Carmichael Chamber of Commerce

Lots for Sale in Carmichael, California 10 acre tracts for $1,500 with 10 percent down on terms of $10 a month at 6 percent interest

That advertisement appeared in the early 1900s. It continued: In the shelter of rolling foothills secure from frosts, the Woods hereabouts are stocked with game birds, quail etc., and the streams are stocked with trout for rod and ducks for gun.

The man selling the lots was Dan Carmichael, the communitys founder and its first developer.

Big Real Estate Deal was the headline in the Oct. 1, 1909 Folsom-Telegraph newspaper. The story was about Daniel Carmichael who purchased 2,000 acres of land composed of hills and dales dotted with noble oaks. It was thought he paid between $150,000 and $200,000 for the land.

Called Carmichael Colony No. I, the 2,000 acres was once part of the 20,000 acre Rancho San Juan Mexican grant made to Joel P. Dedmond in 1844. The colonys boundaries were Lincoln Avenue to the north, San Juan Avenue to the east, The American River and Deterting Ranch (now Ancil Hoffman Park) to the south and Fair Oaks Boulevard to the west.

Carmichael later bought another 1,000 acres that he called Carmichael Colony No. 2. It bordered the first colony to the east and Walnut Avenue to the west; the southern boundary was Arden Way with Sutter Avenue to the north. This new territory was previously part of the 44,000 acre Del Paso Rancho Mexican grant made to Eliab Grimes, in 1844. Before Carmichael acquired it, James Ben, Ali Haggin, and his Daniel Carmichael
associates bred and raised racehorses, including Kentucky Derby winner Salvatore, on a farm located where Del Dayo Estates now stands.

Carmichael laid out the two colonies into 10 acre tracts and sold them for $1,500 each.