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Tag: Teena Stern

  • Q&A: Was Citrus Heights really the first city to incorporate since 1963?

    Q&A: Was Citrus Heights really the first city to incorporate since 1963?

    Citrus Heights city hall
    File photo, Citrus Heights city hall. // CH Sentinel

    Sentinel staff report–
    It’s a local “fact” that’s made the rounds, but it actually isn’t true. It even made it to the #1 spot on the city’s “Top 20 Facts About Citrus Heights” released earlier this year.

    “At incorporation, Citrus Heights was the first city to incorporate in the state since 1963,” reads the first item on the Top 20 facts listed on the city’s website, as of Oct. 6th. Thanks to several comments from our readers and some subsequent fact-checking, The Sentinel found that in fact there were 88 cities that incorporated in California from 1963 up to 1997, when Citrus Heights officially incorporated as a city.

    Asked how the incorrect date made its way onto the city’s “Top 20” facts, city staff member Devon Rodriguez, who presented the facts to the city council earlier this year, said the date had come from the city’s volunteer archivist, Teena Stern.

    Reached by phone Wednesday, Stern said she had seen the 1963 date mentioned “a number of times” in material she helped archive for the city. “It’s a fact that’s been repeated many times throughout the years and no one thought to check it, including myself,” she said.

    Citrus Heights History and Arts Commissioner Larry Fritz said he’d also heard the 1963 date referenced in the past and told The Sentinel “it sounds like one of those things where someone made an inaccurate statement at some point and it just proliferated.”

    Although the date is wrong, the statement was likely intended to point out that Citrus Heights was the first city to incorporate in Sacramento County since 1946, when Folsom became a city.

    The statement, although incorrect, also reflects the fact that cityhood efforts have become more rare across California in recent years, with Citrus Heights being one of just 12 cities that have incorporated in the past two decades. By comparison, during the 80’s alone, a total of 34 cities incorporated in the Golden State, according to the California Association of Local Agency Formation Commissions.

    Given the fierce legal resistance Sacramento County put up against the effort to incorporate, Citrus Heights’ eventual success is credited with paving the way for two other cityhood efforts in Sacramento County. Elk Grove became a city in the year 2000 and Rancho Cordova incorporated in 2003.

    Related article: Mayor reflects on fight to make Citrus Heights a city

  • Local furniture store celebrates 70 years in Citrus Heights

    Local furniture store celebrates 70 years in Citrus Heights

    Hall's Furniture & Appliance, Citrus Heights, 1946
    An archive photo of Hall’s Furniture store on Mariposa Avenue in Citrus Heights, believed to have been taken in 1949. // Courtesy, Hall’s.

    Hall’s Furniture store is celebrating its 70th anniversary since first opening in 1946, making it one of the oldest, still-operating businesses in Citrus Heights.

    Located on Mariposa Avenue and set back about a block from busy Antelope Road, the personal, old-fashioned customer service provided at Hall’s over the years is among many distinctive aspects customers say they appreciate, as shown by the company’s five-star reviews online.

    Originally opened by John Hall as a small furniture and appliance store back when Citrus Heights was still largely a farming community, the location has since expanded its size to a 12,000-square-feet furniture store. Although changing selection and size over the years, the business has stayed within the extended family, most recently being sold in the 90’s to current owner Mike Harper, whose great uncle was John “J.D.” Hall.

    Entering the somewhat-remodeled store today, shoppers can still see tell-tale signs of the location’s history, with the store still noticeably sectioned off into five areas — one for each different business that once made up a small shopping center on Mariposa Avenue. Over the years, Hall’s expanded its store size by taking over a neighboring dress shop, variety store and the old post office.

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    In the 1950’s, the shopping area around Hall’s was a spot where residents could get gas, drop off mail, and shop for clothes, furniture, and more. The post office opened in 1953 several stores down from Hall’s, but a small, two-story post office opened first in 1947 in a back area next to Hall’s, run by postmaster Margery Woods, who also owned Wood’s Variety store in the same shopping center.

    Hall’s Groceries & Meats also opened next door to the furniture store, but was sold by the family in the 60’s and continues to operate as a small grocery store today. A pair of Texaco gas pumps were also located outside Hall’s, which the 58-year-old Harper recalls using to pump gas for the furniture delivery trucks while he was in high school.

    Although largely a farming community up until the 60’s, Citrus Heights picked up population after the war and also had a new housing area spring up near Mariposa Avenue and Watson Way, creating demand for household furniture and other items, according to Teena Stern, the City’s volunteer archivist and historian.
    With 70 years in operation, Hall's is one of Citrus Heights' oldest businesses still in operation, coming to town about 10 years after Harris Welding Supply set up shop along Auburn Boulevard in 1936. Both companies says they've maintained family ownership since first opening. [For more on Citrus Heights' history, see: Mayor reflects on fight to make Citrus Heights a city] Although dropping appliance offerings about eight years ago, Hall's now features a showroom with hundreds of different futons, beds, couches, tables and more. The company offers free local delivery and regularly serves customers from Placer and Sacramento counties, according to Hall's Assistant Manager Jeff Carle, who is also the owner's cousin. In celebration of seven decades in operation, Hall's is currently holding a 70th anniversary sale which lasts until the end of April. Get The Sentinel’s local news delivered to your inbox each Sunday: Sign up for free here.