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J.C. Forkner Elementary School
est. 1980
Ever wonder who was J. C. Forkner? Read the passage below to find out a brief history.
The story of J.C. Forkner, a visionary one-time lawyer from Kansas who turned to real estate development, is also know as the old fig story.
Born in 1873, Forkner first developed property in Kansas where he began settling people on foreclosed farms after the panic of 1893. He moved to Los Angeles in 1900 and within months made $8,000 on a land deal near Bakersfield. He moved to Fresno 10 years later because he was convinced it would become the largest city in the San Joaquin Valley, according to information from the Fresno Historical Society.
In 1912, he started acquiring 12,000 acres of hardpan and hog wallow north of downtown where he spent $8 million developing home sites. A University of California professor also introduced Forkner to local nurseryman George G. Roeding and Henry Markarian, who grew figs where Manchester Center is now.
Twenty-five miles of canals and 135 miles of lateral ditches were dug to carry water to the property that later became Old Fig Garden. He bought 46 Fordson tractors to level the land, a purchase that was so large it prompted Henry Ford to hop in a Model T and drive to Fresno to investigate.
Forkner's men used 660,000 pounds of dynamite to blast holes through the hardpan so that 600,000 fig trees could be planted, eventually becoming the world's largest fig orchard. They also planted 60,000 deodar cedars, oleander and eucalyptus, many of them along the nine-mile stretch of Van Ness Boulevard from the city limits to the San Joaquin River. The Fresno Chamber of Commerce condemned the project, claiming the land was worthless. "The Chamber of Commerce accused him of being a swindler," said Carole Lester, spokeswoman for the Fresno Historical Society. "So he took out ads saying he would give $1,000 to anyone who could not find hardpan."
Chunks of that hardpan were used to build garden walls and waiting stations for a street car line that ran along Wishon Avenue from downtown to the river.
More interesting Reading on J. C. Forkner check out this article from 1922 of the New York Times |