Schimpfville

 The Schimpf family were German immigrants who settled in what is now east Marysville, California.   The Schimpfs owned a great deal of land in east Marysville and, therefore, that part of town became known as Schimpfville. 

Most of the land east of A Street and north of 9th Street, now known as East Marysville, was at one time or another owned or leased by the Schimpf family.

The Schimpfs arrived before 1869 as that is the date of the first Schmipf burial in the Marysville Cemetery.  

 The first mention of the Schimpfs in local newspapers was in May 1886 when the Schimpf Dairy, owned by Jacob Schimpf caught fire.

Jacob advertised his dairy in local newspapers as early as 1888 stating “milk delivered at the residence of my patrons morning noon evening”.  In 1889,  Jacob billed the city of Marysville for $472.50 though what that bill was for is not clear.

 On February 24, 1890 Jacob Schimpf testified before Judge Armstrong that Chris Zimmer and Peter Reuter, both natives of Germany, were worthy to become U.S. citizens – the judge granted the request.

Jacob did frequent work on the Brownsville Grade and in 1892 Jacob’s barn was used as a survey point, assumed to be 100 feet in elevation, “nine inches below the water level in the levee pit”.

 In 1893, Marysville was debating the building of a “pile bridge” though the article does not state where this bridge would be located.  The newspaper does state that most taxpayers supported the plan and showed a list of the largest taxpayers in the city which included The Rideout Bank ($95,000), ND and NA Rideout ($48,700), Buckeye Mill Company ($81,015), P. George ($50,250) Packard & Woodruff ($50,050), Jacob Schimpf ($44,500) E Woodruff ($44,500), D.E. Knight ($72,000), Gawn Strain ($92,260) and many others.  The dollar values shown are the assessment values.

 Jacob continued his roadwork in the late 1890s, losing a September 1896 bid for hauling 3,000 yards of crushed rock from the E Street depot to improvements being performed on Fifth Street – he was the high bidder out of six companies.  He won work in 1897 worth $1098, then $283, and in September 1897 won a levee contract worth $4,573 for sections 1, 3, 4, and 5. In 1898 Jacob offered to complete the work of a non-performing levee contractor  Also in 1898 he won work on the E Street pump house and spreading gravel on the Browns Valley grade between Twelfth Street and the intersection of the north level with the Browns Valley grade.

 From 1900 through 1904,  Jacob continued bidding on street and levee work, winning a $1,924 contract to improve the K Streetr levee from Tenth to Fifteenth Streets.

 In October 1900,  Marysville Chinatown resident Ah Tuck was arrested for removing dirt from the city levee, in violation of Marysville ordinances.  The newspaper said “and as the Chinese residents are in the habit of doing these things, an example is likely to be made of Ah Tuck.”

 In October 1901, the 240-acre Holland farm six miles west of Yuba City was sold to A.G. Bremer.  The farm was on Colusa Road and was “a valuable piece of property.”  It sold for $20 per acre.

 On May 31st, 1904, the city of Marysville pressed charges against Jacob Schimpf.  Six weeks later, Jacob died and was buried in the Marysville Cemetery.  

 By the end of October 1904, a sale was held for the property of his estate including farm animals and dairy equipment, as shown in this list.

 Just six months later,  Jacob’s widow Marie Schimpf had a second sale at her residence at Swezy and Twelfth Streets in Marysville, as is shown in this list.  It looks possible that some of these items are things that didn’t sell at the October estate sale.

Ultimately, the Marysville Dairy Company was formed by W.F. Kelly, R. Pozzi, and J.J. Alread and the company purchased the Schimpf Dairy equipment and animals and leased the Schimpf farm.  This new company also used 500 acres of pasture that used to be “the old Slattery place”.

 In June 1905, there was another estate sale for Anna E. Schimpf, deceased.  Her relationship to Jacob is unknown.  Marie Schimpf bought land from this estate on September 10, 1906.

Also in 1906, a large sand grading machine  built for F. B. Crane by the Swift Brothers was moved to the sand deposits near the Schimpf property.  It was used to grade several thousand tons of sand for shipment to other areas of the United States.

