Editing Turlock, California (section)

==History==
Founded on December 22, 1871, by prominent grain farmer John William Mitchell, the town consisted of a post office, a depot, a grain warehouse and a few other buildings.<ref>{{Cite web |last=rbcushman3 |date=August 13, 2018 |title=History in Turlock CA - A Brief History |url=https://townsquarepublications.com/turlock-history/ |access-date=August 25, 2022 |website=Town Square Publications |language=en-US}}</ref> Mitchell declined the honor of having the town named for himself. The name "Turlock" was then chosen instead. The name is believed to originate from the Irish village of [[Turlough, County Mayo|Turlough]]. In October 1870, ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'' published an excerpt from English novelist [[James Payn]]'s story ''Bred in the Bone'', which includes the mention of a town named "Turlock".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CIM-AQAAMAAJ&q=Harper%27s+magazine+%22turlock%22&pg=PA631|title=Harper's Weekly – Volume 14 – Page 631|website=Books.google.com|date=September 5, 2018|last1=Bonner |first1=John |last2=Curtis |first2=George William |last3=Alden |first3=Henry Mills |last4=Conant |first4=Samuel Stillman |last5=Foord |first5=John |last6=Schuyler |first6=Montgomery |last7=Davis |first7=Richard Harding |last8=Schurz |first8=Carl |last9=Bangs |first9=John Kendrick |last10=Nelson |first10=Henry Loomis |last11=Harvey |first11=George Brinton Mcclellan |last12=Hapgood |first12=Norman }}</ref> Local historians believe that the issue of ''Harper's Weekly'' was read by early resident H.W. Lander, who suggested the alternate name.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/state/article3243509.html |title=Landowner Mitchell was Turlock founder &#124; Merced Sun-Star |access-date=September 6, 2018 |archive-date=September 6, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180906124604/https://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/state/article3243509.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Mitchell and his brother were successful businessmen, buying land and developing large herds of cattle and sheep that were sold to gold miners and others as they arrived. They were also leaders in wheat farming and cultivated tracts of land under the tenant system. Eventually, the Mitchells owned most of the area, over 100,000 acres, from Keyes to Atwater. In the early 20th century, 20-acre lots from the Mitchell estate were sold for $20 an acre.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://local.townsquarepublications.com/california/turlock/history.html|title=Turlock Chamber of Commerce|website=Local.townsquarepublications.com|date=September 5, 2018}}</ref>

While it grew to be a relatively prosperous and busy hub of activity throughout the end of the 19th century, it was not incorporated as a city until February 15, 1908.<ref>[http://gifi.stat.ucla.edu/background/CodReg/LocGov/Cities_by_incorp_date.pdf]{{dead link|date=June 2012}}</ref> By that time intensive [[agriculture|agricultural]] development surrounded most of the city (agriculture remains the major economic force in the region in current times). Many of the initial migrants to the region were Swedish. As an early ''San Francisco Chronicle'' article stated of the region and the community's lacteal productivity, "you have to hand it to the Scandinavians for knowing how to run a dairy farm."<ref>{{Cite news |title=Turlock's Advance Indicative of Magic Wand|last=Bowles|first=EE|date=May 12, 1914|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle}}</ref>
[[File:Exhibitor with cow and old cars.jpg|thumb|Cow exhibition at Stanislaus County Fair located in Turlock]]
Turlock went on to become known as the "Heart of the Valley" because of its agricultural production. With the boom came racial and labor strife. In July 1921, a mob of 150 white men evicted 60 Japanese cantaloupe pickers from rooming houses and ranches near Turlock, taking them and their belongings on trucks out of town.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Deportation Made Quietly by 150 Men|date=July 21, 1921|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle}}</ref> The white workers claimed they  were being undercut by the Japanese who were working for lower wages.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Long Road to Manzanar|last=Meloy|first=Michael|publisher=Ph.D. Diss., UC Davis|year=2004|pages=180–181}}</ref> In protest, fruit growers briefly threatened not to hire any white workers who supported the eviction, preferring to let their melons rot on the vines, rather than hire such characters.<ref>{{Cite news |title=White Workers Barred by Fruit Growers at Turlock|date=July 22, 1921|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle}}</ref> As a result of this stance, the eviction had the opposite effect of what the mob had intended. By August 1921, Japanese workers had returned to the Turlock area and were nearly the only people employed to pick melons.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Turlock Left to Japanese Pickers|date=August 8, 1921|newspaper=The Christian Science Monitor}}</ref>

