It was built in 1857, in the Classical Revival style, for Augustus Jacoby, an early pioneer who arrived in Arcata in 1850.
The Jacoby Building was built of brick and stone, and thus survived the 1875 fire that swept through the adjacent Arcata Plaza area.
A number of general stores operated out of the building, continuing to supply goods to mining camps in the Klamath and Trinity Mountains.
The CHL plaque controversially described the Jacoby Building as having "served periodically as a refuge in time of Indian troubles."
For years the Plaza also had an 8.5-foot bronze statue of President William McKinley (1843-1901), forged in San Francisco in 1906.