Marysville, California
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Marysville | |
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| Nickname: Gateway to the Goldfields | |
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| Coordinates: | |
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| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| County | Yuba |
| Area | |
| - Total | 3.6 sq mi (9.4 km²) |
| - Land | 3.5 sq mi (9.1 km²) |
| - Water | 0.1 sq mi (0.3 km²) |
| Elevation | 62 ft (19 m) |
| Population (2000) | |
| - Total | 12,268 |
| - Density | 3,501.1/sq mi (1,351.8/km²) |
| Time zone | PST (UTC-8) |
| - Summer (DST) | PDT (UTC-7) |
| ZIP code | 95901 |
| Area code(s) | 530 |
| FIPS code | 06-46170 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0277554 |
| Website: [1] | |
Marysville is the county seat of Yuba County, California, United States. The population was 12,268 at the 2000 census. It is included in the Yuba City Metropolitan Statistical Area and is often affectionately referred to as the Yuba-Sutter Area after the 2 counties, Yuba and Sutter.
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[edit] Geography
Marysville is located at (39.149343, -121.585544)[1].
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.6 square miles (9.4 km²), of which, 3.5 square miles (9.1 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.3 km²) of it (3.31%) is water.
[edit] Demographics
As of the census[2] of 2000, there were 12,268 people, 4,687 households, and 2,826 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,501.1 people per square mile (1,353.3/km²). There were 4,999 housing units at an average density of 1,426.6/sq mi (551.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 70.95% White, 4.80% African American, 2.30% Native American, 5.99% Asian, 0.19% Pacific Islander, 10.10% from other races, and 5.67% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 17.54% of the population.
There were 4,687 households out of which 32.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.8% were married couples living together, 15.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.7% were non-families. 31.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.14.
In the city the population was spread out with 27.5% under the age of 18, 11.7% from 18 to 24, 29.2% from 25 to 44, 18.4% from 45 to 64, and 13.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 99.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $28,494, and the median income for a family was $33,474. Males had a median income of $27,630 versus $20,240 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,315. About 15.2% of families and 18.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 26.9% of those under age 18 and 7.4% of those age 65 or over.
Marysville has been home to a significant Chinese American community since the 1860s, descendants of gold miners and rail workers whom came into the area. Other large ethnic groups include Irish, Germans, Polish, Italians, and Hmongs, a native tribe from SE Asia. Marysville, like Yuba City, has a large Hispanic population, mostly consisting of Mexican Americans.
[edit] Politics
In the state legislature Marysville is located in the 4th Senate District, represented by Republican Sam Aanestad, and in the 3rd Assembly District, represented by Republican Rick Keene. Federally, Marysville is located in California's 2nd congressional district, which has a Cook PVI of R +13[3] and is represented by Republican Wally Herger.
[edit] Historical Information
In 1842, John Sutter leased land to Theodore Cordua, who raised livestock and, in 1843, built a home and trading post. The trading post and home was situated at what would later become the southern end of 'D' Street, Marysville's main street.
By 1844, Cordua had obtained seven additional parcels of land from the Mexican government.
In 1848, a former employee of Cordua, Charles Covillaud, discovered riches in the gold fields and bought half of the Cordua ranch. Then, in January 1849, Michael C. Nye and William Foster, brothers-in-law to Covillaud's wife, Mary Murphy, bought the other half of the Cordua ranch. They later sold their interest to Covillaud. In October of the same year, Covillaud sold most of the ranch to Jose Ramirez, John Sampson, and Theodore Sicard.
In the days of the Gold Rush, the ranch was a stopping point for riverboats from Sacramento and San Francisco. The boats carried miners on their way to the digging grounds. In 1850, Covillaud, Ramirez, Sampson, and Sicard hired Augustus Le Plongeo, a French surveyor, to create a plan for a town.
