The Adin Supply Company is the oldest and largest retail facility in the town of Adin. It is the most conspicuous survivor of Adin's turn-of-the-century commercial district, which was once a bustling center of stores, shops, and hotels, but has since virtually disappeared.

Adin was settled in the 1870s as a supply point for newly established farms and ranches in the Big Valley, an area of roughly 800 square miles in northeastern California. At an altitude of over 4,000 feet and without much natural Irrigation or easy access to distant markets, the valley had only limited prospects for growth.

Adin, however, helped by nearby lumbering and periodic mining activity a few miles to the south, quickly became the most important town between Redding and Alturas. Its population may have reached 500 in the 1890s but probably never exceeded 250 after the turn of the century.

Excerpted from the NRHP nomination.