The Little Church On The Hill, Oakhurst, Yosemite, USA Royalty-Free Stock Photo

In the early 1850’s people began to settle in the valley a short distance below the headwaters of the Fresno River, an area that was to become known as Fresno Flats. They came not for gold as did the 49ers, but to build their homes, raise their families earning their way as farmers, lumbermen and merchants. As the town grew slowly, Christ Church Mission was established in 1886 by the Rev. D. O. Kelley, an Episcopal circuit rider missionary who was famed for starting many churches throughout the San Joaquin Valley, In 1892, the Little Church on the Hill, as Christ Church became known, was built as a community effort by volunteer labor, using donated materials and located on land set aside by one of Fresno Flats early pioneers, Robert Nichols, who settled here in 1856 and earlier had given land for the cemetery and the school.