Stephen J. Field, a newly relocated attorney, purchased 65 lots of land and drew up proper deeds for land being sold. Then, after just three days in the mining camp, he accepted the nomination to run for alcalde, a Mexican official like a mayor and justice of the peace, in a new government that was being formed. On January 18, 1850, Field defeated his rival, who had been in town just six days, and a town council was elected. That night, the townsfolk decided to name the new town Marysville after Charles Covillaud's wife, Mary Murphy Covillaud, one of the surviving members of the Donner Party.
After Marysville was incorporated by the new California Legislature, the first mayor was elected in 1851. Field went on to become one of the longest sitting members of the United States Supreme Court.
By 1853, the tent city had been replaced by brick buildings. In addition to the brick merchant buildings, Marysville had developed mills, iron works, factories, machine shops, schools, churches and two daily newspapers. The population was almost 10,000.
By 1857, Marysville was a prospering city; in fact, it was one of the largest cities in California, due to strategic location during the Gold Rush. Over $10 million in gold was shipped from the banks in Marysville to the U.S. Mint in San Francisco. The city's founders imagined Marysville becoming "The New York of the Pacific."
However, because of the hydraulic mining on the Yuba River above Marysville, sediment raised the riverbeds of both the Feather and the Yuba Rivers and made Marysville vulnerable to flooding during winter storms and spring run-offs. The city built a levee system that is still maintained today. The levee system sealed the city off and has made additional city growth virtually impossible. Since the days of the Gold Rush, the population has not increased much. Marysville has only flooded 3 times since 1875, but the town is now known as "California's Oldest Little City."
Also, the newly raised riverbeds made the Feather River more and more difficult to navigate and soon the riverboats could not make the trip to Marysville.
A sign on the roadside as one enters Marysville still carries the slogan: "Gateway to The Gold Fields".
[edit] Flooding
Flooding has been a major concern for the city for many years. The Yuba River is east of the city, while the Feather River is to its west. The two rivers converge just south of the city. The city is entirely surrounded by levees. The rivers overflow some years when there is a great deal of snow in the neary Sierra Nevada mountains. This picture [2] shows a flood which occurred in 1955. The photo shows the city outlined perfectly, while the adjacent orchards and farms surrounding the city are completely submerged.
[edit] 95901
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The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page.(January 2008) Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. |
The zip code servicing Marysville is 95901, which also services the neighboring unincorporated section of Yuba County known as Linda. There is some controversy however, because the newer development of Linda, particularly Edgewater, would rather be associated with Marysville, than with the rest of Linda, which may be considered (in a generous way) somewhat rundown.
The city built a levee system that is still maintained today. The levee system sealed the city off and has made additional city growth virtually impossible. Since the days of the Gold Rush, the population has not increased much. Marysville hasn't flooded since 1875, but the town is now known as "California's Oldest Little City."
Also, the newly raised riverbeds made the Feather River more and more difficult to navigate and soon the riverboats could not make the trip to Marysville.
A sign on the roadside as one enters Marysville still carries the slogan: "Gateway to The Gold Fields".
[edit] Sights of Marysville
[edit] The Mary Aaron Memorial Museum
Built in 1855, the Gothic revival residence was one of the first brick structures. Home to the Aaron Family until 1935, it is now held in trust by the City of Marysville and Yuba County. The forgotten lives of local residents are documented by photographs, costumes and other furnishings in the changing exhibits.
Also included in the Museum are special interest exhibits depicting the lives and traditions of the early Marysville Chinese community. The Museum is located at 704 D Street, Marysville. The phone number is (530) 743-1004. Admission is free.
[edit] Bok Kai Temple (北溪廟)
Five years after the first contingent of Chinese arrived in California to work the gold mines, a temple to worship their gods was erected in Marysville. The year was 1854 and the foremost of the gods worshipped there was Bok Eye (北帝), the god of water, who had the power to control the rains.
Unfortunately, the original temple was destroyed by fire. The temple was replaced in 1880 and remains a great focus of the present Marysville Chinese community, who have dedicated themselves to preserving the temple. The Bok Kai Temple is the only one of its kind in the United States. People from as far away as Taiwan come to worship at the secluded temple. During the ritual of worship at the temple, each individual finds out how the new year will benefit him in his particular endeavor. The temple, which stands next to the Marysville levee at the foot of D Street, was first built in the early 1860s nearly two blocks upstream from the present site. It was destroyed once and rebuilt on the present site.
