What is the history of Clovis, California?
The City of Clovis began as a freight stop along the San Joaquin Valley Railroad. Organized on January 15 1890 by Fresno businessmen Thomas E. Hughes, Fulton Berry, Gilbert R. Osmun, H.D. Colson, John D. Gray, and William M. Williams, in partnership with Michigan railroad speculator Marcus Pollasky, the SJVRR began construction in Fresno on July 4 1891 and reached the farmlands of Clovis Cole and George Owens by October of that year. The railroad purchased right-of-way from both farmers, half from each – the east side from Cole and the west side from Owens – and ran tracks up the borderline between the two properties. The railroad agreed to establish a station on the west side of the tracks and to call it “Clovis”. It is interesting to note that the Clovis station, after which the town was named, was on the Owens side of the track. Cole and Owens later sold land to the person of Marcus Pollasky for development of a townsite. Fresno civil engineer Ingvar Tielman mapped the townsite on b
