Timeline of Fresno, California

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Fresno, California, USA.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

19th century

• 1856 – Fresno County formed in 1856 with Millerton, a settlement along the San Joaquin River, as the county seat. ^[1]
• 1865 – William Helm brings his wife and his sheep to the valley floor area south of Millerton. ^[2]
• 1870 - Weekly Expositor newspaper in publication. ^[3]
• 1872 – Fresno station founded by the Central Pacific Railroad Company ^[4]
• 1874 – County seat of Fresno County moves from Millerton to Fresno due to population growth. ^[5]
• 1875
  • Fresno County Courthouse built.
  • Central California Colony established south of Fresno, creating a successful model for attracting settlers. ^{[4] [6]}
• 1876 – Fresno Morning Republican newspaper in publication. ^[7]
• 1877 – Fresno Volunteer Fire Department organized. ^[8]
• 1881 - William Helm bought the block bounded by Fresno, R, Merced and S Streets from Louis Einstein. ^[9]
• 1882 – St. John Church built.
• 1884 – Big Fresno Fair begins. ^[10]
• 1885 – Fresno incorporated. ^[11]
• 1889 – Meux Home built. ^[12]
• 1890
  • Barton opera house opens. ^[11]
  • Population exceeds 10,000. ^[4]
• 1892 - Street cars introduced ^[4]
• 1893 – Fresno Free Public Library opens. ^[13]
• 1894
  • Fresno Parlor Lecture Club organized. ^[14]
  • Fresno Water Tower built.
  • San Francisco-Fresno bike messenger service (during the Pullman Strike) initiated. ^[15]
• 1899 – Santa Fe Passenger Depot opens.
• 1900 – Population: 12,470. ^[16]

20th century

1900s–1940s

• 1901
  • Fresno City Railway in operation.
  • Fresno Buddhist Temple founded. ^[17]
• 1904
  • Gottschalks shop in business.
  • First Butcher Shop Opened by Andrew David Green
• 1906 – Forestiere Underground Gardens begin developing.
• 1908 – Asparēz Armenian/English-language newspaper begins publication.
• 1909 – Raisin Day festival begins. ^{[18] [19]}
• 1910 – Fresno Junior College opens.
• 1911
  • Fresno State Normal School founded. ^[18]
  • Sunnyside Country Club opens.
• 1913 – Commercial Club organized. ^[11]
• 1914 – Holy Trinity Church built.
• 1918
  • Sun-Maid raisin facility begins operating.
  • Bank of Italy building constructed.
• 1919 – Fresno Historical Society ^[8] and Temple Beth Israel founded.
• 1921 – Fresno State College established. ^[16]
• 1922
  • KMJ 580AM Radio begins broadcasting.
  • Fresno Bee newspaper begins publication. ^[20]
• 1923
  • Fort Washington Country Club established.
  • San Joaquin Light and Power Corporation Building constructed.
• 1925 – Security Pacific Bank Building constructed.
• 1926 – Fresno State Stadium dedicated. ^[18]
• 1928 – Pantages Theater opens.
• 1929
  • Roeding Park Zoo opens.
  • Z. S. Leymel becomes mayor.
  • Chandler Airport opens as area's primary airport.
• 1932 – Fresno Memorial Auditorium built. ^[16]
• 1935 – Academy (social group) formed. ^[21]
• 1939 – Tower Theatre opens.
• 1942 – U.S. Air Force Hammer Airfield and Japanese American internment camp in use.
• 1944 – Pacific Bible Institute founded. ^[22]
• 1946 – Sierra Sky Park Airport residential aviation community established near city.
• 1947 – Hammer Field National Guard training area and Fresno Air Terminal established, becoming primary hub of commercial aviation instead of Chandler Airport.
• 1948 – Azteca Theater built.

