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California State...
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California Counties
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California Counties
The U.S. state of California is divided into fifty-eight counties.
On January 4, 1850, the California constitutional committee recommended the formation of 18 counties. They were
Benicia, Butte, Fremont, Los Angeles, Mariposa, Monterey, Mount Diablo, Oro, Redding, Sacramento, San Diego, San
Francisco, San Joaquin, San Jose, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Sonoma, and Sutter. On April 22, the counties
of Branciforte, Calaveras, Coloma, Colusi, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, Trinity, and Yuba were added. Benicia was
renamed Solano, Coloma to El Dorado, Fremont to Yola, Mt. Diablo to Contra Costa, San Jose to Santa Clara, Oro
to Tuolumne, and Redding to Shasta. One of the first state legislative acts regarding counties was to rename
Branciforte County to Santa Cruz, Colusi to Colusa, and Yola to Yolo.
The last California county to have been established is Imperial County in 1907. |
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Tulare County, California
Tulare County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education
County Seat: Visalia
Year Organized: 1852
Square Miles: 4,824 |
Court House: 2800 West Burrel
County Civic Center
Visalia, CA 93291-0000
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Etymology - Origin of County Name
While hunting for deserters in 1772, Commandante Fages
discovered a great lake surrounded by marshes and filled with rushes which he
named Los Tules (the tules). It is from this lake that the county derives its
name. The root of the name Tulare is found in the Mexican word tullin,
designating cattail or similar reeds.
Demographics:
County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick
Facts
History
Created in 1852 at the same time Siskiyou and Sierra counties were designated, the large area was maintained until
1856, when Fresno County was created from territory taken from Tulare, Mariposa and Merced counties. In 1861 part of the
eastern territory was cut off and joined with parts of Fresno, Mariposa and Calaveras in forming Mono County. Kern
County, cut from the southern part of Tulare, was originated as Buena Vista County in 1855, but was not officially
termed Kern until 1866. All that portion of Tulare lying east of the Sierras, with a portion of Mono, was set apart for
Coso County in 1864, the name being changed to Inyo County in 1866. In 1872 the southern boundaries of Tulare and Inyo
were changed by placing them on the sixth standard parallel south of Mount Diablo, thus drawing a direct line across the
state, which still forms the northern boundary of San Luis Obispo, Kern and San Bernardino counties. In 1874 the
Fresno-Tulare line was re-formed, placing the boundary along township and section lines rather than along the mountain
ridges as theretofore. In 1875-76 another slight change in the Fresno-Tulare line was made, returning to Fresno five
square townships, this boundary continuing to the present time. In 1893 Kings County was created from the western part
of Tulare.
Within the confines of Tulare County are now 4,863 square miles, or 3,158,400 acres. Were the state of Connecticut
lifted bodily from the Atlantic Seaboard and transported westward, it could be set down in California, but it would not
quite succeed in covering Tulare County.
The county has an interesting historical aura which dates back to 1770. The first Americans to visit the valley came
after 1800. The settling of the country about Visalia, the creation of the county, the struggles of the early settlers,
the wars with the Indians, and the growth and development of the country present an interesting story which can be found
in a number of the published histories for the county.
Geography
Tulare County, California is one of the largest counties in the great and fertile San Joaquin Valley.
Geographically it is situated about midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, the two principal
cities of the Pacific Slope.
The county, with vast mountain masses covering nearly half of its area on the eastern side and the
balance of its expanse a level and remarkably fertile plain, originally extended from Mariposa County,
on the north, to the Los Angeles County line, on the south, and from the summit of the Coast Range
Mountains, on the west, to the summit of the Sierra Nevadas on the east.
Neighboring Counties:
- Northeast: Inyo County
- South: Kern County
- West: Kings County
- Northwest: Fresno County
Cities and Towns:
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- Corcoran |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Dinuba |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Exeter |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Farmersville |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Lindsay |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Porterville |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Tulare |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Visalia
(County Seat) |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Woodlake |
city |
Incorporated Area |
County Resources:
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County Resource Guide
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The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic
features of our country!"
But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.
Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally,
act locally." |
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