Want to Learn More About Wallace?
The City-data.com web site gives you all the scoop about Wallace. Check it out! The web site links to a 10 day Wallace weather forecast, or go directly to weather here.
On the History of Wallace!
Wallace was the creation of the San Joaquin and Sierra Nevada Railroad and was named for John Wallace, the railroad's chief engineer/surveyor. When the narrow gauge S.J. & S.N.R.R. arrived in October 1882 on its way east from Lodi toward Burson and Valley Springs, the railroad honored Wallace--who located the line--by naming the town after him. The townsite was officially recorded on January 16, 1883.
Wallace was born in England in 1819 and came to California as a '49er. After years in Sonora as engineer for the Tuolumne Water Co., he moved to Stockton and in 1868 was elected Surveyor for San Joaquin County, a position he held for several years.
Of note is that the town of Wallace has an historical connection to Charles Darwin and the theory of evolution. John Wallace's younger brother, Alfred Russel Wallace, was one of the most famous naturalists, scientists and philosophers of his time. Other than Darwin, he was the man most responsible for developing and popularizing the theories of evolution and natural selection in the 19th century.
John Wallace, who never lived in Wallace, died at age 76 on March 26, 1895, and is buried in Stockton.
--Sal Manna (November 2005)