1950s–1990s

• 1954 – Peoples Church and Fresno Philharmonic founded.
• 1955 – Bernice F. Sisk becomes U.S. representative for California's 12th congressional district. ^[23]
• 1960 – Mexican American Political Association founded. ^[24]
• 1961 – City of Fresno Takes over municipal bus service.
• 1962 – Farm Workers Association founding meeting held in Fresno. ^[25]
• 1964
  • Fulton Mall dedicated.
• 1966
  • Fresno Convention Center complex built.
  • Fresno County Courthouse rebuilt.
• 1967 – Catholic Diocese of Fresno established.
• 1968 - Woodward Park opened in north Fresno.
• 1969 – Kiddie Kinema movie theatre opens. ^[26]
• 1970
  • Fashion Fair Mall in business.
  • Population: 167,927. ^[5]
• 1973 – Good Company Players founded. ^[27]
• 1977 – KMTF television begins broadcasting.
• 1983 – Fresno Metronews begins publication.
• 1984
  • Nanaksar Gurdwara founded.
  • Fresno Metropolitan Museum established. ^[28]
• 1989
  • Fresno Municipal Sanitary Landfill closes.
  • Karen Humphrey becomes mayor.
• 1990
  • Vida en el Valle Spanish/English-language newspaper begins publication. ^[29]
  • Population: 354,202. ^[30]
• 1992 – Hmong Times newspaper in publication. ^[31]
• 1993
  • Hmong Today (television program) begins broadcasting.
  • San Joaquin Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center established.
  • Jim Patterson becomes mayor.
• 1996 – Tahoe Joe's restaurant in business.
• 1997
  • Community Food Bank active. [32]
  • River Park shopping center in business.
• 1998
  • City website online. ^{[33] [34]}
  • Fresno Grizzlies baseball team formed.
  • Fresno Stadium 22 cinema opens. ^[26]
• 2000
  • University High School established. ^[22]
  • Mormon Fresno California Temple dedicated.

21st century

• 2001
  • Alan Autry becomes Mayor
• 2002
  • Grizzlies Stadium opens.
• 2003
  • Save Mart Center (arena) opens.
  • Ani-Jam anime convention begins.
• 2005
  • Woodward Shakespeare Festival and Artists' Repertory Theatre founded.
  • Jim Costa becomes U.S. representative for California's 20th congressional district. ^[35]
  • Coyle United States Courthouse built.
• 2008 – Neighborhood Thrift shop in business. ^[36]
• 2009 – Ashley Swearengin becomes mayor.
• 2010
  • Fresno Metropolitan Museum closes. ^[28]
  • Population reaches 494,665 people. ^[37]
• 2013
  • Poet laureate inaugurated. ^[38]
  • Bitwise Industries launches, bringing a technology and entrepreneur community together. Starts with Bitwise Mural District, and more Fresno campuses follow.
• 2014
  • Fresno General Plan adopted, becoming the first one in decades to not expand the Sphere of Influence.
• 2015
  • On January 6, Governor Jerry Brown attends a groundbreaking ceremony for California High-Speed Rail in downtown Fresno at the future location of Fresno's High Speed Rail Station. ^[39]
  • Fresno Declares Drought; worst recorded precipitation levels; 130 years. Water Use Reduction/Conservation Begins.
• 2017 – 2017 Fresno shootings.
• 2019 – 2019 Fresno shootings.
• 2020
  • Population reaches 542,161 people. ^[40]
• 2021
  • Former Police Chief Jerry Dyer becomes Fresno's 26th mayor.

See also

• History of Fresno
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Fresno County, California
• Timelines of other cities in the Northern California area of California: Mountain View, Oakland, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose

