Fresno City is a former settlement in Fresno County

Fresno County, California

Fresno County is a county located in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California, south of Stockton and north of Bakersfield. As of the 2010 census, it is the tenth most populous county in California with a population of 930,450, and the sixth largest in size with an area of . The county...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. It was located at the head of navigation on Fresno Slough

Fresno Slough

Fresno Slough is a distibutary of the Kings River that connects the North Fork Kings River to the San Joaquin River. Until 1879, when irrigation diversions prevented it, Fresno Slough was also an outlet of the overflow waters of Tulare Lake into the San Joaquin River in flood years, when its...

 2 miles (3.2 km) northwest of Tranquillity

Tranquillity, California

Tranquillity is a census-designated place in Fresno County, California, United States. The population was 799 at the 2010 census, down from 813 at the 2000 census. Tranquillity High School is the only high school in Tranquillity...

, at an elevation of 164 feet (50 m). The city was named after the Spanish word for the Oregon Ash trees that commonly grew along the river banks.

The town was started in 1855, at the head of navigation on Fresno Slough. A pier was built to accommodate flatboats and barges that could make it up the shallow slough. Warehouses, houses, and the Casa Blanca Hotel were built. In 1858, it became a station on the Butterfield Overland Mail

Butterfield Overland Mail

The Butterfield Overland Mail Trail was a stagecoach route in the United States, operating from 1857 to 1861. It was a conduit for the U.S. mail from two eastern termini, Memphis, Tennessee and St. Louis, Missouri, meeting Fort Smith, Arkansas, and continuing through Indian Territory, New Mexico,...

. By 1860, the telegraph line from San Francisco arrived. Plans for a much larger town were contemplated but the Butterfeild line closed in early 1861, the Great Flood of 1862

Great Flood of 1862

The Great Flood of 1862 or Noachian Deluge was the largest flood in the recorded history of Oregon, Nevada and California, occurring from December 1861 to January 1862. It was preceded by weeks of continuous rains that began in Oregon in November 1861 and continued into January 1862...

did great damage and the City was practically abandoned by 1865. A post office operated at Fresno City from 1860 to 1863. Today there are no traces of it left.

California Historical Landmark No. 488 was erected with a bronze plaque by the Fresno County Historical Association in 1952:

FRESNO CITY

'Fresno City' gradually arose at the head of navigation of the Fresno Slough, and existed from approximately 1855 to 1875 - today there are no traces of it left. In 1872, the 'City of Fresno,' later the county seat, was established about 30 miles to the southwest, on the newly built Central Pacific Railroad.

Location: On Fresno Slough, 0.8 miles north of James Road, from Tranquillity, then 1.3 miles northwest on Levee Road (dirt), Tranquillity.

Vandals removed the plaque and destroyed much of the marker which was located on Whites Bridge Road near Tranquility.