Coming soon!

I have been working on this book for more than a year, but that’s nothing — Dave Veith worked on it for a decade or more. It’s the story of Bidwell Mansion — a biography of an iconic building. It tells the story of the design, construction, and use of the Mansion from the time it was just a notion in John Bidwell’s brain, to the time when the people of Chico saved it from closure, including the period when it was a Chico State dorm and how it became a state park.

As his book neared completion, Dave contacted me and asked if I would like to look it over and make suggestions. My only suggestion, and he agreed, was that it was longer than most readers would want to deal with. We decided to work together to reduce the length of the book.

In the winter of 2023-24 Dave fell ill, and in March 2024 he passed away. Since then, in spite of the disastrous arson fire at Bidwell Mansion, I have continued working on the book: doing some condensing, checking the references, and adding additional research of my own. Now it is almost here!

The book is currently in the editing and layout process and will be published by The Association for Northern California Historical Research (ANCHR). We expect to have it out in December. Stay tuned for tempting tidbits from the history of Bidwell Mansion.