The grid is an essential part of Fresno’s identity. Major streets every half mile, all oriented to the cardinal directions of the compass. Even downtown, the biggest exception, is on its own grid, just rotated forty-five degrees to run parallel to the Union Pacific railroad. But there are a few spots that break from the grid. We explore the story of one of them today on KVPR’s Central Valley Roots: the Figarden Loop, also known as Figarden Drive.
This story begins over 100 years ago. Developer J.C. Forkner had just developed the Old Fig Garden neighborhood south of Shaw Avenue. But several miles to the northwest, he also founded a small company town called Figarden, where Bullard Avenue crossed the Santa Fe tracks. It had a packing shed for his fig orchards, a store, even a post office.
Now fast forward to the early 1970s. A young developer named Ed Kashian presented plans for a “new town” of Fig Garden on 4,000 acres surrounding the Figarden old town site. He envisioned a new suburban community of 40,000 residents, a town center with stores and a school, and a new freeway interchange at Highway 99 and Bullard. The city and county got on-board and the plan was finally built out in the 80s and 90s…