longtime residents tell their stories. Sitting with Al that day, hearing him share memories of buildings he designed and the families and businesses who brought them to life — it reminded me why I love this town.
Even more special was hearing a mix of voices — people from different generations — swap stories about the businesses that shaped their childhoods, first jobs and family outings. I even got to add a few memories of my own. It felt like sitting around a hometown campfire, listening to stories. It was just missing the s’mores, but John Wallace’s cookies were there.
I also would love for an A&W or Dean’s Frosties to come back to town. Speaking of, Gloria and Al said that it used to be called Frostie’s and when Doyle Pinkston acquired it the business became Dean’s Frostie. None of us know who Dean is, but we’d like to know. If you know anything about it, please let us know.
Winters is a generational town — where roots run deep and stories are passed down like recipes or heirlooms. Even as new families move in and old storefronts change hands, we find common ground in shared traditions, collective memory, and a sense of belonging that can’t be manufactured. We may
come from different decades, but we walk the same streets, celebrate the same festivals, and care about the same future. That’s the beauty of a place like Winters — we change, but we grow together.
Whether or not this edition inspires nostalgia, I encourage everyone to visit the Winters Museum and see the business exhibit, on display through the fall. You can find details at wintersmuseum.org.
I hope, above all, that you learn something new about our town — and maybe even see Winters through a fresh lens. Here’s to 150 years of Winters — and here’s to the stories still waiting to be told.
—Crystal Apilado, Editor-in-Chief
CPA, Dr. Daniel G. Mazza, DDS, Dawn McGhie, RDA, Norma Munoz, DA
Courtesy photos
Al Graf said he built the building, where Anytime Fitness is now, for the California Market to move into from across Main Street.The photo is from 1974. It was originally in the building where Pizza Factory is now located. The California Market sign can still be seen on the left side of the building. Many other businesses have since occupied them.
Crystal Apilado/Winters Express
Many local business hats from the past are on display at the Winters Museum.
Back to our roots
History of Winters agriculture
By Jacob Hoffman Winters Express
Winters has always been a place of “growing” — in every sense of the word. Just as new people arrive every year to create new lives, and new babies are born and raised here, agriculture and the growing of fruits, nuts and vegetables is at the center of the Winters community and has been for its entire history.
The history of agriculture in Winters, and all of Yolo County, began with John Wolfskill according to Woody Fridae, former Winters mayor and board membe of the Historical Society of Winters.
“John Wolfskill was one of the first Westerners to come into this area,” Fridae explained. “His brother William Wolfskill had a huge ranch down in southern California, and John was looking for his own ranch.” After hearing about somewhere in northern California “where the water came down from the Coastal Range into the valley” Wolfskill rode up north of San Francisco. With the help of his brother and sister-in-law, he received a land grant from the Mexican government for a land area called Rancho Rio de los Putos.
At this time, agriculture in the nearby areas was very different than it is now. As George Griffin — a farmer whose family has owned land east of Winters since the 1800s as well as being a contributor to the Winters historical society — explained, most crops at this time were from dry farming. Griffin said this meant “you plant grain in the fall and harvest in the spring.”
But things would soon change beginning with the arrival of John Wolfskill. Gloria Lopez, a board member of the Winters Historical Society and author of local history, described the importance of Wolfskill’s arrival.
“Wolfskill was very instrumental in the agricultural development of Winters early on,” Lopez explained. “Wolfskill actually brought orchards to the region,
and started planting apricots and peaches and almonds and olive trees, and so then the orchards evolved from there. Other people planted not only the fruits but also almonds, walnuts, and prunes — the fruit network has evolved throughout the years depending on the markets.”
Griffin’s family is able to track its history in Yolo County all the way back to Wolfskill, as Griffin’s family moved into the same area as him in 1857, settling in the city later known as Buckeye.
Following Wolfskill’s introduction of new crops, Griffin describes how his family “shifted from sheep and grain to irrigated crops … trees, corn, melons, tomatoes — just a little bit of everything — and then more orchards started coming further and further away from the creek.”
Very quickly, these farmers found that their farms saw some notable successes. Not only because of the hard work of the farmers, but also because of the unique climate and topography in the area that greatly benefited their crops.
One was an enrichment of the soil known as the Putah Creek loam. Griffin described the benefits of this soil saying, “It’s really light, that’s what makes it so great for growing trees, you’ve got nice, light, but fertile soil, so the roots can really grow deep.”
Along with the loam, Lopez explained the special climate of the area, as “south of town there’s almost a microclimate that allows apricots to ripen early, so for many, many years, Winters was able to ship the earliest ripened apricots back east.”
