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Brief City Profile
The City of Chico was founded in 1860 by General John Bidwell, and incorporated in 1872 with a population of approximately 1,000 persons in an area of 6.6 square miles. The City of Chico, with recent annexations, has grown to over a 30.52 square mile Charter city of 79,091 with an urbanized, unincorporated area immediately adjacent to it making the total population of the Chico urban area 103,625. Chico is located in the Northern Sacramento Valley of California approximately ninety miles north of Sacramento, in Butte County, east of Interstate 5.
The Diamond Hotel opened for business on September 3, 1904, as the “only strictly first-class house in Chico, and the superior of any North of Sacramento.” * Built by James Franklin Morehead, the three-story hotel offered 56 rooms and a commodious dining room accommodating 200 guests at one time. The 1904 Chico-Record newspaper describes in great detail, the lay-out, deluxe furnishings, and state-of-the art mechanical systems. The hotel had both gas and electric light fixtures, steam heat, and private baths with hot and cold water. The hallways were wainscoted in lincrusta and each room laid “with velvet carpet of high grade.” The Diamond also sported one of the first automobiles in Chico. A ‘hansome’ sixteen-passenger 1904 Studebaker wagonette ferried guests to and from the train depot on Fifth Street.
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