References

1. Walker 1934, p. 2.
2. Guinn, J. M. (1905). History of the State of California with Biographical Record. Chicago: The Chapman Publishing Co. pp. 669–670.
3. Vandor 1919, p. 149.
4. "History of Fresno". City of Fresno Planning and Development. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
5. Nergal 1980.
6. Painter 1994.
7. Vandor 1919, p. 150.
8. Fresno Historical Society. "Collections: Manuscripts" . Retrieved March 13, 2014.
9. Eaton 1964.
10. Laval, Elizabeth M. (October 20, 2004). The Fresno Fair: As Seen Through the Lens of Claude C. Pop Laval. Word Dancer Press. ISBN   9781884995484.
11. Vandor 1919.
12. "Thomas R. Meux Home (1889)". Local Register of Historic Places. Retrieved August 3, 2016.
13. "History of Fresno County Public Library". Fresno County Public Library. Retrieved December 5, 2022.
14. California Federation of Women's Clubs (1907). Club Women of California. San Francisco.
15. Jeroen Heijmans; Bill Mallon (2011). "Chronology". Historical Dictionary of Cycling. Scarecrow Press. ISBN   978-0-8108-7175-5.
16. Federal Writers' Project 1939.
17. Diana Marcum (2011). "Closure of historic temple in Fresno dismays Japanese American community". Religion. Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on September 27, 2020. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
18. "Fresno State Centennial" (Historical Timeline). California State University, Fresno. 2010. Archived from the original on March 14, 2014. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
19. "Raisin Day Excitement at Fresno". Pacific Rural Press. April 24, 1920 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
20. Project for Excellence in Journalism (2012). "McClatchy Company". Media Ownership Database. State of the News Media. Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center.
21. Madden Library. "Local History". Research Guides. California State University, Fresno. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
22. Mike Tigas and Sisi Wei, ed. (May 9, 2013). "Fresno, California". Nonprofit Explorer. New York: ProPublica . Retrieved March 13, 2014.
23. "California". Official Congressional Directory. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. 1958. hdl:2027/mdp.39015024835871.
24. Cordelia Candelaria, ed. (2004). Encyclopedia of Latino Popular Culture. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN   978-0-313-33210-4.
25. Marshall Ganz (2010). Why David Sometimes Wins: Leadership, Organization, and Strategy in the California Farm Worker Movement. Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-975785-5.
26. "Movie Theaters in Fresno, CA". CinemaTreasures.org. Los Angeles: Cinema Treasures LLC. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
27. "American Association of Community Theatre" . Retrieved March 13, 2014.
28. Pogrebin, Robin (July 23, 2013). "Death of a Museum". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 8, 2021.
29. "Non-English readers targeted". Reno Gazette Journal. February 17, 1991. Retrieved October 31, 2018– via Newspapers.com.
30. Population of the 100 Largest Cities and Other Urban Places in the United States: 1790 to 1990, US Census Bureau, 1998
31. "Non-English readers targeted". Merced Sun Star. August 17, 1992. Retrieved February 3, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
32. "California Food Banks". Food Bank Locator. Chicago: Feeding America . Retrieved March 13, 2014.
33. "City Hall Gets Web Site", Fresno Bee, May 10, 1998
34. "City of Fresno". Archived from the original on February 29, 2000 – via Internet Archive, Wayback Machine.
35. Civic Impulse, LLC. "Members of Congress". GovTrack . Washington, D.C. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
36. "(Fresno)". Northern California Community Loan Fund. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
37. "Fresno (city), California". State & County QuickFacts. U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on April 27, 2012. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
38. Norimitsu Onishi (May 7, 2013). "Recognition Grows for Poets of Streets, Main or Otherwise". The New York Times.
39. David Siders (January 7, 2015). "Groundbreaking at Fresno for California high-speed rail". The Sacramento Bee.
40. "QuickFacts: Fresno city, California". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved October 24, 2022.

Further reading

Books

Published in the 19th century

• Elliot, Wallace W. (1882), History of Fresno County California, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, farms, residences, public buildings, factories, hotels, business houses, schools, churches, and mines, from original drawings, with biographical sketches, San Francisco, California: Elliot & Co., OCLC   6401403
• "California homes and industries, and representative citizens : a serial showing the improvements and progress of the state, and containing hundreds of beautiful etchings, photogravures, artotypes, and artistic colored lithographs", California Homes and Industries and Representative Citizens, The Elliott Publishing Company, 1891, OCLC   10465177
• Thompson, Thomas Hinkley (1891), Official historical atlas map of Fresno County, Tulare, California: Holmes Book Co., OL   22958136M
• Imperial Fresno: resources, industries and scenery, Fresno, California: Fresno Republican, 1897, OCLC   12092695
• Angel, Myron (1892), A memorial and biographical history of the counties of Fresno, Tulare and Kern, California, Chicago, Illinois: Lewis publishing company, OCLC   2861404, OL   24832069M

