Higgins Corner was named after a Gold Rush settler, Michael J. Higgins. The name, Higgins Corner was first recorded in the 1860s. Michael J. Higgins homesteaded 160 acres of land at Wolf Road. A long time resident (since 1955), Willard Shoellerman, states that the area has been called Higgins Corner for a century.[3]
A Bill Higgins arrived in the area in the late 1800s; while he coincidentally shared the name Higgins, he was not related to Michael J. Higgins.[4]
During the Gold Rush times, the Higgins Corner Bar was the meeting place that a gold-running gang used as their headquarters. This resulted in the kidnapping and eventual killing of several children.[4]
In 1952 a temporary San Quentin prisoner forestry camp was located at Higgins Corner.[5]
Description
A 2014 article on Higgins Corner states that the area includes the Lake of the Pines housing development, several small-scale shopping centers, the Forest Lake Christian School, the Higgins Lions community club, six churches, several ranches and "cottage home businesses".[3] It also has a fire department that provides service for the area along with the Higgins County Department of Forestry.[4]
The Lake of the Pines housing complex was formerly a cattle ranch. As of the 1980s it contained 3,000 lots, that sustained housing for 4,500 residents.[4]
^Durham, David L. (1998). California's Geographic Names: A Gazetteer of Historic and Modern Names of the State. Clovis, Calif.: Word Dancer Press. p. 498. ISBN1-884995-14-4.
