Four miles west of Ceres stands a roadside monument that could be considered a grave marker for an establishment that died long before Abraham Lincoln was president.
If it weren’t for the plaque on Service Road west of Jennings Road, one wouldn’t know that a short walk north toward the Tuolumne River was the settlement of Adamsville, the first county seat of Stanislaus County.
Nothing remains of the establishment, founded in the days when river ferries cropped up everywhere and waterways accommodated barges carrying supplies to the growing region or freighting out cattle, wool and sacks of wheat grain milled at such places as Daniel Whitmore’s warehouses in Ceres. The farthest east on the Tuolumne River that a steamer could reach was Morley’s Ferry which was anchored north of what is now Turlock Lake.
In the early 1850’s, California consisted of just 27 counties – there are 58 today – later split up because they were too big to govern. One of those counties was Tuolumne, which stretched from the San Joaquin River to the lofty Sierras. Valley farmers like Assemblyman Dr. Benjamin D. Horr – he operated a ferry on the Tuolumne River nears Roberts Ferry – tired of having to trek into the mountains to do county business so he introduced a bill to create Stanislaus County from the west side of Tuolumne County. The Legislature passed his bill which was signed into law on April 1, 1854 by Governor John Bigler.
County officials elected in June 1854 included District Attorney S.P. Scaniker, Sheriff William D. Kirk, Clerk and Recorder Robert McGarvey, Assessor and Superintendent of Schools Elihu B. Beard, Treasurer W. H. Martin, Surveyor Silas Wilcox, Coroner Heth Williams and Public Administrator J.J. Royal.
First county seat
The new county needed a county seat. Modesto, Ceres and Turlock didn’t exist yet and the small establishments were born of ferry crossings which carried gold seekers over water. Not only would a county seat designation bestow newfound prestige for a would-be town’s founder, it would bring in commerce and nobody knew that better than Dr. David Adams, the first practicing physician in the county who started a ferry at the site in 1849. He lobbied for the honor, which required a vote by residents of the new county.
He had competition though. A small establishment named Empire City was situated on the south side of the Tuolumne River upstream from what would become Ceres. Located where the present-day Santa Fe Railroad trestle is west of Lakewood Memorial Park, Empire City served as a landing for steamers pulling barges to supply the needs of the miners and early settlers. Eli S. Marvin and brother John G. Marvin who had founded Empire City (not the same as today’s Empire) wanted to host the seat of county government.
In the election of June 10, 1854, Adamsville edged out Empire City in a slim 263 to 232 margin but it wasn’t ready for the task. County government at Adamsville was set up in a simple wooden cattle barn like structure. The first meeting of the Court of Sessions – the forerunner of the Board of Supervisors which included county judge, H. W. Wallis, Major James Burney and Eli S. Marvin – met in that dank and hot one-room building at Adamsville on July 3, 1854. The building proved far too small and uncomfortable for the crowd that showed up so business was conducted under the shade of a large nearby oak tree. The large oak and its companions no longer exit. The first order of business was a vote to petition for a public highway. The body also appointed John Westley Van Benschoten as road supervisor for the Grayson township.
In this roughly constructed structure, the treasurer’s office was set up with the county’s first big strong box – the county safe. It was an old iron box that resembled in size and appearance an old fashioned sailor’s chest wrapped by bands of iron. It accompanied the seat of justice in all its wanderings and came to Modesto with all the county’s possessions upon the last removal of the county seat in 1871. Whether this old iron box whose history predates the admission of California as a state is still in existence is unknown.
The next day was the Fourth of July and a grand ball was held to celebrate the new county government in Anderson’s Hotel at Adamsville. The party attracted over 100 couples who partied until the next morning.
Ex-sheriff gunned down
The following month, Adamsville witnessed a politically instigated homicide. Eli Lyons came into Adamsville on Aug. 7, 1854 with a bad reputation and engaged in a war of words with George Work, the former sheriff of Tuolumne County over the results of the very close election between Judge Wallis and challenger Thomas A. Leggett. There were allegations of voter fraud. Lyons yanked out his pistol but Work, slowed from his imbibing, was unable to quickly draw and was killed on the spot. Lyons ran off as a fugitive of justice.
