Centerville is one of the oldest communities in what is now Fresno County having been founded as Scottsburg in 1854. The Centerville community has historically been tied to the history of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road and the Squaw Valley Road. The Squaw Valley Road would later be known as Dunlap Road and became a component of California State Route 180 in August 1934. By the 1940s the corridor was renamed Kings Canyon Road in reference to Kings Canyon National Park.
For the majority of the life of California State Route 180 in Centerville, it has not strayed far from Kings Canyon Road. This changed in 2020 when California State Route 180 was relocated onto the Kings Canyon Expressway. This blog serves as an overview of the history of California State Route 180 and general evolution of highways in Centerville.
California State Route 180 can be seen passing through Centerville and Minkler below on the 1935 Division of Highways map of Fresno County.
Part 1; the history of California State Route 180 in Centerville
Centerville is one of the oldest communities in what is now Fresno County having been originally plotted as Poole's Ferry in 1851. Poole's Ferry was located the Kings River roughly between modern Adams Avenue and Sumner Avenue. Poole's Ferry is sometimes known as Poole's Crossing or Campbell's Crossing. Campbell's Crossing is a reference to the nearby Mount Campbell. Poole's Ferry would become historically linked with the corridor of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road.
The Stockton-Los Angeles Road came into use after the 1853 Kern River Gold Rush began. The then new wagon road was a replacement of the earlier El Camino Viejo. Unlike El Camino Viejo the Stockton-Los Angeles Road avoided the dense Tule Marches in San Joaquin Valley. The Stockton-Los Angles Road stayed close to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains to avoid flood prone terrain. In 1854 the town site of Scottsburg would be founded at the Kings River at Poole's Ferry.
The Stockton-Los Angeles Road originally crossed the Kings River south of the Millerton at Poole's Ferry. Poole's Ferry (shown as Campbell's Crossing) can be seen along the Stockton-Los Angeles Road on the 1857 Britton & Reys Map of California.
In 1856 the Scottsburg Post Office would open, and Fresno County would created. The mainline of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road would later be realigned closer to the present site of Reedley following the establishment of Smith's Ferry at the Kings River. Smith's Ferry would open during 1855 near the modern intersection of Reed Avenue and Olson Avenue. Poole's Ferry would shutter in 1857, but Smith's Ferry would continue to operate under namesake family until 1874.
Hill's Ferry would open as a new crossing of the Kings River in Scottsburg in 1858. Both Scottsburg and Hill's Ferry were destroyed during the infamous winter floods of 1861-1862. The town site would relocate to more favorable terrain to the north and take on the name Centerville. The Centerville Post Office would shutter in 1864, and the town was destroyed by another flood on the Kings River in 1867. Following the 1867 flood the Centerville town site would be relocated onto the bluff above the Kings River it presently located at.
The Stockton-Los Angeles Road would decline during the early 1870s as the Southern Pacific Railroad constructed their line through San Joaquin Valley. The Southern Pacific Railroad constructed frontage roads, flood control measures and subdivided town sites which brought the primary traveled highway westward. Much of these frontage roads would later become parts of early US Route 99 by 1926.
Centerville would remain an important center of travel as it was the head of the Squaw Valley Road. The Squaw Valley Road spanned eastward from Centerville into the Sierra Nevada range where numerous sawmill operations began to proliferate by the late 1870s. Centerville can be seen linked to Fresno via Ventura Avenue and linked to the Sierra Nevada foothills via the Squaw Valley Road on the 1882 Bancroft's map of California.
Centerville can be seen at the junction Ventura Avenue and the Squaw Valley Road on the 1891 Thompson Atlas of Fresno County in Range 23 East, Township 14 East. The atlas also displays the Centerville street grid which has largely been lost in modern times. Centerville is also shown to be the location of the Kings River Post Office (which has an unclear chronology). In the era Centerville would have carried most highway traffic between Sanger and the Kings River Lumber Company town of Millwood at Converse Basin.
During 1905 Legislative Chapter 598 would authorize a survey to locate a route for a highway to be constructed from Grant Grove of General Grant National Park into the Kings River Canyon. This corridor would be formally added as a planned state highway by way of 1909 Legislative Chapter 223 as Legislative Route Number 41.