 In June 1908,  Mrs. Schimpf asked that two men,  C. K. Denver and J. Robinson, stop sleeping in her barn as they had been doing for a week, but they ignored her.  She called the Marysville Police and they arrested the two men on Yuba Street for vagrancy.  Mrs. Schimpf attended court proceedings to testify.

In October 1908,  Marie Schimpf’s property became involved in the bidding for the Simpson Lane bridge, as described here.   Several days later, Amos Lane contacted the newspaper stating he did not misrepresent the circumstances and that he was acting indirectly for the county supervisors.

Work on the bridge continued into 1909 with more height added to the levee in the area, and road improvements made on the approaches to the bridge.

In 1910, Mrs. Schimpf put a 6-room house with a 7-foot basement and a horse barn up for rent, either furnished or unfurnished at the corner of Thirteenth and Sweezy Streets.  The home had previously been rented by John Schonlan.

 An ongoing court case from 1921 continued into 1922 with F. J., Marie, and Nielsen Hildebrand claiming that Marie Schimpf owed them monies for rent of properties including the Friedel Ranch, Slattery Ranch, and other properties both inside and outside of the city limits.  The courts found Mrs. Schimpf owed rents for 1914-1920 of $1900 for the Slattery Ranch, $687.50 for the Friedel Ranch, and $752 for certain other parcels in the city of Marysville.   Mrs. Schimpf had paid some taxes on this properties and was due a credit for those taxes.  The results of this case were reported in the December 8, 1922 Evening Democrat.

 In April 1924 an ad appeared in the paper asking for the return of a dark brown horse that had strayed from the Schimpf place near the race track.  It was to be returned to Bozo’s Barbero.

 signed an agreement on June 11th 1928 stating that Davis would lease 11.62 of her Yuba River bottoms land for 1/3rd of the red kidney bean crop that he grew plus $75 for use of a house on the property.   Marie stated that Davis refused to raise the crop or pay rent for the house.  Her suit claimed she had suffered $1000 damages - $500 for the crop and $500 for lost of rents and profits.

In April 1929,  Marie Schimpf sued Frank Lucero for taking the bathtub and fixtures when he moved out of the house he rented from Marie.  Frank claimed that Mrs. Schimpf installed it at his request and increased the rent by $4 a month until the tub was paid for.  It was his understanding that it then belonged to him so he could take it.   Marie asked for a judgment of $49.20.

In August 1929,  councilmen Walter Kynoch and L.L. Freeman began planning to pave all unpaved sidewalks in Marysville.  It came to their attention that Marie Schimpf was already having the paving done on the sidewalks on her property and that it was costing her about $3000.  The council discussed how if the work had been done under city’s effort it would have cost her about $6000.  Kynoch and Freeman felt that she was offered “undue consideration” and that it was not fair to other property owners.  Other councilmen were sympathetic to Mrs. Schimpf and allowed her work to continue.  The only other large property owner at the time was Southern Pacific and they had made the decision to wait until the sidewalk order came then pay the sidewalk district for the work.

 On June 1, 1931 Marie Shimpf and her council Ray Manwell negotiated the realignment of a new road through her property in Road District Number 2 so that it would run along the easterly edge of her property.  She agreed on a price of $150 per acre if the road was so aligned, and the county supervisors agreed to the adjustment.

At that same meeting, Marie was reimbursed $30 for “rent for indigent”.

In December 1931,  Marie Schimpf was badly injured at the funeral of former Marysville mayor L.L. Freeman when she fell on the steps of the Presbyterian Church and fractured several ribs.  She was sent to Rideout Hospital for awhile before being sent to recover at her home.

 By April 1933, Marie Schimpf had been ruled “an incompetent person” and part of her land was put up for sale to the highest bidder.  In May 1933,  Marie and Nielson Hildebrand were appointed her guardians.  That same month, some of Mrs. Schimpf’s land was sold to the California Water Service for the construction of wells to provide Marysville with a “new tasteless, odorless and pure water supply”.  The land was sold for $200.

