Dairies Rule Everything Around Me
Hanford is an important commercial and cultural center in the south central San Joaquin Valley and is the county seat of Kings County, California. It is the principal city of the Hanford-Corcoran, California Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA Code 25260), which encompasses all of Kings County, including the cities of Hanford and Corcoran.The population was 41,686 at the 2000 census. However, the California Department of Finance estimates that the population had grown to 50,370 as of January 1, 2007, making it the 168th largest city in the state.he Hanford area was inhabited by the Tachi Yokut Indians for several thousand years prior to Euro-American contact. They occupied areas along watercourses such as creeks, springs and seep areas (such as sloughs), along perennial and seasonal drainages, as well as flat ridges and terraces. Therefore, the areas along streams are considered likely locations for prehistoric cultural resources. Permanent villages were usually placed on an elevation above the seasonal flood levels. Surrounding areas were used for hunting and seed, acorn, and grass gathering.Hanford is named for James Madison Hanford, a railroad executive, after the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks were laid through a sheep camp in the year 1877. According to History of Kings County : "It was but a short step from sheep-camp to village and with the railroad as an attraction the village flourished and became a town within a few historic months." Hanford in 1877. Hanford in 1877.In 1880, a dispute over land titles between settlers and the Southern Pacific Railroad resulted in a bloody gun battle on a farm 9 km (5.6 mi) northwest of Hanford that left seven men dead. This event became famous as the Mussel Slough Tragedy.A post office was set up in 1887.Several times, major fires destroyed much of the young community's business district. The need for fire protection led to the town becoming an incorporated city in 1891.An electrical generating plant was built in 1891 by pioneering flour miller H.G. Lacey, bringing the first electric lights to the city. The Lacey Milling Company was still operating in Hanford in 2008.The first public high school, Hanford Union High School, was started in 1892 with one teacher, W. S. Cranmer, and an average enrollment of fourteen.When Kings County was created in 1893 from the western part of Tulare County, Hanford became its county seat.A second railroad was laid through Hanford in 1897, which today is the main north-south line of the BNSF Railway through the San Joaquin Valley. The original east-west Southern Pacific Railroad branch line is now operated by the San Joaquin Valley Railroad.In 1901, a restaurant called the Star opened on Sixth Street across from the Southern Pacific tracks. The Star Restaurant was still doing business at the same location in 2008.Saloons flourished in Hanford's early days despite an anti-saloon movement until the town voted to become "dry" in 1912, eight years before nationwide Prohibition in the United States took effect.
