Editing Tulare, California (section)

==History==
[[Image:Schoenoplectus acutus FWS-1.jpg|thumb|left|Tule rush]]
The [[Yokuts people]]<ref>[http://visalia.k12.ca.us/teachers/lherring/vistas/resources.htm Resources<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> built [[reed boat]]s and fished in what was later to be called [[Tulare Lake]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=847942&site_id=1|title=Google Groups|work=keyhole.com|access-date=August 1, 2015}}</ref> in their homeland for centuries, until the invasion and settlement by the Spanish and American pioneers. When California became a state in 1850, Tulare did not yet exist as a town. Tulare was founded in 1872, by the [[Southern Pacific Railroad]].<ref name="profile">{{cite web|url=http://www.ci.tulare.ca.us/welcome/profile.htm|title=City of Tulare, CA : About Tulare|work=tulare.ca.us|access-date=August 1, 2015}}</ref> The town was named for Lake Tulare. The lake had been named for the tule rush plant ''([[Schoenoplectus acutus]])'' (pictured left), a species of [[bulrush]] that predominantly lined the marshes and sloughs of its shore.

Transportation was the first impetus behind the establishment of the town. Tulare flourished as the headquarters of the railroad in the area. The town suffered through many difficult challenges, but despite burning down and being rebuilt three times in its first fourteen years of existence, it was eventually incorporated in 1888.<ref name="profile"/>

In 1891, the railroad moved its headquarters to [[Bakersfield, California|Bakersfield]], decimating the community. Although the railroad was gone, the community of Tulare struggled to become an agricultural center for California, which it is today. Due to the inadequate {{convert|10|in}} of rainfall per year, water resources had to be found. In order to bring water to Tulare, citizens established the Tulare Irrigation District and issued $500,000 in bonds to build an extensive canal system carrying water from the [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada]].<ref name="profile" /> In 1903, when the bonds were paid off early, they celebrated by having a bond-burning celebration. Once the water system was established, Tulare burgeoned, becoming a center for farming and agriculture because of its central location.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usacitiesonline.com/cacountytulare.htm#history|title=Tulare|work=usacitiesonline.com|access-date=August 1, 2015}}</ref>

In 1912, Hulett C. Merritt founded [[Tagus Ranch]], which at {{convert|7000|acre}} was the largest fruit ranch in the world. Until its close, Tagus Ranch produce was known the world over, and was served in the finest restaurants throughout America. At the end of World War II, a portion of Tagus Ranch served as a German POW camp.

The [[California agricultural strikes of 1933|cotton strike]] of 1933 was planned in Tulare by a group of seventy-eight men and women. As recorded by [[Chicano]] historian [[Rodolfo Acuña]], "they concluded that it took the average picker 10 hours to harvest 300 pounds. Planters offered 40 cents a [[hundredweight]] – that was not enough to buy enough food and gas to get to the next job."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Acuña|first=Rodolfo|title=Corridors of Migration: The Odyssey of Mexican Laborers, 1600--1933|publisher=University of Arizona Press|year=2007|isbn=9780816526369|pages=239}}</ref>

In 1940, famed aerobatic stunt pilot J.G. "Tex" Rankin secured a U.S. War Department contract to open and operate a civilian flying school to train [[United States Army Air Corps]] flight cadets. Rankin opened the Rankin Aeronautical Academy in Tulare in February 1941, where it operated throughout the duration of World War II. During its heyday [[Rankin Field]], as it was otherwise known, trained 10,000 pilots in primary flight training, including twelve future Army Air Corps Aces and two Medal of Honor recipients.
 
During [[World War II]], in response to the [[Attack on Pearl Harbor]] and the West Coast wartime hysteria, the U.S. Army temporarily assumed control of the Tulare County Fairgrounds, converting it to the Tulare Assembly Center, a temporary detention center for [[Japanese American]]s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://anchoreditions.com/blog/dorothea-lange-censored-photographs|title=Dorothea Lange's Censored Photographs of FDR's Japanese Concentration Camps|date=December 7, 2016|website=Anchor Editions}}</ref> The [[Internment of Japanese Americans#WCCA Civilian Assembly Centers|Assembly Center]] was administered by the Wartime Civil Control Administration, under the [[Western Defense Command]] and the [[Fourth United States Army|U.S. 4th Army]]. The first internee was inducted on April 27, 1942, and the last internee departed on September 4, 1942. The top population numbered 4,978 residents, many of whom were citizens born in the United States. In the latter part of 1942, internees began being moved to the ten more permanent "War Relocation Camps". The majority of internees from the Tulare Assembly Center were sent to the [[Gila River War Relocation Center]] in Arizona. These temporary sites were largely located on fairgrounds or race tracks in completely public and visible locations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.momomedia.com/CLPEF/camps.html|title=List of Internment and Detention Camps|work=momomedia.com|access-date=August 1, 2015}}</ref><ref>Linke, Konrad. [http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Tulare%20%28detention%20facility%29/ "Tulare (detention facility)"] ''Densho Encyclopedia''. Retrieved June 20, 2014.</ref>

Tulare was the site of the National Championships for the [[Decathlon]] in [[Track and Field]] in 1949, 1950, 1952, and 1962, as well as the Olympic Trials for the Decathlon in 1952.