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Timeline of The City of Lindsay

A Timeline of the City of Lindsay, California:
1901: Lindsay Gazette was first published. The company also printed olive and fruit labels.
 
1908: In November 258 rail cars of oranges were shipped from Lindsay packing houses, n time for the Thanksgiving market. Lindsay Chamber of Commerce organized.
 
1910: Lindsay incorporates. Lindsay officially voted for incorporation on Friday, March 4, 1910 as reported in the special Saturday edition of the Lindsay Gazette the following day.
 
1910: The Lindsay Branch Library was established as the third branch library in the Tulare County Library system on Sept. 16, 1910. It was housed in the Arboretum, the Women's Club building on the comer of Mirage and Hermosa in 1913 where it remained until 1933 when a new library was built as a Civil Works Administration or CWA project on Gale Hill Avenue between Samoa and Honolulu streets. The city outgrew the space and plans for a new library began in 2003.
 
1911: Jefferson School opened with five teachers and nine rooms
 
1912: The Citrus Belt Brass Band was formed "with much promise."
 
1913: A December a report stated 1,406 carloads of fruit were shipped this season including 33 of grapes. A total of 1,800 carloads of oranges is expected, about 200 less than last year.
 
1915: Thirteen young people graduate high school, Lindsay's sixth graduating, class.
 
1916: Plans for observing National Orange Day in March. Coffee is advertised on sale at the Lindsay Mercantile Co. for 35 cents a pound.
 
1917: Pomegranate growers are making $1.01 per half box, compared to 80 cents per half box last year. Shipments being sold to New York.
 
1918: Lindsay has gained notoriety for shipping more citrus than any other district in California. Lindsay-Strathmore irrigation project is built.
 
1920: The newly formed Tulare County Historical Society names Mrs. W.S. (Mabel) Cairns of Lindsay as its vice president.
 
1921: The largest meeting of orange growers ever is held at the arboretum in Lindsay.
 
1921: The first Annual Community Exposition and Citrus Show is held in Lindsay, attracting thousands of people from throughout the state.
 
1924: One of the largest fig orchards-215 acres-is planted west of Lindsay bN A. Cjilen and E. Larsen. Figs can be sold fresh, preserved or dried, assuring a good market.
 
1925: LHS Freshman whitewash polish the Lon Elephant Back Hill east of town, an annual freshman duty.
 
1926: A massive advertising campaign is underway to spread the word about California ripe olives by the California Ripe Olive Association. reaching 4 million homes nationwide.
 
1927: LHS graduates 51 students
 
1928: Thousands gather at Strathmore landing tield dedication with participation by 14 Army, Navy and civilian planes.
 
1929: George C. Roeding, Lindsay orange grower, is named champion orange grower of the world at the National Orange Show in San Bernardino. T.E. Anderson, a Lindsay packer won first. second and third places with exhibits he arranged and installed.
 
1930: Frank Richter of Coalinga purchased the Lindsay Hotel from W.F. Rali, with plans to refurbish 50 rooms and modernize the Honolulu front of the building.
 
1931: The U.S. Supreme Court hears final arguments after 15 years of litigation over pumping the LSID (Lindsay-Strathmore Irrigation District) in the Kaweah Delta.
 
1932: The first Orange Blossom Festival is held.
 
1933: The T.E. Anderson citrus packing plant is destroyed by fire, the second serious blaze in six weeks. The San Joaquin District Federation of Women's clubs voted to hold its 1933 convention in Lindsay, which won out over Porterville.
 
1936: Voters approve $60,000 school bond for new Lincoln Junior High School building to replace 28-year-old structure declared unsafe.
 
1938: Olive harvest begins in September, employing about 3,000 people. Companies processing Manzanillo and Ascolano olives include Lindsay Ripe Olive Co., V.R. Smith Ripe Olive Co. Matmore Olive Co. and Lindsay Co-Op Olive Growers Association.
 
