Timeline of Fresno, California

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

19th century

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

20th century

1900s–1940s

• 1901
  • Fresno City Railway in operation.
  • Fresno Buddhist Temple founded.[14]
• 1904 – Gottschalks shop in business.
• 1904 - First Butcher Shop Opened by Andrew David Green
• 1906 – Forestiere Underground Gardens begin developing.
• 1908 – Asparēz Armenian/English-language newspaper begins publication.[4]
• 1909 – Raisin Day festival begins.[15][16]
• 1910 – Fresno Junior College opens.
• 1911 – Fresno State Normal School founded.[15]
• 1913 – Commercial Club organized.[9]
• 1914 – Holy Trinity Church built.
• 1918
  • Sun-Maid raisin facility begins operating.
  • Bank of Italy building constructed.
• 1919 – Fresno Historical Society[7] and Temple Beth Israel founded.
• 1921 – Fresno State College established.[13]
• 1922 – Fresno Bee newspaper begins publication.[17]
• 1923
  • Fort Washington Golf and Country Club established.
  • San Joaquin Light and Power Corporation Building constructed.
• 1925 – Security Pacific Bank Building constructed.
• 1926 – Fresno State Stadium dedicated.[15]
• 1928 – Pantages Theater opens.
• 1929
  • Roeding Park Zoo opens.
  • Z. S. Leymel becomes mayor.
• 1932 – Fresno Memorial Auditorium built.[13]
• 1935 – Academy (social group) formed.[18]
• 1939 – Tower Theatre opens.
• 1942 – U.S. Air Force Hammer Airfield and Japanese American internment camp in use.
• 1944 – Pacific Bible Institute founded.[19]
• 1946 – Sierra Sky Park Airport established near city.
• 1947 – Hammer Field National Guard training area and Fresno Air Terminal established.
• 1948 – Azteca Theater built.

1950s–1990s

• 1953
  • Association for Retarded Children of Fresno founded.[19]
  • Valley Labor Citizen newspaper headquartered in Fresno.
• 1954 – Peoples Church and Fresno Philharmonic founded.
• 1955 – Bernice F. Sisk becomes U.S. representative for California's 12th congressional district.[20]
• 1960 – Mexican American Political Association founded.[21]
• 1961 – City of Fresno Takes over municipal bus service.
• 1962 – Farm Workers Association founding meeting held in Fresno.[22]
• 1964
  • Fulton Mall dedicated.
• 1966
  • Fresno County Legal Services established.
  • Fresno Convention Center complex built.
  • Fresno County Courthouse rebuilt.
• 1967 – Catholic Diocese of Fresno established.
• 1969 – Kiddie Kinema movie theatre opens.[23]
• 1970
  • Fashion Fair Mall in business.
  • Population: 167,927.[3]
• 1973 – Good Company Players founded.[24]
• 1977 – KMTF television begins broadcasting.
• 1978 – Fresno Metropolitan Museum established.[25]
• 1983 – Fresno Metronews begins publication.
• 1984 – Nanaksar Gurdwara founded.[14]
• 1989
  • Fresno Municipal Sanitary Landfill closes.
  • Karen Humphrey becomes mayor.
• 1990
  • Vida en el Valle Spanish/English-language newspaper begins publication.[4]
  • Population: 354,202.[26]
• 1992 – Hmong Times newspaper in publication.[4]
• 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.[27]
  • River Park shopping centre in business.
• 1998
  • City website online.[28][29]
  • Fresno Grizzlies baseball team formed.
  • Fresno Stadium 22 cinema opens.[23]
• 2000
  • University High School established.[19]
  • Mormon Fresno California Temple dedicated.

21st century

• 2001
  • Alan Autry – 23rd Mayor of Fresno, California – In office, January 5, 2001 – January 6, 2009
• 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.[30]
  • Coyle United States Courthouse built.
• 2008 – Neighborhood Thrift shop in business.[31]
• 2009 – Ashley Swearengin becomes mayor.
• 2010
  • Fresno Metropolitan Museum closes.[32]
  • Population: 494,665.[33]
• 2011 – Downtown Fresno Partnership formed.
• 2013 – Poet laureate inaugurated.[34]
• 2014 - Bitwise Industries launches, bringing a technology and entrepreneur community together. Starts with Bitwise Mural District, and more Fresno campuses follow.
• 2015 – Governor Brown; High-Speed Rail Project Signing Ceremony, Downtown Fresno. Future Location: HSR Station-Fresno.
• 2015 – Fresno Declares Drought; worst recorded precipitation levels; 130 years. Water Use Reduction/Conservation Begins.
• 2017 – Fresno shootings.
• 2020 - Fresno General Plan adopted[35]

See also

• History of Fresno
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Fresno County, California
• Timeline of California[36]
• Timelines of other cities in the Northern California area of California: Mountain View, Oakland, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose

