Piece of Chico’s heritage lost: City ‘devastated’ after Bidwell Mansion’s disastrous demise in fire
Chico residents were devastated by the loss of their landmark Bidwell Mansion, destroyed Wednesday in an early-morning fire.
“No words,” said former Chico Mayor Andrew Coolidge in a social media post. “Losing Bidwell Mansion is a devastating loss that hurts my soul. The historic home ... represented not just a home of the founder of our city but an iconic location to all of us.”
The mansion on the Esplanade was a Chico touchstone, a stately gateway to its downtown university campus and a living link to California’s early years.
Gone now, charred beyond repair, only its rich history remains.
“The loss of this piece of Chico heritage leaves a void that cannot be easily filled,” said north state Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Chico, in a statement. “Bidwell Mansion will forever remain a cornerstone of our town’s identity and history.”
Gen. John Bidwell and wife, Annie, were Chico’s founding family — their stamp is seemingly on every part of the city. Their cherry orchards became the state college in 1887; Bidwell Park, today one of the nation’s largest municipal parks, is the city’s crown jewel. Even the streets’ names, each after a tree or vine, were coined by Bidwell: Cherry, Hazel, Ivy, Chestnut and Oak.
Their home would become an enduring symbol of the city they built. Three stories, 26 rooms, finished in pink plaster, the mansion hosted social, political and military leaders of the times: President Rutherford B. Hayes, California Gov. Leland Stanford, Gen William T. Sherman, suffragette Susan B. Anthony and naturalist John Muir, to name a few.
“A memorial to Chico’s founders, John and Annie Bidwell, and long a symbol for the city of Chico itself, the loss of the iconic Victorian and the rich history it housed within will be felt by everyone,” the local and travel website Explore Butte County, posted Wednesday to social media.
The Daily Bee was there in April 1887, the Bidwells hailed upon their return to Chico from a trip to Washington, D.C., where they were wed two decade before.
“The citizens were enthusiastic in their welcome, and the appearance of the city, draped in bunting, was grand,” a Bee correspondent wrote. The Bidwells were “escorted through the streets to the General’s beautiful home. Across the driveway from the gate leading up to the mansion, were a series of arches, held at each end by men as the procession passed.”
John Bidwell made Butte County his home in 1847, living along Butte Creek, a few miles from what today is Chico, according to California State Parks, detailing Bidwell’s and the mansion history.
By 1849, he had acquired Rancho del Arroyo Chico by land grant, more than 22,000 acres that would become the blueprint for Chico. By 1865, he would represent California in Congress and set sights on the mansion that would bear his name. Construction took three years and featured the most modern amenities of the day: gas lighting; a cupola to draw in air during Chico’s punishing summer months; and, in a first for a home north of Sacramento, indoor plumbing. The couple moved into the estate just after their wedding.
Bidwell died in 1900; wife Annie Bidwell, in 1918. The Bidwell Presbyterian Church inherited the mansion but sold it in 1923 to Chico Normal School, which later became Chico State College, now a university. The historic home was first a dormitory, then classrooms and office space, before California State Parks took on the mansion in 1964.
The Bidwell State Historic Park is how many remember the Chico landmark, through weddings, tours and the school field trips that gave countless north state students a glimpse into California’s early history.
“For generations, this cherished landmark was the historical heart of Chico—a place where thousands of students learned history firsthand, and visitors from near and far marveled at its beauty,” LaMalfa said.
Catalina Sanchez, now a councilmember in Gridley, south of Chico, was one of those students years ago.
“Gridley Unified School District would take students on a once-a-year trip up there when I was a kid. I remember being in awe, that it was the tallest building I had ever seen as an elementary kid,” Sanchez recalled Wednesday on Facebook.
On Wednesday she lamented “an irreplaceable and historic piece of Bidwell Mansion State Historic Park is completely gone.”
The North Valley Community Foundation has launched an effort to begin the long road to rebuilding.
The Rebuild Bidwell Mansion Fund, a partnership between the foundation, Tri Counties Bank and Chico State University, will raise money to support efforts to rebuild, memorialize and commemorate the historic site.
This story was originally published December 11, 2024 at 6:09 PM.
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