Photographs Written Historical and Descriptive Data

Nunes fairy HABS No. CA-2713 (Johns.en Ranch) 9854 Bruceville Road Elk Grove Sacramento County California PHOTOGRAPHS WRITTEN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE DATA Historic American Buildings Survey National Park Service Department of the Interior San Francisco, California HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDING SURVEY NUNES DAIRY (Johnston Ranch) HABS No. CA-2713 Location: 9854 Bruceville Road Elk Grove Sacramento County, California U.S.G.S. 7.5 minute Florin, California, quadrangle Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: Point A: 10.637730.4251060; Point B: 10.637930.4251040 Point C: 10.637690.4250870; Point D: 10.637910.4250880 Present Owner: Forecast Homes 1 796 Tribute Road, Suite 1 00 Sacramento, California 95815 Last Occupants: Nunes Dairy Last Use: Abandoned dairy ranch, demolished in 2001 Significance: The Johnston Ranch is a group of farm ranch buildings, residences and ancillary structures encompassing approximately five acres. There are 18 buildings within the ranch complex, two of which are of individual importance, Workers' Residence No. 2 and a brick silo. Workers' Residence No. 2 embodies the distinctive characteristics of a National Folk style house. The only modification to the building is the change to corrugated metal roofing, and possibly the small, shed-roofed porch and electrical wiring. The house is one of the few, small farm houses of its type and age remaining, in the area. The clay tile silo is distinctive in its design and construction and is unusual for the Central California region and quite possibly unique to the Elk Grove area. Most of the surviving silos in the local area were built in the early years of the 20th century and constructed of concrete rings surrounded by steel bands. NUNES DAIRY (Johnston Ranch) HABS No. CA-2713 (Page 2) I. PHYSICAL SEITING OF THE RANCH AT 9854 BRUCEVILLE ROAD The ranch complex at 9854 Bruceville Road is located in southern Sacramento County in California's Great Central Valley, "one of the most notable structural depressions in the world." The valley is more than 400 miles long and approximately 50 miles wide. Elevation is near sea level. The climate is Mediterranean: summers are hot and rainless, while winters are cool, often with low (tule) fog and 6-20 inches rainfall. The complex lies at an elevation of 25 feet in the low plains of the southern Sacramento Valley, the northern portion of the Central Valley. The Sacramento River lies three miles west of the project site, while the Cosumnes River Basin lies five miles east. Land use in the area is in transition. For many years the river bottom lands of the Sacramento and Cosumnes were cultivated for a variety of crops: tomatoes, beans, peppers, com, sugar beets, alfalfa and hops. The low plains between the rivers were grazed by beef cattle, dry farmed, planted in com, Sudan grass, or transformed into irrigated pastures for dairy cows. Today, urban growth is supplanting the rural community of Elk Grove and its agricultural base. Ranches are being subdivided, primarily for housing. The local population has risen from less than 4,000 in 1 970 to more than 72,000 in 2000. II. HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF THE SITE The earliest private land ownership in the Elk Grove vicinity were the Mexican land grants, later confirmed by the United States, of Rancho Rio de los Americanos to William A Leidesdorff and Rancho Omochumnes to William Daylor and Jared Dixon Sheldon. The Leidesdorff grant was made in 1844 encompassing 35,521 acres from the south bank of the American River to a wedge shaped southern comer just south of the Jackson Highway (State Route 1 6) and Bradshaw Road intersection. The Sheldon grant was made in 1 841 , remade in 1 844 and covered an area of 18,662 acres along the Cosumnes River. White settlement of the Elk Grove area began in 1844 when Martin Murphy and his wife built a home near Newachumne, the principal village of the Newachumne tribelet on the Cosumnes River at present-day Highway 99. Edward Perrin and his family settled nearby in 1849. Asa, Benjamin and John Wilder, brothers, also settled in the township in 1849. Asa and John died in the 1860s, but. Benjamin Wilder married and remained in the area. The earliest settlers in the Franklin Township west of Elk Grove included Joseph Sims, who settled on land along Lower Stockton Road in 1849. NUNES DAIRY (Johnston Ranch) HABS No. CA-2713 (Page 3) Another dozen ranchers settled the area in the next five years. In 1850, Albin Clark settled on Upper Stockton Road near old Elk Grove and was one of the first farmers to raise grain in the township. Elk Grove was founded by James Hall, who, with his family, arrived in California in 1850 and opened an inn, the Elk Grove House, on Upper Stockton Road in the vicinity of present-day Highway 99 and Elk Grove Boulevard. The