Curtis Park Pioneers

We begin with the arrival in California of William Curtis, for whom Curtis Park is named. Curtis, age 21, arrived in May of 1852, via the Nicaragua route, with a slight detour when he shipwrecked 90 miles south of Alcapulco. In Sacramento he visited at the homestead of his brother. The family oral history is that the homesite was selected because it had been a dwelling place of Native Americans, under the large coast live oak that stood there until December of 2003. (Click here to see the Curtis' Oak) After the visit, William Curtis went panning for gold at Beale's Bar. After a couple of weeks he gave up mining and turned to agriculture. His brother became ill and returned to Massachusetts. William Curtis stuck with it and notwithstanding suffering stock losses in the flood of '52 made a success of it. He became the owner of his brother's 200 acre homestead in 1854.^2/

The Curtis homestead house was located on what is now the west side of Franklin Boulevard, between what are now Curtis Way and Montgomery Way. 3/ Family history says that the two giant eucalyptus trees at that spot were planted by William Curtis. Blue gum, the most popular imported eucalyptus, was unleashed on California in 1853. Can you identify them in the engraving on the left showing the Curtis ranch, circa 1880?4/ The oak tree that may have attracted the first Curtis homesteader is behind the house. In the background are the southern and central parts of Curtis Park. You can click on the engraving for a larger view.

William Curtis's northern neighbor to the west was Moses Sprague, born a New Yorker. Sprague arrived via wagon train in 1852. His wife Nancy joined him in 1854 and in 1855 they relocated from Colusa to a 135 acre dairy ranch straddling the the present day railroad/light rail crossing of Freeport Boulevard. The Spragues had three children, one of them, a daughter named Hattie inherited the part of the land in present day Curtis Park. 5/ The engraving on the right is of the Sprague ranch, circa 1880. The house was located at what would now be the 2100 block of Fourth Avenue. 6/ Click on the engraving for a larger view.

Curtis's southern neighbor to the west was the Thomas Edwards family. ^7/ Thomas was a native of Wales, his wife Sarah a native of Massachusetts. They had four children, Eustace, the eldest, was born in Massachusetts, the rest in California. ^8/They raised hops and, perhaps, tobacco. ^9/ Their house was at 3225 Freeport Boulevard, the present site of the Eskaton Monroe Lodge. The Edwards deeds also show they owned a large tract on the riverfront in the Pocket area. ^10/
The owner of the property to the north of Curtis was A. Heilbron.^11/ August and Adolph Heilbron had come to California in 1854 from St. Louis, two years after emigrating from Germany. They were involved in butchering and stockraising. They acquired large interests in Sacramento and the vicinity. They resided in the city, not in Curtis Park. ^12/ Originally the Heilbrons purchased the 55 acre property north of Curtis Ranch because its large oak trees provided a resting place for cattle driven down from the mountains enroute to the Sacramento meat plant. ^13/

Sandwiched between the Spragues and the Edwards was the 30 acre portion of the Brockway farm on the East side of Freeport Boulevard. Charles Brockway occupied the 190 acre farm since 1851. The farm was used to cultivate hops and fruit. Charles Brockway was also a ferryman. The farm house on Freeport Boulevard is shown in the engraving to the right. It was just north of the Christian Science Church, a little north of Brockway Park. 14/

Over time, Curtis expanded his original 200 acre homestead. In 1858, he and a partner acquired an additional 50 acres. 15/He obtained a patent or preemption certificate for a quarter of the section of land (a section is a square with one mile sides) straddling Franklin Boulevard (then Lower Stockton Rd) from the federal government in 1866. 16/ Moses Sprague, Charles Brockway, and Thomas Edwards had similar transactions in the section to the west in 1866-1867.17/ These appear to have been confirmations of the pioneers' homestead titles. The patented lands, which only roughly track the actual ownership boundaries, are shown on the map to the right.

In January of 1872 Curtis married Susie Potter, also a Massachusetts native, who came to California when she was 10 years old.^18/
In 1875 Thomas Edwards died at the age of 62. ^19/
By 1880 the Curtis holdings, including the homestead, encompassed 530 acres (for comparison, a full section has 640 acres]. ^20/
In 1884 Charles Brockway died. Shortly before his death he divided his property, granting portions to his wife and their four children. ^21/

The only other early graphic for the neighborhood is the circa 1880 engraving showing the slaughterhouse and stockyards of M.M. Odell at what is now Broadway and 24th Street, shown below.

Click here to continue.