Editing Chico, California (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of Chico, California}}
[[File:Diseño_del_Rancho_del_Arroyo_Chico.png|thumb|left|Chico's origins lie in [[Rancho del Arroyo Chico]], a Mexican-era [[ranchos of California|rancho]] granted by Governor Manuel Micheltorena in 1844.]]
[[File:Chico-ca-1856 (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|View of Chico in 1856]]
[[File:Kendall Hall as seen from Laxson Auditorium-01006.jpg|thumb|left|[[California State University, Chico]] was founded in 1887.]]
The first known inhabitants of the area now known as Chico—a Spanish word meaning "little"<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gannett |first1=Henry |title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States |date=1905 |publisher=[[United States Geological Survey]] |page=80 |url=https://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/0258/report.pdf |access-date=December 29, 2019}}</ref> — were the [[Mechoopda]] [[Maidu]] Native Americans. Within the boundaries of modern day Chico, there existed a Maidu village, whose name was recorded as '''Bah-hahp'-ke''', meaning "straight tree".<ref>Heizer, Robert F.  Hester, Thomas R. (1970) ''Papers on California Ethnography - Chapter 9: Names and Locations of Some Ethnographic Patwin and Maidu Villages''. pages 79–118. [https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/proof/pdfs/arf009-006.pdf]</ref>

The City of Chico was founded in 1860 by [[John Bidwell]], a member of one of the first wagon trains to reach California in 1843. During the [[American Civil War]], [[Camp Bidwell]] (named for John Bidwell, by then a [[brigadier general]] of the [[California Army National Guard#History|California Militia]]), was established a mile outside Chico, by Lt. Col. A. E. Hooker with a company of cavalry and two of infantry, on August 26, 1863.

By early 1865, it was being referred to as Camp Chico when a post called Camp Bidwell was established in northeast California, later to be [[Fort Bidwell]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jb89AAAAYAAJ&q=%22Camp+Bidwell%22 |title=The war of the rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies|year=1897|volume=L, Part II-Correspondence, etc.|series=1|pages=593–594, 1125|access-date=November 4, 2011|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|Government Printing Office]]|location=Washington DC}}</ref> The city became incorporated January 8, 1872.

Chico was home to a significant [[Chinese Americans|Chinese American]] community when it was first incorporated, but arsonists burned Chico's Chinatown in February 1886, driving Chinese Americans out of town.<ref>{{cite news|author=<!--not stated-->|date=March 29, 1877|title=THE CHICO MASSACRE|volume=3|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SDU18770329.2.12&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1|work=[[Sacramento Daily Union]]|type=newspaper|location=Sacramento|via=the [[California Digital Newspaper Collection]]|access-date=June 20, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Michele|first=Shover|date=December 1988|title=Chico Women: Nemesis of a Rural Town's Anti-Chinese Campaigns, 1876-1888|url=https://online.ucpress.edu/ch/article-abstract/67/4/228/32583/Chico-Women-Nemesis-of-a-Rural-Town-s-Anti-Chinese|format=PDF|journal=[[California History]]|series=|location=[[San Francisco]]|publisher=[[California Historical Society]]|volume=67|issue=4|pages=228–243|doi=10.2307/25158493 |jstor=25158493 |issn=0162-2897|eissn=2327-1485|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Historian W.H. "Old Hutch" Hutchinson identified five events as the most seminal in Chico history. They included the arrival of John Bidwell in 1850, the arrival of the [[California and Oregon Railroad]] in 1870, the establishment in 1887 of the Northern Branch of the State Normal School, which later became [[California State University, Chico]] (Chico State), the purchase of the Sierra Lumber Company by the [[Diamond Match Company]] in 1900, and the development of the Army Air Base, which is now the [[Chico Municipal Airport]].<ref name="ca20thcph">{{cite book |last1=Cummins |first1=Fredd |title=Chico: A 20th Century Pictorial History |date=January 1, 1995 |publisher=Enterprise-Record: James L. Dimmitt}}</ref>

Other events include the construction and relocation of [[California State Route 99|Route 99E]] through town in the early 1960s, the founding of [[Sierra Nevada Brewing Company]] in 1979—what would become one of the top breweries in the nation<ref>"Brewers Association Releases Top 50 Breweries of 2016". Brewers Association. March 15, 2017. Retrieved May 26, 2017.</ref>—and the establishment of a "Green Line" on the western city limits as protection of agricultural lands.<ref name="Chico green line 2030 general plan">{{cite web |last1=Snellings |first1=Tim |title=Chico Area Greenline Five-Year Review General Plan 2030 Land Use Element- Action Item LU-A13.1 |url=https://www.buttecounty.net/Portals/10/Docs/PC/2015/2015-10-22/Chico_Area_Greenline_Five_Year_Review_Memo.pdf |website=Butte County |publisher=Department of Development Services |access-date=April 4, 2022}}</ref>