References

1. Guinn, J. M. (1905). History of the State of California with Biographical Record. Chicago: The Chapman Publishing Co. pp. 669–670.
2. ["History of Fresno".]
3. Nergal 1980.
4. "US Newspaper Directory". Chronicling America. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
5. Panter, John. "Central California Colony: Marvel of the Desert" (PDF). The Journal of the Fresno City and County Historical Society. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
6. "The Fresno Republican Newspaper". The Fresno Republican. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
7. Fresno Historical Society. "Collections: Manuscripts". Retrieved March 13, 2014.
8. Vintage Fresno, Pictorial Recollections of a Wester City, Edwin M. Eaton, The Hungington Press, Fresno, California, 1965.
9. Vandor 1919.
10. "Thomas R. Meux Home (1889)". Local Register of Historic Places. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
11. California Federation of Women's Clubs (1907). Club Women of California. San Francisco.
12. Jeroen Heijmans; Bill Mallon (2011). "Chronology". Historical Dictionary of Cycling. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-7175-5.
13. Federal Writers' Project 1939. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFFederal_Writers'_Project1939 (help)
14. Pluralism Project. "Fresno, California". Directory of Religious Centers. Harvard University. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
15. "Fresno State Centennial" (Historical Timeline). California State University, Fresno. 2010. Archived from the original on March 14, 2014. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
16. "Raisin Day Excitement at Fresno". Pacific Rural Press. April 24, 1920 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
17. Project for Excellence in Journalism (2012). "McClatchy Company". Media Ownership Database. State of the News Media. Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center.
18. Madden Library. "Local History". Research Guides. California State University, Fresno. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
19. Mike Tigas and Sisi Wei (ed.). "Fresno, California". Nonprofit Explorer. New York: ProPublica. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
20. "California". Official Congressional Directory. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. 1958. hdl:2027/mdp.39015024835871.
21. Cordelia Candelaria, ed. (2004). Encyclopedia of Latino Popular Culture. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-33210-4.
22. 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.
23. "Movie Theaters in Fresno, CA". CinemaTreasures.org. Los Angeles: Cinema Treasures LLC. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
24. "American Association of Community Theatre". Retrieved March 13, 2014.
25. American Association for State and Local History (2002). "California: Fresno". Directory of Historical Organizations in the United States and Canada (15th ed.). p. 64. ISBN 0759100020.
26. Population of the 100 Largest Cities and Other Urban Places in the United States: 1790 to 1990, US Census Bureau, 1998
27. "California Food Banks". Food Bank Locator. Chicago: Feeding America. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
28. "City Hall Gets Web Site", Fresno Bee, May 10, 1998
29. "City of Fresno". Archived from the original on February 2000 – via Internet Archive, Wayback Machine.
30. Civic Impulse, LLC. "Members of Congress". GovTrack. Washington, D.C. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
31. "(Fresno)". Northern California Community Loan Fund. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
32. "Death of a Museum". The New York Times. July 23, 2013.
33. "Fresno (city), California". State & County QuickFacts. U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on April 27, 2012. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
34. Norimitsu Onishi (May 7, 2013). "Recognition Grows for Poets of Streets, Main or Otherwise". The New York Times.
35. "Current Planning". www.fresno.gov. Fresno, California. Retrieved 2020-05-14.
36. Federal Writers' Project (1939), "Chronology", California: Guide to the Golden State, American Guide Series, New York: Hastings House – via Open Library

Bibliography

Published in the 19th century

• "Fresno City". California State Gazetteer and Business Directory. San Francisco: R.L. Polk & Co. 1888.

Published in the 20th century

• Charter and Ordinances of the city of Fresno, California. Fresno: Franklin Printing House. 1911. OL 7124979M.
• State Commission of Immigration and Housing of California (1918). Report on Fresno's immigration problem. Sacramento: California state printing office. OL 24362705M.
• "Fresno". Automobile Blue Book. USA. 1919.
• Paul E. Vandor (1919), History of Fresno County, California, Los Angeles: Historic Record Company, OL 13493008M
• Ben Randal Walker, "Fresno: 1872–1885, A Municipality in the Making", Fresno County Historical Society Publications, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1934.
• Federal Writers' Project (1939), "Fresno", California: Guide to the Golden State, American Guide Series, New York: Hastings House
• "Fresno Past and Present", Quarterly Journal of the Fresno City and County Historical Society. Fresno: The Society, 1959-
• Eaton, Edwin M. Vintage Fresno: Pictorial Recollections of a Western City'. Fresno: Huntington Press, 1964.
• Margaret Miller Rocq, ed. (1970). "Fresno County: Fresno". California Local History: A Bibliography (2nd ed.). Stanford University Press. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-8047-0716-9.
• Ory Mazar Nergal, ed. (1980), "Fresno, CA", Encyclopedia of American Cities, New York: E.P. Dutton, OL 4120668M
• 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.
• "San Joaquin Valley: Fresno". California. Let's Go. New York: St. Martin's Press. 1998. p. 510+. OL 10387102M.

Published in the 21st century

• "San Joaquin Valley: Fresno". California. Lonely Planet. 2003. OL 8647775M.
• "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, American Futures (series of articles about Fresno)

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)