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Volume 050-2 - April 1996 (16 pages)
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Page: of 16
Today I’m going to talk about this small town. Three areas
I would like to focus on are the town (where and what it is),
the people and their jobs in the past, and how it has changed
over the years.
Chicago Park is a small town about 15 miles down Highway 174 from Grass Valley, and less than 5 miles to Colfax.
Many people have been to Chicago Park to visit Rollins
Lake, a reservoir built in 1964. This small town seems dull,
and most people just drive through without much thought,
but a lot of history has taken place there. In 1849, a small
trader’s store was built off of the Overland Emigrant Trail
that runs right through Chicago Park—the site is now somewhere under Rollins Lake, but back then it was what first
brought people to stop in this area.
The original population of the area were Nevada Indians.
Many of the early settlers knew the Indians, some even
married them. The Chicago Park School even taught some of
the Indian children. As more people settled, transportation to
and from the area became a problem. In 1875, they constructed the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad, that ran
right through the Chicago Park area. The tracks [were] laid
close to what is now Highway 174. The train station was the
center of town, since it was also the town’s store and post
office. The train was what really first brought people to stop
in Chicago Park area. Some of the first people that came were
from Chicago, thus leading to how it got the name of Chicago Park.
When these businessmen came over, they thought that
other people from the East would pay to have summer or
vacation homes in the area. They took an area of 80 acres and
divided it up into small plots of land. The plan was to sell all
of the plots to different people from the East. They set aside a
small area in the middle of the plots for a park, and they
thought that they could build an academy there. These businessmen went as far as to plan for hotels and restaurants, but
none of it ever happened. The plots of land did not sell at the
expected demand. Defeated, the businessmen left, and the
area stayed as it was, but for some reason the name that the
businessmen had brought, stayed. So this town is still called
Chicago Park today.
The people of this area were all close friends because it
was so small. Many of them were also related, and their
families were quite large. The town had a community picnic
grounds for large parties, and a one-room schoolhouse for
everyone, kindergarten to high school. That same schoolhouse is still standing today.
There was a variety of occupations for the inhabitants.
Most were based on agriculture. The first California State
Fish Hatchery was located in Chicago Park and a lot of the
community worked there to keep it running. There were a lot
of farmers in the area. Cattle was a good business. The men
often had their own dairies and sold cattle to a butcher in
Colfax. Other farmers grew orchards. This was probably
what Chicago Park is most known and remembered for. One
20
thousand acres of orchards were planted in 1890 between
Colfax and Chicago Park. The most successful fruits were
pears, and there were many different orchard packing operations. Almost the whole town worked for someone during —
harvest times. Their fruits were sold all over the U.S. and
Chicago Park was known for their “Blushing Bartletts,” or
Bartlett pears. They made 50¢ more a box than pears grown
down in the [Central] Valley—back then, that was a lot more
money.
Everything went well for a while. Unfortunately, one year
a terrible pear blight hit Chicago Park and the surrounding
areas. This was devastating to the farmers. It wiped out
nearly all of their crops. After that, the farmers changed to
growing apples and peaches. They did pretty well with those
after they got started, but the pears had still been the most
successful.
Chicago Park has had many changes over the years. The
post office and store moved from the train station to their
own location in 1915. The store is still in the same place, now
[on] Highway 174, but they had a new post office built across
the street in 1970. A new school was built in the 1960s,
abandoning the old schoolhouse, and they make additions to
it as needed. The average attendance at the Chicago Park
School today is 150 students, kindergarten to eighth grade.
Today, a lot of the old farming families are still there. Many
of them still have their orchards growing, too. There isn’t a
lot of big business for them anymore, but they sell from their
own little fruit stands to people that are in the area or just
passing through.
Chicago Park doesn’t have any of the big chain restaurants
or supermarkets, there is no movie theater either. The only
cafe is a small family-owned kitchen, and there is a community fire department. But even without the frills of a big city,
Chicago Park has a lot of trees and animals, so people still
live there. Today there are trail markers to show where the
old Emigrant Trail and train tracks used to be.
In conclusion, Chicago Park is a small town, but it’s really
full of history. People that lived there in the past did all kinds
of things, and they are especially remembered for their orchards. The place has changed a lot recently and in the past,
so I hope I have helped to share some of that history with
you. It is a great place to take a Sunday drive.