Elk Grove Water Works
In the Winter 2021 issue (February) of Ardent Magazine, Elk Grove Historian writes about the history of the Elk Grove Water Works
Elk Grove Transportation
This is an article written by Elizabeth Pinkerton for the 2021 May-June issue of ARDENT Magazine. She talks about the various modes of transportation around Elk Grove. Page-1 Page-2 Page-3
Fox’s Bakery
Fancy decorated birthday and wedding cakes are the specialty of Fox's Bakery located in the Karamanos building on Elk Grove Boulevard. This is an old photo, but after Fox's Bakery became Main Street Market In addition to the fancy cakes they also offer a full line of bakery goods and pastries including donuts cookies, rolls, snails, cakes, and many varieties of bread. Manager Everett Fox The local bakery is owned by Angus Fox, but it is his son Everett who manages the business. Angus was born in Salt Lake City, Utah where he attended both grammar and high school. It was in Salt Lake City where he married his wife, Esther. While at Salt Lake City, Angus did dry farming, and he later operated one of the largest orchards in…
Historic Towns – Sutter Creek
All the following information was taken from the Sutter Creek website and their brochure courtesy of the Sutter Creek Promotion Committee (2005). They can be reached at the Sutter Creek Visitors Center, 71a Main St, Sutter Creek, CA 95685. ( 209) 217-4857 or suttercreekvisitorcenter@gmail.com Sutter Creek circa 1853 The History of Sutter Creek: The old sign at the south entrance of town states that it was founded in 1846 by Captain John Sutter, with a population of 2,000 and an elevation of 1,200 feet. In reality, Sutter had men cutting wood on the ridges above town prior to the Gold Rush and later did some mining here, in 1848-1849. Small during placer mining days, the town grew to its present size with the advent of the great quartz-mining era after the…
Colton Grocery Store
On the Poston Block of stores, the first store from west to east was the (Orton) Colton Grocery store. The family shares their recollections…. Jon Colton (EGHS ’55) recalls his family history: The store was located in what is now called Old Town. It was on the South side of Main Street and the far West side of the same long building in the same spot that until the last year or so ago that the Artist group occupied it (until 2019). I think they competed against the Red & White store that was in the bottom of the Masonic Lodge and against Haynes-Entrican store that was located in the bottom of the Odd Fellows Hall. All the stores were very small at that time until the Schauer Brothers built…
Calaveras Frog Jumping Jubilee
A story was written by Mark Twain during his 88-day stay in Calaveras in 1865. It launched his international career. In short, Twin overheard a bartender Ross Coon at the Angels Hotel tell the whopping tale of a jumping frog contest. According to the yarn, a hustler named Jim Smiley claimed he trained a frog to make long leaps on command. Smiley bet a stranger that his frog could out jump any other. The stranger took the bet but secretly fed Smiley’s frog a handful of buckshot. Smiley in return could not make his frog leave his spot, and the bet was lost. Calaveras County has kept the spirit of Smiley and his frog Daniel Webster alive by celebrating the Jumping Frog Jubilee on the third weekend in May, ever…
Early Towns South of Elk Grove
Copied from the Lodi News Sentinel, September 9, 1969: Older Towns Dot Valley When Lodi was Established Mokelumne Station (Lodi), Woodbridge, Staples Ferry, Lockford, Liberty, Thornton, and Tuleberg (Stockton) When Mokelumne Station, later to become Lodi, was born in Elkhorn Township in 1869, it became the newest of several scattered little towns in the San Joaquin area. Thriving Woodbridge was the biggest town of Elkhorn Township in that year and was in fact the only town of any size in the township was Staples Ferry. Elliott Township To the east in Elliott Township was Staples Ferry, the first settlement on the Mokelumne River. The original settlement was made by Thomas Pyle, who moved there with his family in November 1846. The land changed hands two times before being passed to J.W.…
Elk Grove Bank Robbery in 1928
On Friday, February 16, 1928 the Elk Grove Branch of the Security Bank and Trust was robbed of $8,200 by two masked bandits brandishing weapons. It was the second robbery in three days. The first was Bank of Courtland on Tuesday, February 12th and bandits got away with $10,000. The following information describing the events came from a combination of the Sacramento Bee and the Sacramento Union newspapers in 1928. Photo (circa 1950): The Bank of Elk Grove was built in 1910 and was sold to the Bank of Italy in 1928 and within a year bought by Bank of America. It is located just east of the railroad tracks on Elk Grove Boulevard, known then as Main Street. It is still in existence, but not used as a bank…
The James Hall House Timeline
1850 - James Watson Hall (1803-1872) was born in Lancaster County England in 1803, married Sarah Wild in 1824 in Rotherham, Yorkshire, England. They had five children John, Henry, Anne, and twins Thomas and William. They decided to leave England and arrived in New York City in 1840, James was 36 years old. For ten years they lived in many states, slowly working their way westward, probably hearing about the gold rush, and landing in Placerville in 1850. They built the “* Hotel” in Elk Grove that same year. It was a stage stop for a short time and later became an Elk Grove post office in May 1854, but there were evidence of problems and it closed December 1854. (James moved to Sacramento in 1856, later moved to Tehama…
The Rhoads School Story
Two Schools - Pioneer Jared Dixon Sheldon built the first Rhoads School in the 1850’s. It was close to the Cosumnes River, which was subject to flooding. Children became sick one year from mosquito bites, which we now assume was malaria, so the school was closed in 1867. In 1872 the second Rhoads School was built on Sloughhouse Road as a community effort. Its financing was by public subscriptions, cake and pickle sales, and a benefit ball with tickets at $3.50 each. Total expenditures were $1,312.60, which included the schoolhouse, insurance and some simple furnishings; desks for students, a desk and chair for the teacher, a stove, a broom, bucket, and dipper. John P. Rhoads – Both schools were named for John P. Rhoads, who had arrived in California from…