We toured Fresno’s Kearney Mansion. Here are 7 things you didn’t know about local landmark

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When you step inside Fresno’s Kearney Mansion, you might think you’re entering original owner Martin Theodore Kearney’s stately manor home.

That’s not exactly the case.

”One thing that people don’t know about the Kearney Mansion is that it isn’t really the Kearney Mansion,” said Elizabeth Laval, the president of the Fresno County Historical Society. “It is the Superintendent’s Lodge.”

In fact, the turn-of-the-20th century estate at 7160 West Kearney Blvd. in Fresno, which is operated by the historical society as a museum, was originally part of a much bigger project that would have included a European-style castle.

The Fresno Bee recently took a tour of Kearney Mansion with Kearney Mansion tour guide Debbie Unger leading the way. Here are seven interesting things we discovered:

Fact No. 1: Kearney Mansion in Fresno wasn’t finished

Completed in 1903, the Kearney Mansion and its grounds served as the ranch headquarters of Kearney’s 5,000-acre Fruit Vale Estate.

There are numerous buildings on the 225-acre grounds, including a 10-room residence, adjoining servants’ quarters, a carriage house and an ice house.

Buildings are designed in the French Renaissance style, Historic Fresno said on its website.

However, the Superintendent’s Lodge was never intended as the main residence for Kearney, a pioneering land developer and agricultural leader, Laval said.

Instead, the estate would have featured a lavish castle-style building known as Chateau Fresno — similar to Hearst Castle, publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst’s hilltop mansion in San Simeon.

The five-story castle would have included stained glass windows plus 13 guest rooms with private baths and dressing rooms and a great hall for lavish entertainment according to the Fresno County Historical Society.

Unfortunately, Kearney’s plans fell through and he passed away from a heart attack in the middle of fulfilling his project.

“He was in the process of collecting items for his castle, and he wanted to go to Europe one more time,” Laval said. “So he got on a ship. His doctor said, ‘Don’t do it,’ and (Kearney) died at sea.”

Fact No. 2: Who was the Raisin King?

Kearney was known as the Raisin King in the late 19th century due to his dominance in Fresno’s agriculture industry.

Born Martin Theodore Carney in 1842 in Liverpool to Irish immigrant parents, he moved to Malden, Massachusetts, with his family at age 12.

The family changed their last name to “Kearney” after arriving in the United States, according to Debbie Unger, Kearney Mansion Museum’s children’s services and event manager.

In 1867, Kearney traveled to California with $8,000 to invest in agricultural development in the central San Joaquin Valley, the historical society said.

Over the next three decades, he developed the Fruit Vale Estate and established himself as a leader in all aspects of the raisin business.

“Outside of Fresno, it was too hard for people who worked the land to get to and from Fresno and back here, so Kearney supplied them with a place to live,” Unger explained, essentially creating a town with a store, a post office and more.

Kearney even had his own currency that he used to pay his employees, many of them Armenian immigrants.

With so-called Kearney coins, workers were able to purchase things on the estate or even in Fresno. They could also exchange the coins for regular U.S. currency.

As Fruit Vale Estate grew, so did Kearney’s reputation.

“The former Irish immigrant boy had transformed himself into a successful businessman and gentleman who was now signing his name ‘M. Theo Kearney’ in an elegant script,” according to the Fresno County Historical Society.

“When he was here (in Fresno), he was very low key, but when he would travel Europe and Germany, he was high fashion,” Unger said “He really loved to travel and really loved to hobnob ... with the rich and famous in other countries.”

Fact No. 3: Future U.S. president stayed at Central Valley estate

Herbert Hoover stayed as a guest at Kearney Mansion in 1925 before he became the 31st president of the United States, according to Unger.

At the time, Hoover was the U.S. Secretary of Commerce under President Warren Harding.

“When he would come to town for agriculture events ... this is where he would stay,” Unger said.

Hoover was friends with Samuel Parker Frisselle, superintendent of Kearney Vineyard Ranch, and his family.

Although Kearney briefly lived at the Superintendent’s Lodge, the Frisselles occupied the historic home until 1949.

