{"id":307,"date":"2021-03-13T23:03:04","date_gmt":"2021-03-13T23:03:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maderatribustg.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=307"},"modified":"2026-05-13T18:23:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T18:23:18","slug":"early-madera-history-a-series-of-firsts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/early-madera-history-a-series-of-firsts\/","title":{"rendered":"Early Madera history: a series of \u2018firsts\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Just about every community historian is always on the lookout for the \u201cfirst\u201d of everything, and this one is no exception. The first mayor, the first policeman, the first murder, the first election \u2014 they all pique my interest, so I am going to share a few of them. I think you will find them interesting, if for no other reason than they will most likely leave you musing, \u201cWell I\u2019ll be, I didn\u2019t know that;\u201d at least, that is my hope.<\/p>

Let\u2019s start with MADERA\u2019S FIRST HOTEL.<\/strong> After Madera was founded on Oct. 11, 1876, Captain Russel Perry Mace bought the first lot and built his Yosemite Hotel on the corner of Yosemite and E Street. Now that is pretty common knowledge, but what is not so well known is that Mace\u2019s first hotel was really not much more than a shanty of a saloon that measured 24 feet by 56 feet. It wasn\u2019t until the spring of 1877, that the Captain made the improvements that raised it to a first class hotel.<\/p>

MADERA\u2019S FIRST SCHOOL HOUSE<\/strong> \u2014 There might be some folks still around who remember the huge brick school house that stood where the National Guard Armory is now located. It was called Eastside School, and it is often said that this was Madera\u2019s first schoolhouse. Actually, that beautiful old building was Madera\u2019s third school. The first was built on that site in March 1877, but it was just a simple frame building, 30 feet by 50 feet. In 1885, Maderans replaced it with another two story, wooden structure. When this one burned, it was replaced by the brick edifice that we all know as the Eastside School.<\/p>

MADERA\u2019S FIRST TEACHERS<\/strong> were J.W. Martin, who was also the principal, and Miss Sarah Hooper. They were apparently well thought of, for the Fresno Expositor recorded that \u201cthe budding graces of the little ones are being instructed in a proper manner and the parents are well satisfied.\u201d<\/p>

MADERA\u2019S FIRST STAGECOACH SCHEDULE<\/strong> had nothing to do with the tourists travel to Yosemite. Before the Yosemite Stage and Turnpike Company was hauling passengers to the Big Trees from Madera, they had a regular line to Gilroy that made three round trips a week. The stage left Gilroy at two in the afternoon and arrived at Mace\u2019s Hotel at seven the next morning.<\/p>

MADERA\u2019S FIRST FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY<\/strong> began right away to raise money for a library in Madera. Their first fund raiser was in 1877 \u2014 a St. Valentine\u2019s Day serio-comic drama entitled, \u201cMiriam\u2019s Crime. A dance was held after the play, and all the proceeds went to the Madera Library fund.<\/p>

MADERA\u2019S FIRST WOMEN\u2019S IMPROVEMENT CLUB<\/strong> was really the \u201cLadies Sewing Society,\u201d established in November 1877. Mrs. Veilie was the treasurer, and the Society was active in improving the \u201creligious, moral, and social climate of Madera.\u201d<\/p>

MADERA\u2019S FIRST TOURIST TO YOSEMITE <\/strong>was W.M. Cooper, a civil engineer from Sydney, Australia. This first tourist over the new road from Madera to Big Tree Station via Fresno Flats declared that \u201cit is a good line from end to end and a very good road to travel.\u201d The round trip fare was $45 dollars.<\/p>

MADERA\u2019S FIRST BASEBALL TEAM<\/strong> played its first game in November 1879. They were called the Yosemite Baseball Club and lost to the Central Baseball Club of Fresno, 56 to 18. The captain was Cornelius Curtin who also played third base. The Madera team got a return match in December 1879, but there is no mention of how they made out.<\/p>

MADERA\u2019S FIRST PRESIDENTIAL VISIT<\/strong> occurred in December 1880. although President Ulysses S. Grant visited Madera in 1879, he had been out of office for three years. Rutherford B. Hayes was the first (and perhaps) only sitting President to visit Madera. He was on his way to Yosemite.<\/p>

MADERA\u2019S FIRST JAIL<\/strong> was built in March 1883. It was a branch of the Fresno County jail, therefore, the Board of Supervisors paid for it. Madera was part of Fresno County at the time.<\/p>

MADERA\u2019S FIRST GRAFFITI<\/strong> didn\u2019t appear on buildings. In July 1883, it was horse owners in Madera who were plagued with a rash of vandalism. A group of young hoodlums was sneaking around at night painting local horses red. Before the month was out, however, the ringleader was caught. Dave Watson was fined $5 for malicious mischief.<\/p>

MADERA\u2019S FIRST CHINATOWN RAID<\/strong> occurred on Aug. 8, 1883. The Chinese community, which was located west of the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks, was viewed with suspicion by the Anglo settlers who lived east of the tracks. \u201cThe principle cause of the arrest made by Constable Cramer was that a number of boys between the age of 15 and 20 years have been in the habit of visiting the gambling halls and opium dens of Chinatown, and the people thought it was about time to commence trying to break up these sinks of iniquity.\u201d<\/p>

Well, we could go on for pages: Madera\u2019s first recorded crime, Madera\u2019s first house of prostitution; Madera\u2019s first fire, etc. Space, however, dictates that we stop. Not to worry, though. We will return. After all, we haven\u2019t even mentioned the first saloon fight, the first wife beating, or the first pubic official of Madera to go to prison. More anon.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just about every community historian is always on the lookout for the \u201cfirst\u201d of everything, and this one is no exception. The first mayor, the first policeman, the first murder, the first election \u2014 they all pique my interest, so I am going to share a few of them. I think you will find them […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":27402,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_angie_page":false,"page_builder":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[26,29,32,34,39,43,46,50],"class_list":["post-307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","tag-business","tag-community","tag-culture","tag-education","tag-government","tag-law","tag-organizations","tag-schools"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}