1939: LHS graduates 102 seniors, largest class ever.
 
1940: 1,541 Lindsay-Strathmore men registered for the selective military training service.
 
1941: New municipal hospital, an 18-bed facility opens. Declared one of the most modem on the Pacific Coast.
 
1943: Gordon Miller of Lindsay is awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in Pearl Harbor, along with 44 other men. Miller downed two Japanese fighters during a battle and crash landed on an island in a chain 200 miles north of Guadalcanal.
 
1944: Two flood control projects are passed by Congress at a cost of $7 million. The projects will help control the flow of the Kaweah and Tule rivers.
 
1945: Aug. 10, Japanese agree to terms of Surrender. World War II is over.
 
1946: Herman C. Landers, a resident for 22 years, is elected mayor. A.C. Rienken, a pioneer Lindsay businessman, is presented with a plaque from the American Druggist magazine in recognition of outstanding community service. Fle is honored with a testimonial dinner at the Mt. Whitney Hotel.
 
1947: Porterville College Pirates defeat Fresno State junior varsity at first-ever Olive Bowl football game held Thanksgiving Day, sponsored by the Lions Club.
 
1948: The first Lindsay Art Association exhibit of the year will be held at Lindsay Jr. High School with an exhibit of 30 watercolors by Albert Marshall.
 
1949: Voters approve a $365,000 bond to build the new Jefferson Elementary School.
 
1951: Pvt. Billy Trow was the first Korean War casualty from Lindsay. Additional casualties included Warrant officer Roscoe M. Calcote, Lt. Dorsie H. Booker, Pvt. Gilbert Vasquez and Sgt. Is' Class Roy Johnson.
 
1952: Publisher A.L. Evans retires from the Gazette after 50 years at the trade.
 
1953: Joseph Stalin dies. About 150 Olive growers attend a meeting at LHS to reestablish a fair market through adoption of a proposed federal olive market order., as price of crop had dropped from $252 to $149 per ton.
 
1955: The community is invited to the second annual Fourth of July picnic sponsored by the Lindsay Chamber of Commerce. The festivities include a barbecue, fireworks, swimming and dancing at City Park.
 
1956: Lindsay helps elect Dwight D. Eisenhower as president.
 
1957: The new Lindsay Presbyterian Church is dedicated. The 54-year-old congregation is the third oldest church in the community.
 
1958: The Gazette drops its masthead on Oct. 23 to declare: "County to get new citrus field station." The headline refers to the new University of California at Lindcove Research and Extension Center, located 10 miles north of Lindsay on 40 acres in Lindcove. The center will conduct valuable research on citrus in the "hub of citrus country."
 
1959: First foreign student exchange takes place with Norwegian student staying with Theodore Cairns family.
 
1960: Bank of America opens Lindsay branch at 115 E. Honolulu St.
 
1961: School bond passes to build 10 new elementary school classrooms.
 
1962: Oral polio vaccine clinics held in Lindsay. Lindsay's Bill Baird signs a professional football contract with the Baltimore Colts.
 
1963: Temperatures drop to between 18 and 22 degrees over five nights, dealing Tulare County citrus growers a crushing blow. JFK assassinated.
 
1964: The American Can Co. opens a new plant in Lindsay in cooperation with Lindsay Ripe Olive Co. to serve the specialized needs of olive packers in the Central California area, with the capacity to produce 60 million cans a year.
 
1965: Television star Randy Boone, 23, will serve as the escort to Orange Blossom Festival Queen Joan Jarboe. Boone is a regular on "The Virginian."
 
1966: The League of California Cities meets in Lindsay regarding the planned recreational resort in Mineral King (proposed by Disney, which never came about.
 
1967: Lindsay Ripe Olive Co. celebrates 50 years in business.
 
1968: LoBue Bros. packing house is destroyed by fire in December.
 
