Adventure 051, Site 172 – Old Fresno County Courthouse

Capture California, the Game-2012

Adventure: 051, Site 172 – Old Fresno County Courthouse

E Clampus Vitsus Sign and a Local Sign

Team: Thing One, Thing Two

Date:  October 7, 2012

Location:

Latitude: 36° 44.15′ N

Longitude: 119° 47.383′ W

Address: 1100 Van Ness Avenue, Fresno CA

Description:

Ever since we discovered that we could submit multiple historical sites to Capture California, Thing Two has been browsing a book we have of Fresno historical places. One place which she keeps coming back to is the old Fresno County Courthouse. Its sister courthouse is still standing in Merced, but in 1966 Fresno's was torn down when the new and modern courthouse was built. Thing Two has acquired a fascination with this old courthouse. So today, we went back to the courthouse site to find a plaque or something which would commemorate it. Unfortunately, the plaque has been stolen—the rock where the plaque was,  can be seen.

Thing Two had a lot to think about when it came to the Fresno County Court House. After the move from Millerton in 1875, we had a gorgeous court house. The picture reminded you of our state capital. In the pictures of historical downtown Fresno, the Court house seemed to anchor the town. Many building had already been torn down that were the Victorian in nature. The courthouse remained connecting us to the pioneer days of Fresno. In 1962 our County Board of Supervisors voted to tear down the courthouse. A citizen group fought the action to tear down the court house. Even with public support against the supervisors’ decision, they refused to listen to their constituents. In the next election all supervisors up for election were voted out of office. But we lost a gorgeous building and a bit of our past. The building was deemed to be a danger because of earthquakes so it would only take 2 hours to demolish this building. It took over 8 hours to tear down the courthouse.

References:

• Historical Marker Database (HMDB.org)
  
• Waymarking
  
• SJVLS Photo
  

Overall Landmark References:

• Historical Marker Database (HMDB)
  
• WayMarking (WAY)