MADERA DISTRICT FAIR HERITAGE FOUNDATION

MADERA, CA

The Madera District Fair Heritage Foundation (MDFHF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving, promoting and supporting the agricultural heritage of Madera County in Madera, California. Established in 1954, the MDFHF is the official sponsor of the Madera District Fair, a community event that has been held annually since 1916. The organization also provides educational and recreational activities for Madera County youth, such as 4-H clubs and Future Farmers of America, and serves as a resource for the agricultural industry in the region.

The MDFHF is committed to preserving the history and culture of Madera County, and its primary focus is the Madera District Fair, which includes activities such as livestock shows, tractor pulls, carnival rides, and a variety of craft and food vendors. In addition to the fair, the MDFHF works with local organizations to host special events throughout the year, such as the Madera County Youth Fair, the Madera District Fair Parade, and the Madera District Fair Heritage Day.

The MDFHF also sponsors a variety of educational programs, such as the Madera County Farm Bureau's Ag in the Classroom and the Madera County 4-H Youth Development Program, and provides resources for local farmers and ranchers in the area. Through its efforts, the MDFHF strives to bring awareness to the importance of agriculture, and to the value of preserving and celebrating the Madera County community and its heritage.

MADERA DISTRICT FAIR HERITAGE FOUNDATION is a Historical Societies, Historic Preservation in MADERA CA. US MID #8400601520

The museum is classed as HSC (Historical Societies, Historic Preservation). It comes under American Alliance of Museums (AAM) region: Western (Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington).

Borden / Chinese labor tombstone (# 2515) A tombstone at the cemetery. Per a contact on Flickr, the characters are primarily place names, all in the Guangdong province in China that was the chief location for the laborers used by the railroads. Based on that contact's interpretation, it also appears that this tombstone was created at some later date and the characters were etched by someone who wasn't fluent in the language.

See the information with adjacent pictures.

Borden / Chinese labor cemetery (# 2522) One of my goals in recent years has been to document the history of abuse of Chinese labor in the early development of California, particularly in rural areas. Earlier, in Bakersfield at the Kern County Museum (previous posts), I had discovered that much of the labor for the development of the railroads in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s were Chinese immigrants, and that the death rates in railroad construction were very high. Using that information, I was then able (see research note further below) to find the site of an abandoned Chinese cemetery along my route just north of Fresno, which is described here.

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The picture here is the visible remains of what was the Chinese cemetery in what was Borden, CA. The structure on the left was apparently once an altar used in ceremonies, the two markers say essentially the same thing and the following is based on the right-most <u><a href="https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=147956" rel="noreferrer nofollow">marker</a></u>. Note that there is no highway sign indicating this site, to find it you have to know where to look.

Those interred at the cemetery (that was once an acre in size) were among the 2500 Chinese men who built the Central Pacific Railroad in the late 1800’s – railroad construction had a high mortality. The marker notes that many who had been buried here were later removed and their bodies returned to their homeland. Given that there are only 8 headstones, that the cemetery was once an acre in size, and the marker on the left notes that some graves were unmarked, it is reasonable to assume that there are bodies of workers beneath the parking area.

**** Research note

One tool that has become very helpful is Hmdb.org, the online Historical Marker Database. The database lets you search by keywords such as “Chinese” and then provides a list of all historical markers in the U.S., by state, that contain that word. It also provides a map with the locations of all those markers, which proved very useful in locating markers along the route that I was going to be using.

Borden / Chinese Cemetery - conclusion (# 2518) A marker on the altar indicating that the marker for the cemetery was “Placed on the historical register of Madera County on Oct. 3, 1992”

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What’s important to me here is the background that could not be said on the documentation at the site: 1) that much of what became California’s economy was built on the bodies of imported labor, 2) that the immigrant labor was separated from ‘white’ labor even in death, 3) that we showed our appreciation for this help by passing the <u><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Chinese-Exclusion-Act" rel="noreferrer nofollow">Chinese Exclusion Act</a></u> against the Chinese, and 4) that we’re still struggling with this.

See the detail description with the introductory picture.

Borden / Chinese labor tombstones (# 2516) Tombstones of Chinese railroad laborers who died. There is nothing to indicate whether these are actual burial sites, tombstones that were moved, or tombstones that were placed at some later date.

Based on comments from a Flickr contact who read one of the tombstones, I'm suspecting that these tombstones may be intended for memorializing and may not be over a specific burial plot.

See the tombstone picture adjacent, and the more detail description with the introductory picture.

Fresno / Forestiere auto entrance (# 2509) Apparently fairly late in his development of the site, Forestiere dug out tunnels large enough to be used to allow for automobiles to drive down to the site.

Sources:

Tour site: <a href="https://undergroundgardens.com/" rel="noreferrer nofollow">undergroundgardens.com/</a>
Huel Howser video (first 16:30 minutes): <a href="https://blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/1994/09/01/under-california-californias-gold-509/" rel="noreferrer nofollow">blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/1994/09/01/under-...</a>
Wikipedia: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forestiere_Underground_Gardens" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forestiere_Underground_Gardens</a>

<i>To see all of the pictures of the underground, use the “Forestiere Underground Gardens” tag.</i>

Fresno / Forestiere ballroom-tableau (# 2510) On the end of the tour there is a ballroom with walls that would fit with Baldassare’s construction style, though I wondered about the floor since it was very well polished.

