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Topic: Location of Bob Wills' "Triple B Ranch"? |
Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 12 Mar 2013 2:34 pm |
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I saw this on a mailing list to which I'm subscribed and thought I'd throw it out here in case someone knows the answer.
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Posted by: "Tom Diamant" tom@panhandlecountry.com
A friend of mine is the Historic Preservation Project Manager of Fresno
California and is looking for the exact locations of Bob Wills’ Triple B
Ranch. There is a property that has been submitted for demolition that she
believes might be the ranch and if so she would make a case for
preservation. Does anyone know where the exact location was?
Tom Diamant
Panhandle Country
KPFA-FM |
_________________
Brad’s Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
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Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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GeneRector
From:
Normangee, Texas USA
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Posted 13 Mar 2013 4:46 am
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 Howdy! Someone told me that Bob Wills owned some land near the town of Jewett,Texas at one time. Whether this is where his ranch was located, I don't know. Always, Gene
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Always, Gene Rector |
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Eddie Cunningham
From:
Massachusetts, USA
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Posted 14 Mar 2013 5:55 pm Check of Deeds = Public records
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| A check of Registry of Deeds records would show who owned property in the past . This info is available to the public . Any oldtimers in the areas would probably remember if "Bob Wills" had a ranch there . |
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Joe Casey
From:
Weeki Wachee .Springs FL (population.9)
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Posted 15 Mar 2013 5:56 am
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| I know that many of the Wills family settled in my home town or County ..Sacramento Calif..I remember the marquis on the across the sacto county line,the Yolo County Playhouse with the Big Bob Wills letters..years later I'm forever grateful to Billy Jack for my start.. |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 15 Mar 2013 6:38 am
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Bob Wills was born on a farm near Kosse, Texas in Limestone County near Groesbeck.
The family moved to Hall County in the Texas Panhandle in 1913 and in 1919 they bought a farm between the towns of Lakeville and Turkey, TX.
Turkey, TX is considered to be his home town. |
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Alvin Blaine
From:
Picture Rocks, Arizona, USA
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Posted 16 Mar 2013 2:07 pm
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In '43, after Wills got a medical discharged from WWII, he bought, and moved to, a ranch in the San Joaquin Valley, near Fresno, called the Triple B Ranch. In '47 he opened "Wills' Point" in Sacramento and moved over there.
For those mentioning his ranches in Texas, the San Joaquin Valley, Fresno, and Sacramento are NOT in Texas, they are in California.
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http://www.oldbluesound.com/about.htm
http://www.facebook.com/cowboytwang |
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Michael Lee Allen
From:
Portage Park / Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois
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Posted 19 Mar 2013 7:42 pm
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The Bob Wills Triple B Ranch WAS near the intersection of East Clinton Avenue and North Clovis Avenue, east of the present-day Fresno-Yosemite International Airport. The ranch is long gone, that entire area has been an industrial park for decades. Wills only owned it from 1945 to 1947.
MLA |
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 20 Mar 2013 12:29 pm
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Thanks, Michael. I forwarded your reply and got this response:
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Hi Brad,
Thanks for the information. There seems to be a slight disagreement between the information that Michael Lee Allen supplied and what Karana says below. I’ll forward your information to her and let her sort it out. She has photos she got from Carolyn Wills which seem to match the structure that is still standing. Perhaps Michael Lee Allen and her should correspond since they are both in Fresno.
Do you know about my website on the Bob Wills Tiffany Transcription’s? http://www.tiffanytranscriptions.com
Best Regards,
Tom
From: Karana Hattersley-Drayton [mailto:Karana.Hattersley-Drayton@fresno.gov]
Sent: Monday, March 18, 2013 3:03 PM
To: Karana Hattersley-Drayton
Subject: Update, Triple B Ranch, Fresno
Colleagues--- I wanted to send a brief update on our research on the location of Bob Wills’ Triple B Ranch here in Fresno. Thanks to the support and help of all of you, most particularly Carolyn Wills, we have definite proof that the property submitted for demolition (NW corner of E. Clinton and N. Armstrong, Fresno) is the Triple B. I assume there was a barn, which has since been removed. The front porch of the house has also been extended to include a larger shed roof and balustrade (watch that first step kids!), but other than that, the house appears to be similar to the way it looked in 1945-c 1950 when the Wills family lived here and raised horses.
