A Message from the President

Dear Members, Supporters and Friends, 

I think we have more been blown into March than marched into March – at least out here at Kearney where some very old trees swaying in the wind always cause a bit of concern! What a busy month we just had and our calendar seems to fill more each day with exciting projects and events all designed to meet our primary mission of collecting, preserving and sharing the past and present with you. Thank you especially to the East Fresno Rotary and the Sanger Historical Society for inviting me to participate in their meetings. I love being able to share a variety of different topics – each designed to make people learn something they didn’t know before and to get folks thinking.

Before we go any further, please consider attending our STARS, STRIPES AND SWING Fundraising Gala on the 24^th. You are in for a doozy of an evening, and you can really help support operations of the FCHS over the next several months. Tickets, as always, are available at valleyhistory.org.

Our Sikh American Oral History Project is full and will be kicking off this next week. Nearly 20 teenagers will be learning the fine points of interviewing, camerawork, editing, audio and more. The final videos will be on display in the Kearney Mansion Museum’s Gallery in May. More news on that soon.

In case you didn’t remember, the Fresno County Historical Society is turning 104 on the day after our Gala. Born in 1919, the work of the FCHS has been continually benefitting our entire county and, especially now with digital capabilities, our curriculum and resources reach well beyond our borders and can be accessed nationwide by schools, researchers and those interested in some of the finest photographic and oral history archives anywhere in the world.

Most of you know we are housed in the Kearney Mansion Complex, but I don’t think we have ever showcased some of the other locations that the Society resided in over the decades. With our birthday coming up, this seems like a good time to take a look back…

Our first museum was located at Fresno Normal School (Fresno City College).

The Historical Society moved our headquarters and museum to the Short Memorial Home – late 1920s through early 1930s. (Today, the Frank Short Home is part of the Arte Americas Museum).

In 1937, the Society moved its headquarters and museum to the second floor of the then brand-new Memorial Auditorium.

After being saved from being engulfed by Millerton Lake, in 1944, the Fort Miller Blockhouse, considered the oldest building in the county, was restored in Roeding Park. Ten years later, the City of Fresno turned over the Blockhouse to the Fresno County Historical Society to use as a history museum. This continued for about 45 years until the late 1990s when the FCHS partnered with Table Mountain Rancheria to relocate the Blockhouse to a site near its original location.

Finally, in 1962, the Society entered into an agreement with Fresno County to oversee the Kearney Mansion Museum site, where we remain today.

Over the years, preservation of the Museum has been handled under many varying philosophies. I am so pleased to say that our current “open door” policy to the Mansion, to be followed before too long with similar access to the archives (not yet, sorry), and an enhanced and collaborative relationship with the County of Fresno bodes exceptionally well for the future of this incredible site. The number of activities at the Mansion has increased exponentially – Teas, Christmas at Kearney, Mystery Dinners, a BBQ, Ag Tours (you really need to try and go on one of these), Sip and Smokes (more information soon) and more. Book a tour with family and friends or rent the facility for an event. With so many options, we look forward to hosting you.

Oh, one more piece of news that is exciting for us all, I have recently been appointed to serve on the Historic Preservation Commission for the City of Fresno. This demonstrates the seriousness with which the City is taking its responsibility to ensure our past is not forgotten or randomly destroyed. I thank the City for its trust in me and the Society to help in this invaluable process.

Better stop or it will be April…..see you at the Gala!

All the best,
Elizabeth Laval                                               
President                                                 
Fresno City and County Historical Society

FIELDS OF FRESNO FARM TOUR UPDATE

By Candice Hill, Tour Director

Allow me to start off with a quote from one of our recent guests from the February 25th Ag Tour, Donna Gavello:

“FABULOUS TOUR TODAY – I really enjoyed all the stops and you made the travel time on the bus so much fun! I bought merchandise at both places where we could, and I learned so much. I’m hooked...”

This most recent Fields of Fresno Ag Tour was a perfect way to enter the coming Spring season. The Blossom Trail is such a gem in our County and I believe that the experience should be guided, and not just driven through on a mobile app. That is why we offer guided tours each year along the Fresno County Blossom Trail. It’s a great way to kick off our Ag Tour season here at the Historical Society. Our preservation reach is not just within the walls of the Kearney Mansion Museum, but throughout the County of Fresno. The Blossom Trail soil is rich but the history and the stories from people are as rich as the soil itself and it was my pleasure to lead our guests through the wonder of it all.

