Over time, the land of the Mechoopda Indians, where elk herds grazed on blue-stemmed grass, became Rancho Arroyo Chico, the land chosen by California pioneer John Bidwell for his stately creekside mansion. Bidwell later founded the town of Chico with its wooden plank sidewalks
and iron-front and brick commercial buildings. Today Chico is a dynamic modern city with its own California State University, a wide, tree-lined Esplanade, and--thanks to the legacy of Annie Bidwell--the eighth-largest municipal park in the nation.