Palermo, California

Palermo was founded in the 1800's by the Hearst Family and named after Palermo, Sicily, Italy due to its likeness in climate and abilty to grow olives.  The first post office was established in 1888.  Palermo is a relatively small community (estimated population of 5,720), consisting of approximately 39 square miles, neslted south of Oroville in northern California.  Many areas in and around Palermo offer affordable, ranch-like settings for residents interested in having animals and farms and who wish to enjoy a bit of the country.  

Wiki and Census Data

Find out more about the demographics of Palermo, California by clicking on this Wikipedia link.

Local Businesses

Click on the MapQuest link to obtain a list of local businesses.

Palermo Colony History

1864

• California Northern Railroad between Marysville and Oroville

1865

• Palermo area surveyed and opened for settlement
• Claims filed for United States Homesteads with 5-year term
• Received US Patents at the end of the 5-year term

1865-1880

• Cattle business decline, too much land required to graze them (10 acres per head)
• Sheep grazing took over from cattle
• More settlement
• Pacific RR land put on market and bought by sheep ranchers for sheep grazing for $3-5 per acre

1882

• Spur of California and Oregon Railroad runs by townsite connecting it with San Francisco

1887

• South Feather miners ditch and water rights sold to George Perkins and David Wise who owned 5,000 acres where future Palermo would be located
• Perkins and Wise contact Real Estate developers from San Francisco McAfee and Baldwin. Mediterranean climate noted.
• Perkins, McAfee, and Baldwin acquire additional surrounding acreage surrounding Daniel Abby’s sheep pasture.
• T.B. Ludlum and Co. named local sales agent, consolidated land called Palermo Land and Water Company, which surveyed the new townsite, naming it after the ancient capital of Sicily, famous for oranges, grapes, figs, and olives.

1888

(Palermo’s Birthday)

• Massive surveying and town staked out
• First houses in built
• Orange groves planted, 235 acres of oranges
• 7 miles of fence
• 8 miles of avenue graded
• 24 miles of ditches extended from headworks and water main brought into townsite
• Blacksmith
• Planer mill
• Post office
• School as gift from Palermo Land and Water Company
• Villa Hotel, the pride of Palermo
• George W Hearst purchases 700 acres and subdivides
• In total: 23 buildings constructed in 1888

Aside:

• Hearst mansion: Vista de Robles, Phebe Hearst lived a few days each year in the mansion until it was sold to Wendell Hammon, the “California Gold-Dredger King” in 1913, Hearsts had their own spur to the railroad, Hearst’s former horticulturalist built Magnolia Manner for himself.
• In 1888, the Villa Hotel burns down and Hearst’s partner’s mansion burns just a construction is completed, dam broke and washed out part of water system, planer mill burned.

1889

• Palermo Land and Water Company invest in streets, ditches for irrigation, and a water line for the developing town
• Large tanks built on Gibraltar Hill, east of the townsite, fed by open ditch, yielding 70 psi at the railroad depot on west side of town (see plate drawing)
• 1,200 more acres planted
• 12 miles of avenues graded
• 25 miles of fencing
• 2 miles of water main, more ditches
• All unsold lots sold by Palermo Land and Water Company to Pacific Improvement Company (a subsidiary of Pacific Railroad)
• Palermo Progress, No. 1, Vol. 1, October 17, 1890:

“Nearly all land owners, equally confident of the great future for Palermo, spare no money or pains to improve their property and all have joined to make Palermo what it is today by putting in permanent improvements and preparing for the development of the great industry which is to make it one of the most important places in the great state of California.”

1893

• The economic panic of 1893n occurs.  Although the area proved adequate for growing exotic banana palms and citrus, it proved much too hot for Bay Area vacationers during summer months. 

 1920's

•  A twister in the 1920s destroyed the oak park.

 1932

• The Big Freeze of 1932 decimated most of the orange trees, and the Great Depression seriously curtailed the sale of olive oil, considered by many a luxury item.

1968 

• The Palermo Community Council is established and begins organization of an annual community celebration, called "Fireman's Field Day, each September.

1976 

• The destruction of the landmark church by fire devastates the community, and today the once-busy depots are no longer.

1988

• Palermo celebrates its Centennial. 

2008

• 21 homes and 1,600 acres lost in the Ophir Fire on June 10, 2008.

The Community - Then and Now 

Palermo was established as a popular summer vacation spot in the early 1800’s and named by the Hearst family after Palermo, Sicily, Italy for its Mediterranean-like climate.  The area was home to a country club, two railroad stations, gold mining, a brick yard, library, general mercantile store, school and even a semi-pro baseball team.  The rich clay soil attracted the planting of olive and orange orchards and a thriving zucca melon industry.  Old-timers say Palermo was the second-largest olive producing area in the world.

Today Palermo boasts country living amongst scattered olive orchards.  Residents can choose to live in the heart of an unpretentious community or in the surrounding countryside and rolling hills.

(Many history dates courtesy of Brad Banner)