the Fashion rapidly became a popular “watering hole” for the city’s elites and working class alike. The Irish immigrant soon began to make plans for a larger and more permanent saloon.
Sacramento was still a pioneer town where violence was ever present. The Fashion was not immune. In September of 1855 a fight broke out at Keenan’s place. After it ended, according to a press account, in prying apart two of the participants it was discovered that “the nasal appendage of one” was “being firmly held by the dental organs of the other.”
Despite this ruckus, Keenan pressed ahead and soom after opened a larger Fashion Saloon. The new Fashion Saloon was graced with an iron facade that set it apart at 29 J Street. Made in the Eureka Foundry the signature design featured faux Greek Corinthian pillars. The building is shown here as it looked in the 1960s before being torn down. The saloon with an adjacent billiards room occupied the ground floor and sleeping apartments were on the second floor. Indications are that in addition to drinking and gambling the Keenans were operating a brothel upstairs. Deserved or not, Roseanna would gain a reputation as one of California’s most notorious madams. 
By 1858 Keenan’s restless spirit was looking north to new horizons in Canada. In May he embarked on the steamer Eclipse out of San Francisco 600 miles north to British Columbia where a gold rush was in progress. The Sacramento Union newspaper called it “a tour of reconnaissance.” The foray North proved to last considerably longer as Keenan stayed for the summer to lease the barroom at a Victoria, B.C., hotel owned Charles Bayley, an acquaintance who ran a shipping service between San Francisco and the Canadian city. 
My assumption is that Roseanna stayed behind, having recently been badly burned trying to refill an oil lamp. Although by now Keenan had a male manager at The Fashion, his wife was needed to watch things at home. Keenan may have had a surprise for her upon returning. He had adopted three Indian children from a reservation on Vancouver Island, shown here. The 1860 Federal census found the Keenan family living in Sacramento. The Native American trio were James, 10; Jennie, 10, and M.J., 9. A fourth child, Joseph, 6, who also may have been U.S. adopted, rounded out the brood.
That same census asked about property values. Keenan listed his at $31,000, equivalent to $680,000 today, indicative of the wealth his Fashion Saloon had brought Roseanna and himself. He returned to Victoria in the early 1860s to open a saloon and hotel also called the Fashion on Yates Street, shown above, the main drag of Victoria.
In July 1865, after liquidating their business interests in Sacramento, Roseanna went by sea meet him in British Columbia, reportedly carrying “a small fortune” in bills and gold. She also was said to be shepherding seven “soiled doves,” likely for duty in Keenan’s Fashion Hotel. Their paddle steamer Brother Jonathan , shown here, stuck a submerged rock off the coast of Crescent City, California, and sank, taking at least 225 lives. Roseanna and six of her girls were among the victims.
Promoting Baseball. Despite his seemingly frenetic life running two establishments 600 miles apart, Keenen like many Irishmen was keen on sports with an emphasis on bringing the newly created game of baseball to the West Coast. Growing up in Ireland, he had been exposed to cricket at an early age and apparently excelled at it. As a result the transition to baseball seemingly came easily to him and Keenan was able to provide instruction to other players, said to have helped them develop their skills.
In 1862 Keenan arranged for a group of cricketeers from British Columbia to come to Sacramento. In advance he had organized a cricket and baseball club under the aegis of the Fashion Saloon. The Fashion Base Ball Club and the Victoria Cricketeers met for a series of matches at a racetrack in which Keenan had a financial interest. The Victoria squad won all the cricket matches while Sacramento boys prevailed at “base ball.”
A local news story commented: The play on both side is represented as very good.” Look closely at the box score displayed here. John Keenan was the pitcher for the Fashion Club’s 42 to 23 win. After making Victoria his home, Keenan is credited with introducing the new sport to the Canadian West, with Victoria baseball teams he sponsored and coached playing games from time to time against groups of cricket players.
Organizing Fire Departments. During the early 1850s major fires burned out substantial portions of Sacramento. Not long before Keenan opened the Fashion Saloon in 1852, a destructive blaze had destroyed a large section of the city, including a number of saloons. Recognizing the potential danger to his initial J Street establishment, constructed of pre-fabricated wood, Keenen put his energies behind better fire protection.
It was a canny decision for someone like Keenan who was seeking broad community recognition. Volunteer fire brigades served several purposes in those times. Not only did their members provide a level of trained “first responders” to battle conflagrations, but also served as fraternal organizations. Fire halls not only contained the requisite fire fighting equipment but also large spaces for socializing. Crew members could be found there at all hours playing cards, throwing darts or just chatting. The chiefs of such units were elected by the members and held in high regard by townsfolk.
Keenan went to work organizing a firefighting company. It resulted with his being elected its chief. A photograph exists of the saloonkeeper, dressed in his uniform, standing casually against a pillar on which sits his helmet, identifying J.C. Keenan as chief of the fire unit. Between them is a large horn, used for alerting the firemen and directing them when fighting a fire. A downside of this honor was that the chief and other ranking members were expected to pay for equipment. With Keenan’s evident wealth gained from the Fashion Saloon such expenditures were easily borne. Evidence is that upon moving to Victoria, Keenan also was active there as secretary and treasurer of a volunteer firefighting company.
The Last Days. After Roseanna’s death, Keenan continued to live in Victoria, looking after his saloon and hotel on Yates Street. It also appears he married a second time, perhaps just a year after the sinking of the Brother Jonathan. From census records it appears his second wife was an Irish immigrant named Mary J. and at least a decade younger than he. They appear to have adopted a child, William, born about 1864.
Keenan subsequently sold the Victoria properties and returned to California, settling in San Francisco with Mary J. and the children. There he opened a saloon at the corner of Merchant and Montgomery Streets. It had been in operation only a short time when coming home in May 1869, he was felled by a heart attack or stroke on the stairway leading to his apartment. Carried to his room by a friend and a doctor summoned, Keenan died as his wife and family gathered around him. “…A few hours earlier [he] was seemingly the embodiment of health and muscular energy,” said his obituary in the Daily Alta. Only 49 years old when he passed, Keenan was buried in the Exempt Fireman’s Plot in the Old Sacramento Cemetery. His gravestone is shown here.
The following year Keenan’s widow was recorded in the federal census living in Sacramento with the two boys, Joseph and William. None of the Native American children were in evidence. Mary J. had inherited her husband’s estate, now swelled to almost the current equivalent of $1,000,000. Five years later she would be dead at 35 years old, without a will. Years of court battles ensued pressed by claimants for Keenan’s inheritance.
Note: A number of resources were accessed in developing this post but it would not have been possible without the ample material provided by the book, Sacramento’s Gold Rush Saloons: El Dorado in a Shot Glass,” published from the Special Collections of the Sacramento Public Library, 2014; principal author is Reference Librarian James Scott. Plumbing the resources of the library, Scott and his colleagues have done a fine job of picturing how the city’s early saloon proprietors like John C. Keenan played a key role in Sacramento’s development.
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