Fresno County is a county located in the Central
Valley
of the U.S. state of
California
, south of Stockton
and north of Bakersfield
. As of 2008, it is the tenth
most
populous county in California with an estimated population of
931,098, and the sixth largest in size with an area of 6,017.4
square miles.
The county seat is
Fresno
. in 2009 Fresno was named the fifth largest city in
California.
History
The area now known as Fresno County, once a
semiarid steppe, was
discovered by Spaniards during a search for suitable mission sites.
In 1846, this area became the property of the United States as a
result of the Mexican War.
Fresno
County was formed in 1856 from parts of Mariposa
, Merced
and Tulare
counties. Parts of Fresno County's territory were
given to Mono
County
in 1861 and to Madera County
in 1893. The original
county seat was placed in
Millerton.
The county is named after Fresno Creek.
Fresno in
Spanish signifies "
ash
tree" and it was due to the abundance of mountain ash or ash
trees in the county that it received its name.
The settling of Fresno County was not without its conflicts, land
disputes, and natural disasters. Floods caused immeasurable damage
to the Millerton area so much so that the county seat was moved to
Fresno and the little town never fully recovered. Fires also
plagued the settlers of Fresno County. In 1882, the greatest of the
early day fires wiped out an entire block of the city of Fresno,
and was followed by another devastating blaze in 1883.
At the same time residents brought
irrigation, electricity, and extensive
agriculture to the area. Moses Church developed
the first
canals, called "Church Ditches,"
for
irrigation. These
canals transformed the barren desert of Fresno County
into rich soil, thus enabling extensive
wheat
farming in Fresno County. Frances Eisen, leader of the wine
industry in Fresno County, also began the
raisin industry in 1875, when he accidentally let
some of his grapes dry on the vine. A.Y. Easterby and Clovis Cole
(aka the "Wheat King of the Nation") developed extensive grain and
cattle ranches. These and other citizens laid the groundwork for
the cultivation of Fresno County - now the nation's leading
agricultural region.
The
discovery of oil in the western part of the county, near the town
of Coalinga
at the foot of the Coast
Ranges, brought about an economic boom in the first decade of
the 20th century, even though the field itself was known at least
as early as the 1860s. By 1910,
Coalinga Oil Field, the largest field in
Fresno County, was the most richly productive oil field in
California; a dramatic
oil gusher in
1909, the biggest in California up until that time, was an event of
sufficient excitement to cause the
Los Angeles Stock Exchange to
close for a day so that its members could come by train to view it.
The Coalinga field continues to produce oil, and is currently the
eighth-largest field in the state.
To date, over thirty structures in Fresno County are on the
National Register of Historic Places, including the Fresno Water
Tower, which once held over 250,000 US gallons (950 m³) of water
for the city of Fresno, the Meux Home, and Kearney Mansion
Museum.
Politics
Presidential elections results
Year |
GOP |
DEM |
Others |
2008 |
48.2% 130,841 |
50.3%
136,490 |
2.0% 4,173 |
2004 |
57.4%
141,988 |
41.7% 103,154 |
0.9% 2,321 |
2000 |
53.1%
117,342 |
43.1% 95,059 |
3.8% 8,434 |
1996 |
47.4%
98,813 |
45.3% 94,448 |
7.3% 15,132 |
1992 |
40.7% 89,137 |
42.2%
92,418 |
17.2% 37,606 |
1988 |
49.9%
92,635 |
48.8% 94,835 |
1.3% 2,400 |
1984 |
54.3%
104,757 |
44.7% 86,315 |
1.0% 1,864 |
1980 |
51.1%
82,515 |
40.4% 65,254 |
8.4% 13,617 |
1976 |
48.1% 72,533 |
49.7%
74,958 |
2.2% 3,314 |
1972 |
50.4%
79,051 |
46.4% 72,682 |
3.2% 4,986 |
1968 |
43.6% 59,901 |
47.4%
65,153 |
9.0% 12,342 |
1964 |
34.3% 46,792 |
65.6%
89,375 |
0.1% 141 |
1960 |
44.3% 57,930 |
55.2%
72,164 |
0.5% 608 |
1956 |
43.3% 51,611 |
56.44%
67,234 |
0.2% 270 |
1952 |
48.95% 54,626 |
50.30%
56,135 |
0.8% 837 |
|
Fresno County is a
Republican-leaning county,
voting for President
George W.