I will be working on the survey forms and the historic context over the next day or so. I imagine I will continue to update the “history” over the next few weeks, so feel free to send along anything else of value or interest.
The property will be submitted to the Historic Preservation Commission on Monday, March 25th for a preliminary review for its eligibility for listing on the Local Register of Historic Resources. I say “preliminary” because there has not been sufficient time to place the public notice in the local newspaper 10 days prior to the meeting as required under the City’s Historic Preservation Ordinance. I think having two meetings will be useful as it will allow more time to flesh out the Fresno story, and of course allow for people to address the pros and cons of designation. I am assuming that the formal review for designation would occur at the April HPC meeting and that the item would then go to the Fresno City Council in May. I believe the property is eligible for local designation as well as the California Register of Historical Resources and the National Register of Historic Places. But feel free to agree or disagree!
Here is how you can help:
1) Local folks can attend the meeting on Monday, City Hall, 5:30 (item probably won’t be heard until 6 at the earliest).
2) You can write a letter of support, ideally on letterhead. Any letters can be addressed to the “Historic Preservation Commission, c/o Karana Hattersley-Drayton, Development and Resource Management, 2600 Fresno Street, Fresno, CA 93721.”
Assuming the item goes to the Council, as required by our ordinance, support letters will definitely be needed so if you do not have time now to write, you may still do so in the future.
The historic significance is of course not just about Bob Wills per se, but also speaks to the ethnic and social history of the San Joaquin Valley due to the in-migration of folks from the Dust Bowl states in the 30s and 40s.
By the way, I confess, I played in an old-time country band up in San Francisco and we sang a few Bob Wills’ songs (Old Fashioned Love I think he did, also San Antonio Rose) and I only learned of his tenure here in the Valley two years ago. Wow!
Sincerely,
Karana Hattersley-Drayton, M.A.
Historic Preservation Project Manager
City of Fresno
(559) 621-8520 |
_________________
Brad’s Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
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Michael Lee Allen
From:
Portage Park / Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois
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Posted 20 Mar 2013 2:56 pm
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OK. I stand corrected. My source got this information directly from Wills sideman Joe Holley, "...on Clinton, the other side of Clovis from the airport...". Looks like we were off by a mile or a half-mile, not sure because I've already thrown out my Fresno maps. So there is something remaining. I doubt anything will be done. "The Big Fresno Barn" is gone. Downtown is dead. The supposed revival of Armenian Town and the Chinatown/Japantown "revitalization" project have been stalled for over a decade. Blues legend Boyd Gilmore is in an unmarked grave in Potter's Field that can't be located. This place is Podunk. Hopelessly mired in the car/mall culture. I'm packing to leave for the fourth and final time within a few weeks.
MLA |
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Frank Montmarquet
From:
The North Coast, New York, USA
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Posted 20 Mar 2013 6:26 pm
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| So, if it is on the register the owner will not be able to proceed with demolition? Will the owner be compensated? If not why not? If you want to preserve something buy it. Seems we have a bunch of folks with too much time on their hands, sticking their noses into other people business. |
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Joe Casey
From:
Weeki Wachee .Springs FL (population.9)
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Posted 21 Mar 2013 5:38 am
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My dog is always poking his nose in other Dogs business..  |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 21 Mar 2013 7:02 am
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Richard Sinkler
From:
aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana
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Posted 21 Mar 2013 8:09 am
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Erv, you are such a bad boy. 
_________________
Carter D10 8p/8k, Dekley S10 3p/4k C6 setup,Regal RD40 Dobro, Recording King Professional Dobro, NV400, NV112,Ibanez Gio guitar, Epiphone SG Special (open D slide guitar) . Playing for 55 years and still counting. |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 21 Mar 2013 8:28 am
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Richard,
Sorry, I just couldn't help it.  |
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Darrell Criswell
From:
Maryland, USA
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Posted 23 Mar 2013 1:43 pm
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| It's a dogs world! |
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 23 Mar 2013 4:59 pm
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Closed now that we have answers.
_________________
Brad’s Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
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