name, "Elk Grove," was taken from a town of the same name in Missouri where Hall had lived. Major James B. Buckner built a hotel in 1850, which was known as the "Buckner Hotel." The Elk Grove House burned in 1857, but the town remained at this location for another twenty years. Settlers continued to trickle into the area during the 1850s. Most raised livestock. G. Harvey Kerr was probably the most prominent early settler. Kerr settled near Elk Grove station in 1854 and became a prominent fruit-grower, vineyardist, and manufacturer. When the Central Pacific line was constructed south of Sacramento in the 1870s, Elk Grove moved to the tracks at a location one mile east of the original site. Elk Grove was one of three towns (Florin, Elk Grove and Galt) that developed along the Central Pacific right-of-way south of Sacramento. Though the area was settled by the 1850s, transportation provided by the railroad spurred development around the three small agricultural centers during the 1870s. Various new businesses were soon established in the relocated Elk Grove. By 1880 the town had two hotels, two general merchandise stores, a steam-run flouring mill, a train depot (which included one of the merchandise stores and a Wells Fargo Express office), a hardware and tin store, a meat market, a furniture manufactory, two drug stores, a harness shop, a variety store, a warehouse for grain and hay, a dressmaker, two millinery shops, a boot and shoe store, a carriage and wagon manufacturer and a blacksmith shop. Nothing much remained at the original site of Elk Grove. In 1880 it had only one store and a blacksmith shop. The land in Franklin Township, west of Elk Grove, was agricultural or marsh. Settlers began arriving in the late 1840s. Holdings were acquired by individuals through military patent, preemption, or from the State of California, which was eligible for unclaimed federal land under the 1841 Congressional Act. Wheat was the principal crop, and ranches averaged about 320 acres. In addition, some fruit orchards were planted, mainly along the Sacramento River. By 1880 nearly all of the land in the township was under private ownership. NUNES DAIRY (Johnston Ranch) HABS No. CA-2713 (Page 4) Within Franklin Township was the town of Franklin, located on Lower Stockton Road four miles southwest of the original site of Elk Grove. Franklin was a stage stop on Lower Stockton Road (now Franklin Boulevard) between Sacramento and Stockton. The first building was the Franklin House, which was built by Andrew George in 1856. The post office was established in the same year. By the 1890s, Franklin had several stores and saloons, a meat market, blacksmith, hotel, school, residences, as well as the post office. III. SPECIFIC HISTORY OF THE SITE Thomas Walter Johnston purchased 160 acres, the southwest quarter of a full section, from the Williams family in 1883. The Johnstons were originally from England, moved to Canada, then settled in California. Thomas Walter Johnston married a local (Franklin area) girl, Elizabeth Derr. The Williamses were probably ranching the land when Johnston bought it, but what they raised and what Johnston first raised is not known. The number of buildings on the property indicates that Johnston's ranching operations were successful. In 1907, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, no other ranch in the Elk Grove area had as many buildings as Johnston's. The ranch remained intact during the 'teens and twenties, a period that saw the subdivision of many nearby holdings. Dairying was an important ranch activity by that time. The Johnstons also owned other property in the area and packed fruit from their orchards on the ranch. Buildings were remodeled and replaced over the years, but their number continued to grow through the mid-1 960s. After a century of ownership by the Johnston family, Milon Johnston, Thomas Walter's grandson, sold the property around 1990. IV. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION The ranch complex at 9854 Bruceville Road is a group of farm and ranch buildings encompassing approximately five acres south of Elk Grove Boulevard and approximately one-quarter of a mile west of Bruceville Road. The complex includes 18 buildings. There are four residences, a grain silo, six barns, a milk house, a converted calf barn, a garage, one mobile home and three ancillary buildings (two small sheds and one detached toilet facility). The ranch contains one additional building, a hog barn, approximately 1,200 feet west of the complex. The buildings vary in size, construction materials, and function. The residences are all of wood construction but vary in architectural style and age. All four residences typify small-scale homes from their construction periods. In addition, residences one and two have both been altered significantly. The silo presents an interesting case due NUNES DAIRY (Johnston Ranch) HABS No.

Load more