Published in the 20th century

• Guinn, James Miller (1905), History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin Valley, California. A historical story of the states marvelous growth from its earliest settlement to the present time, Chapman Publishing, OCLC   6833442
• Vandor, Paul E. (1919), History of Fresno County California with biographical sketches volume 1 & 2, Los Angeles, California: Historic Record Company, OCLC   904717704, OL   13493008M
• Winchell, Libourne Alsip (1933), History of Fresno County and the San Joaquin Valley: Narrative and Biographical, Fresno, California: Arthur H. Cawson, OCLC   12820630
• Walker, Ben Randal (1934), Fresno: 1872–1885, a municipality in the making, Fresno County Historical Society, OCLC   31139940
• Walker, Ben Randal (1941), Fresno County Blue Book, Fresno, California: Arthur H. Cawson, OCLC   16390173
• Walker, Ben Randal (1946), Fresno Community Book, Fresno, California: Arthur H. Cawson, OCLC   3454556
• Eaton, Edwin M. (1964), Vintage Fresno: pictorial recollections of a western city, Fresno, California: Huntington Press, OCLC   2007613
• Rocq, Margaret Miller (1970), "Fresno County: Fresno", California local history: a bibliography (2 ed.), Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, ISBN   9780804707169, OCLC   86426
• Waiczis, Michael R., and William B. Secrest, Jr. A Portrait of Fresno, 1885–1985: A Publication of the Centennial History Committee. Fresno: Centennial History Committee, 1985.
• Clough, Charles W.; Secrest, William B.; Temple, Bobbye Sisk (1984), Fresno County: The pioneer years, from the beginning to 1900, Fresno, California: Panorama West Books, ISBN   9780914330707, OCLC   11661147
• Clough, Charles W.; Secrest, William B.; Temple, Bobbye Sisk (1986), Fresno County in the 20th century: from 1900 to the 1980s, Fresno, California: Panorama West Books, ISBN   9780914330974, OCLC   15023778
• Rehart, Schylar; Patterson, William K. (January 1988), M. Theo Kearney: prince of Fresno, The Fresno City and County Historical Society, ASIN   B0042GN0HI
• Garcia, Joseph G. (1988), Kearney Park: How did my garden grow?, Unknown, ISBN   9780962049101, OCLC   19508645
• Painter, John (1994), Central California Colony: marvel of the desert (PDF), The Fresno City and County Historical Society, OCLC   31139940, archived from the original on June 24, 2016
• Rehart, Catherine Morison (1996), The valley's legends and legacies I, Fresno, California: Quill Driver Books, ISBN   9781884995125, OCLC   228659229

Published in the 21st century

• Rehart, Catherine Morison (2000), The heartland's heritage: an illustrated history of Fresno County, Carlsbad, California: Heritage Media, ISBN   9781886483323, OCLC   45554593
• Smith, Wallace; Secrest, William B. (2004), Garden of the Sun: A History of the San Joaquin Valley, 1772-1939 (2 ed.), Fresno, California: Linden Publishing, ISBN   9780941936774, OCLC   53131400
• Hunter, Pat; Stevens, Janice (2006), Fresno's architectural past: volume I, Craven Street Books, ISBN   9780941936972
• Hunter, Pat; Stevens, Janice (September 2007), Fresno's architectural past: volume II, Craven Street Books, ISBN   9781933502137

Periodicals

• Thickens, Virginia E. (June 1946). "Pioneer Agricultural Colonies of Fresno County". California Historical Society Quarterly. 25 (2): 171. doi:10.2307/25155973. JSTOR   25155973 . Retrieved October 21, 2022.
• "Fresno Past and Present", Quarterly Journal of the Fresno City and County Historical Society. Fresno: The Society, 1959-
• "Cities Deal With a Surge in Shantytowns". The New York Times. March 25, 2009.
• "Rescuing the Rural Edge — It Takes a Village". Pacific Standard . Santa Barbara, California: Miller McCune Center for Research, Media and Public Policy. September 6, 2011. (about Fresno's Southeast Growth Area)
• James Fallows (2015), "Welcome to American Futures 3.0", The Atlantic (series of articles about Fresno)
• Jangian, Aris (2016). "Come See California's Future: In beautiful Fresno". Boom: A Journal of California. 6 (1): 102–107. doi: 10.1525/boom.2016.6.1.102 . JSTOR   26413157.

Travel guides

• "Fresno City". California State Gazetteer and Business Directory. San Francisco: R.L. Polk & Co. 1888.
• "Fresno". Automobile Blue Book. USA. 1919.
• Federal Writers' Project (1939), "Fresno", California: Guide to the Golden State, American Guide Series, New York: Hastings House
• "San Joaquin Valley: Fresno". California. Let's Go. New York: St. Martin's Press. 1998. p. 510+. OL   10387102M.
• "San Joaquin Valley: Fresno". California. Lonely Planet. 2003. OL   8647775M.
• Ory Mazar Nergal, ed. (1980), "Fresno, CA", Encyclopedia of American Cities, New York: E.P. Dutton, OL   4120668M

External links

• Madden Library. "Fresno Research". Research Guides. California State University, Fresno.
• Items related to Fresno, various dates (via Digital Public Library of America)
• Materials related to Fresno, California, various dates (via US Library of Congress, Prints & Photos Division)

36°45′00″N119°46′01″W / 36.750°N 119.767°W / 36.750; -119.767