Winters History
Introductions to Winters History
The Saloons Have Moved!
A 1875 Los Angeles Herald news item mentions Buckeye and Winters. Learn how a decision regarding the routing of an extension of the Vaca Valley Railroad led to the demise of Buckeye and the rise of Winters.
(Source: Tom Crisp's The People of Buckeye and Early Winters)
John Reid Wolfskill
John Reid Wolfskill, the area’s earliest American settler, 1842
"Remember, Youth, as you pass by, As you are now so once was I; As I am now so you must be, Prepare for death and eternity."
These cheerless words, etched in stone, are the legend left by John Reid Wolfskill, the pioneer of Solano County. He was the first English speaking man to settle in the area around what is now Winters. There, he worked, prospered, raised a large family, and died.
Theodore Winters
City got its name from early businessman Theodore Winters.
Theodore Winters, for whom the city of Winters was named, was described in an early issue of the Winters Advocate in 1876 as a "capitalist."
The town was given the name of Winters after Mr. Winters donated 40 acres of land to the Vacaville and Clear Lake Railroad to start a town.
The Winters Express
The first Express came off the press in February of 1884
Edwin C. Rust was the founder of the Express, with the first issue coming off the press on February 1, 1884.
1975 Winters Centennial Supplement
In 1975, The Winters Express printed a special supplement commemorating the Winters Centennial.
Crossing the Blue Ridge
by Marc Hoshovsky
In the late 1800s, the Blue Ridge was a major obstacle to travel between the Sacramento Valley and the Berryessa Valley, and thence to Napa Valley and Clear Lake. A mountain wall rising 2500 feet from the floor of the Sacramento Valley, the Blue Ridge runs north and south for forty miles from Vacaville to Rumsey.
