Madera’s fight with Jack Dempsey
Life as a Madera traffic cop in 1926 was not the most exotic way to spend one’s days (or nights). Traffic along the state highway near town was light. That’s why traffic officer M.A. Harrison was keeping watch from the shoulder of the road. That’s where he was when he saw the roadster speeding south […]
Madera received too much of a good thing
Nothing is permanent but change. Maderans have always remembered this as they approached the winter season, casting worried and frequent looks at the skies. Too often drought conditions have made them wonder if there would ever be enough water. In 1955, however, it was a different story. They still looked toward the skies, but this […]
Madera loved Dr. Ransom
On Saturday, April 6, 1946, Madera lost one of its most beloved and most colorful homegrown physicians, Dr. Dow Ransom. This early physician and surgeon was mourned by hundreds of Maderans whom he had tended for more than 40 years. Death came to Dr. Ransom at his beautiful home at 301 North C Street. Although […]
Judge Barcroft remembered
A few folks in Madera still remember Joe Barcroft. He was one of Madera’s most colorful judges and a prominent attorney in the early 20 century. In 1933, in collaboration with Lilbourne Winchell, he co-authored the highly popular history of Fresno and Madera County — a work that is much sought after today. Judge Barcroft […]
Chimney sweep bit off more than he could chew
The Madera County jail was barely 20 years old in 1915 when Sheriff Jasper Lewis took over as the county’s top lawman. As fall gave way to winter, he decided that it was time to “put up the heater.” Preparatory to its installation, however, the flue had to be cleaned out, so Lewis called Chauncey […]
Once a scoundrel; always a scoundrel
Madera’s ‘Soiled Doves’ — Happy Valentines Day
Prostitution was a fact of life in Madera from its early beginnings. The town had barely been founded when entrepreneurs of the world’s oldest profession descended upon the little village, and by the turn of the century the illicit traffic in human flesh was an embarrassment to most of the “law-abiding” folks. Although occasionally a […]
Nothing could keep the doctor away
The doctor came to Madera in April 1877, when it was just six months old. The young, upstart village then consisted of 25 buildings, most of them dwellings. It could hardly compare with the mining community of Buchanan, from whence C.E. Brown came, but it had promise. That’s why he decided to remain and become […]
Madera’s Journey from Jim Crow
The first recorded African-American resident of Madera was Dexter Hunt, a 31 year-old porter who worked for Captain Russel Perry Mace in his hotel. He arrived here in 1880. For the next 20 years, Madera continued to grow, from 217 residents in 1880 to 2,500 in 1900. By comparison, the African-American population of Madera grew […]
Hanky-panky in the Fountain Saloon
When Madera turned the corner into the 20th century and voted to incorporate in 1907, it had to elect a city council to pass the ordinances that would regulate life in the county seat. Chief among the concerns in those early days were the saloons that lined Yosemite, and at the top of the list […]