1929 Van Ness Arch; Van Ness Avenue, Fresno California

Recently I decided to re-visit the Van Ness Arch after seeing a Google image of it blocked off by Union Pacific construction. The Van Ness Arch was located just off of US Route 99/Railroad Avenue at the rail crossing on Van Ness Avenue in southern Fresno.

This blog is part of the larger Gribblenation US Route 99 Page. For more information pertaining to the other various segments of US Route 99 and it's three-digit child routes check out the link the below.

Gribblenation US Route 99 Page

The Van Ness Arch of Fresno

An archway at Railroad Avenue and Van Ness Avenue was first proposed by the City of Fresno along Legislative Route Number 4 (future US 99) first in 1915. The original Van Ness Arch was completed in 1917 but only lasted to 1925 when it was damaged by fire. The current Van Ness Arch dates back to 1929 and features an Arc Deco design. The 1929 Van Ness Arch states the following greeting: "Fresno, the best little city in the USA, Van Ness Avenue."

Despite the Van Ness Arch being completed only by 1929 the alignment of US 99 shifted to the west off of Railroad Avenue to a wider rail approach into downtown by 1930. At some point between 1930 the route of Railroad Avenue to the Van Ness Arch may have been signed as a US 99 business route. Previously I covered the surface route of US 99 in Fresno on the blog below:

Hunting Forgotten History; US Route 99 in Fresno

The fate of the Van Ness Arch is uncertain as access to it will be eventually bisected by the High Speed Rail project. Said project may also lead to the demolition of former US Route 99 on Railroad Avenue. Back in 2013 the FresnoBee published a story regarding the history of the Van Ness Arch.

Fresno's Van Ness Avenue welcome arch

Comments

Unknown said…

Don't run the bullet train thru the arch area.This is an historic arch that needs to be preserved.If at all possible,move it a bit north on Van Ness.Once gone,history will be forgotten.

10:04 PM

Ghost Town Tuesday; Mannfield, FL and the stairway to Hell

Back in 2015 I went searching the Lecanto Sand Hills for the original Citrus County Seat known as Mannfield. Unlike Centrailia in Hernando County and Fivay in Pasco County I did find something worth seeing. Mannfield is located in the Lecanto Sand Hill section of Withlacoochee State Forest somewhat east of the intersection of Citrus County Route 491 and Mansfield Road. Mannfield was named after Austin Mann and founded in Hernando County in 1884 before Citrus County Split away. In 1887 Citrus County was split from northern Hernando County while Pasco County was spun off to the south. Mannfield was selected as the new Citrus County seat due to it being near the county geographic center. Reportedly Mannfield had as many as 250 people when it was the County Seat. The town included various businesses one might include at the time, even a sawmill which was common for the area. In 1891 Citrus County voted to move it's seat to Inverness which set the s...

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l...

The mystery of Hawaii Route 144 and temporary Hawaii Route 11

The 1959 Gousha Road map of Hawaii features two largely unknown references in the form of Hawaii Route 144 and Temporary Hawaii Route 11. Both corridors are shown running from the boundary of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park east to Glenwood via Volcano Village. At the time Hawaii Route 11 was using the so-called "Volcano Road" which was constructed as a modernization of Mamalahoa Highway during 1927-1928. This blog will examine the two map references and will attempt to determine what they might indicate. The mystery of Hawaii Route 144 and Temporary Hawaii Route 11 Hawaii Route 11 is part of Mamalahoa Highway (the Hawaii Belt Road) and is the longest Hawaiian State Route at 121.97 miles. The highway begins at the mutual junction of Hawaii Route 19 and Hawaii Route 190 in Kailua-Kona. From Kailua-Kona the routing of Hawaii Route 11 crosses the volcanic landscapes of southern side of the Big Island. Hawaii Route 11 terminates at Hawaii Route 19/Ka...

Gribblenation

Search This Blog