Bush by over 55% of the vote in 2004,
although it remains closer in Senatorial races and voted for
Barack Obama in
2008.
The cities
of Clovis
, Coalinga
, Kingsburg
, and Reedley
voted overwhelmingly for President George W.
Bush.
Fowler
, Fresno
, Kerman
, and Selma
did so by much lesser margins and remain
GOP-leaning "swing" cities in the county. Huron
, Mendota
, Orange Cove
, Parlier
, and San Joaquin
voted overwhelmingly for Senator John Kerry
(D-MA). Firebaugh
and Sanger
did so by smaller margins and compose the
Democratic-leaning "swing" cities in the county.
According to the
California Secretary of State,
as of April, 2008, there are 350,369 registered voters in Fresno
County. 140,507 (40.1%) are registered Democratic, 151,370 (43.2%)
are registered Republican, 13,708 (3.9%) are registered with other
political parties, and 44,784 (12.8%) declined to state a political
party. Republicans have a plurality or majority of voter roll
registration in the cities of Clovis, Coalinga, Kingsburg, Reedley,
and the unincorporated areas. The other cities and towns have
Democratic pluralities or majorities.
From Fresno County's inception in 1849 with the State of
California, Fresno County was consistently and often strongly
voting Democratic in every election up until the 1904 election in
which President
Theodore
Roosevelt was elected. This marked the first time that Fresno
County voted for a Republican Presidential Candidate. Fresno County
accordingly backed incumbent President Roosevelt's re-election bid
over his Democratic opponent
William Jennings Bryan. However in
the 1912 election which was a three way split between Theodore
Roosevelt (who ran on a Progressive ticket),
William Howard Taft (the Republican
nominee) and
Woodrow Wilson (the
Democratic nominee, who would eventually go onto become elected
President, Fresno County chose to closely elect Woodrow Wilson to
the Presidency. Fresno County voted to re-elect President Woodrow
Wilson for a second term in the 1916 Presidential Election.
Fresno County was generally Republican from the onset of the
"roaring 1920s" until the Great Depression, when former President
Franklin D. Roosevelt forged the New Deal
Coalition that the agrarian county identified with. This led to a
cycle of elections from 1932 till 1976 in which the county
consistently voted
Democratic, barring
Richard Nixon's landslide victory over former
Senator
George McGovern (D-SD) in
the 1972 Presidential Election.
Since former President
Jimmy Carter's
defeat by former
President Reagan,
Fresno became a GOP-leaning swing county which barely voted for
Reagan's successor former President
Bush and only voting Democratic for
Bill Clinton in his 1992 presidential
bid. Republicans have won elections in Fresno County by increasing
margins since 1996, and widely view it and the rest of the Central
Valley as one of their strongholds in largely Democratic
California.
In the
United
States House of Representatives, parts of California's
18th,
19th,
20th, and
21st congressional
districts are in Fresno County. The 18th and 20th districts are
held by conservative Democrats
Dennis
Cardoza and
Jim Costa respectively.
The 19th and 21st districts are held by Republicans
George Radanovich and
Devin Nunes respectively.
In the
State Assembly,
parts of the 29th, 30th, and 31st districts are in Fresno County.
The 29th district is held by Republican
Michael Villines, while the 30th and 31st
districts are held by Democrats
Nicole
Parra and
Juan Arambula
respectively. In the
State
Senate, parts of the 14th and 16th districts are in Fresno
County. The 14th district is held by Republican
Dave Cogdill and the 16th district is held by
Democrat
Dean Florez.