Forty coach seats were booked for the Ag Tour held on Saturday, February 25th and on our way to the first site there were high political deliberations on what to name our bus! We have had a tradition since our very first Ag Tour in September of 2021 to name our bus for the day. I did my best to not only keep order but also an accurate vote count. The winner was “Fresno Chili Peppers” aka Hot Wheels. The rules are that it has to relate to agriculture, and it must be intriguing. It can’t just be “the bus,” or “the Ag bus,” or the “Historical Society” bus, not even “the Candice bus” (that was an actual nomination one time!).  

Each site we visited was unique. Upon our stop at Simonian’s Farm, the local Japanese culture was reviewed along with their contributions to ag in the Central Valley. On our way to the Chandler Farm, we made a beautiful detour along DeWolf Avenue for photo opportunities between the blossoming Almond trees. Upon arrival at Chandler Farms, their dog, Trip, greeted us! So many thanks to John Chandler for opening his private farm and gracing us with a guided tour which included an interesting talk about “the birds and the bees” – that is, regarding bee’s pollinating the blossoms and what’s expected over the next month. 

During our travels to our third site, our guest speaker for the bus was Rasheed Hislop of the Community Alliance with Family Farmers. Their mission is to advocate and equip family farmers through policy work and farmer-community-market engagement across California.

Kings River Winery was our third and final destination, for wine tasting and lunch. The owner, Bob Bagdasarian, always loads our guests up with plenty of history regarding the Kings River and his take on water issues. At first, Bob didn’t want to get too political; I told him to go for it. What can I say? When your wine is as good as his, it makes it easy to listen to! At the Historical Society, we don’t tell farmers what they can and can’t say on their own farms! Ag site managers and environmental advocates from all spectrums and experiences share their own ag stories and our guests can make up their own minds about history. 

Our next Ag Tour is Saturday, April 29th with a pre-Ag Tour wine mixer the Friday evening before. We only have 10 seats left and it’s just now March, so they are going fast! Book your seats HERE as we prepare to visit three sites including the Masumoto Farm with a guided tour by Nikiko Masumoto. 

The Fresno County Historical Society would like to express our condolences to the Simonian Family on their recent loss.

TICKETS

March ARCHIVES SPOTLIGHT
By Cami Cipolla, Education Director
Our Valley History

Hello Friends of the Archives!

With February being Black History Month and March being Women’s History Month, I wanted to share a powerful story found within an extraordinary collection in our Archives; the story of Julia Bell and The Hutchinson Collection. 

The Collection includes 337 glass negatives, known as wet plate negatives (1850s-1880s) of photos taken in Fowler in the first decade of the 20th century. One of the more unique aspects of this Collection is the community it represents, and the stories of the people who called Fowler home; many of whom were African American. California was known to be a state where anyone and everyone, regardless of gender or ethnicity, could own property. Certain counties and townships held amendments to block this, limiting property ownership based on skin color and money in the bank, but others, like Fowler and southwest Fresno, allowed anyone to own property as long as the lease was paid. 

Fowler gained the attention of Miss Delilah Beasley as she traveled throughout California collecting biographical sketches of African American communities and individuals with the goal of recording African American history during California’s formative years, the mid-nineteenth century onwards to the early twentieth century. In 1919, Beasley’s book, Negro Trailblazers of California, was published with a biographical sketch of Fowler’s local African American community. Julia Bell made an impression on Beasley due to her land ownership, as well as her local community participation in civic and religious affairs. Bell was noted as the property owner of her ranch and as head of household according to the 1900 Census. This evidence of Bell’s life is noteworthy in that it shows how a widowed African American woman was financially independent and a landowner in Fresno County. While Bell was not the only female head of household found within these public records, it is indicative of the Fowler community during this era. Her status as the head of household, and as a landowner, was widely known in the Central Valley and served as a testament that African American women could be successful property owners.

Looking at our collective past, we are able to find people, like Julia Bell, whose stories give us a fuller view of our Valley that most may not be aware of. We are able to learn about our cultural heritage through people sharing their stories and experiences, both positive and negative, through Oral Histories, journals, images and letters. You can make history today, just by sharing your family stories and experiences. Cheers, friends!

KEARNEY MANSION MUSEUM UPDATES
by Shelsea Avalos, Tour Guide & Administrative Assistant

Greetings from the Kearney Mansion Museum’s Tour Guides! 

Our team has grown by not one, but by two new guides! The ever-growing interest for the impressive life of the Raisin King of California, the colony farm system, and the Fruitvale Estate has led us to expand our team. Fresno is now the fifth most populous city in California that is rooted, thanks to the work of dedicated pioneers such as Dr. Perrin, Moses Church, and M Theo Kearney himself. 