The Bok Kai Temple is located at the corner of D and First Street, Marysville. Tours are by special appointment; contact the Marysville Chamber of Commerce.
[edit] The Bok Kai Festival and Parade (北溪慶會)
Annually, Marysville celebrates the Chinese New Year and the Bok Eye god with a festival. The Bok Kai parade has been produced each year for more than 120 years and is the oldest continuing parade in California. Because the festival celebrates New Year according to the Chinese lunar calendar, the date of the parade is different each year. Another interesting fact is that it has never rained during the parade, and has very seldom rained on the day of the parade. The crash of gongs, the crack of fireworks, and the pounding of drums signal the beginning of the Bok Kai Parade. Marching bands, fire trucks, antique cars, floats, and dance groups walk the streets of historic downtown. Over 15,000 spectators each year come to watch the parade's greatest asset, a 150-foot long dragon.
Other activities during the festival include martial art demonstrations, food vendors, and art exhibits.
The festival concludes with the Bomb Day Event.
BOMB DAY
Bomb Day, or in Chinese, Yee Yeut Yee, takes its name from the colorful firing of the bombs highlighting the celebration, which is in tribute to the Chinese Water God, Bok Eye.
Each year on the second day of the second month of the Chinese lunar year, the Chinese community of Marysville and the Marysville Yuba County Chamber of Commerce join in putting on the Bomb Day celebration, which marks Bok Eye's birthday. When the day falls on a weekday, the festivities usually are held for two days during the weekend.
The annual two-day event draws thousands from Marysville and surrounding communities. It also attracts thousands of Chinese from all parts of the United States, Canada and Mexico, who come to worship at the Bok Kai Temple and join in the festivities.
Although the celebration includes the colorful parade, a fashion show, dance, exhibitions by Lion Dancers, banquets and other entertainment, the highlight of the event is the firing of the bombs.
The 110 bombs are fired in a roped arena where young Chinese, and occasionally adults, scramble for “good fortune” rings which are shot into the air from the bursting bombs, traditionally bring good fortune to the holder throughout the year.
The rings may be kept by those who retrieve them in the scramble, but often they are sold to people who want to keep the lucky charms for a year. Those who purchase them, in turn, pay a fee at the temple to hold the rings.
The No. 4 ring is the luckiest, and therefore the most sought after ring of all, and brings on the liveliest scramble when the bombs are fired. The bombs, resembling giant firecrackers, are handmade in Marysville specifically for Bomb Day. Commissioned to do the job is Al Wong, Jr., who learned the tedious and ancient craft from the former bomb master Jim Pon. Wong has produced the bombs for this event starting in 1993. A special permit and license are issued each year by the State Fire Marshal to the Marysville Chinese Community for this annual production of approximately 110 bombs.
In addition to the fun and excitement of the celebration, Bomb Day has another aspect - it enables the Chinese to worship at the temple, which honors Bok Eye, worshipped by the Chinese for banishing evil spirits and for controlling rains and floods of spring in time for planting.
LOOKING BACK AT EARLIER CELEBRATIONS
There are no records pinpointing exactly what year Bomb Day was initiated in Marysville, but it is assumed by most Chinese here the event must have been observed as far back as the 1860s when the First Bok Kai Temple was built. People who have done research on the Temple, though, look at the year 1880, when the present Temple was dedicated, as the start of Bomb Day celebrations in Marysville. They establish this fact from an article describing the dedication of the Temple in the April 2, 1880 issue of the Marysville Weekly Appeal, of which excerpts follow:
"The Boc-ky Church, or Chinese Temple, recently erected on D and Front Streets, in this city, was dedicated on Saturday with much pomp, noise and enthusiasm. The management under the committee composed of Yee Wood Gung, Wong Ting Oy, Chow You and Lung Sine, was successful in all points though the attendance was not as large as anticipated. At no time during Sunday were there present over fifteen hundred Chinese, male residents included. But they made noise enough for twice the number. At an early hour on the morning of the 21st instant a regular bombardment of the Yuba commenced with bombs and firecrackers, and by daylight the Temple was in order for formal dedication."
