Timeline of Fresno, California

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

This is an incomplete list that may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

19th century

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• 1874 – Town becomes seat of Fresno County.^[1]
• 1875
  • Fresno County Courthouse built.
  • Fresno Expositor newspaper in publication.^[2]
• 1877 – Fresno Volunteer Fire Department organized.^[3]
• 1882 – St. John Church built.
• 1884 – Big Fresno Fair begins.
• 1885 – Fresno incorporated.^[4]
• 1888 – Meux House built.^[1]
• 1890 – Barton opera house opens.^[4]
• 1893 – Fresno Free Public Library opens.
• 1894
  • Fresno Parlor Lecture Club organized.^[5]
  • Fresno Water Tower built.
  • San Francisco-Fresno bike messenger service initiated.^[6]
• 1899 – Santa Fe Passenger Depot opens.

20th century

1900s–1940s

• 1900 – Population: 12,470.^[7]
• 1901
  • Fresno City Railway in operation.
  • Fresno Buddhist Temple founded.^[8]
• 1904 – Gottschalks shop in business.
• 1906 – Forestiere Underground Gardens begin developing.
• 1908 – Asparēz Armenian/English-language newspaper begins publication.^[2]
• 1909 – Raisin Day festival begins.^[9][10]
• 1910 – Fresno Junior College opens.
• 1911 – Fresno State Normal School founded.^[9]
• 1913 – Commercial Club organized.^[4]
• 1914 – Holy Trinity Church built.
• 1918
  • Sun-Maid raisin facility begins operating.
  • Bank of Italy building constructed.
• 1919 – Fresno Historical Society^[3] and Temple Beth Israel founded.
• 1921 – Fresno State College established.^[7]
• 1922 – Fresno Bee newspaper begins publication.^[11]
• 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 Stadim dedicated.^[9]
• 1928 – Pantages Theater opens.
• 1929
  • Roeding Park Zoo opens.
  • Z. S. Leymel becomes mayor.
• 1932 – Fresno Memorial Auditorium built.^[7]
• 1935 – Academy (social group) formed.^[12]
• 1939 – Tower Theatre opens.
• 1942 – U.S. Air Force Hammer Airfield and Japanese American internment camp in use.
• 1944 – Pacific Bible Institute founded.^[13]
• 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.^[13]
  • 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.^[14]
• 1960 – Mexican American Political Association founded.^[15]
• 1961 – City of Fresno Takes over municipal bus service.
• 1962 – Farm Workers Association founding meeting held in Fresno.^[16]
• 1964
  • Fulton Mall dedicated.
  • Golden State County Plaza built.
• 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.^[17]
• 1970
  • Fashion Fair Mall in business.
  • Population: 167,927.^[1]
• 1973 – Good Company Players founded.^[18]
• 1977 – KMTF television begins broadcasting.
• 1978 – Fresno Metropolitan Museum established.^[19]
• 1983 – Fresno Metronews begins publication.
• 1984 – Nanaksar Gurdwara founded.^[8]
• 1989
  • Fresno Municipal Sanitary Landfill closes.
  • Karen Humphrey becomes mayor.
• 1990 – Vida en el Valle Spanish/English-language newspaper begins publication.^[2]
• 1992 – Hmong Times newspaper in publication.^[2]
• 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.^[20]
  • River Park shopping centre in business.
• 1998
  • Fresno Grizzlies baseball team formed.
  • Fresno Stadium 22 cinema opens.^[17]

21st century

• 2000
  • University High School established.^[13]
  • Mormon Fresno California Temple dedicated.
• 2002
  • Grizzlies Stadium opens.
  • 2025 Fresno General Plan adopted.
• 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.^[21]
  • Coyle United States Courthouse built.
• 2008 – Neighborhood Thrift shop in business.^[22]
• 2009 – Ashley Swearengin becomes mayor.
• 2010
  • Fresno Metropolitan Museum closes.^[23]
  • Population: 494,665.^[24]
• 2011 – Downtown Fresno Partnership formed.
• 2012 – Community Media Access Collaborative established.
• 2013 – Poet laureate inaugurated.^[25]

See also

• History of Fresno
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Fresno County, California
• Timeline of Oakland, California
• Timeline of Sacramento, California
• Timeline of San Diego
• Timeline of San Francisco
• Timeline of San Jose, California

References

Further reading

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. 
• State Commission of Immigration and Housing of California (1918). Report on Fresno's immigration problem. Sacramento: California state printing office. 
• "Fresno". Automobile Blue Book. USA. 1919. 
• Ben Randal Walker, "Fresno: 1872–1885, A Municipality in the Making", Fresno County Historical Society Publications, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1934.
• "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. 
• 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)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fresno, California.

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

Coordinates: 36°45′00″N 119°46′00″W / 36.75°N 119.766667°W / 36.75; -119.766667

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