Visalia, California City of Visalia Flag of Visalia, California Flag Official logo of Visalia, California Visalia, California is positioned in the US Visalia, California - Visalia, California Visalia (/va se lj / vy-sayl-y ) is a town/city situated in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California, approximately 230 miles (370 km) southeast of San Francisco, 190 miles (310 km) north of Los Angeles, 36 miles (58 km) west of Sequoia National Park and 43 miles (69 km) south of Fresno.

Visalia is the 5th biggest city in the San Joaquin Valley after Fresno, Bakersfield, Stockton and Modesto, the 44th most crowded in California, and 198th in the United States. As the governmental center of county of Tulare County, Visalia serves as the economic and governmental center to one of the most productive single agricultural counties in the country. The region around Visalia was first settled by the Yokuts and Mono Native American tribes hundreds of years ago. It is unknown when the first Europeans arrived, but the first to make a written record of the region was Pedro Fages in 1722. Workers weighing and sacking sugar at the Pacific Sugar Company, Visalia, Tulare County, California, ca.1900 Visalia Fox Theater In 1853, that prediction became a reality and Visalia has remained the governmental center of county since that time. Visalia is titled for Nathaniel Vise's ancestral home, Visalia, Kentucky.

The gold fever brought many transient miners through Visalia along the way and when the lure of gold floundered to materialize, many returned to Visalia to live their lives and raise families.

During the Civil War, many people of Visalia couldn't decide whether Visalia should stand on the side of the North or the South, so they simply had a Mini Civil War of their own on Main Street.

During these Civil War years, Visalia was incorporated, which gave the town new rights. The second incorporation in 1874 moved Visalia into town/city status with a common council and an ex-officio Mayor and President. In October 1933, Visalia was the site of a fact-finding committee appointed by Governor James Rolph and charged with investigating workforce violence in the San Joaquin cotton strike.

Visalia served as a host town/city for the Amgen Tour of California in 2009 and 2010. There are also a several autonomous metros/cities around Visalia that are popularly grouped with the town/city of Visalia, due to its immediate vicinity.

Generally, the town/city is divided into the following areas: Downtown Visalia, North Visalia, The Eastside, Southwest Visalia, the Industrial Area, Mooney, and the Westside.

Visalia has a rich architectural history including many extant buildings dating to the mid-late 1800s.

Throughout the town center are many historic brick structures, including the Bank of Italy (currently Bank of the Sierra) and the Art Deco/Beaux-Arts Visalia Town Center Post Office, both of which are registered with the National Register of Historic Places.

In addition to many other historic buildings and Victorian homes, Visalia is also home to a distinct ive Fox Theatre, which was restored by a improve group known as "Friends of the Fox" and presently serves as a live venue for music and stage performances. See also: Central Valley (California); San Joaquin Valley; Tulare County, California; and List of California region codes Left to right: Exeter, Visalia, Friant-Kern Canal (foreground), Sequoia Freeway, Venice Hills, and Woodlake.

Visalia is irregularly shaped and covers a total region of 36.3 square miles (94 km2), of which 36.3 square miles (94 km2) is territory and 0.05% is veiled by water.

Visalia is positioned at 36 19'27" North, 119 18'26" West (36.324100, -119.307347). The hilliest parts of the Visalia region are the Venice Hills and the entire Sierra Nevada foothills east of the city.

No primary earthquakes have hit the Visalia area. All but a several quakes are of low intensity and are not felt. Parts of the town/city are also vulnerable to floods.

Visalia appreciates plenty of sunlight throughout the year, with an average of only 26 days with calculable rain annually. Visalia averages 11 inches (279.40 mm) of rain annually, which mainly occurs amid the winter and spring (November through April) with generally light precipitation showers, but sometimes as heavy rainfall and thunderstorms.

Climate data for Visalia, California (1981 2010) The Visalia region is rich in native plant species due in part to a range in surroundings, including creeks, rivers, hills, and mountain peaks.

From the City of Visalia website: "...the town/city council finds it necessary to establish basic standards, measures and compliance requirements for the preservation and protection of native Valley oak trees and landmark trees..." Visalia has adopted this ordinance for pruning or removing Valley Oak Trees.

The region was once a dense oak woodland and the town/city is trying to maintain a healthy urban forest partly through preserving Mooney's Grove Park, one of the biggest Valley Oak groves in California.

Visalia was the home of the minor league baseball team the Visalia Oaks for almost 30 years.

Owing to geography and heavy reliance on automobiles, Visaliaendures from air pollution in the form of smoke and fog and other particulates.

The Visalia region and the rest of the San Joaquin Valley are susceptible to atmospheric inversion, which holds in the exhausts from road vehicles, aircraft s, locomotives, manufacturing, and other sources.

