Established 1978

The History of Visalia Heritage,
48 Years of Preservation

Visalia Heritage was born in 1978 out of a community in crisis. Across California, historic homes and buildings were being demolished to make way for cookie-cutter apartment complexes. Visalia was no exception. In March 1978, nearly 160 volunteers gathered for a Preservation Training Seminar and fanned out across six neighborhoods to survey and document every historic property. That effort led directly to the city adopting its first Historic Preservation Element in 1979.

VISALIA HERITAGE came about as a result of the widespread ravaging of historic properties all California cities were undergoing in the 1970s. In Visalia, particularly, many single-family homes were being moved or demolished to build multi-family rental units. These cookie-cutter apartment buildings can be found on almost every block of the central part of town. In 1978 a group of concerned citizens pushed the city to complete an inventory of historic houses, buildings and landmarks.

They spent six months with over 160 volunteers to document Visalia's historic structures. They were trained to differenctiate architectural styles and terminology before going out to speak withe residents and owners, search records, photograph, and note the condition of properties.

With a matching grant from the State Office of Historic Preservation, all this data was collated to create a Local Register of architectural styles. Visalia's Historic Preservation Element report tasked a Historic Preservation Advisory Committee known as HPAC with preserving and promoting the city's cultural heritage. It also recommended that a private nonprofit organization was needed. Thus, the fifteen members of HPAC formed the first board of Visalia Heritage Inc. It's because of the foresight of these concerned citizens and the continued work of HPAC and Visalia Heritage that we still have such numbers of historic structures with us today.