WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? - Without becoming embroiled in the discussions now under way in Vacaville as to whether home building should be limited or unshackled from a myriad of restrictions, I want to go back into our history and review what has taken place so that residents here today can evaluate the trends of the past 90 years.
History informs us about the arrival of the Pena and Vaca families around 1850, and the later decision by Vaca that a town should be laid out bearing his name. This has all been accomplished. But between 1850 and 1892, Vacaville officially was not a town; because it had not been incorporated and the members of the Board of Supervisors at Fairfield dictated local policies.
The United States Census Bureau did conduct a survey in 1890 to determine the number of people here. It was one of those trial by error procedures which finally reflected Vacaville had 800 residents.
When enumerator Fred Wooderson submitted his statistics about the 1890 head-count here, he advised the Bureau in Washington that there had been 16 deaths during the 12-month period.
Although Wooderson received orders for a recount, he notified Census Bureau officials thai his tabulation of deaths was correct, and that there would be no changes. He told inquiring federal officials that very few deaths occurred here.
In defending his census count, and the minimum death total, Wooderson told officials that “The females average well in years, but retain their vigor so well that in many cases they are mistaken for young ladies.”
When it was officially learned Vacaville had a head-count of 800 residents in 1890, energetic proponents of incorporation went to work to put Vacaville on the map. It was not an easy undertaking because opponents could visualize many problems in the offing, such as providing running water, a sewer system, better streets, and the naming of a city government. But, with some prodding, 111 voters went to the polls in July 1892 and were able to have the town incorporated. Opponents rallied 25 voters.
It is interesting to observe the population growth pattern here in 10-year intervals. In the period from 1890 to 1900, Vacaville had gained 420 new residents, up to 1,220, but in the next 10 years the town was to show a loss of 43 residents, back to 1,177 .
In the 20-year period, from 1920 to 1940, Vacaville gained 354 new residents, from 1,254 to 1,608. The activities of World War II are reflected in the figures for the next decade, 1940 to 1950, when Vacaville added 1,561 new residents for a total of 3,169. From that period until the present, growth accelerated at a rapid pace. The 1960 figure hit 10,898; 1970, 21,690, and the most recent figure of 41,501 for 1980.
During the hey-day of the flourishing fruit industry, the population of the local area skyrocketed during the harvest season as thousands of men, women and children flocked here to engage in the many jobs available: These outsiders gained for themselves titles of “fruit tramps,” residing here in tents while helping to harvest the crops. Although the word “tramp” was bandied around perniciously, many of these workers had departed the environments of the metropolitan areas and were here to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine. Counted in their numbers were men and women from all professions, willing to spend many weeks here residing in tents made available on the hundreds of ranches where laborers were needed.
The title, “tramp,” did fit a few of the men who meandered this way in hopes of finding minimum work so that they could earn enough money to buy a loaf of bread, a pound of coffee and a slab of bacon, before departing for other sections around the state and nation. These “tramps,” “hoboes,” later to be elevated in stature with titles of Knights of the Road, usually rode the rods beneath freight cars traveling the main lines passing through Elmira. A few of these men had learned that four miles distant was a place called Vacaville, where they could find a convenient bridge under which to sleep, and perhaps they may be noticed and offered a short job in helping to harvest the fruit crops. All of these men shied away from any suggestion of a job which could have kept them here for a week or two. They were on the move, and as they harvested fruit for those first few days, they always kept one ear to the east listening for that time of day when the freight trains were rolling along.
For a period of several months during World War I, the Women’s Land Army accepted the challenge from local area ranchers, and dressed in overalls, coveralls, and other types of men’s garb, volunteered to come to Vacaville, live in a tent city, go out to the ranches and struggle in hoisting a ladder and picked a bucket or two of fruit. Vacaville’s young men were off to war, and these women had anticipated filling a labor shortage void.
During the depression days of the Roosevelt New Deal, a camp for the Civilian Conservation Corps was established in the English Hills off Peaceful Glen Road, where several hundred unemployed men of varying ages not only gained, bed and board, but a job which offered a few dollars a day in compensation.
It can be readily noted that Vacaville really had its periods of being classified as a bedroom city.
Today Vacaville continues to nurture such a title - too many people for the number of local jobs available.
Perhaps the day will come when people who want to live and work here will enjoy that opportunity.
Link: http://articles.solanohistory.net/7106/ | Solano History Database Record
Printed From: http://articles.solanohistory.net/7106/ | http://www.solanohistory.org/record/7106
Vacaville Heritage Council