Fair Oaks, in the gently undulating foothills along Highway 50, has something in common with its vast neighbor, Sacramento. Early land speculators, politicians, and Chicago businessmen formed a partnership to sell off one of their "Sunset Colonies," deservedly dubbed Fair Oaks, promising water systems and a suburban railroad to help colonists grow prize citrus. The farmers came, but when the investors retreated east, a railroad and water had not appeared. A later investment group did build a bridge and railroad, encouraging more farmers until, at the height of the Great Depression, nature...

Nestled between the capital city of Sacramento and California's famous Sierra foothills, Orangevale continues as a semirural community in the ever-suburbanizing Sacramento Valley. Some of Sacramento's most prestigious captains of industry formed the Orange Vale Colonization Company in 1887 to sell off this agricultural "colony." With promises of a water system, modern infrastructure, and beautiful homes, these boosters advertised a pastoral paradise where colonists could grow prized crops, escape the buzz of the city, build a home, and raise a family in the country without sacrificing a short...