The incident gained national attention, and California Governor [[William Stephens (American politician)|William Stephens]] vowed that justice would be served.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Turlock Japanese Assured Governor will Uphold Rights|date=July 22, 1921|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle}}</ref> Six men were promptly arrested but were apparently untroubled by the charges, stating that leaders of Turlock's American Legion and Chamber of Commerce had told them that no trouble would result from their actions.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Six Men Admit Aiding Turlock Deportations|date=July 24, 1921|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle}}</ref> Although a former Turlock night watchman testified that one of the accused had disclosed a plan "to clean up Turlock of the Japs," all six men were acquitted.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Surprise at Deportation Trial Occurs|date=April 28, 1922|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Turlock Men Acquitted of Riot Charges|date=May 6, 1922|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle}}</ref>

An editorial in the July 22, 1921 edition of the ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'' opposed both the evictions and Japanese labor, with one column stating that "we in California are determined that Oriental workers shall be kept out of the state. But that does not mean that the decent citizens of California will tolerate for one moment such proceedings as the attack of a mob on the Japanese cantaloupe workers in the Turlock district."<ref>{{Cite news |title=Mobbing the Japanese|date=July 22, 1921|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle}}</ref>

In 1930, Turlock's population was 20% [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]]. They were such a significant part of the population that the southern part of town even became referred to as Little [[Urmia]], referring to the region of northwestern Iran from which most had come.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nineveh.com/The%20Assyrians%20of%20the%20San%20Joaquin%20Valley,%20California.html|title=The Assyrians of the San Joaquin Valley|last=Aprim|first=Fred|website=Nineveh.com}}</ref> In the 1930s, Turlock was cited by ''[[Ripley's Believe It or Not]]'' as having the most churches per capita in the US, which had partly to do with the variety of ethnic churches established for the relatively small settler population. Various religious centers reflecting a diverse population, such as [[Sikh]] Gurdwaras, various [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]] [[Assyrian Church of the East|Christian]] churches, and many mainline [[Protestant]], [[Mormon]] and [[Roman Catholic]] churches have been built.

During [[World War II]], after the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]], the US government placed [[Japanese Americans]] into [[Internment of Japanese Americans|concentration camps]] all over the country. The [[Stanislaus County Fair]]grounds was the site of one of 15 temporary "assembly centers" and held 3,669 Japanese Americans, most of whom were US citizens.<ref>{{cite web|last=Canelo |first=Kayla |url=http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Turlock%20%28detention%20facility%29/ |title=Turlock (detention facility) |publisher=Densho Encyclopedia |access-date=August 13, 2014}}</ref> The US Army also built the [[Ballico Auxiliary Field]] (1942–1946) for training pilots in Turlock.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.militarymuseum.org/BallicoAuxFld.html|title=Ballico Auxiliary Field|website=Militarymuseum.org|access-date=April 14, 2021}}</ref>

In 1960, [[California State University, Stanislaus]], opened to students, helping to spur growth in the city as the university expanded in its early years. In the 1970s, [[California State Route 99|State Route 99]] (formerly U.S. Route 99) was completed through the area, largely bypassing the then-incorporated areas of Turlock in a route to the west of the city through mostly undeveloped land. Since that time, the city has grown westward considerably to meet the freeway's north–south path, but urban development west of the freeway has only recently begun to take hold. In an attempt to allow for orderly growth of the city, comprehensive growth master plans have established urban growth boundaries since the 1960s.{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}

In the 1980s, Turlock experienced extensive growth of both residential and commercial areas, following a statewide boom in housing demand and construction. The housing boom of the 1980s diminished in the early 1990s but increased again in the second half of the decade, partly as a result of growth in the [[San Francisco Bay Area]], which placed a higher demand for more affordable housing in outlying areas. After the [[dot-com bubble|dot-com bust]], housing demand intensified, producing much higher housing prices in an area formerly known for affordable housing. A recent boom in the retail sector has produced considerable growth along the Highway 99 corridor. Turlock reached its northern [[urban growth boundary]], Taylor Road, in the late 1990s, and growth beyond it is restricted by the city's Master Plan.{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=City of Turlock |first=Dyett and Bhatia Urban and Regional Planners |date=September 2012 |title=City of Turlock General Plan |url=https://ci.turlock.ca.us/_pdf/files/generalplancomplete.pdf |website=City of Turlock}}</ref>

The [[Stanislaus County, California|Stanislaus County Fairgrounds]] are located in Turlock. Before the land was known as Stanislaus County Fairgrounds it was first known as Melon Carnival because of its crop of cantaloupes, the main source of Turlock's economy. In 1911, the first Melon Carnival was held in downtown Turlock. Eventually, the Melon Carnival became the Stanislaus County Fair and was held at the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds. Promoting agriculture, entertainment and technology with the help of the community, is the main mission of the Stanislaus County fairgrounds.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fair History |url=https://stancofair.com/fair-history/ |access-date=December 11, 2023 |website=Stanislaus County Fairgrounds |language=en-US}}</ref>