Unlike other metros/cities that rely on precipitation to clear smog, Visalia gets only 11.03 inches (280.16 mm) of precipitation each year: pollution accumulates over many consecutive days.

Issues of air character in Visalia and other primary cities led to the passage of early nationwide surroundingal legislation, including the Clean Air Act.

Even with improvement, the 2006 annual report of the American Lung Association ranked the town/city as the 11th most polluted in the nation with short-term particle pollution and year-round particle pollution. In 2007 the annual report of the American Lung Association ranked the town/city as the 4th most polluted in the nation with short-term particle pollution and year-round particle pollution. In 2008, the town/city was ranked the third most polluted and again fourth for highest year-round particulate pollution. The economy of Visalia is driven by agriculture (especially grapes, olives, cotton, citrus, and nursery products), livestock, and distribution and manufacturing facilities (electronics and paper products are a couple of momentous manufacturing sectors). Light manufacturing and industrial/commercial distribution represent the quickest burgeoning portion of Visalia's employer base. According to the Visalia Economic Development Corporation, the top ten employers in the town/city are, in descending order, Tulare County, Kaweah Delta Medical Center, College of the Sequoias, Family Healthcare Network, the City of Visalia, VF, International Paper, Jostens, Cigna, and Visalia Medical Clinic.

See also: List of citizens from Visalia Visalia was featured in a several episodes of season 2 of the TV series 24, though many characters mispronounced its name.

Ken Park, a controversial 2002 film directed by Larry Clark and Edward Lachman, was filmed on locale in Visalia.

Whitney High School for one semester in Visalia.

His movie Bull Durham mentions the town's experienced baseball team, the Visalia Oaks (now the Visalia Rawhide), which has been in Visalia for more than 60 years (book-ending a brief stint of the team as the Central Valley Rockies).

As a minor league team for the Oakland A's, the Visalia Oaks (now Visalia Rawhide) were mentioned twice amid the 2011 movie Moneyball Main article: Media in Visalia, California The primary daily journal in the region is the Visalia Times-Delta/Tulare Advance-Register owned by Gannett.

Many metros/cities adjoining to Visalia also have their own daily newspapers whose coverage and availability overlaps into certain Visalia neighborhoods.

Visalia is home to the Visalia Rawhide (a "high-A" class team of the Arizona Diamondbacks) of Minor League Baseball.

Some of the larger Protestant Christian congregations include Visalia First Assembly, Neighborhood Church, Gateway Church, Grace Community Church, Visalia Nazarene Church, and Visalia Community Covenant Church.

Visalia has a large multi-ethnic populace where a wide range of faiths are practiced, including Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Sikhism, Baha'i, various Eastern Orthodox Churches, Sufism and others.

Immigrants from Southeast Asia for example, have formed the Lao Buddhist Temple of Visalia, one of two Buddhist Temples in the Visalia Area.

College of the Sequoias, a improve college, is the only enhance college positioned in Visalia.

Private universities in Visalia include: Marinello School of Beauty Visalia Visalia is the only primary city in the Central Valley with a populace of over 100,000 that does not have a small-town four-year university.[not in citation given] See also: List of schools in Visalia, California Visalia Unified School District serves the entire town/city of Visalia, as well as a several surrounding communities, with a student populace of about 30,000. The Tulare County Public Library operates its biggest branch, the Visalia Branch in Downtown Visalia.

There are other lesser libraries in Visalia, such as the Visalia Learning Center.

Visalia Transit Center Partial view of Visalia Transit Center The Visalia Transit (formerly Visalia City Coach) operates enhance transit to, from and inside the communities of Visalia, Goshen, Farmersville and Exeter. The Visalia Transit also provides Dial-A-Ride curb-to-curb para-transit service on a shared-ride, demand-response basis to locations inside the town/city limits of Visalia, Goshen and Farmersville. The Visalia Towne Trolley serves the Downtown Visalia area. The Tulare County Area Transit (TCa - T) provides the enhance transit services between Visalia and lesser communities throughout the greater Visalia Area.

Amtrak has a bus stop in Visalia for commuting rail passengers with Visalia as their final destination.

The Sequoia Shuttle provides an alternative form of transit from Visalia and Three Rivers to Sequoia National Park. The Loop is an easy, safe and no-charge way for all school aged kids to get to improve centers and recreation centers throughout Visalia where activities for youth are happening. Visalia Municipal Airport Visalia has one airport, the Visalia Municipal Airport (IATA: VIS, ICAO: KVIS, FAA LID: VIS).

Main article: Demographics of Visalia The 2010 United States Enumeration reported that Visalia had a populace of 124,442.

The ethnic makeup of Visalia was 80,203 (64.5%) White, 2,627 (2.1%) African American, 1,730 (1.4%) Native American, 6,768 (5.4%) Asian, 164 (0.1%) Pacific Islander, 27,249 (21.9%) from other competitions, and 5,701 (4.6%) from two or more competitions.

