Old CA 180 in Centerville, Minkler and Yokuts Valley

[Max Rockatansky]

For Centerville:

Centerville is one of the oldest communities in what is now Fresno County having been founded as Scottsburg in 1854.  The Centerville community has historically been tied to the history of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road and the Squaw Valley Road.  The Squaw Valley Road would later be known as Dunlap Road and became a component of California State Route 180 in August 1934.  By the 1940s the corridor was renamed Kings Canyon Road in reference to Kings Canyon National Park.

For the majority of the life of California State Route 180 in Centerville, it has not strayed far from Kings Canyon Road.  This changed in 2020 when California State Route 180 was relocated onto the Kings Canyon Expressway.  This blog serves as an overview of the history of California State Route 180 and general evolution of highways in Centerville.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2026/08/former-california-state-route-180-in.html?m=1

For Minkler:

Minkler is a small former railroad siding community founded in 1911 on Kings Canyon Road (formerly Dunlap Road) just east of Byrd Slough.  The community of Minkler between 1934 and 2020 was part of the alignment of California State Route 180 which passed by on Kings Canyon Road.  In 2020 California State Route 180 was shifted north of Minkler onto a four-lane expressway bypass.  This blog serves as a history of California State Route 180 within Minkler and what artifacts of the older alignment can still be found. 

https://www.gribblenation.org/2026/08/former-california-state-route-180-in_01697768233.html?m=1

For Citrus Cove:

Citrus Cove is a small canyon located east of Cove Road in Fresno County which California State Route 180 passes through.  Modern California State Route 180 climbs above the orange groves in this canyon via a modern two-lane highway.  The original alignment of California State Route 180 is located within the canyon which is now a switchback road passing through the orange groves.  This older alignment was in service as California State Route 180 until 1952 and was for years a major barrier for traffic reaching destinations in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2026/08/former-california-state-route-180-in_0184258276.html?m=1

Old Dunlap Road 1941-1952:

When California State Route 180 was commissioned in August 1934 the alignment in took in Sierra Nevada range was very different than from today.  The original highway alignment from Squaw Valley (now Yokuts Valley) to east Grant Grove (then part of General Grant National Park) originally followed what is now Ruth Hill Road, Dunlap Road, Pinehurst Road (modern California State Route 245), Dark Canyon Road (partially now Forest Road 14S45).  After funding fell through for the planned Kings Canyon Road the was corridor eventually picked up as a 30-mile-long cooperative project between the Division of Highways and Federal Government.  Much of current alignment of California State Route 180 bypassing Squaw Valley (now Yokuts Valley) and Dunlap was complete by 1941.

The post-1941 alignment of California State Route 180 in Squaw Valley was shifted onto what was once Dunlap Road in Squaw Valley.  This alignment itself was later bypassed by modern California State Route 180 in 1952.  The Old Dunlap Road corridor still mostly intact as George Smith Road, Bear Mountain Road, Hall Lane, Elwood Road and Fulgham Lane.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2026/08/old-dunlap-road-former-california-state.html?m=1