1969: The largest number of entries ever, 2,279 swimmers, are set to compete in the 13th annual Lindsay Swim Meet sponsored by the Kiwanis Club. Five national records are set at the meet. New LoBue Packinghouse opens at Sweet Brier and Honolulu.
 
1970: Freeze damage to citrus. Female LHS students granted permission to wear slacks during cold weather.
 
1971: Lindsay Development Inc. forms, seeking industrial gro"th and diversitNI for the city. Four loaves of white bread on sale for $1.
 
1972: The Lindsay International arm of Consolidated Olive Cirowei-s adopts the slogan "A Nice Town, A Great Olive" which is painted across tile side of 18 wheelers that deliver the product to markets across the country.
 
1973: Ono City, Japan, becomes Lindsay's Sister City.
 
1974: The community raises more than $30,000 to send the LHS band to Ono City to play at the dedication of Ono City's new civic center.
 
1975: Lindsay becomes the first southern San Joaquin Valley city with a 911 emergency reporting system. Only 11 other cities in California have the system.
 
1977: A record budget of $3 million is set for Lindsay District Hospital.
 
1979: One of the Orange Blossum Festival events is the second annual International Rabbit Race. The grand champion winner is Ed Murray who raced his rabbit named Head Honcho.
 
1980: Lindsay Police Sgt. Don Block arrests Arizona prison escapee Bill Koonce in City Park while responding to an alarm.
 
1981: Jane Elson attends the inauguration of President Ronald Reagan. Her brother, Donn Moomaw, is Reagan's pastor and wil I offer the benediction and invocation at the ceremony.
 
1982: The Lindsay Theater at 190 N. Elmwood closes in February, leaving Lindsay with no movie theater. It will reopen as a community theater for stage productions later in this decade.
 
1983: The Lindsay Jaycees organize with eight members.
 
1984: Save Mart opens in Lindsay.
 
1985: Richard Schroeder, who won a gold medal in the 1984 Olympics, is honored with the prestigious Southland Olympia Award. He is the son ol'Don and Donna Schroeder of Lindsay.
 
1986: Mayor Peggy Sanders announces that Mayor John Beene will take early retirement.
 
1987: A lawsuit is filed against the city, calling Lindsay Olive Growers waste "toxic and hazardous." The waste, including chemicals, brine wastes and other hazardous wastes. had been dumped in lined poilds since 1962. The Olive Tree Inn and Restaurant breaks ground on Highway 65.
 
1989: The expanded Lindsay Birthing Center opens at Lindsay Hospital.
 
1991: With temperatures as low as 19 degrees, the effects of a "hard freeze" are realized in January. The navel crop, worth $325 million, is destroyed with damage of spring's budding Valencia crop feared.
 
The trial of Lindsay Olive Growers/City of Lindsay regarding contamination of groundwater because of inadequate brine storage ponds begins. At stake is the financial solvency of the city. A 10-woman, two-man jury awards three of the five suing farmers and landowners damages totaling $2.56 million for loss of crops and future productivity after six days of deliberation. The verdict capped 16 weeks of testimony in a civil lawsuit filed against the City and Lindsay Olive Growers caused by wastewater storage and treatment ponds, which were maintained by the city for Lindsay Olive Growers.
 
1992: Cal Citrus opens, creating 75 to 80 new jobs. It processes citrus peel for production of marmalade.
 
1993: Bill Sanders takes office as District 1 County Supervisor.
 
1994: Jennife Cordua is named Miss Tulare County, the first every from Lindsay.
 
1995: Lindsay named an All American City. Merger talks between Lindsay Hospital and Sierra View District Hospital begin.
 
1996: Mt. Whitney Hotel renovated to become senior housing facility.
 
1997: Console Foods takes over fomier Lindsay Olive Growers Plant. Supposed to create 3 50 new jobs but fails to remain open long.
 
1998: Debate about building a prison between Lindsay and Exeter wears on. Residents against, merchants in favor. Exeter City Council also against.
 
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