Is Fair Oaks defined by its Zip Code?

While incorporated cities like Citrus Heights and Folsom have distinct city limits, the boundaries of unincorporated places like Fair Oaks are often nebulous.

It's hard to know when you enter our town. The American River is a clear boundary, but in other directions there are no geographic features to distinguish Fair Oaks from the rest of suburbia. It hasn't always been that way.

"Fairoaks" was named and defined in 1895 by its developer— the Howard and Wilson Publishing Company of Chicago. At first, it was truly "out in the boonies" — across the American River from tiny Folsom City and south of the new and largely uninhabited "Orange Vale Colony."

Early on, Fair Oaks settlement hugged the river from what’s now San Juan Avenue to the southern edge of "Orange Vale" — approximately today’s Pershing Avenue.

To see early maps of Fair Oaks and its environs (1880 to 1950) check out the website of the Fair Oaks Historical Society.

For many years the land between Sylvan Corners, in today’s Citrus Heights, and Sunset Avenue in Fair Oaks was sparsely settled.

Much of this intervening area was considered Fair Oaks for postal delivery. I’ve heard tales that the Fair Oaks name still extends to Greenback Lane thanks to the late Sacramento County Supervisor Ancil Hoffman, who wanted his home on Greenback to keep its Fair Oaks identity.

As infill development has engulfed Fair Oaks, individual communities have blurred together. Nowadays, the zip code is probably our main point of reference. How you address your mail — Fair Oaks, CA 95628 — strongly influences your community identity.

Likewise, the name and identity conferred by the post office to Citrus Heights's 95610 and 95621 zip codes helped to define the community planning boundaries with Fair Oaks, and later, the limits of Citrus Heights’s incorporation.

Fair Oaks is also defined by the territories of its special districts — water, park and cemetery districts.

Each district has its own boundaries for services and assessment, and that provides some identity. But around the edges of Fair Oaks, these boundaries vary enough to cause confusion.

The Sunrise Recreation and Park District and Citrus Heights Water District, among others, serve parts of 95628.

Boundaries of the Fair Oaks park and water districts, and the Community Planning Advisory Area don't necessarily match the zip code. Some extend west of San Juan Avenue; some don’t. Some go north all the way to Greenback; others don’t. The water district protrudes into part of Orangevale, but doesn’t include all of 95628.

The cemetery district has the oddest boundaries, running from Watt Avenue to the El Dorado County Line and south to Route 50 and beyond. Yet, until recently, its northern boundary was Madison Avenue.

For statistical purposes, Fair Oaks is defined by federal census tracts. Statistics like our official population don’t necessarily correspond to what you might consider Fair Oaks.

Ultimately, most people probably define Fair Oaks by its zip code.

Ironically, zip codes are primarily a postal service contrivance — created in 1963 to facilitate mail delivery and reflect logical mail carrier routes.

In 1963 there was still a lot of open space in and around Fair Oaks, and what may seem like strange zip code boundaries today, probably made more sense then.

That has given Fair Oaks some odd territorial appendages. For example, the Cookson Court/Northbrook Way neighborhood east of Dewey Drive near Mercy San Juan Hospital is technically Fair Oaks. Yet, this small area is virtually surrounded by Carmichael's 95608 and Citrus Heights's 95621.

To the east of Dewey Drive, Carmichael’s Pioneer Park is in 95628, while Citrus Heights’s Brooktree Park narrowly escapes the zip code.

Neighborhoods west of San Juan Avenue, including Del Campo High School have strong ties to Carmichael, but they’re also Fair Oaks.

When Citrus Heights incorporated in 1997 they respected established zip code boundaries. Thus, Citrus Heights ends at Fair Oaks Boulevard and Fair Oaks begins — leaving Mount Vernon Memorial Cemetery, north of Greenback Lane, in Fair Oaks.

Despite the confusion of boundaries, the community infill and the zip code, perhaps Fair Oaks is really just a state of mind. 

Like Beverly Hills 90210, Fair Oaks has a self-image. Humbler, of course, but with a history as a distinct community and a special place to live.

Like "home" — Fair Oaks is where the heart is.