The final key to the success of local farmers was the Vaca Valley and Clear Lake railroad that connected these specially ripened fruits to the customers who wanted them.
“This area was really plentiful with agriculture,” Fridae noted, “but they had no way to get the product to the market until they developed a train route over Putah Creek” with the Vaca Valley and See ROOTS, Page 7
Clear Lake railroad reaching Winters in 1875.
“Once that railroad crossed Putah Creek, all the land the train crossed (over) became really valuable as the farmers that began to live around Winters came because the railroad was the first place they could get their crops onto the train,” Fridae said.
Soon, Yolo County and Winters gained reputations for abundant fruit production.
Up until the 1960s, Winters was called by the Encyclopedia Britannica the “deciduous fruit capital of the United States.”
Spanish immigrants, new crops
Another important development of agriculture in Winters was the arrival of Spanish laborers in the late 1800s. Beginning around 1890 and continuing through until the 1950s, large numbers of laborers from southern Spain began settling around northern California, with many settling in Winters and across Yolo County.
Lopez, whose family is from southern Spain and whose journey to Winters is told in her book “An American Paella,” described the process of Spanish settlement in Winters. Though some came earlier, the first big wave of immigrants arrived “sometime in the neighborhood of around 1910 when 8,000 Spanish immigrants from southern Spain went to Hawaii for jobs because of poor economic conditions in early 20th century Spain and ended up in California.” They worked as laborers on pioneer farms.
A second wave came from relatives of those already established here between 1918 and the 1930s, before the Spanish Civil War. The last wave came after the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). Though they arrived in smaller numbers, they continued to arrive through the 1950s.
An important thing these laborers and immigrants brought with them was knowledge and experience with a new type of crop — nuts.
Griffin said that Spanish immigrants “came with knowledge of growing almonds, and to some degree walnuts, as they were coming from a place in southern Spain with a very similar Mediterranean
climate to Yolo County, and so really I think a lot of that — the nut orchard business — began with them.”
Soon, the Spanish laborers were able to become full-fledged members of the community.
“They were able to eventually buy some parcels of land, and they did it as families by pooling their money, and they became major landowners, but they came with nothing as farm laborers,” Lopez said.
Japanese, Mexican agricultural impact
Along with these European immigrants came settlers from other parts of the world, including the Japanese community of Winters. The “Japanese started coming about the same time (as the Spanish) beginning in 1907,” Lopez noted. “There was a lot of discrimination there with the laws and where the Japanese could live and have businesses” even though “they were a hardworking and important part of the Winters community.”
Fridae, who helped develop an extensively-researched exhibit at the Winters Museum about the lost Japanese community, added that “the Japanese and their experience with horticulture was valuable as well … when they were interned, we lost their contributions to the workforce.”
Another important population was the Mexican immigrants and laborers.
Regarding Mexican and Latin American residents of Winters, Griffin said that “primarily, they were the labor force that started during World War II when soldiers were away. Obviously, there were Mexicans across California before us,” he noted though this area of northern California was sparsely populated while the area was part of Mexico, and many Mexican residents in Winters can trace their roots back to the 1940s with the greater need for labor and the Bracero program.
“Were it not for Mexican labor, there wouldn’t be any labor at that time,” Griffin said.
“The Mexican population started coming from the 30s and 40s,” Lopez explained “but mainly in the 50s and 60s. So some families have been here for decades and they came as working-class
See ROOTS, Page 8
Rewind & Revisit
Dispatches from the Express archives.
Pinegrove School began in 1864
Reprinted from the May 22, 1975, Centennial Edition published by the Winters
The first public school in the Winters area, according to Russell’s History of Yolo County was the Pinegrove School about two miles west of Winters. Classes began in that school in 1864. The first teacher was Master McCall, followed by Master Rogers and Master Bruce Pendegast. Pendegast was the schoolmaster when Winters was founded in 1875 and a new two room school was built in the town. The classes were moved into Winters, with the district retaining the name of Pine Grove until 1887 when it was changed to “The Win-
ters District.”
By 1892 there were school districts in Buckeye and Apricot districts, as well as Winters, and voters of the three districts approved the formation of the first high school district in Yolo County.
The first classes assembled on September 19 of that year in a room of the grammar school building, which had been built that year. Twenty-three students enrolled that fall, and four of the original first class graduated in 1895. By 1896 the school had outgrown its cramped quarters. Two teachers were already employed and the town’s first grammar school building, idle since the con-
struction of the 1892 building, was converted into a high school. In 1909 lots were purchased on the north side of Grant Avenue and the old building was moved to the new site, enlarged and remodeled. This building was destroyed by fire on August 21, 1914 and a new building was completed in January 1916, which served the high school district until the fire of Januray, 1943, destroyed that structure.
