Hey Fresno...let's go back. Way back. Before the city. Before the railroad. Maybe even before the Yokuts. Today on KVPR's Central Valley Roots, the story of the site known as Green Bush Spring and the founding of Fresno.
In the late 1860s, the Fresno plain was a desolate place…a broad expanse of land, filled as far as the eye could see with native grasses and virtually no trees. In the winter and spring, rainfall from the foothills would flow into Big Dry Creek and would naturally spread out and sink into the ground at a low spot near present day downtown Fresno.
One spot stood out though. Near today's intersection of Mariposa and Fulton Streets was a natural depression in the terrain. It was home to small spring, where water bubbled up to the surface. A large bush grew nearby, reportedly giving the spot the name of Green Bush Spring on an early map. In 1871, as Central Pacific crews were surveying the railroad’s route through the Valley, Leland Stanford decreed that a major town would be built here. He chose the site not because of the spring, but because of its proximity to the irrigated farm of Anthony Easterby, several miles to the east. The new town of Fresno was born.
Soon J. W. Williams built Fresno’s first blacksmith shop next to the spring at Fulton and Mariposa Streets. The low spot along Mariposa Street was eventually filled in when the city’s streets were regraded.
In 1882, Williams built the Grand Central Hotel on the site, sealing up the spring, which remained in its basement, occasionally flooding it. The old spring was reportedly rediscovered in the 1960s, and it was still flowing. The old Grand Central Hotel was torn down in 1967, and today the spring is buried underneath Mariposa Plaza.
