The Davisville Land Company was a holding company created by the California Pacific Railroad to handle the land that the Davis family defaulted on (yes, all of Davis was build on land from a defaulted mortgage). The mortgage was taken out on November 1st, 1867, but the drought and flooding that caused them to need the mortgage did not allow them to make payment, and they defaulted that next year. The DLC was given 200 acres of the land to develop a town, including the now uninhabited farm.
The president of the Davisville Land Company, Dr. DeWitt Rice, sketched out a 32 block grid that became our downtown in 1868. DeWitt, a pharmacist, was following a common practice to create towns, and Davisville at that time resembled many other towns scattered along the fast growing rail system. Use of the land and construction began in May 1868, with the plat being officially recorded on November 28th of that year.