Our first new guide is Joshua Villanueva, an enthusiastic historian who is a semester away from completing his bachelor’s degree at California State University, Fresno (Fresno State). He is a Fresno native and is currently broadening his historical pursuits to strive to become an educator in history. Joshua is also a docent at the Big Dry Creek Museum in Clovis, so he is no stranger to hosting guests and providing an informative tour. As a tour guide at the Kearney Mansion Museum, his goal is to educate the public on the profound impact that M Theo Kearney left on Fresno and the Central Valley. One of Joshua’s many accomplishments includes being a two-time self-published author and he is currently working on his third publication.

Next, joining us is Humberto Guzman, another lively historian pursuing his bachelor’s degree at Fresno State as well. Humberto was intrigued by the mission of the Fresno County Historical Society, which is to preserve local history, and be a part of expanding the awareness of iconic figures such as M. Theo Kearney, that are often left out of textbooks. An accomplishment that Humberto takes pride in was learning English when he was 10, since prior to moving to Kern County, he predominantly lived in Jalisco, México. In his spare time, he enjoys thrift shopping for books to decorate his home and expanding his knowledge of local historical figures. Now that Humberto considers Fresno to be his home, he appreciates the diverse community that he is now a part of that has allowed him to continue developing his character. 

The new year brings many projects to the Fresno County Historical Society, and you can be a part of these impactful events by becoming a member or a volunteer today. You can meet our new guides during our tour dates ranging from Friday through Sunday at 1 ,2, and 3 o'clock. Private group tours are an option as well. Spanish language tours are available upon request. We look forward to having you on a tour with us soon.

ROOTS OF THE VALLEY:
PINEDALE CELEBRATES HER CENTENNIAL THIS MARCH!

In 1921, talk began that a major lumber mill, which would employ 1,500 people, would soon be built somewhere in the San Joaquin Valley. Initially, Madera emerged as the likely location but a group of enterprising Fresnans, led by J.C. Forkner, C.H. Cobb, Speed B. Leas and others, launched an intensive campaign to bring the facility to Fresno. Forkner approached the Fresno County Chamber of Commerce with the idea of staging a community fund drive to purchase a large section of land north of the city and then donate the property to the fledgling mill. Chamber members eagerly embraced the proposal and, by December of that year, $200,000 had been raised.

The Chamber’s generous offer was gratefully accepted by Sugar Pine Lumber Company president and owner Arthur Fleming, and in early 1922, 574 acres were deeded to the company. With a substantial personal investment by Fleming, construction rapidly began on the mill complex which was comprised of fifteen structures and utilized an all-electric layout: unheard of in American logging at the time. The main building housed an enormous four-band saw, able to process four huge logs simultaneously. Sugar Pine Lumber Mill had an initial daily capacity of 600,000 board feet of lumber, with two work shifts, and its drying yard could store 75 million feet of lumber over 140 acres. Just east of the mill, the community of Pinedale emerged as housing was needed for the substantial workforce.

Sixty-four miles of first class, standard gauge rail line delivered logs from Central Camp to Pinedale via Bass Lake using ten locomotives and 220 railcars.  By June 1923, the mill was virtually complete at a cost of more than four million dollars. Workmen at the Sugar Pine Lumber Company mill were generally reliable, family-oriented men who put in long, hard days while earning modest wages.

In July of that year, a six-hundred-acre site nine miles north of downtown Fresno became the talk of the valley. A huge lumber plant, one of the largest in the world, went into operation. The latest equipment, a site on the San Joaquin River and a railroad nearby all but assured the Sugar Pine Lumber Company great success. Taking its name from the company, the community of Pinedale began to develop. The townsite, situated northeast of Blackstone and Herndon avenues, was subdivided and developed by the Gorham Land Company of Santa Monica. A large store—with a meat department that was declared fly proof—the Mill School, a service station, an ice plant, and a number of new homes were being constructed. A post office was established. 

Making History Every Day:
100th Anniversary of Fresno-Yosemite DAR

On Wednesday, February 22, 2023, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Fresno-Yosemite chapter held a ceremony at Veterans Liberty Cemetery in Fresno. As part of the 100-year anniversary, the group re-dedicated its Centennial Marker and planted a tree at the cemetery.

DAR members come from a variety of backgrounds and interests, but all share a common bond of having an ancestor who helped contribute to securing the independence of the United States of America. Any woman 18 years or older, regardless of race, religion or ethnic origin, who can prove lineal descent from a patriot of the American Revolution is eligible to join.