Fresno tends to remain socially conservative while being more
moderate on economic issues, which can be seen in Fresno's support
for socially conservative proposition amendments but occasionally
voting for a Democratic Presidential Candidate if economic times
are poor such as former President Bill Clinton's victory over
incumbent former President George H.W. Bush in 1992 and President
Barack Obama over
Senator John McCain in
2008.
On Nov. 4, 2008 Fresno County voted 68.7 % for
Proposition 8 which amended
the
California Constitution
to ban
same-sex marriages.
Geography
According to the
U.S.
Census Bureau, the
county has a total area of 6,017 square miles
(15,585 km²), of which, 5,963 square miles
(15,443 km²) of it is land and 55 square miles
(142 km²) of it (0.91%) is water.
Major
watercourses are the San Joaquin, Kings River, Delta-Mendota Canal
, Big Creek,
Friant Kern
Canal
, Helm
Canal
and Madera
Canal
. It is bordered on the west by the
Coast Range and on the east by the
Sierra Nevada.
It is the center of a
large agricultural area, known as the most agriculturally rich
county in the United
States
. The county withdrew 3.7 billion gallons of
fresh water per day in 2000, more than any other county in the
United States.
Fresno was actually named after two particular ash trees that grew
near the town of Minkler on the Kings River. One of the trees is
still alive and standing.
Cities and towns
Adjacent counties
Transportation infrastructure
Major highways
Rail
Airports
- Commercial service
- General Aviation
Public Transportation
Economy
Agriculture
Agriculture is the primary industry in Fresno County. Ag production
totaled $5.3 billion in 2007, making it the number one agricultural
county in the nation.
[12168] Major crops and livestocks include:
Companies based in Fresno County
Major employers in Fresno County
- Commercial/Industrial
- Government
- Healthcare
Demographics
As of the
census of 2000, there were 799,407
people, 252,940 households, and 186,669 families residing in the
county. The
population density
was 134 people per square mile (52/km²). There were 270,767 housing
units at an average density of 45 per square mile (18/km²).
The racial makeup of the county was 54.30%
White, 5.30%
Black or
African American, 1.60%
Native American, 8.05%
Asian, 0.13%
Pacific Islander, 25.90% from
other races, and 4.73%
from two or more races. 43.99% of the population were
Hispanic or
Latino of any race. 7.5% were of
German ancestry according to
Census 2000. 59.3% spoke
English, 31.5%
Spanish and 3.1%
Hmong as their first language.
There were 252,940 households out of which 41.20% had children
under the age of 18 living with them, 52.50% were
married couples living together, 15.20% had a
female householder with no husband present, and 26.20% were
non-families. 20.60% of all households were made up of individuals
and 7.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or
older. The average household size was 3.09 and the average family
size was 3.59.
In the county the population was spread out with 32.10% under the
age of 18, 11.10% from 18 to 24, 28.50% from 25 to 44, 18.50% from
45 to 64, and 9.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median
age was 30 years. For every 100 females there were 100.40 males.
For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.20
males.
The median income for a household in the county was $34,725, and
the median income for a family was $38,455. Males had a median
income of $33,375 versus $26,501 for females. The
per capita income for the county was
$15,495. About 17.60% of families and 22.90% of the population were
below the
poverty line, including
31.70% of those under age 18 and 9.90% of those age 65 or
over.
Fresno County is also known for having the highest rate of
chlamydia in the state, which in in 2006 545.2 cases per 100,000
people, compared with the statewide average of 363.5.
Notable locations
See also
External links and references
References
- California Department of Finance, "Table E-1: Population
Estimates for Cities, Counties and the State with Annual Percent
Change — January 1, 2007 and 2008," Sacramento, 2008.
- History of the Coalinga area
- California Department of Conservation, Oil and Gas
Statistics, Annual Report, December 31, 2006, p. 66-67 (2-3 in
PDF file)