Question: I'm curious about a stand of tall palm trees on the east side of Minnewawa Avenue north of Behymer Avenue. The trees line what looks like an overgrown driveway, but there's no house.
-- Maureen Hayes, Fresno
Answer: Local historian and librarian Bill Secrest Jr. said property around Minnewawa Avenue and what was later named Behymer Avenue was owned by P.F. Parks in 1891, according to the Thomas Thompson Atlas of Fresno County.
In 1907, at least some of Parks' property was bought by Jacob Wise Browne, who in turn sold the parcel in 1935.
Browne grew grapes north of Clovis, according to two Fresno Bee stories. He dried his first crop of raisins in 1911 and retired from farming in 1960.
In 1985, when Browne was 100, he was honored by the Raisin Wives of California for being the oldest-known raisin grower in Fresno County. He died in 1986.
It's possible that Parks or Browne planted the trees, because lining roadways with palm trees was a popular landscaping idea in the late 1800s and early 1900s. No information is available about a house at the end of the trees.
In the 1880s, M. Theo Kearney built a seven-mile private drive from his Fruit Vale Estate -- now Kearney Park -- to Fresno that is flanked with Mexican fan palms, eucalyptus trees and white and pink oleander bushes. Kearney Boulevard was opened to the public in 1887.
In about 1912, real estate developer Orlando A. Robertson planted nearly 800 Canary Island date palms and Mexican and California fan palms on both sides of Chowchilla's main street, which Robertson named for himself.
Q: Near the former city hall on Fresno Street downtown, I've seen "WPA 1941" stamped in the sidewalk. What does that mean?
-- Amanda Soto, Fresno
A: The WPA was the Works Progress Administration, started by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935 to create jobs for 8.5 million people as the nation recovered from the Great Depression.
The WPA's 4th District covering eight counties was based in Fresno. In Fresno, Madera and Kings counties in 1939, more than 7,500 men and women were employed by the WPA. Workers earned between 25 cents and $1 a day.
In addition to pouring sidewalks, WPA crews built the Chandler and Visalia airports, schools, gymnasiums and bridges, widened roads and planted trees. Female workers were trained to do home health care and nursing or did sewing.
Other WPA stamps can be found in sidewalks near Fresno City College and the Fresno Memorial Auditorium and on Olive Avenue in the Tower District.
Q: I remember the kidnap and murder of a young Fresno girl named Victoria in the late 1970s. Was that case ever solved?
-- Ann Stevens, Fresno
A: The kidnap, rape and murder of 8-year-old Victoria Ann DeSantiago never has been solved, but remains an open cold case, said Fresno police spokesman Jeff Cardinale.
Victoria and her 3-year-old sister, Eva Maria, and their small dog, Benji, left home about 2 p.m. on Feb. 3, 1979, to walk to a convenience store near Belmont Avenue and First Street.
Eva Maria was found crying but unharmed near Ashlan Avenue and First Street about 7:30 p.m. that day.
Police detectives said the girls were kidnapped by two men who offered to help them find Benji, who had bolted as the girls left the store.
Benji was found near Ashlan and Leonard avenues on Feb. 5, 1979, and Victoria's body was found in a nearby field the next day.
About 1,200 people attended Victoria's funeral at St. John's Cathedral in downtown Fresno.
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