Ten priests, seven of whom traveled from San Francisco, took part in the dedication and procession to the temple. The procession, starting from C Street down First Street, moved "under the inspiring music of the brass band. The procession was headed by a Chinese with a string of burning firecrackers hanging eight or ten feet from the end of a pole. Following were roasted and decorated pigs, sheep and other toothsome looking edibles, which were set up on trays having four shoulder handles and each were packed by the offering train, and one to be sacrificed upon the altar of the new Temple.
"The festivities continued in a quiet way Tuesday and will conclude on the 24th on the lot near the old temple where prize bombs will be discharged into the air, and there will follow an energetic scramble among the young athletes to secure a charmed gift."
Chinese who have been here since before the turn of the century recall bomb days that followed, from year to year. They explained that there were lapses during the First World War, in the early 1930s when China was involved in a revolutionary war and during the Second World War.
But of all the Bomb Day celebrations, the 1930 observance was perhaps the most spectacular and celebrated. That's the year a half a dozen leading movie newsreel companies covered the event for presentation in movie theaters throughout the nation and several foreign countries. There were an estimated 15,000 people at the parade, which included the famous Marysville Dragon which was brought back from "retirement" after 13 years of idleness. It was the year the famous Chinese opera singers, Hom York Lum and Hom Suey Fong, both sisters, were brought from San Francisco with a $30,000 bond and an assurance for their "safe return."
After World War II, Bomb Day in Marysville was renewed in 1947 and has been an annual event since.
[edit] Ellis Lake
The most memorable centerpeice of Marysville is Ellis Lake, a sparkling lake surrounded by lush greenery and sidewalks.
Ellis Lake was once an unsightly swamp. It wasn't until 1924 that the Women's Improvement Club of Marysville commissioned Robbie McLaren, famed designer of the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, to turn the swamp into a beautiful lake, It is now a "beautiful lake", and was recently renovated thanks in part to the current mayor Bill D. Harris sr . The project was completed in 1939.
The lake, named for Marysville citizen W.T. Ellis, Jr. offers a pleasant walk, picnic areas, fishing and pedal boats. For decades, Ellis Lake hosted a 4th of July celebration every year, an event that is composed throughout the day of power boat and cardboard boat races (youths build boats out of cardboard and duct tape, trying to cross the lake without sinking). An annual fireworks display was cancelled in 2004 after a young girl lost part of her leg due to a rogue firework shot from the island in the center of the lake into the gathered crowd. That year they had twice as many fireworks than usual, which made shooting the fireworks more difficult and dangerous. The lawsuit finally closed 11 months later when the California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection released a report stating that mortar shells burst low into the crowd onto the other side of the lake from Gazebo Island.
In October 2007, the water fountain and lighting display was rennovated and upgraded. The lights feature 37 colors and will be viewable year round from 8PM to midnight.
The lake is bounded by 9th street to the South, B Street to the East, 14th Street to the North and D Street to the West.
[edit] Gallery
 A Toy Run in Marysville to collect toys for Christmas |
 Annual Christmas Parade |
 One of the oldest two story brick houses in Marysville |
 The Annual Bok Kai Parade in Marysville |
 The JROTC at the Bok Kai Parade |
[edit] External links
- ^ US Gazetteer files: 2000 and 1990. United States Census Bureau (2005-05-03). Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
- ^ American FactFinder. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
- ^ Will Gerrymandered Districts Stem the Wave of Voter Unrest?. Campaign Legal Center Blog. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- Marysville City Web Site
- South Yuba County Live Weather and Scanner Feed
- Beale Air Force Base Web Site
- Edgewater Community Web Site
- Marysville, California is at coordinates Coordinates:
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Yuba County, California |
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| County seat: Marysville | ||
| Cities |
Marysville | Wheatland |
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| Unincorporated communities | ||
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