Planned Legislative Route Number 41 appears on the 1918 California Highway Commission map as a special appropriations road.
The 1919 Third State Highway Bond Act would provide funding for construction of the Kings River Canyon Road. In 1933 Legislative Route Number 41 would be extended to Tracy via Fresno. The state highway west of Grant Grove followed Dark Canyon Road (now partially Forest Road 14S45), Pinehurst Road (now California State Route 245) Dunlap Road, and Old Dunlap Road (now Ruth Hill Road) through to Centerville. The initial Grant Grove-Centerville alignment of Legislative Route Number 41 passes through the communities of Pinehurst, Miramonte, Dunlap and Squaw Valley (now Yokuts Valley).
During August 1934 the original Sign Routes were announced in the California Highways & Public Works. California State Route 180 was assigned to the corridor of Legislative Route Number 41 which passed through Centerville.
California State Route 180 can be seen passing through Centerville and Minkler below on the 1935 Division of Highways map of Fresno County. California State Route 180 east of Fresno entered Centerville on Ventura Avenue. From Venture Avenue the highway jogged south on Smith Avenue and east through Centerville on Dunlap Road towards Minkler.
The July 1935 California Highways & Public Works featured a washed-out temporary bridge carrying California State Route 180 over the Kings River between Centerville and Minkler. This span was in place due to a new permanent bridge being under construction.
The November 1941 California Highways & Public Works details the opening of the new alignment of California State Route 180 bypassing Squaw Valley and Dunlap. The then new highway is referenced in the article as "Kings Canyon Road" and is noted to have been completed on August 28, 1941. This is the first known instance of Kings Canyon Road nomenclature being used. The designation of Kings Canyon Road appears to have been immediately applied to California State Route 180 as a replacement for Dunlap Road and Ventura Avenue to the Fresno city limit. The Kings Canyon name would be eventually extended west into Fresno to 1st Street via Centerville.
The September/October 1949 California Highways & Public Works announced a bridge project for the Kingsburg Canal on California State Route 180 in Centerville. This project was slated for the 1950-1951 Fiscal Year and would resolve the jog in Kings Canyon Road along Smith Avenue. Upon completion Kings Canyon Road in Centerville became continuous.
During December 2014 the California Transportation Commission approved funding of the Minkler/Centerville bypass between Post Miles FRE 74.612-77.975. The initial funding for the Minkler/Centerville bypass was slated for the 2015-16 Fiscal Year and had an estimated cost of $90,948,000. The bypass would serve as an extension of the four-lane Kings Canyon Expressway a short distance east of Frankwood Avenue.
During October 2016 the California Transportation Commission approved a State Transportation Improvement Program allocation for a bypass route of CA 180 around Minkler and Centerville via Post Miles FRE 74.1-78.6. The 2016 allocation by the California Transportation Commission was for $34,665,000. This allocation was approved a second time by the California Transportation Commission in March of 2018 with no alterations to Post Mileage or allocated funds. The 2018 allocation by the California Transportation Commission called for a completion of the Minkler/Centerville bypass by August 2019.
The Kings Canyon Expressway was expanded eastward through Centerville and Minkler to Frankwood Avenue by early 2020. The former alignment of California State Route 180 along Kings Canyon Road in Centerville was relinquished to Fresno County. Kings Canyon Road within Centerville was severed on both sides of the community which forced traffic to funnel onto Olive Avenue to reach the expressway.
Part 2; former California State Route 180 on Kings Canyon Road in Centerville
Kings Canyon Road in Centerville can be seen south of modern California State Route 180 on the Kings Canyon Expressway below in an aerial photo from early 2020.
From modern California State Route 180 traffic wishing to access Centerville must turn south on Olive Avenue to reach Kings Canyon Road. Despite Kings Canyon Road in Centerville no longer being a thru-highway the Fresno County Blossom Trail shields still indicate that it is.
This view faces east on Kings Canyon Road in Centerville towards the International Order of Odd Fellows building. Until recent years this segment of roadway would have been busy with traffic along California State Route 180. Kings Canyon Road can be seen ending just short of the modern expressway.
A view on Kings Canyon Road westward at Olive Avenue reveals another Fresno County Blossom Trail shield. Kings Canyon Road continues westward over Kingsburg Canal and dead-ends.
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