Wolfskill School
A. R. Gale and Sons were the successful bidders on the construction of the new Wolfskill School, in 1957, with a bid of $55,304. The school is now used as a kindergarten center.
Florals By Chris
CHRIS JONES • DESIGN STUDIO WEDDINGS. HOLIDAY FLORALS. PROMS AND EVERYDAY FLORALS.
Over 45 Years Serving The Winters Community 106 ORCHARD LANE, WINTERS 530-795-3279 / 530-681-8623 CELL
SCHOOLS
Continued from Page 9
that the school district lacks resources to independently tackle.
“Caring best for our students and families involves asking the questions ‘How do we redefine the school experience to meet the full range of student needs? And how do we ensure schools have the capacity — and community partnership — to support that work?’”
Boonchouy said.
He noted that Winters has a long history of collaboration between the school district and the community. The shared pool is one example of this, retired high school teacher and local historian Tom Crisp pointed out in his book “Rooted in Excellence: The History of the Winters Joint Unified School District.” The 2007 swimming pool is used by the high school as well as the town’s summer swimming program.
A more recent collaboration is the creation of Winters JUSD’s Graduate Profile, a joint effort by students, teachers, and several community organizations in Winters. Over the course of several meetings and with careful deliberation, Winters JUSD established content and competency goals in six categories for use across the district.
State funding has also been a boon to Winters JUSD. In recent years especially, the school district has received several grants. Thanks to a recent one, plans are in place for an apprenticeship program that will build practical skills training for Winters JUSD students while involving the community. Other upcoming efforts include an ethnic studies program to kick
off next fall and further development of AVID (college readiness) and SEAL (multilingual support) methodologies.
Regarding the politicized nature of education in recent years, Boonchouy said national tensions are reflected in Winters to some degree, despite it being insulated from much of the noise.
ELIAS IRELAND 1833-1919
Some community members have concerns about the direction of school policies. For example, local members of Moms for Liberty, a group that lobbies for parental rights in schools, have expressed concern to trustees and Winters JUSD staff over issues such as social transitioning policies without parent notification, gender identity curricula in science and health classes, and placement of menstrual products in boys’ bathrooms.
Others view these concerns as manufactured. Brown is satisfied with the school district’s handling of hot-button topics.
“Any issue that has arisen over the years from lockdowns to safety to the dual immersion program, it seems that the district has at least hit it head on. They jump in to try to over-communicate. My kids are involved in the school, and they don’t see or feel a lot of the things that are publicized,” Brown said.
Here too, the tight-knit nature of the Winters community comes into play. “It’s such a small district that things can be identified fairly quickly and have a conversation to communicate it out,” Brown said.
Boonchouy is optimistic that as issues or new challenges arise, the Winters community will continue to solve them together.
As for the school district, “At the end of the day, we’re here for our kids,” Boonchouy said.
Wheelwright, blacksmith, inventor of the Eureka Fruit Car. In business here from 1875 to 1910.
CHARLES DAYTON IRELAND 1868-1929
Wheelwright, grover, teamster.
LESTER MERRIATT IRELAND 1891-1955
Grocer, insurance. Served as mayor of Winters and was first recipient of the “Citizen of the Year” award.
WAYNE SIDWELL IRELAND 1915-1993
Real estate and insurance. Recipient of the “Citizen of the Year” award.
TIMOTHY WAYNE IRELAND & YVONNE IRELAND Insurance. Third generation ownership of Ireland Agency.
MAEGAN D. IRELAND Insurance agent since 2003. Sixth generation resident.
•Crown & Bridge
•Dental Implants
•Nightguards and Sportsguards
•Nitrous Oxide Sedation
•Onlays, Inlays & 3/4 Crowns
•Sealants
•Teeth Whitening •Digital Imaging (x-rays) •Partial & Full Dentures •Periodontal (Gum) Evaluation •Regular & Deep Teeth Cleaning
Monday 8:30am-5:00pm | Tuesday 8:30am-5:00pm
Wednesday 8:30am-5:00pm | Thursday 8:30am-5:00pm
Friday 8:00am-4:00pm | Saturday by appointment only
This picture, taken about 1893, shows four generations of the Ireland family. At left is Elias Ireland, one of the founders of Winters and a wheelwright; his grandson, Lester M. Ireland, who was later mayor of Winters; and Joseph F. Stille, Lester’s great grandfather. Standing
Crystal Apilado/Winters Express
This year, eighth-graders and high school seniors participated in a hands-on financial literacy workshop through a partnership with Travis Credit Union. Students gained insight into budgeting and having to make financial life choices in a safe environment.
