Der Mugrdechian Presents Armenians of Fresno

Alex Bunch
Staff Writer

Barlow Der Mugrdechian of the Armenian Studies Program gave a presentation on auther William Saroyan to an audience at the San Joaquin Gardens on November 9. He continued the series on Nov. 16, speaking about the Armenians of Fresno. Photo: Joe Vasquez

On Thursday, November 16, Professor Barlow Der Mugrdechian of the Armenian Studies Program gave a one-hour talk about “The Armenians of Fresno,” to an audience at the San Joaquin Gardens in Fresno. He had previously spoken to the same group about the writer William Saroyan on Thursday, November 9.

The presentation included a history of Armenian immigration to the United States and the story of the Seropians, the first family to permanently settle in Fresno in 1881. Prof. Der Mugrdechian explained that most Armenians, before 1914, immigrated from the Ottoman Turkish Empire, and eventually settled in East Coast cities such as New York, Boston, and Worcester, MA.

The first Armenian immigrant to the shores of America was a man named Martin the Armenian, who was recorded as arriving in the Jamestown Colony, Virginia, in 1617. After a relatively slow pace of immigration until the 1880s, the Armenian population in the United States grew fairly quickly. Between 1843 and 1890, there were approximately 1,500 Armenians arriving to the United States. From 1891 to 1898, another 12,500 Armenian arrived and from 1899 until 1914, 52,000 Armenians immigrated to the United States. The main reason for the large increase in immigration was due to persecution of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire- thus many Armenians looked for a more secure life in the United States.

The Armenians of Fresno established a variety of businesses, most of them were initially agriculturally related: vineyards, orchards, and packing houses. Aside from agriculture, the Armenians established shoe repair shops, oriental rug stores, churches, and a variety of community institutions. Der Mugrdechian discussed how the community is organized and how it functions.

The final part of the lecture was on some of the prominent Armenians who were born in Fresno, among them Kirk Kirkorian, who became a successful tycoon, buying MGM studios and then developing the MGM hotel in Las Vegas, NV.

The lecture was organized and very informative. It was very interesting to see how the Armenians very quickly became successful in just two or three generations in America. If anybody is interested in learning more about the Armenians and their history, they can enroll in an Armenian Studies course at Fresno State.