Fresno’s Pinedale neighborhood was born in the roaring 20s as a company town for the Sugar Pine Lumber Company. But the story didn’t end when the company went bankrupt in the Great Depression. Today on KVPR’s Central Valley Roots, the story of Pinedale, after the mill closed down.
Within a few years, the site went from housing lumber operations to housing cotton operations. Valley Compress bought the site, and used it to store locally grown cotton.
All that changed with the dawn of World War II. The U.S. government took over the site in Spring 1942. It first served as the Pinedale Assembly Center. For three months in 1942, the site held 5,000 Japanese Americans against their will, in a temporary concentration camp. The detainees were then sent to permanent facilities elsewhere.
Later that year, the Army took over the site, which housed the Army Air Forces Signal Corps. It was called Camp Pinedale. As many as 10,000 soldiers were stationed there in 1944.
When the war ended, the Army wound down operations and in 1947 the site went back to its original owner, which became agribusiness giant CalCot. In addition to the cotton warehouses, the company leased space to vending machine manufacturer Vendolator, also known as Vendo which had a plant there.
All along the town continued to grow, becoming one of Fresno’s most diverse neighborhoods. It’s produced notable residents including Philip Sanchez, the first Latino to be a United States Cabinet Secretary and U.S. Ambassador. The old mill was torn down around 2005 for the offices and luxury car dealerships, the Palm Bluffs business park, but the mill’s water tower remains. Today the Pinedale History Project runs a small museum dedicated to preserving the history of this Fresno neighborhood.
