Dixon Historical Society & Museum
ORAL HISTORIES
The Dixon Public Library reserves all rights to the Oral Histories it has recorded, collected and archived. The Dixon Historical Society appreciates all the archival resources The Dixon Public Library has available to the public.
The following link will take you to the Dixon Oral History interviews and videos hosted on the Solano County library website.
The following link will take you to an on-line Historical Collection of Dixon photographs and additional Dixon Oral History interviews and videos hosted on the Solano County library website.
Following Are Videos, Presentations and Oral Histories
Recorded by or For the Dixon Historical Society
Recorded on July 19, 2022. Bill Fairfield, lifetime Dixon resident is interviewed by his son Bill, Jr. There are two sessions on various subjects related to Dixon's history.
The Bracero Program was created through a series of bi-lateral agreements between Mexico and the United States in response to the reduction in available labor force due to the impact of the number of people who served in World War II. The program was initiated in 1942 and sunset in 1964. This presentation includes an overview of the program and the personal perspective of members of the community whose families were involved or participated in the program.
Recorded July 31, 2017. Gladys Hanna Stoeven tells the story of Dixon's Stoeven Brothers meat processing facility.
Recorded Nov 4, 2018. Dixon California Jazz Band tells stories of times gone bye.
Recorded Oct 13, 2018. Maria Cornejo Lopez speaks about her family and the Bracero program.
Recorded Jul 29, 2019. Steve Reddick talks about the Petersen family of Dixon California.
Recorded Jul 1, 2020. Bill Schroeder gives account of the Silveyville/Dixon Schroeder family.
Recorded July 17, 2022. Family letters and stories read by Wendy Riedel (family letters) bil paul (WWII), Stuart Rowe (the monkey and the cow), Diane Schroeder, Kim Schroeder-Evans and Kelley Evans (Dixon May Fair interview and Germans in Dixon during WWI).
(Multiple Presenters)
Immigrants arriving from Germany, Portugal, Switzerland, and Ireland found that Dixon’s temperate climate, with mild winters and sufficient rain for the production of high quality alfalfa, made the area a prime environment for successful dairy farming. Because of the size and abundance of working dairy farms, in 1914, Sunset Magazine titled Dixon, “Dairy City.” The local dairies provided milk and dairy products to not only the local residents, but also shipped by train and truck, using ice to keep the milk cold, to the growing populations in the Bay Area and Sacramento. Achilles Panizza, a dairyman himself from 1918-1973, listed more than 60 family dairy farms that operated in Dixon during his lifetime. As part of a DHS meeting, descendants of Dixon dairymen to shared their family history and memories of life on a dairy farm. The program included Peter Timm, DVM; Jeanie Vanetti; and Rick Sequeira and his sister, Carol, along with several more families.