 The guardians of Mrs. Schimpf began to lease and sell her land during the mid 1930s.    Some was used for itinerants and some was used for new housing tracts in east Marysville.

 The Marysville community felt there was a housing shortage and wanted to start development of Schimpfville.

 The February 26, 1936 newspaper stated that Merchant’s Association was preparing to purchase an as-yet unnamed tract of land directly east of Marysville High School and Yuba Junior College for much-needed housing.   The tract was to be purchased from the Schimpf estate.  As close as I can determine from the article, the property is in the red box to the right, though the north and south boundaries may be incorrect.

According to the article, 720x1500 feet of the tract would be developed first and it would have a “200-foot parkway extending north and south through the middle of the property.  First lost sold will face on this parkway and 50 such lots, each 60 by 125 feet, will be provided.”   An additional 50 lots would face the boundary streets.  From this description, it sounds as if the original 1936 plan was for a long park between Greely and Boulton, extending from 22nd Street to 19th Street. 

Business structures were to be banned and the minimum price would be $2500 for the dwellings.  A smaller block between Ramirez and Sweezy was included in the purchase, but it is unclear exactly what city block that was.

By March, names being considered for the tract included McCoy Court, Donner Park, Buchanan Manor, Cordua Villa, Covillaud Drive, Golden Acres, Sutter Tract, Stephen J. Field Tract, Airway Terrace, College Lawn, Buttes Vista, Golden Empire Tract, and Happy Landing.

A week later, the names Schimpfville, Cavilla Park, Sunrise Terrace, Jacob-Ann Tract, Marysville Vicine, Marysville Heights, and Jake-Marie Acres were considered.  The names Jacob, Ann, Jake and Marie all referred to prominent members of the Schimpf family.   The family was appreciated because they stayed and invested in the area when others fled fearing a flood would eventually ruin the city.  Jacob’s companies helped build the levees to ensure that did not happen.

In the end, the development was named “College Park”.

 On May 5th, 1936,  Marysville began making plans to improve the Schimpf land bounded by A Street on the west,  15th Street to the north, and 12th Street to the south.    The city proposed to oil the streets that had already been curbed and to move or remove the dilapidated buildings.

On May 18th, Marie Schimpf passed away.  The front page of the paper gave a brief history of the family in Marysville, outlining how Jacob and Marie Schimpf had daughter Anna while living in the area.  It outlined how Jacob’s work as a dairyman and teaming contractor allowed him to purchase over 90 acres in east Marysville.  Daughter Anna married but died a few years later, leaving two small children Marie and Nielson Hildebrand – the only surviving members of the family in 1936.  They lived in Oakland.

The Bank of America managed the estate with Ray Manwell as the estate attorney.  At the time of her death, 35 of her 90 acres were pending sale.   Over the years she had held onto her land tenaciously thinking the railroad would eventually need it and pay her a great price for the land.

On June 26th, the family’s grand 2 story house at Eleventh and Sweezy was threatened by fire that was quickly put out by the Marysville Fire Department.    The house had been erected by Jacob and Marie Schimpf and was at the time considered one of the finest houses in town, but by 1936 the home was in a state of severe disrepair.

By 1937, things had soured a bit.  The Hildebrands sued the Bank of America over some of the land transactions and the city was prepared to condemn a number of “shacks” on Schimpf property.  The family’s 12-room house at Eleventh and Sweezy had been rented out for $10 per month to someone who sublet each room in unsanitary conditions.  In addition, the city had observed temps and campers north of Fourteenth Street.

By 1938, property south of Twelfth Street (aka the “Tahoe-Ukiah Highway) between Ramirez and Sweezy began to be developed into 24 small, attractive, comfortable residences that would be put on the market four at a time.  The tract could be accessed by the paved highway and had water, gas, electricity, sewer and telephone available.

The 1930s ended with a series of lawsuits between the Schimpf heirs and various interests in the Schimpf land holdings.