The town was started in 1855, at the head of navigation on Fresno Slough. A pier was built to accommodate flatboats and barges that could make it up the shallow slough. Warehouses, houses, and the Casa Blanca Hotel were built. In 1858, it became a station on the Butterfield Overland Mail. By 1860, the telegraph line from San Francisco arrived. Plans for a much larger town were contemplated but the Butterfield line closed in early 1861, the Great Flood of 1862 did great damage and the City was practically abandoned by 1865. A post office operated at Fresno City from 1860 to 1863. Today there are no traces of it left.