In addition to leading the Associated Farmers of California trade organization, Frisselle served as president of the Agricultural Labor Bureau of the San Joaquin Valley for a decade and spent 20 years as the chairman of the California State Chamber of Commerce’s Agricultural Committee, according to the historical society.

Fact No. 4: Agricultural leader collected light fixtures

According to Unger, Kearney collected high-quality light fixtures and furniture to display in his future castle.

One Art Nouveau-style light fixture was specially crafted in Austria for the entryway of the house, Unger said.

“I am told that the molds for that particular lamp were purchased by (Kearney),” she said. “(We still have) them here in the basement today, so that they can be recreated if one is ever broke.”

All of the furniture at Kearney Mansion was purchased at an auction house in San Francisco, according to Unger.

When Kearney came to the United States “He started seeing all of these things looked grand and things that he wanted to put in his castle,” she explained. “So most of the furniture throughout the house ... is a little more grand.”

Unger pointed to a wooden chair in the parlor room.”with what looks like a crown on top of it.”



“To me, (that’s) very grand,” she said.

Fact No. 5: Historical home has state-of-the-art bathrooms

Samuel Parker Frisselle’s son, Samuel Parker Frisselle, Jr., enjoyed a special privilege. He had a Jack-and-Jill bathroom in his room, Unger said.

Named after the classic nursery rhyme characters, a Jack-and-Jill bathroom is a full bathroom shared between two bedrooms, with doors entering from each room, according to real estate website Revive.

This was unusual at the time, as bathrooms in most houses in the 1920s had only one door instead of two.

“He was very blessed to have all that he had, considering that the children that lived in the Fruit Vale Estate behind the mansion had no running water, no electricity and no restrooms,” Unger said.

This wasn’t the only fancy bathroom in the house.

According to Unger, the bathroom of Frisselle’s wife, Dagmar Alix Bradford Frisselle, featured some high-tech plumbing.

“(Frisselle) had the plumber make a bar in front of the bathtub ... (that) sprays out water to give you a full-body shower,” Unger said.

“I feel bad for the maid that had to clean up on that mess,” she joked.

Fact No. 6: There’s a chair of death

In the guest room of the Kearney Mansion, there’s a chair that displays a message: “Everyone who has sat here is now dead.”

However, there isn’t a ghost story related to that dire warning.

According to Unger, the museum put up the sign to prevent guests from sitting on the furniture. As a result, she said, no one has sat on the chair in a long time.

At this point, “The last person that sat on it’s probably dead,” Unger said.

Fact No. 7: One bedroom is stuck in time

The bedroom once used by Dagmar Frisselle is frozen in time, according to Unger.

An actress and model who enjoyed swimming and tennis, Frisselle was 17 when she married her husband at in 1912. She gave birth to their only son two years later.

In 1929, Dagmar Frisselle got a divorce “for unknown reasons,” Unger said.

“All she took with her was her car and her clothes,” Unger said. “Everything else in the room is as you see it.”

When can I tour Kearney Mansion? How much are ticket prices?

The Kearney Mansion Museum is open noon to 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Guided tours are available on those days at noon, 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m.

The hour-long tour of the Superintendent’s Lodge includes include a visit to the newly opened Gallery and the Ranch Kitchen.

The exhibition “From China To Fresno: A 150-Year Cultural Journey,” currently on display in the historical home’s kitchen, was created in partnership with the Chinese American Museum Project and the Consolidated Chinese Benevolent Association.

Laval said the exhibition features “an enormous collection of artifacts from Chinatown,” including clothing, calligraphy, a Chinese lion head used to usher in the New Year and a shrine from early 20th-century China.

The artifacts were rescued from Fresno’s Chinatown in the 1960s by the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, Unger said.

“They’ve been in our warehouse ever since,” she said.

After the exhibition closes on Jan 25, the artifacts will move to a permanent home in the Fresno County Historical Society’s building on Kern Street, Laval said.

Museum admission is $12, or $10 for seniors and $8 for children 5 to 12 years old. Children ages 4 and under are free.

Members also get in free.

For more information call 559-441-0862 or visit valleyhistory.org.