1925 Fourth of July Celebration in Stirling City

July 4, 2025

100 years ago today, Stirling City hosted a Fourth of July Celebration which brought in people from around the County. The Stirling City Historical Society has a copy of the Souvenir Program from that day, and we’ve scanned it in below. Thank you to Darryl Sheley for these documents.

Official Souvenir Program

Two Day Celebration

Auspices Stirling City Lodge No. 178 I. O. O. F

July Fourth and Fifth, 1925

Stirling City

STIRLING CITY WELCOMES YOU

The officers and members of Stirling City Lodge, No. 178, I. O. O. F. under whose auspices this celebration of the 149th anniversary of American Independence is being held, and the people of Stirling City gen-erally, extend a most hearty welcome to the visitors who are gathered here today as their guests. The keys to the city are figuratively in the hands of the visitors and it is the earnest desire of the hosts that they use them for a genuine, old fashioned, happy observance of the Natal day, and that the visit here may be a thoroughly enjoyable and happy one is the wish of every man, woman and child of this thriving lumber city.

Something About Ourselves

Stirling City Lodge No. 178, I. O. O. F., was instituted on the eighth day of July, 1905, with eleven charter members. Sixteen new members were initiated the first meeting night and from that date until now the membership is 112. The Lodge has grown, through some handicaps and obstacles, to be sure, until now it is a thriving, active lodge and its members are alive not only to their duties as lodge members but to the general welfare of the community.

Rebekahs Are Strong

The Pine Grove Rebekah Lodge, No. 289, almost ties the father order in the matter of membership. It now has a roll of 110 members. This lodge was instituted June 30, 1906, with eight charter members.

STIRLING CITY

Stirling City is thirty-five miles northeast of Chico and is connected with that city by a good mountain road. The town was named after a former Vice President of the Diamond Match Com-pany, whose operations were responsible for the blossoming forth of a town about its big lumbering industry.

The town had its christening in the year 1903 and the big sawmill of the Diamond Match Company started sawing in the fall of 1904. The average yearly output cut is now 4,000,000 board feet. There are 500 men employed in the mill, yards and in the woods.

The town has a number of excellent business houses and hotel and is growing more popular each year with tourists on their way to Lake Almanor and other re-sorts.

One of the most prominent organizations of Stirling City is the Auto Club, formed in April of this year. It has a membership of 140. It provides a free camp ground and there is plenty of good cold water, shade and ample room for all.

Other Butte County Towns

Butte County has a population of about 35,000 and in this territory Chico is the most prominent and largest city. It has a population of about 15,000, with ample schools, churches, business industries and well paved streets, wonderful municipal swimming pools and it is the headquarters of the Diamond Match Company, with match factory, box factory and other plants.

Oroville is the county seat, with a population of nearly 6,000. It is the home of two large lumber concerns, chief of which is the Hutchinson Lumber Company.

Gridley, Biggs, Durham, Nelson, Thermalito, Richvale, Paradise, Magalia, Nord and Cana are other towns of the county, more or less prominent,, each a center of its own particular belt.

The county is one of the richest and most productive in the state and in its mountains are health-giving resorts and springs, while the valleys abound with orchards and fields that place it among the richest agricultural sections of the coast.

In Appreciation

The committee in charge of this celebration desires to extend thanks to the business men of Chico, Stir-ling City and Oroville, who, by their liberal patronage in the way of buying space in the official program have aided in making the celebration a success.