Editing Avenal, California (section)

==Early history==
The City of Avenal was named by [[Spanish people|Spanish]] soldiers and explorers. In [[Spanish language|Spanish]], {{lang|es|avena}} means {{gloss|oats}}, and {{lang|es|avenal}} means {{gloss|oatfield}}. This area was covered with wild oats, "waist high," that looked like golden silk and covered the Kettleman Plains.

Early American [[settlers]] arrived in the [[Kettleman Hills]] during the 1850s with dreams of raising cattle and farming. Oil, however, would bring fame, fortune and people to the area. Native Americans had always known oil was in the hills, with natural seepage around [[Coalinga, California|Coalinga]] and Tar Canyon. The first Kettleman Hills well was drilled in 1900, followed by countless unproductive efforts.

On March 27, 1927, the Milham Exploration Company began work on Elliot No. 1. The crew toiled for 19 months, drilling past the {{convert|7000|ft|adj=on}} mark. On October 5, 1928, the well blew out with a roar which was heard {{convert|20|mi}} away, spewing forth an oil so fine that its color was white, and reportedly could be used unrefined as gasoline in automobiles.

[[File:Monument to 1928 Elliott No 1 - Avenal.jpg|thumb|right|240px|Monument to the Discovery of the Kettleman North Dome Oil Field in 1928]]

The discovery of oil transformed Avenal into a [[boomtown]]. In 1929, [[Standard Oil]] surveyed the current site of Avenal to build a town. Makeshift houses were hauled in from [[Taft, California|Taft]] to take the place of the tents. A water line was laid and later a sewer plant was installed, a post office replaced a cigar box in the general store, a fire department was organized and a community grew. Standard Oil Company built the residents a 600-seat theater and a hospital.

Also in the first year (1929), nearly 20 businesses occupied Kings Street and Skyline Boulevard. By 1936, Avenal boasted a population of 3,000—mostly oil workers—with 100 businesses and 69 private telephones and numerous community organizations. In 1940, Avenal was the second-largest town in Kings County with a population of over 4,000 and was known to have some of the best services and schools in the state.

Although today Avenal and its economy are largely reliant on the Avenal State Prison and agriculture, Avenal was once a booming oil town known as the "Oil Fields Capital."

The teeming life of the oil fields, the forward thrust of civilization into the sun-baked hills so recently in their pristine state meant the early development of nearby towns where adequate living facilities could be provided to care for the fast-growing population.

Milham City was projected by a group of [[Kings County, California|Kings County]] citizens who owned lands on the slope of the hills east of the oil field. It scarcely had emerged from the dream stage when the [[Standard Oil Company]] announced in 1929 that a townsite had been set aside on the northwestern slope of the hills and that it would be called Avenal.

Thus the present thriving, interesting little town of Avenal came into being as the "oil capital" of the great field. Roads and streets were surveyed and laid out, water mains were laid, the town was launched on its purposeful career almost overnight.

An emergency hospital was built. Small and large homes were purposefully constructed to enjoy a fuller life in the erstwhile barren plains and trees were planted to provide much needed shade.

On December 5, 1929, the first mail arrived at the new Avenal post office located at Moore's Soda Fountain.

During [[World War II]] was the site of a training landing strip called [[Murray Army Field|Murray Field]], part of [[Lemoore Army Air Field]].