History of the Town of Felicity

 The History of the Town of Felicity is now published.                            .Here are chapter headings:

EARLY DAYS * THE NOMADS * THE FIRST EUROPEAN * THE SPANIARDS COME * THE YUMA CROSSING * MASSACRES * THE SPANIARDS LEAVE * WAR WITH MEXICO * MORE MASSACRES * THE LAST INVASION * JACKASS MAIL * THE GOLD RUSH * HOMESTEADING * THE RAILROAD * AND THE ROAD * FIRST SETTLERS

* THEN CAME PATTON * KOREAN WAR DAYS * THE ADVENT OF FELICITY * THE AQUIFER * MODERN TIMES * THE FELICITY HISTORICAL SOCIETY * SETTING THE OFFICIAL CENTER OF THE WORLD * INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION * A NOBLE PROJECT * Bibliography

A few excerpts to whet your appetite:

THE FIRST EUROPEAN

In the winter of 1540, Melchior Diaz who had left the Coronado Expedition passed Pilot Knob Mountain at Felicity. He was reportedly the first white man in the area.

JACKASS MAIL

During 1857, mail by mule (called jackass mail) was inaugurated from Ft. Yuma through Felicity to San Diego……later this line came under the control of Wells Fargo. Ruins of the adobe stage station are about two miles east of Felicity.

THE LAST INVASION

...the Felicity area saw the last incursion of United States territory by a European power. In 1865, three French soldiers of the army of Emperor Maximillian crossed the border in hot pursuit of a Juarista rebel. Upon reaching the point that is today the center of town, they abandoned the quest and returned to Mexico.

French influence at Felicity awaited the installation of Section 12 of the original stairway of the Eiffel Tower in 1990, about 125 years later.

THEN CAME PATTON

In 1942, General George S. Patton of the US Army trained his troops at Felicity and points north for the WW II North Africa landing….. 

THE ADVENT OF FELICITY

….created the Town of Felicity named for his wife Felicia, and , to our knowledge, the first town in America named for a Chinese lady. The town was legally established on 11 March 1986 by the Board of Supervisors of Imperial County (Book 258, File 220.18, Page 234)

THE AQUIFER

…. the water quality of Felicity is among the best in the southwest…..no chlorine or other treatment is required in the public water supply.

SETTING THE OFFICIAL CENTER OF THE WORLD  By a children's book then by law

THE WORLD COMMEMORATIVE CENTER

INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION

A NOBLE PROJECT

"Nothing worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime" Reinhold Niebuhr