The 1868 brick mansion of Chico founder John Bidwell, long tied to ghost lore of his widow Annie—gutted by arson in December 2024.
525 Esplanade, Chico, CA 95926
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
The mansion interior was destroyed by fire in December 2024 and is closed indefinitely. The surrounding park grounds remain free to walk. Check California State Parks for the current status of the site.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Flat urban park grounds along The Esplanade in Chico; paved walkways.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1868 · Home of Chico founder John Bidwell and Annie Kennedy Bidwell · 1868 Italianate villa by architect Henry W. Cleaveland · California State Historic Park and house museum · Destroyed by arson, December 2024
John Bidwell arrived in California in 1841 and grew wealthy from gold and from his Rancho Chico agricultural holdings in the Sacramento Valley. He platted the town of Chico in 1860. Between 1865 and 1868 he built a three-story brick mansion on The Esplanade, designed by San Francisco architect Henry W. Cleaveland in the Italianate villa style. Bidwell married Annie Ellicott Kennedy in 1868, and the couple made the new house their home.
The Bidwells were prominent in California public life. John Bidwell served in Congress and ran for governor and, in 1892, for president on the Prohibition Party ticket. Annie Bidwell was an active reformer and a benefactor of the local Mechoopda people. John Bidwell died in 1900; Annie continued to live in the mansion and deeded much of the surrounding land for what became Chico State before her death in 1918.
After Annie's death the property was held by the College of the Pacific and later the State of California. It opened as Bidwell Mansion State Historic Park, with guided tours of the period interiors operated by California State Parks.
Around 3 a.m. on December 11, 2024, a fire broke out at the mansion. The blaze gutted the interior; the brick and masonry exterior largely survived. Investigators with Cal Fire and California State Parks determined the cause to be arson and opened a search for a suspect, setting up a public tip line. The loss of one of Chico's founding landmarks drew widespread coverage and community mourning.
Sources
The haunting reputation of Bidwell Mansion rests mostly on the long association of the house with Annie Kennedy Bidwell, who lived there for half a century and died in the home in 1918. Chico News & Review's roundup of local haunted sites lists the mansion as a place 'rumored to harbor ghostly inhabitants,' while noting that the article could not point to a specific documented encounter.
The mansion also appears in coverage of Chico's seasonal ghost-walking tours, which fold the Bidwell story into the city's broader haunted-history narrative. The framing is consistent: the house is treated as atmospheric and storied rather than the site of any single named apparition or repeated phenomenon.
The December 2024 arson fire that gutted the interior has changed the site's meaning for the community more than any ghost story did. Visitors now encounter a scorched brick shell on The Esplanade rather than the furnished period rooms that tour guides once walked them through. Whether the lore survives the loss of the building's interior remains to be seen.
Notable Entities
Walk the park grounds along The Esplanade where the Bidwell Mansion stands. The 1868 mansion interior was destroyed by an arson fire in December 2024; the brick and masonry shell survived. Interior tours, run by California State Parks before the fire, are suspended. Visitors can view the structure and grounds from the exterior. Confirm current access with State Parks before going.
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