HISTORICAL SOCIETY MADERA COUNTY

MADERA, CA

The Historical Society of Madera County is dedicated to educating the public about the history of Madera County in California. The Society was founded in 1947 to “collect, preserve, interpret, and promote the history of Madera County” and its people.

The Society is located on the grounds of the Madera County Museum at the corner of Fourth and G Streets in Madera, California. The museum houses a wide range of exhibits, including early Native American artifacts, artifacts from early settlers, and artifacts from the early 20th century. Visitors can enjoy a variety of rotating exhibits, special events, and educational programs.

The Society is also responsible for preserving the historic buildings in Madera County. These include the oldest courthouse in California and the Madera County Courthouse, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Society holds a variety of events throughout the year, including lectures, workshops, and conferences on Madera County's history. The Society also produces a quarterly newsletter and a yearly calendar, both of which feature articles about Madera County's history. The Society's library is also open to the public, and it offers a variety of books, magazines, and other information related to Madera County's history.

The Historical Society of Madera County is a great resource for learning about the history of Madera County and its people. Through its museum, library, and events, it is dedicated to preserving and promoting the history of the region for generations to come.

HISTORICAL SOCIETY MADERA COUNTY is a Historical Societies, Historic Preservation in MADERA CA. US MID #8400602233

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). Total revenue from most recent IRS 990 Form: $ 27,834 from tax period 201212 (YYYYMM).

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.

******
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.

Contact HISTORICAL SOCIETY MADERA COUNTY

HISTORICAL SOCIETY MADERA COUNTY
PO BOX 150
MADERA
CA
93639-0150

Disclaimer: please note this database is maintained by volunteers and whilst we endeavour to do our best, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of the listing.

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

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HISTORICAL SOCIETY MADERA COUNTY Information

MID #	8400602233
Name	HISTORICAL SOCIETY MADERA COUNTY
Alternate Name
Classification	Historical Societies, Historic Preservation, , Western
Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN)	941663600
NTEECC	A82
Tax period of the latest return filed (YYYYMM)	201212
INCOME	46,988
REVENUE	27,834
LAT/LONG	36.961388, -120.057238
CODES	FIPS State Code: 06 FIPS County Code: 039 US Census Tract: 000800 US Census Block: 3010