Way before the state took over tax matters, in September 1854 the Court of Sessions set the county’s tax rate per $100 assessed at 50 cents for county expenses, five cents for schools, and 60 cents for the state use
Adamsville would not become the town Modesto became and 169 years later is an overlooked footnote in local history since it lost its county seat status. Adams sold his 320 acres around the town site for $2,500 and moved to Tuolumne County.
Empire City takes over
The folks at Empire City worked behind the scenes to wrangle the county seat from Adamsville. Voters were influenced by a pledge made by the Marvin brothers to front $10,000 for a suitable building to house the county government if voters choose Empire City. And in October 1854 the county seat moved to Empire City – but, again, didn’t stay for long.
The newly formed Board of Supervisors was not especially happy to be meeting in yet another undignified barn and the $10,000 building never materialized.
It’s probably a good thing that Empire City would lose out on its county seat status for in 1857 a disastrous flood swept away its buildings. It was partially rebuilt but even those replacements would be wiped out by the torrential flood waters from the winter of 1861-1862.
The county seat, with the hall of justice and the big iron box of the treasurer remained at Empire City scarcely a year before the ever restless people of the young county demanded another change. At the far eastern edge of the county, the mining camp of La Grange was salivating over the prospects of being the county seat.
John Marvin moved on and would go into the history books as California’s first Superintendent of Public Instruction.
La Grange wins out
On Dec. 20, 1855, La Grange won from Empire City the removal of the county seat by a vote of 558 to 139, and on Jan. 1, 1856, La Grange was officially designated the new county seat. Here the county government moved and established itself in a small two-story building that had been purchased from John Meyer for $1,700.
La Grange’s glory would be short-lived as a result of Stanislaus County being expanded in 1860 with what was termed the “Miner Walden Steal.”
Knights Ferry move
Some say that Miner Walden only ran to represent Stanislaus County in the state Assembly with the ambition to steal part of San Joaquin County – which then took in Knights Ferry – and place it inside Stanislaus County. The tax revenues from the town would offer relief to the fiscally challenged fledging county. Walden saw the annexation take place and with Knights Ferry now in Stanislaus County in 1861 residents voted again to select a county seat. Would it be Knights Ferry or La Grange? La Grange held on by a slim margin of 29 votes. But in the general election of 1862, Knights Ferry was successful by a margin of: 469 to 365. Here the county offices were housed in a two-story brick building that cost over $8,000 to erect. This was by far the most pretentious building as yet occupied by the county officials.
The building was located in the lot now across the street from River’s Edge restaurant but was destroyed by fire in the early 1890s.
For ten years the foundations of the county seat remained settled. Knight’s Ferry possessed the treasurer’s big strong box and enjoyed the prestige that flowed from the residence of the county officials and from the transaction of the official business in the town.
During this period the county witnessed a phenomenal growth. The plains became settled. Important settlements sprang up in the interior of the county. In 1870 and 1871, the Southern Pacific Pacific railroad built its line through the Valley, breathing life into the towns of Modesto, Ceres and Turlock in the midst of a rich and comparatively thickly populated grain growing territory.
Modesto the last stop
Modesto – not Adamsville or Knights Ferry or La Grange – would soon become the county’s dominant town. After its establishment in 1870, Modesto sucked the population from many of the small surrounding towns as business relocated to be near the railroad. Modesto experienced phenomenal growth during its first two years. Before long the town of Modesto began its campaign for the county seat.
At the general election held on September 6, 1871, Modesto won over Knights Ferry and several smaller towns by a margin of 553 votes. The contenders were: Modesto, 893; Knight’s Ferry, 340; Oakdale, 79; Waterford, 12; La Grange, 3; and Graysonville, 2.
Modesto’s rail town status and central location made it the obvious choice. After all folks living on the county’s west side wouldn’t have as far to travel than Knights Ferry to transact business.
At first the county offices were located in various buildings around the new town, but on July 7, 1873 the Board of Supervisors met and accepted a new three-story building of brick that had cost $44,300 to build. This building, together with an addition of 1904, continued to be used by the county until it was tore down in 1958 to make room for another courthouse on the same spot. That courthouse was leveled for the new courthouse which was dedicated on April 23, 1960.
Today nothing remains of any of the former courthouses.
Adamsville, the first county seat, was abandoned shortly after it lost the honor to Empire City. No trace of the old town remains today. In the 1960s the barn was still around with 1930s license plates used to patch the walls. There was talk about preserving it but it’s unknown if it was relocated or just fell to the elements.
