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Wisnom's Fun Facts
- Bronze discs are located in the floors of both the old B Street store and in the present First Watch restaurant at 201 Second Avenue, the site of the first Wisnom store. The discs read "Wisnom Hardware Company" and were used by fire fighters to access the basement in case of fire.
- Just for "posterity"—but mostly because it's fun—a similar disc has been placed at the First Avenue entrance of the present store location.
- Since the 1870s, the Wisnom family continues to gather together for a traditional family Thanksgiving dinner. But the family has grown so numerous that now the event is held in a private dining room at a San Mateo location.
- The St. Matthew Hotel on Second Avenue used to be the Wisnom Hotel. There is a plaque on the building from the City of San Mateo which commemorates this historic site. Also, if you look up at the very top of the structure you can still see "Wisnom Hotel" in faint lettering across the top.
- Patriarch Robert Wisnom owned a plot of land bordered by Poplar, Bellevue and El Camino which was later subdivided into 43 lots. He deeded a street right down the middle of this subdivision to the city of San Mateo and named it Wisnom Avenue.
- On the north wall of the plaza in front of the Century movie theater off B Street is a mural which was repainted during the San Mateo Centennial. Robert Wisnom is one of the figures pictured here because he was a key personality who helped shape the city.
- Robert Wisnom built many of the houses that still exist on Delaware Street. A Wisnom customer was remodelling his home and brought a board into the store—it had been signed by the "artist" — Robert Wisnom.
- Across the top of the building on 1st and B Street is a sign that reads: "Wisnom Building." It will be the home of the new restaurant, the B Street Rotisserie.
- Robert James Wisnom was a founding member of the San Mateo Rotary Club.
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