Tulare, California, United States

🇺🇸 Tulare is a city in Tulare County, California. Tulare is located in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, eight miles south of Visalia and sixty miles north of Bakersfield. The city is named for the Tulare Lake, once the largest freshwater lake west of the Great Lakes. The Stockton seaport is 170 miles away, and the Sacramento port is 207 miles away. The Los Angeles and San Francisco ports are each approximately 200 miles away, making Tulare a hub or central location for product movement.

History The Yokuts people built reed boats and fished in what was later to be called Tulare Lake in their homeland for centuries, until the invasion and settlement by the Spanish and American pioneers. When California became a state in 1850, Tulare did not yet exist as a town. Tulare was founded in 1872, by the Southern Pacific Railroad. The town was named for Lake Tulare. The lake had been named for the tule rush plant, a species of bulrush that predominantly lined the marshes and sloughs of its shore.

Transportation was the first impetus behind the establishment of the town. Tulare flourished as the headquarters of the railroad in the area. The town suffered through many difficult challenges, but despite burning down and being rebuilt three times in its first fourteen years of existence, it was eventually incorporated in 1888.

In 1891, the railroad moved its headquarters to Bakersfield, decimating the community. Although the railroad was gone, the community of Tulare struggled to become an agricultural centre for California, which it is today. Due to the inadequate 10 inches (250 mm) of rainfall per year, water resources had to be found. In order to bring water to Tulare, citizens established the Tulare Irrigation District and issued $500,000 in bonds to build an extensive canal system carrying water from the Sierra Nevada. In 1903, when the bonds were paid off early, they celebrated by having a bond-burning celebration. Once the water system was established, Tulare burgeoned, becoming a centre for farming and agriculture because of its central location.

In 1912, Hulett C. Merritt founded Tagus Ranch, which at 7,000 acres (2,800 ha) was the largest fruit ranch in the world. Until its close, Tagus Ranch produce was known the world over, and was served in the finest restaurants throughout America. At the end of World War II, a portion of Tagus Ranch served as a German POW camp.

The cotton strike of the California agricultural strikes of 1933 was planned in Tulare by a group of seventy-eight men and women. As recorded by Chicano historian Rodolfo Acuña, "they concluded that it took the average picker 10 hours to harvest 300 pounds. Planters offered 40 cents a hundredweight – that was not enough to buy enough food and gas to get to the next job".

In 1940, famed aerobatic stunt pilot J.G. "Tex" Rankin secured a U.S. War Department contract to open and operate a civilian flying school to train United States Army Air Corps flight cadets. Rankin opened the Rankin Aeronautical Academy in Tulare in February 1941, where it operated throughout the duration of World War II. During its heyday Rankin Field, as it was otherwise known, trained 10,000 pilots in primary flight training, including twelve future Army Air Corps Aces and two Medal of Honor recipients.

During World War II, in response to West Coast wartime hysteria, the U.S. Army temporarily assumed control of the Tulare County Fairgrounds, converting it to the Tulare Assembly Center, a temporary detention centre for Japanese Americans. The Assembly Center was administered by the Wartime Civil Control Administration, under the Western Defense Command and the U.S. 4th Army. The first internee was inducted on April 27, 1942, and the last internee departed on September 4, 1942. The top population numbered 4,978 residents, many of whom were citizens born in the United States. In the latter part of 1942, internees began being moved to the ten more permanent "War Relocation Camps". The majority of internees from the Tulare Assembly Center were sent to the Gila River War Relocation Center in Arizona. These temporary sites were largely located on fairgrounds or race tracks in completely public and visible locations.

Tulare was the site of the National Championships for the Decathlon in Track and Field in 1949, 1950, 1952, and 1962, as well as the Olympic Trials for the Decathlon in 1952.

Geography Tulare is located directly between Fresno and Bakersfield, Tulare is in the heart of the Central Valley. Although the foothills of the Sierra Nevada are only about 20 miles east of town, they are seldom visible due to the chronically poor air quality and very high levels of airborne particulate matter, soot, and other pollution.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 21.0 square miles (54 km²), of which 20.9 square miles (54 km²) is land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km²) (0.41%) is water.

Culture There is a large population of Portuguese residents in Tulare, many of whom immigrated from the Azores Islands to start farms and dairies in the Central Valley, becoming part of the now famous Central Valley agricultural boom of the 20th century.

Economy The backbone of Tulare's economy continues to be its agricultural and dairy industry. Tulare is responsible for a significant part of Tulare County's 342,600 dairy cows, which produce more than 8.9 billion pounds of milk each year. The nation's largest single-site dairy complex, operated by Land O'Lakes, is located in Tulare.

Tulare is the home of the Tulare County Fair, held since 1915. Tulare is also home to the internationally known World Ag Expo, held annually at the International Agri-Center. Since 1968, the three-day event in February is the largest annual agricultural exposition in the world. Over 100,000 people from throughout the world visit the Expo annually.

Largest employers According to a recent Financial Report, the top employers in the city include: 1 Saputo Cheese USA, Inc.; 2 Land O'Lakes; 3 Haagen Dazs; 4 Kraft; 5 Walmart Inc.; 6 Southern California Edison Company; 7 U.S. Cold Storage; 8 Ruan, Inc.; 9 Morris Levin & Sons Hardware; 10 J.D Heiskell Company.

Education: University Tulare students have two local area community colleges from which to choose: College of the Sequoias in Tulare, and College of the Sequoias in nearby Visalia. College of the Sequoias new Tulare Center for Agriculture and Technology campus, located on East Bardsley Ave in Tulare, opened in 2013. The Tulare Center is forecast to be a full 10,000 student college by 2040.

Transport Tulare is located on California's central corridor, State Route 99. State Routes 63 and 137 also serve the city.

Transport: Air The City of Tulare owns and operates their own municipal airport, Mefford Field, which has an asphalt runway of 3,914 feet. 60 private planes are currently based there.

National/international commercial air service is available from: Fresno (1 hr), Bakersfield (1 hr. 15 min.), as well as limited commercial service available from Visalia (15 min) and Porterville (40 min).

Transport: Rail Tulare is located on the main line of the Union Pacific Railroad.

Transport: Bus Tulare's Greyhound bus depot offers frequent packages and personnel service to all points in the west. The local Tulare InterModal Express offers a "fixed route" schedule in the city, as well as a Dial-A-Ride service. Tulare County Area Transit connects Tulare and Delano.

Honors In December 2010 the City of Tulare was recognised with an honorable mention by the California Sustainability Alliance's Sustainability Showcase Awards. The honor commends the city for its commitment to sustainability through extensive building retrofits, residential solar programs and forthcoming citywide Climate Action Plan.

In April 2011 the City of Tulare received the Climate Change Award for the city's Energy Efficient Strategy at the 2011 Green California Summit and Exposition.

In September 2011, the city of Tulare's Redevelopment Agency received a total of two awards for a single redevelopment project. The Tule Vista Housing Development received the first place American Planning Association 2011 Central Section Outstanding Planning Project award, as well as the 2011 Award of Excellence from the California State Chapter of the American Planning Association. The two awards also went to Pacific West Communities and Tulare County Housing Authority, who worked in conjunction with the Tulare Redevelopment Agency on the project.