Smartsvillechurchrestoration.org

Smartsville is a small community on the easterly edge of Yuba County, just across the line from Nevada County. The postal ZIP code for Smartsville (95977) extends to a sizeable area outside of the town itself, and includes a portion of Nevada County.

When gold was discovered in California, one of the first areas to receive the miners’ attention was at a place called Rose’s Bar on the Yuba River about 17 miles east of Marysville. Placer mining on the river turned to hydraulic mining of the adjacent and ancient river channels and the town of Smartsville was born nearby on the stage coach route from Marysville to Grass Valley, now State Route 20.

Most of the miners in Smartsville were of Irish descent. They constructed a Catholic church here in 1861 but it burned down in 1870 and a new building was erected on the same foundation the very next year. That church, the former Church of the Immaculate Conception, is still standing and is the object of our restoration efforts. It is recognized as a State of California Point of Historical Interest and the entire town of Smartsville is a California Historical Landmark (#321).

The church was last used for religious services in 1968, and soon began to decline without adequate maintenance. It is such a large building and such a strong relic of Smartsville’s history, that efforts to maintain, repair and restore it were attempted several times, with limited success.

In 1998, local resident Bill Ross had an idea. He convinced the Sacramento Diocese to donate the building and land to a group of concerned citizens and to help the new group attain its status as a non-profit corporation. That was the start of SCRFI (Smartsville Church Restoration Fund, Inc.). Our mission is to rehabilitate/restore the building and operate it as a cultural and educational community building.

We believe that restoration of the historic former Church of the Immaculate Conception is the most important community project in Smartsville. Not only is it the centerpiece of the town, it is directly connected to the town’s fascinating past, and ultimately will be used for community functions. More than 40 years have passed since the church was regularly maintained, and the neglect is visible.

Please join us in this very important project. Our meetings are held on the second Tuesday of the month at the Rose Bar School community building at 5:30 pm.

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