Central Valley Roots

The first non-native settlers in the Bakersfield area were from Mexico, in the area known as Rio Bravo, or Old Panama.

Archibald Brabazon Sparrow Acheson, the 4th Earl of Gosford, was a member of the British House of Lords and played an important role in the coronation of Edward the VII in 1901. He also owned a large farm near Bakersfield.

Yamato Colony near Livingston was founded by and for Japanese American farmers.

Located near the Grapevine in Kern County, this pueblo became a rancho in the Mexican-era and is the oldest Western settlement in the southern San Joaquin Valley.

County islands are unincorporated areas surrounded by land that is part of an incorporated city. These "islands" often lack city-level infrastructure and services.

Today's Stockdale Country Club began as the Tevis family estate, and was named for a Tevis relative, Sir Edmund Stockdale, the Lord Mayor of London.

James Ben Ali Haggin made a fortune in the Gold Rush, before acquiring a huge swath of Kern County.

Fresno's Azteca Theater was the focal point of Fresno's Latino community in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, hosting Mexico's biggest film stars and a stop on Cesar Chavez's march to Sacramento in 1966.

Born in Delano, the theater group has a long legacy dramatizing the stories of those who work in California's farm fields.

Moore was born into slavery in Alabama in 1812 and became one of the earliest successful farmers in Fresno County, arriving here in 1853.

Several Central Valley Carnegie library buildings still remain, in cities like Clovis, Hanford, Exeter and Orosi.

Back when Railroad Avenue was U.S. Route 99, downtown merchants funded the archway to help draw motorists to their businesses.

Located at the top of Tollhouse grade, a variety of Pine Ridge-area businesses have served centuries of weary travelers.

In December of 1867, a portion of Dennison Mountain slid into the Kaweah River, creating a 400-foot natural dam that eventually gave way, flooding Visalia.

While cities like Fresno and Bakersfield didn't exist in 1862, the local impact of that year's historic flooding was still massive.

Today's Kings County used to be a part of Tulare County, until it broke away in 1893.

King held a rally in Fresno June 1, 1964 in support of housing equality laws in California.

The civil rights leader led a march ahead of a speech at Bakersfield's Harvey Auditorium in 1960

Andrew Firebaugh founded the town as a ferry crossing in 1854, before building a toll road over Pacheco Pass and later founding Academy northeast of Clovis.

An early Fresno resident reported that train conductors would alert riders to "get their guns ready" as trains approached the stop of Fresno Station.