1100 N Van Ness
Take a few moments now. Gaze northeast up the Mariposa Mall. What do you see? Do you see a relatively new building gracing the skyline? An efficient courthouse? Or do you let your imagination run wild and see a building resembling the state capitol?
If you do the later, then you would be seeing what everyday Fresnans would have seen every day for the previous 80 years, a replica of the state capitol as our county's courthouse. To imagine what you would have seen, you need to go up to Merced as they still have a duplicate of what we used to have.
After the move from Millerton in 1875, we had a gorgeous court house. The picture reminded you of our state capital. In the pictures of historical downtown Fresno, the Court house seemed to anchor the town. Many building had already been torn down that were the Victorian in nature. The courthouse remained connecting us to the pioneer days of Fresno. In 1962 our County Board of Supervisors voted to tear down the courthouse. A citizen group fought the action to tear down the court house. Even with public support against the supervisors’ decision, they refused to listen to their constituents. In the next election all supervisors up for election were voted out of office. But we lost a gorgeous building and a bit of our past. The building was deemed to be a danger because of earthquakes so it would only take 2 hours to demolish this building. It took over 8 hours to tear down the courthouse
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