Lately there has been some encouraging progress on the project to preserve and restore the old Fiddyment ranch house and outlying structures. Our plan has been to promote the creation of a living history center that can serve an educational purpose in our community. For many years our young local students have been going on field trips to Auburn and Sacramento to learn about California history. We have envisioned turning our only remaining example of a 19th century ranch into a living representation of how our many early pioneer settlers lived and worked here in Roseville. The historic nature of this site is significant not only to our area, but also to all of California. It is apparent that this is a long process and will probably take at least a decade total. We are more than four active years into it now, however, and are feeling hopeful. Here is some background on the project.

The old ranch property is located in West Roseville near Hayden Parkway, the Fiddyment Farms development, and right next to the new West Park High School site. Elizabeth Jane Fiddyment first began acquiring those many acres in 1853 after emigrating to California with her young son, Walter. In 1879 Walter married Ella Bond and with the help of Ella’s father, an accomplished mason, converted a one room cabin into the first rendition of the two-story ranch house. It was lived in and the property actively worked by descendants of Walter and Ella until the acres were eventually sold and developed in 2004. Part of that deal was that the developer was to deed the actual ranch house and its outbuildings to the City of Roseville to be kept as a history center. The ranch house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010. It wasn’t until early 2017 that Signature Properties deeded the house over to the City.

Months went by after that and the Historical Society was greatly concerned that the neglected property was at risk. There had been vandalism, the structures were deteriorating, the yard was overgrown and fire during the drought was always a threat. The Historical Society formed a committee of local citizens. Some were people who lived near the property and were able to keep watch. Our greatest concern was the protection and stabilization of the buildings. The actual committee of thirty plus people eventually faded because progress was slow although community interest remains high. The City of Roseville put up fencing, motion lights, boarded up access points, monitored the grounds and mowed a couple of times. Still we worried. In early 2017 the City contracted Page Turnbull, a consulting company, to do a thorough assessment of conditions and outline the preservation and stabilization needs. Later they also negotiated a temporary right of entry with the Historical Society allowing us to bring in volunteers to work on weed and rodent abatement. The wheels turned slowly, but they did turn. In the fall of 2018 the City did the stabilization and initial preservation work, including re-roofing, dry rot replacement, exterior painting and stabilizing the columns that had become detached.

In the meanwhile, the Master Planning process was begun by the Roseville Parks, Libraries and Recreation Department in 2017. The Master Plan encompasses the entire F-56 Park Site which borders West Park High School and sports fields and includes an eventual historic themed accessible park and nature trails in addition to the Historic Ranch Center, all on a phased implementation basis. Joint use opportunities between the various components are planned in whenever feasible. The City held two community workshops in June of 2017 to present the master plan and collect input. The overview was very impressive and actually exciting. The “phased implementation” of course means that some parts (like the schools and the sports fields) will materialize well before the museum or the park. West Park High School has since been completed.

In May of 2019, the Parks and Recreation Department began bringing together the Roseville Historical Society and the Roseville School District, including both the high school and the elementary district superintendents. The meetings continued past fall and included the new principal of West Park High School as well as the District assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction and the director of career technical education and data analysis. The purpose has been to discuss a future partnership with the School District for the educational use of the eventual Historic Ranch Center. The envisioned plan is that the City will care for the history center, the Historical Society will manage the operations, West Park High School and the District will create a program enabling their students to take a leading role in the future field trip type programs for the elementary students – and it all will comply with the California educational curriculum guidelines. We are currently involved in ratifying a Memorandum of Understanding between the three parties. Having that in place will be a declaration of the educational purpose of the Historic Ranch Property which will enable both the Historical Society and the School District to seek various grants. Patience is something this process has been teaching us because it all takes so long!

The work ahead of us is going to take a lot of committed people with all sorts of different skills. Now is the time for community members who are interested in preserving and promoting our history to get involved. You can start by joining the Roseville Historical Society if you aren’t already a member (rosevillehistorical.org/join-or-donate). We still have a few years ahead of us to realize the vision of establishing the Historic Ranch Center, but these are going to be active and probably fun years.

We will keep you all posted on the next steps of the restoration project.