The tableau presented here symbolized his work very well, and it’s quite helpful that the picture on the right is of his younger brother who was responsible for preserving all of the work.

Sources:

Tour site: <a href="https://undergroundgardens.com/" rel="noreferrer nofollow">undergroundgardens.com/</a>
Huel Howser video (first 16:30 minutes): <a href="https://blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/1994/09/01/under-california-californias-gold-509/" rel="noreferrer nofollow">blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/1994/09/01/under-...</a>
Wikipedia: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forestiere_Underground_Gardens" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forestiere_Underground_Gardens</a>

<i>To see all of the pictures of the underground, use the “Forestiere Underground Gardens” tag.</i>

Fresno / Forestiere winter bedroom (# 2505) A fireplace and sleeping alcove that he built deeper into the ground so as to benefit more from the heat retention of the earth in the winter. On the right side of the picture is a tube dug out of earth that he could use to see visitors who were at his front door.

Sources:

Tour site: <a href="https://undergroundgardens.com/" rel="noreferrer nofollow">undergroundgardens.com/</a>
Huel Howser video (first 16:30 minutes): <a href="https://blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/1994/09/01/under-california-californias-gold-509/" rel="noreferrer nofollow">blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/1994/09/01/under-...</a>
Wikipedia: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forestiere_Underground_Gardens" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forestiere_Underground_Gardens</a>

<i>To see all of the pictures of the underground, use the “Forestiere Underground Gardens” tag.</i>

Fresno / Forestiere aquarium (# 2507) No, the fish were not created by him. They’re just there to indicate that this is where he kept fish that he caught in the San Joaquin river (back when it wasn’t dammed so much), which is 3 miles north.

Sources:

Tour site: <a href="https://undergroundgardens.com/" rel="noreferrer nofollow">undergroundgardens.com/</a>
Huel Howser video (first 16:30 minutes): <a href="https://blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/1994/09/01/under-california-californias-gold-509/" rel="noreferrer nofollow">blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/1994/09/01/under-...</a>
Wikipedia: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forestiere_Underground_Gardens" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forestiere_Underground_Gardens</a>

<i>To see all of the pictures of the underground, use the “Forestiere Underground Gardens” tag.</i>

Fresno / Forestiere solar hot water (and rebar) (# 0969) A picture (artist unknown) indicating how he had created an open tub on the surface for heating water to be used in bathing.

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Note here the rebar in the cement. Per the guide, he mixed cement by hand and used found rebar to strengthen the cement.

Sources:

Tour site: <a href="https://undergroundgardens.com/" rel="noreferrer nofollow">undergroundgardens.com/</a>
Huel Howser video (first 16:30 minutes): <a href="https://blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/1994/09/01/under-california-californias-gold-509/" rel="noreferrer nofollow">blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/1994/09/01/under-...</a>
Wikipedia: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forestiere_Underground_Gardens" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forestiere_Underground_Gardens</a>

<i>To see all of the pictures of the underground, use the “Forestiere Underground Gardens” tag.</i>

Fresno / Forestiere bathing area (# 0968) Bath tub, with solar heated hot water (adjacent picture).

Sources:

Tour site: <a href="https://undergroundgardens.com/" rel="noreferrer nofollow">undergroundgardens.com/</a>
Huel Howser video (first 16:30 minutes): <a href="https://blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/1994/09/01/under-california-californias-gold-509/" rel="noreferrer nofollow">blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/1994/09/01/under-...</a>
Wikipedia: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forestiere_Underground_Gardens" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forestiere_Underground_Gardens</a>

<i>To see all of the pictures of the underground, use the “Forestiere Underground Gardens” tag.</i>

Contact MADERA DISTRICT FAIR HERITAGE FOUNDATION

MADERA DISTRICT FAIR HERITAGE FOUNDATION
2370 WEST CLEVELAND AVENUE PMP 11
MADERA
CA
93637-8742

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If you notice any errors or omissions in the listing, please let us know in the comments section below.

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HERITAGE DISCOVERY CENTER INC HISTORICAL SOCIETY MADERA COUNTY SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY PALEONTOLOGY FOUNDATION MADERA DISTRICT FAIR HERITAGE FOUNDATION

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MADERA DISTRICT FAIR HERITAGE FOUNDATION Information

MID #	8400601520
Name	MADERA DISTRICT FAIR HERITAGE FOUNDATION
Alternate Name
Classification	Historical Societies, Historic Preservation, , Western
Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN)	460772868
NTEECC	A82
Tax period of the latest return filed (YYYYMM)	201212
INCOME	0
REVENUE	0
LAT/LONG	36.974487, -120.087218
CODES	FIPS State Code: 06 FIPS County Code: 039 US Census Tract: 000700 US Census Block: 2008