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Clovis Cole

Clovis Cole was inducted into the 1990 Clovis Hall of Fame as a Clovis Founder. Cole was born in 1856 in Vevay, Indiana and he and his family would later move to Fresno in 1873. Clovis would begin his career as a teamster when his father gave him four horses, allowing him to haul lumber out of the mountains.  When he reached maturity, he purchased a homestead and continued to purchase land to raise grain for feed and seed.  In 1880 he bought for $4 an acre 480 acres of land which is now the townsite of Clovis. By 1884, Clovis Cole would own 40,000 acres of land, reaching both Fresno and Madera County planted with only wheat. At the height of his farming career, he was known as the Wheat King of the United States.

 The City of Clovis began as a freight stop along the San Joaquin Valley Railroad (SJVR). Organized on January 15, 1890 the SJVR began construction in Fresno on July 4, 1891 and reached the farmlands of Clovis Cole's and George Owen's properties by October of that year. The railroad purchased right-of-way from both farmers, half from each - the east side from Cole and the west side from Owens - and ran tracks up the borderline between the two properties. The railroad agreed to establish a station on the west side of the tracks and to call it "Clovis". Cole and Owen later sold land for the development of a new townsite, also named “Clovis”.

Due to a lack of diversification, the drought of 1897-98 caused Cole to suffer total crop failure. He quit the farming business and opened a farm machinery repair shop on Fourth Street and Clovis Avenue. He retired in 1904 and moved to Fresno. He died in 1939 at 83 years.




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