The populace was spread out with 37,406 citizens (30.1%) under the age of 18, 12,461 citizens (10.0%) aged 18 to 24, 33,922 citizens (27.3%) aged 25 to 44, 27,779 citizens (22.3%) aged 45 to 64, and 12,874 citizens (10.3%) who were 65 years of age or older.

According to the 2006 2008 American Community Survey, the ethnic composition of Visalia was as follows: African Americans make up 2.2% of Visalia's population.

According to the survey, there were 2,574 African Americans residing in Visalia.

Native Americans make up 0.7% of Visalia's population.

According to the survey, there were 827 Native Americans residing in Visalia.

Asian Americans make up 5.0% of Visalia's population.

According to the survey, there were 5,762 Asian Americans residing in Visalia.

Pacific Islander Americans make up 0.1% of Visalia's population.

According to the survey, there were 138 Pacific Islander Americans residing in Visalia.

Multiracial Americans make up 2.9% of Visalia's population.

According to the survey, there were 3,350 multiracial Americans residing in Visalia.

Hispanics and Latinos make up 40.6% of Visalia's population.

According to the survey, there were 47,251 Hispanics and Latinos residing in Visalia.

White Americans make up 84.0% of Visalia's population.

According to the survey, there were 97,735 White Americans residing in Visalia.

As of the 2000 US Census, the ethnic distribution in Visalia was 54.9% White American, 2.3% African American, 6.0% Asian American, 2.4% Native American, 0.3% Pacific Islander, 20.3% from other competitions, and 4.2% from two or more competitions.

Visalia City Hall Visalia is a charter town/city with a town/city charter allowed by the electorate that acts as a "constitution" for the city. Visalia voters, at large, elect a 5-member City Council that serves as the city's legislative and governing body.

The City Council hires a powerful town/city manager that serves as executive officer, administers town/city operations, and carries out town/city policies.

However, on March 5, 2012, the Visalia City Council voted to put on the November 2012 ballot an initiative that would transform the way that Visalia voters get to elect their town/city council. Currently, the entire town/city of Visalia votes "at-large" for the 5 members of the Visalia City Council.

In November 2012, Visalia voters will be able to decide if they want "district elections" in which the candidate must live in a specific region (or "district"), and only inhabitants of that region cast their votes.

The City Government of Visalia has been threatened with a lawsuit from a network of civil-rights attorneys that are charging the town/city with violating the California Voting Rights Act, passed into law in 2002.

Visalia Town Center Post Office In the California State Legislature, Visalia is in the 16th Senate District, represented by Republican Jean Fuller, and in the 26th Assembly District, represented by Republican Devon Mathis. In the United States House of Representatives, Visalia is in California's 22nd congressional district, represented by Republican Devin Nunes. The United States Postal Service operates the Town Center Post Office at 111 West Acequeia Avenue, the Visalia Post Office at 2345 West Beech Avenue, and the Millennium Post Office at 100 North Akers Street, The Town Center Post Office received listing in the National Register of Historic Places on January 11, 1985. "California Cities by Incorporation Date" (Word).

City of Visalia.

City of Visalia.

City of Visalia.

City of Visalia.

"Table 1: Annual Estimates of the Population for Incorporated Places Over 100,000, Ranked by July 1, 2005 Population: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2005" (CSV).

Visalia, California.

"Downtown Visalia Statistics".

"Visalia, Tulare County".

"Visalia Electric".

"Weatherbase: Historical Weather for Visalia, California, United States of America".

"Employment and Industries in the Visalia, California Area".

"Visalia Economic Development Corporation".

Visalia Economic Development Corporation Top Employers Archived May 30, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.

"Visalia Rawhide: Home".

"Visalia, California (CA) Detailed Profile".

"Visalia, California".

Visalia Transit Visalia Towne Trolley "2010 Enumeration Interactive Population Search: CA - Visalia city".

"ACS Demographic and Housing Estimates: 2006-2008: Visalia city, California".

"Selected Social Characteristics in the United States: 2006-2008: Visalia city, California".

"Enumeration 2000 Demographic Profile Highlights for Visalia, California".

Modern Language Association Data Center Results of Visalia, California Modern Language Association "Selected Social Characteristics in the United States: 2006-2008: Visalia city, California".

"City of Visalia - City Council".

City of Visalia.

Visalia Convention & Visitors Bureau Visalia Magazine Visalia travel guide from Wikivoyage Articles Related to Visalia

Categories:
Visalia, California - 1874 establishments in California - Butterfield Overland Mail in California - Cities in Tulare County, California - County seats in California - Incorporated metros/cities and suburbs in California - Populated places established in 1874 - San Joaquin Valley - Stagecoach stops in the United States