Hines' brick house built in 1906, torn down by '85

Posted at 11:28 PM on Sunday, Nov. 29, 2009

Question: What is the history of the house that used to be on the southwest corner of Fowler and Shields avenues?

-- Tom Westerfield, Clovis

Answer: The two-story brick house at 2893 N. Fowler Ave. was built by John Newton Hines sometime after 1906.

Hines was born in Tennessee in 1858 and came to Fresno in 1885. He was a bookkeeper, hauled lumber from the mountains to the Valley, ran the Pleasanton Hotel -- later the California Hotel -- and ran a prosperous grocery store with his brothers F.M. Hines and S.B. Hines at I (later Broadway) and Fresno streets.

In 1906, Hines sold his interest in the grocery to devote more time to his 160-acre ranch about nine miles northeast of downtown Fresno, where he planted a vineyard and alfalfa.

In a 1919 biography of Hines, Fresno historian Paul Vandor wrote that Hines "later erected a brick residence" on the ranch, but didn't note the exact date. Hines had sold his ranch for $70,000 before the biography was published.

The Hines home was considered an expensive house for its time and the brick construction was uncommon for the Valley. Darker red bricks outlined narrow, arched windows. The front porch was recessed under a corner of the second story, supported by one brick pillar.

The home is featured in "Heritage Fresno: Homes and People" published by the American Association of University Women in 1975. Fresno City directories show the house was vacant in 1981. The house apparently was torn down by 1985, when it last was listed in city directories.

Q: What is the history of the former Henderson Experimental Gardens in Fresno?

-- Eleanor Bergthold, Fresno

A: The Henderson Experimental Gardens were built in 1926 on 17 acres at 2760 S. Orange Ave. near the then-Golden State Highway by William Henry Henderson, a former protege of the famed horticulturist Luther Burbank.

Henderson was born in Oleander, south of Fresno, in about 1906. As a boy, he read Burbank's books and experimented on gladiolus bulbs to create a vivid fragrance and color.

Henderson was a student at Fresno Technical High School in 1922 when he wrote Burbank to apply for an apprenticeship. Among 300 applicants, Burbank awarded the job to Henderson, 16 at the time, calling him "the man I feel best qualified to carry on."

Henderson left school to work with Burbank in Santa Rosa. After Burbank's death in 1926, Henderson vowed in a Fresno Bee story to keep working: "I shall continue with this experimenting, always working toward the day when we can offer our fellowman not bullets and bayonets, but finer fruits, grains and flowers."

By 1932, Henderson had developed 150 new flower, fruit and vegetable varieties. In 1950, he finally succeeded in producing a seedless muscat grape after many years of experiments. He also developed a free-stone nectarine.

In 1955, highway expansion sliced through Henderson's gardens and he moved the nursery to his home at 4180 N. Fowler Ave.

In a 1963 Fresno Bee story, Henderson said he was still experimenting on the elusive fragrant and colorful gladiolus: "Some day I'll get the perfect flower. Anyway, I live in hopes of it."

Henderson died in 1972 at age 66. He was survived by his mother, Cora Logan, his wife, Averick, a son, also named William, and a grandson.

More on the railroad to Friant: After the answer to a question about the Friant railroad ran on Nov. 9, two readers e-mailed more information about when the tracks were dismantled.

Robert Ramsay of Fresno wrote to say the Minarets & Western Railroad tracks were not "scrapped from Friant into the mountains until the price for scrap steel had gone up high enough to justify the cost, which was 1936." The section from Pinedale Junction to the former mill yard in Pinedale was in place until 1994, Ramsay wrote.

Christopher Crouch of Clovis wrote to say the Southern Pacific branch line, over which the Minarets & Western line ran, continued in operation until 1939. "The [Southern Pacific] continued to run freight trains to Friant until May 16, 1961," Crouch wrote.