Madera’s conscience
The Rev. William B. McElwee was an ecclesiastical workhorse. He and his wife, Emily, came to Madera in 1891 to pastor the local Presbyterian Church. He had been born in Missouri in 1838 and ordained into the Christian ministry when he was 35. Although the Rev. McElwee was 53 years old when he assumed the […]
One last look at Madera’s ‘Chinatown’
The Chinese were among the first settlers in Madera. Most of them came here from the little town of Borden, four miles to the south. By the late 19th century a bustling Chinatown thrived in the area that had been set aside for them by the founding fathers, who fought to keep the Chinese on […]
The people spoke — Madera incorporated
Madera’s early history has several watersheds. The town was founded in 1876; it became the county seat in 1893. Construction of the brand new granite courthouse was commenced in 1900, and the Madera Sugar Pine Lumber Company began operation in 1902. These are some of the more significant salients that protrude above the flow of […]
The old wild west was alive in Grub Gulch
GOLD! That precious metal drew thousands of placer miners to what is now Madera County, and by 1851 they were calling their gathering Grub Gulch. Through the years Grub Gulch emerged from its “tent city” status to take on all of the characteristics of a settled community. In time the town could boast of two […]
Tragedy at second base
One of the worst accidents in Madera’s history took place on May 4, 1901, when Fred Kirkpatrick, a young man in the full flush of his manhood, was accidentally killed while playing baseball. The Madera team, to which Kirkpatrick belonged, was practicing for a game. The batter hit a pop fly toward second, and Kirkpatrick […]
Pogue heads a long line of sheriffs
We don’t know precisely when the office of sheriff came into being, but educated estimates place it sometime before the Norman Conquest of England. When William the Conqueror crossed the Channel, he found the countryside already divided into administrative units called shires, and within each shire was a reeve whose responsibility it was to conduct […]
Lumber meant more to Madera than just a name
Although the search for precious metals brought the first pioneers to Madera County, it does not account for the establishment of civilization in the area. It took more than picks and shovels to provide stability. It was the lumber industry that gave the local economy its first permanent base. In the process, the town of […]
Madera tragedy tugged at nation’s heartstrings
The driver was drunk as he traveled north in the southbound lanes of Highway 99. When he reached Ashlan Avenue in Fresno, the inevitable happened; he struck several cars in the oncoming traffic, one of them head-on. The drunk driver was not seriously injured, but the last car to slam into the grinding, wrong-way crash […]
The glory of ‘Cottonwood Creek’
This is the beginning of the story of how Cottonwood Creek became the magnet that drew Madera County’s founding father to California. It also tells how changing the name of “Cesar Chavez” school to “Cottonwood Creek” school was a serendipitous decision. It all began in 1868 when a group of Southern planters decided to abandon […]
Judge Lynch once ruled Madera County
Madera County has generally been a law-abiding place. Most of the time law and order has prevailed. Every once in a while, however, the people have taken things in their own hands by using a rope and the nearest tree to administer justice in old, pioneer fashion. Our local history is filled with such lynchings. […]