Few decades have brought more dramatic changes to the Central Valley than the 1870s. Those 10 years saw the Valley transformed from a sparsely populated frontier to the cities and farmland that we know today. Technology and innovation drove the change, with things like the arrival of the railroad and the construction of irrigation canals. Today on KVPR’s Central Valley Roots, we look at a third key innovation that helped make that transformation possible: the colony farm.
The idea behind the colony farm was simple. Carve up massive parcels of land into 20- acre small farms. Build canals and ditches to bring water to the fields. Build streets to help farmers bring their goods to market. And then promote these new farm parcels to aspiring family farmers across the country.
That’s the basic idea that Bernhard Marks brought to Fresno in 1875. He joined up with one of California biggest landowners, William S. Chapman, to subdivide nearly 4,000 acres of land south of the new town of Fresno. They called it the Central California Colony.
They hired a 33 year-old English immigrant to manage the venture, M. Theo Kearney. They called it the Central California Colony, and it was the first such venture in the region. It was a big success. Soon dozens of similar agricultural colonies popped up around Fresno and throughout the San Joaquin Valley. They helped create the network of small, owner-occupied farms that made this part of the Valley bloom.
You can still see the imprint of the Central California Colony on Fresno’s road map today. West Avenue marked its western boundary. East Avenue marked its eastern boundary, and North Avenue marked its northern boundary. American Avenue was the southern boundary, with Central Avenue running right down the middle. Marks and Kearney would later find prominent Fresno streets bearing their names as well.
